Don't ever remember another area high school with so much college talent as the 08-09 Panthers.

Starting 5

6-1 Roger Dowell, Arizona Wildcats
6-1 Jemison Sterns, Baylor Bears
6-5 Roger Franklin, **** Recruit
6-6 Shawn Williams, Texas Longhorns
6-9 Perry Jones, Baylor Bears

Bench

6-7 Julian Washburn, Top 2010
6-6 Extol James, Top 2010
6-5 Luke Mergerson, Top 2011
Several other top young prospects

Roger Franklin to sign with Oklahoma State

Dang, that is amazing to have that much premiere D1 talent on one team.

Arizona picked up a national top 10 guard. Dowell is out! Looking at SMU and others.

Duncanville has a huge, skilled, versatile and athletic team with a very deep bench. Also impressive is the way they play together as a team. I would pick them over the 2001-02 Dallas Lincoln team with Bosh, Bryan Hopkins and Byron Eaton who subbed as a freshman on that team.

I saw Duncanville beat McKinney 71-50 at Saturday's IAD-Lewisville ISD Fall GASO. McKinney was 25-9 last season and was led by Kentucky recruit G.J. Vilarino. Later that day Duncanville defeated Dallas Carter 99-54 and Lancaster 65-43. The 6-7 Julian Washburn was in the starting lineup at the wing position. Later, he played some post. Roger Franklin also posted up on occasion.

I have a kind of personal connection to Duncanville. Coach Phil McNeely's father, Clifton McNeely played high school ball at my home town of Slidell, Texas. My father often talked about what a great player he was. After WWII, Clifton McNeely and his high school teammate Hardee Fortenberry played for Texas Wesleyan. Hardee's brother was married to my mother's sister.Although I was too young to remember, my family drove the gravel roads to Fort Worth to see the games.

After graduation, Clifton McNeely was the first player drafted in the entire draft by the Pittsburgh Iron Men in the 1947 Basketball Association of America (BAA). In 1949 the BAA merged with the National Basketball League to form the NBA. The Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, Pistons, Warriors and the Kings were all BAA members.

Pro Basketball must not have paid much then. Clifton McNeely turned down Pittsburgh in favor of a teaching and coaching job at Pampa, Texas. He coached Pampa for 13 years and won four State Championships and had a record of 319-43. Three of the championships were in 4A, at that time the for schools with the largest enrollments, and one was in 3-A. McNeely left coaching to become a school administrator.

Links:

Jean-Jacques Taylor Column on Phil and Clifton McNeeley:
www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt...otaylor.157db84.html

BAA:
http://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Leagues/BAA/index.html

BAA 1947 Draft:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_BAA_Draft

Thanks Buford. Love history like that.