High School Hoops
Takeaways from VYPE basketball tournament
Matt Malatesta
Nov 27, 2017, 8:01 am
Originally appeared on Vype.com.
The VYPE Thanksgiving Tournament presented by First United Mortgage was held at The Woodlands High School and the impressive field did not disappoint.
The Klein Forest Golden Eagles took home the Championship Belt with a 75-70 win over Shadow Creek.
So what did we learn from the two-day tourney?
Klein Forest Picking Up Where They Left Off
Coach Cary Black’s crew is back. No. 10 Klein Forest has a super-short bench, but get up and down the floor quickly and everyone has the green light. When they get hot from three-point land, they can beat anyone in the city. They were hot this weekend.
Shadow Creek is Coming
The new school is ranked No. 14 already and has a pair of talented young shooters. David President leads this young team into District 23-5A and the Sharks will be lurking for a district title. They reached the finals of the tourney with an overtime win over The Woodlands.
Highlander Squad Coming Together
This is another team that lives and dies by the three-pointer. The Highlanders have fallen to highly-ranked Cy Falls, and Tompkins and Shadow Creek in overtime. They face Willis this week before heading down to Corpus Christi next week for a tourney. District 12-6A will be a battle between College Park, Lufkin and The Woodlands.
Travis will Battle in FBISD
Led by one of the top coaches in H-Town Craig Brownson, Travis is in good hands. The Tigers looked physical against a tough Hastings squad. Their inside-outside game is led by a few experienced returners.
Gambrell Can Score from Anywhere
Madison star and Western Kentucky-signee, Jeremiah Gambrell, can score from all over the court. He showed up in the second-quarter of the first game of the tourney, and displayed tremendous handles. He can also get his three-point shot off from anywhere and any distance.
ALL-TOURNEY TEAM
MVP – Kharee McDaniel, Klein Forest
D’Angelo Smith, Klein Forest
Calvin Soloman, Klein Forest
Kenan Mitchell, Shadow Creek
Tyron Henry, Shadow Creek
KeSean Carter, The Woodlands
Romello Wilbert, The Woodlands
Connor Castens, FM Marcus
The Houston Texans have a big challenge in store as they look to start the season with a win against the Colts this Sunday. When these two teams met in Week 2 last year, the Colts dominated the Texans, despite losing their QB Anthony Richardson to a concussion after the first quarter.
Keeping Richardson contained on Sunday will go a long way in increasing the Texans' chances of coming home with a win. The Texans defense will have their hands full containing the Colts backs and tight ends in the passing game.
Scoring touchdowns with their wide receivers could prove difficult, as the Texans allowed the second-fewest TDs (10) to the receiver position in 2023.
Limiting running back Jonathan Taylor will also be a top priority. While the Texans had an elite defense against the run last season, they struggled with Taylor in Week 18 as he almost rushed for 200 yards.
Houston's D allowed only four carries to running backs in 2023 that went for 20 or more yards. Two of which were to Taylor in the final game of the regular season.
Finally, DeMeco Ryans and company have to find a way to get pressure on the QB. They only had one QB hit and zero sacks on Richardson and Garner Minshew the first time they faced off last year.
On offense, the Texans have two big x-factors to watch for on Sunday. The offensive line that suited up to play the Colts in Week 2 last season is completely different from this year.
The o-line was ravaged with injuries to start the 2023 campaign, so we expect a big jump in productivity in the trenches this year.
Another big addition in 2024 is the presence of running back Joe Mixon. The running game only produced 2 yards per rush in Week 2 against Indy last year, so there's clearly room for improvement.
Be sure to watch the video above for our in-depth preview of Texans-Colts!
And catch Texans on Tap (a Texans podcast) live on our SportsMapTexans YouTube channel following every game this season!