Here are five storylines to watch in the upcoming UIL realignment for sports other than football.
Boys basketball
A big question regarding realignment is which schools will share a district with multi-sport powerhouse Duncanville.
Will this season’s Class 6A Division I state runner-up remain in the “District of Doom” in football with rivals Cedar Hill and DeSoto? Or could Duncanville help form a new “District of Doom” for boys basketball?
Back in the 2018-2020 realignment, Duncanville shared a district with Richardson. Just imagine if that was the case this season, or if it happens in the upcoming realignment that will be announced Feb. 3.
Richardson is ranked No. 2 in the nation by ESPN, and Duncanville is No. 4. Combined, they have three of the top six recruits in the state in the Class of 2022 with Kentucky signee Cason Wallace and Alabama signee Rylan Griffen of Richardson, along with uncommitted five-star guard Anthony Black of Duncanville.
Duncanville has three of the state’s top 15 recruits coming back next year. That includes five-star forward Ron Holland, the state’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2023 and a star for the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Mexico this summer.
Pharaoh Amadi, who scored 11 points in a 60-58 overtime win against Duncanville on Dec. 30 in the Whataburger Tournament championship game, will be back for Richardson next season. So will Tim Jordan, who scored 20 points Jan. 18 in an 85-78 win over Lake Highlands, ranked No. 11 in the state.
Girls basketball
A district that includes DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Duncanville and South Grand Prairie is certainly possible in girls basketball. Those four teams are ranked in the top nine in the state in Class 6A.
Two other schools that could share a district with those four powerhouses are Mansfield Lake Ridge and Mansfield Legacy (moving up to 6A from 5A). Lake Ridge’s Kylie Marshall is a four-star recruit who is rated the second-best player in Texas in the Class of 2023, and Legacy is led by all-state guard Savannah Catalon, who will be one of the area’s top recruits alongside Marshall next season.
Two realignments ago, DeSoto — currently ranked No. 2 in the nation — shared a district with Cedar Hill, South Grand Prairie and Lake Ridge. In the current alignment, SGP is gone and Duncanville took its place. DeSoto beat Duncanville in last season’s regional final, then beat South Grand Prairie in the state semifinals before going on to win its first state title.
Baseball
Since 2014, Southlake Carroll, Flower Mound and Northwest Eaton have combined to win four state titles in baseball. Last season, Keller was the 6A state runner-up, Carroll was a regional finalist and Coppell and Flower Mound Marcus were regional semifinalists.
All six of those schools are close enough geographically to share a district, but they won’t. That’s because the four Keller ISD schools will be kept together and Lewisville ISD schools Lewisville, Flower Mound, Flower Mound Marcus and Hebron will remain together.
Carroll and Eaton are currently paired with the Keller ISD schools, while Coppell is with the Lewisville ISD schools. It will be interesting to see if the UIL breaks up any of those pairings and comes up with one or two new super districts.
Cross country
For those who like great distance running, they should hope that the UIL moves Southlake Carroll into a district with Flower Mound. The two schools are only 18 miles apart, so it could happen.
Flower Mound won its second straight 6A girls team state title in cross country this year, while Carroll won its third consecutive boys team state championship. The Carroll boys and girls have each won seven team state titles overall.
On the girls side, Flower Mound and Southlake Carroll had a combined seven runners finish in the top 30 at the state meet. That group was paced by 6A individual state champion Natalie Cook of Flower Mound, who ran the fastest five-kilometer time (16:03.93) in the nation this season.
Team tennis
Highland Park is moving up to Class 6A for the first time since the 2014 (fall)-2016 (spring) realignment cycle. There’s a chance that it could be placed in a district that includes Plano West.
That would be unbelievable from a team tennis standpoint. Those two schools have won a combined 28 state championships.
Highland Park won its 22nd state title — and sixth in a row — in 5A this season. Plano West won the 6A state championship — its sixth title — after losing in the state final the previous two seasons.
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