Wildcats hold their own in TABC Showcase
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The Sulphur Springs Wildcats basketball team had their biggest event of the summer this weekend, when they participated in the TABC Boys Showcase. The showcase was an opportunity for them to play against some of the biggest schools in the state, while also showcasing their abilities in front of tons of college coaches from all over the country.
In the event, the Wildcats had quite possibly the toughest schedule of anybody, facing nothing but ranked 5A and 6A schools. In their three games they took on Mansfield Summit, Denton Guyer and Allen.
“This is what we want,” Coach Brandon Shaver said after their final game. “We asked them to play the best schedule that we can play and we did. For us, we competed all the way til the end, each game was a two or three-possession game and it just shows that we can play with anyone in the state.”
“You can come in here and play lesser competition and not get near as much out of it, but for us, we want to play the best to see what we need to do to get to where we want to be.”
Shaver also spoke about the opportunity to coach his team during the event. In past years, coaches were not allowed to coach their team, leaving them to watch from the stands while the players had to do everything themselves.
“I love it, last year at this event we had to sit in the stands and watch, so it was a little bit tougher in that so, I love what TABC did, I love what the UIL did to work together with the NCAA so that we can coach these guys. They played in front of hundreds to thousands of college coaches across the country, which you won’t get a lot of, even in the big AAU events, so it’s great for our kids to be able to see that.”
Senior Parker Whisenhunt spoke about the experience as well saying, “It’s definitely a fun thing [the showcase event] it gets us ready for the season, especially playing some of the top schools in Texas, going up against 5A’s and 6A’s now that we’re in 4A.”
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“I feel like we competed well,” Whisenhunt added. “We have some things to work on but those things are easy fixes.” Whisenhunt also spoke about going up against former coach Clark Cipoletta.
“It was definitely interesting, it was fun. I still remember all the plays we ran and he’s definitely the reason our program is so big today, so, it was definitely good to see him.”
After the game we also got to catch up with Cipoletta and talk to him about coaching his former team for the first time. “It’s more fun at this point,” Cipoletta said, about playing them during the summer. “To get to see those guys, I wanted to watch them play anyway so, to get to see them and play against them is kind of fun.”
“I don’t want to see them in the season,” Cipoletta joked. “But during the summer time when it’s a bit more laxed, it was a cool experience.”
Sulphur Springs did well in the event, playing close games in each of their matchups. Coach Shaver spoke with us about some of the things he liked from his team over the course of the weekend.
“We HUSTLED,” Shaver emphasized. “And that carries over from last year, but they know that if they want to be out there on the floor the have to hustle.”
“[Diving for loose balls and taking charges] are things that are part of our culture that you just can’t teach, so we want our guys to pick that up and they did a great job this weekend. We’re putting in a newer offense which they’re kind of having to get used to, you know we don’t have the two-post system anymore, so, it’s a little bit different on that, but they did a great job sharing the basketball, being unselfish, not caring who gets the points and that’s just these guys and it’s awesome to coach them.”
To see our recap video of their game against Allen and the full postgame interviews click here.
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