Plano West claims Self camp title

Texas team relishes run to title at KU's Allen Fieldhouse

The Plano (Texas) West Senior High boys basketball team seemed to borrow a phrase from Oakland Raiders President Al Davis: “Just win, baby!”

That’s all Plano West did this weekend at Bill Self’s team camp – just win.

Plano West capped the weekend with a 58-42 victory over Chaminade College Preparatory School of St. Louis in the championship game of the large varsity-team bracket Sunday in Allen Fieldhouse.

“We always come out with a lot of intensity, and we want to win everything,” Plano West forward Jackson Jeffcoat said. “We lost second round in the playoffs last year, and we decided it’s not going to happen again. We want to get to state in Texas. We’re undefeated right now in all the games we’ve played this summer. We don’t lose. We want to keep going all the way until March – that’s when state is.”

Making it to state would mean a trip to Frank Erwin Center, home arena of the University of Texas. So playing in Allen Fieldhouse gave the Texans an idea of what it would be like to play in a college arena.

“It’s a pretty nice stadium,” Plano West guard Tyler Melville said of the Fieldhouse. “Just looking at all the history was just like, ‘Wow! Wilt Chamberlain’s up there.’ And we got to meet Danny Manning. It was pretty incredible. And we got to see (this year’s) championship rings, too. And that blew me away. I was like, ‘Man, I want to get me one of those.'”

The Plano West players proudly sported “Kansas: Team Camp Champions” T-shirts given to them for claiming the team camp crown.

“People may make a mistake and think I’m part of the (national championship) team,” Jeffcoat said. “It feels really good to be wearing it.”

Jeffcoat definitely earned the shirt. Not only did he dominate down low – throwing down a few dunks – in the championship game, but he even stepped outside and made a shot from behind the three-point arc.

“It looked good. He doesn’t take those very often, so when he does, you know he’s feeling good and can knock them down,” coach Hector Avila said of Jeffcoat’s three-pointer. “He has that ability. He has a pretty good shot. Everybody thinks he’s a power inside, but he can actually step out and make the three-point shot.”

Plano West head coach Anthony Morgan didn’t get to coach his team to the title due to a rule in Texas preventing high school coaches from coaching their teams in the summer.

However, Morgan did get to watch Avila, a former assistant coach and current head coach at Ysleta High in El Paso, lead Morgan’s squad to a championship.

“That’s always a joy,” Morgan said. “There’s a lot of pride when your assistants become varsity coaches and are moving up and enjoying the game. So we brought him in from El Paso and wanted him to see some of our athletes, and he had a great time. It was fun to watch him.”