yeah, he's pretty good

[LA_Mustang]

Q, can you do your university a big favor....PLEASE get your cousin to the Hilltop.

Honestly, I doubt "Shady" will ever play a college game, but until he commits somewhere or declares for the NBA draft, SOC's games next year will be crawling with college coaches and NBA scouts.

Rock 'em, SOC 'em
Arthur paces win; DeSoto's Flemings not so fortunate
12:20 AM CST on Sunday, March 13, 2005

AUSTIN – Two breathtaking players from south of the Trinity River took over the Erwin Center on Saturday.

Only one went home to the Dallas area with a championship.

Darrell "Shady" Arthur of South Oak Cliff turned the Class 4A state basketball title game into a rim-shaking coming-out party of national importance. Arthur's performance in the 64-43 win against San Antonio Sam Houston guaranteed he will go into next season as the top high school player in the country.

There will be no next season at DeSoto for Roderick Flemings. His superb effort, which included a nine-point fourth quarter, ended in frustration.

Humble Kingwood edged DeSoto, 54-52, for the 5A championship in a game that had six lead changes in the fourth quarter. DeSoto had the last possession, but Flemings never touched the ball.

Flemings, a senior, crumpled to the floor at the buzzer. He later let his second-place medal fall to the court and needed a long hug from coach-counselor Chris Dyer.

"The sun still comes up in the morning," Dyer said. "It's part of life. Everyone is not going to get what they want. ... Rod has nothing to be ashamed of. He did everything we asked of him."

Flemings' next stop is Oklahoma State. Arthur, a rising-like-a-rocket 6-9 junior, will be back for more at SOC.

It will be a memorable season.

Put another name on the list of elite frontcourt players from Dallas, a group that ranges from NBA standouts Larry Johnson, Kurt Thomas, Kenyon Martin and Chris Bosh to University of Texas prodigy LaMarcus Aldridge. For good measure, throw in Garland's Ike Diogu, player of the year in the Pac-10 Conference.

Assigning absolutes is risky business, but it is difficult to imagine any current high school junior being significantly ahead of the advanced Arthur.

It is also difficult to grasp that Arthur is only a junior.

"Unfortunately, he is," Sam Houston coach Wayne Dickey sighed.

Arthur showed he belongs among the best in tournament history.

You want scoring?

In the first half, it was Arthur 16, Sam Houston 16. Arthur had a team-high 22 points on only 15 shots. That included four of SOC's nine dunks.

Your want rebounding?

Sam Houston barely outrebounded Arthur. He had 17, just four fewer than the entire Sam Houston team.

You want defense?

Arthur blocked two shots and disrupted numerous others as he roamed the back of SOC's zone defense. After missing its first nine shots, Sam Houston essentially gave up trying to challenge Arthur and retreated to the perimeter.

He also took two charges in the first four minutes. One of the charges left Arthur with a sore left knee, but he stayed in the game.

You want unusual skills for a big teenager?

Arthur handled the ball to break Sam Houston's press. He took one 3-pointer and buried it.

As the game turned into an SOC dunk-fest, he took a pass on the wing about 18 feet from the basket, drove and dunked over 6-6 Dannie Woods.

Arthur's final play of the season was fitting. He flipped a perfect lob for a dunk by Kevin Rogers.

"I knew he was going to be special when he was a freshman," Rogers said. ""He's not a normal kid. He's a very special talent."

Arthur showed more aggressiveness than usual. Arthur took control of the game, something he had not often done this season.

It started when Arthur took a charge and dunked in the first 14 seconds. He never eased up on Sam Houston.

Some of the fire could be traced to Arthur's relatively average showing in a semifinal win against Amarillo Palo Duro: 11 points and 10 rebounds. He went to bed that night determined to play better in the final.

There was also the motivation of his last trip to the state tournament. As a freshman, Arthur looked his age and struggled in a semifinal loss to powerful Fort Worth Dunbar.

"There were about 18,000 people in the stands that day, and I was nervous," Arthur said. "Ever since that game, I wanted to come back and win a state championship."

SOC coach James Mays II envisioned something like this from the day he first saw a gangly sixth-grader and said to himself, "I've got to have him." Mays knows height makes all coaches look good.

"You could tell he had a chance to be special," Mays said.

Arthur was special on this day. So was Flemings. Some got to win; some got to lose.

E-mail [email protected]

[me@smu]

Not believing that it will help us, but looks like NBA is leaning towards implementing an age restriction so starting with the 2006 recruiting class, kids won't be able to jump straight to the NBA

[Fresh]

I don't know if that age restriction will ever happen, but it would be the best thing to happen in years for basketball in this country. The college game would be better, and players would be better prepared when they move on to the NBA, even if they play just one year in college.

[Stallion]

BTW during the DeSoto/Kingwood game on Fox Sports Southwest there were nice highlights of Dez Willingham from his 2003 MVP game in the 5A State Championship.

[Corso]

How did he look? What does he do well? Is he purely a speed/ball-handling guy? A great shooter? Give us a scouting report!