I kind of feel empty without my annual Erin Grant picture. For those of you new to the game, Grant is the "ONLY" Texas player to win four 5A State Championships and along with being one of the states first, if not the first MDAA. Erin went on to star at Texas Tech and now is an assistant at New Mexico!
The real reason I threw Erin in here is because my daughter was often compared to her just like Chastity Patterson is being compared to my daughter. The slender build and ponytail is what people see first however all three are as different as they are alike but the bottom line is they all get the job done and Patterson is showing that being headed to 7th grade is no setback as she could play on most varsity high school teams in the area right now and probably start on half of those she would be on. Will she be as dominant as the others? That remains to be seen but she's in a different position right now as not being the go to girl on her squad which would give her the chance to take things over early, she still is a special player who will only get better. The game between the 2014 DFWW and SA Rohaweks was a dandy as a lot of young talent saw what they will be facing in the future, lots of college coaches looking at them in an exposure event
Janvier Branch has been around the circuit in what seems like forever however as 5th grader, I saw something in this young lady and now standing close to 5'8, the 8th grader has a growth spurt or two left however she is definitely on the GPR Rising Star Watch List for 2016.
Talisha Presley was acrobatic and athletic and along with her upside has a bright basketball future ahead
Jefferson wasn't the only Moriah going off as Cresswell was a defensive dynamo
I've seen Desiree Johnson play so many times that I'm sold on her as a next level player
Darby James and Teanna Peavy work hard every time I see them on the court
I have certain sayings that I repeat over and over because like developing a deadly jumper, it takes repetition. One of the things I preach is that the game starts at the ONE, it truly does and if you don't agree, shame on you. The second thing is "it's not what you do, it's who you do it against" and the third is you have girl's that play basketball and you have girl's that are BASKETBALL PLAYERS
In order to be a basketball player you have to put something into it, work, and you have to be able to learn from your mistakes. It's always refreshing for me to see young talent coming up and Texas is a big state loaded with talent. I know Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Arkansas all have talented players as well and I will do my best to write a little something about them all but remember you can't be ranked, at least by me, if I haven't seen the player play.
