Five years ago this game would not have been played. The rivalry between Pflugerville & Pflugerville Connally was so intense that school administrators felt it best they not face each other because the corwd might get out of hand and that there could be fireworks on the court. How things have changed in a 4 year period. Connally, with a proud tradition of State Final Four's in football and basketball has seen it's talent level drop off. The ghosts of former Connally stars Darius Darks (Iowa State), Chase Harper (Nebraska), Chip Ivany (South Alabama) & Antwon Williams (Angelo State) & Steven Sheffield (Texas Tech) were not in the building to scare the Panthers.The two natural enemies met each other in the equivalent of a "soccer friendly" last night at Pflugerville Head Coach Mike Murphy's Annual Holiday Classic. Gone are the days of "mean muggin", talking smack and frayed nerves. Pflugerville coasted to an uninspiring 65-45 win over the Cougars where the two teams traded three point attempts. The difference was that the Panthers hit a good percentage of theirs while Connally couldn't buy one.
Pflugerville shared the scoring equally with Seniors Deon Mitchell (Northern Iowa), Jamaal Shabazzz, & Storm Woods all scoring 12 points. The brightest spot for the Cougars was freshman guard DeShawn Riddick who handled the ball well and didn't try to do too much. The biggest recruiting buzz was created when two Utah Utes Assistant football coaches were on hand watching Woods who had previously given his verbal commitment to Iowa State.
The most spirited trash talk came prior to the game when Myself & old friend & Connally Head Coach Marshall Sanders exchanged barbs in the pre game about our mutual golf games and how we'd whip each other. (I am open to a match for charity over the holidays Coach!) Sad that two old men who could pull a muscle by talking too much were the keenest competitors in the building last night.
