All Eyes on Plano High School Basketball Team

Originally published in the December 2006 issue of the North Texas High School Sports Report http://www.nortexsports.com

Plano boys basketball head coach Tom Inman knows every one is gunning for his team. It's easy to see why; state champions tend to get some attention. When your best player, in this case John Roberson, makes the cover of Texas Basketball, that brings more attention. Inman and the Plano boys are used to such scrutiny, and know just how to handle it.

"It puts a lot of priority on preparation," Inman said. "We have nine boys back out of fifteen. I like our experience, that never hurts. I tell them, let's go as fast as we can go without making mistakes. Whether it's turnovers or bad shots, if you do too many of those, you're going to give yourself trouble."

There hasn't been much trouble so far this year, and while the entire team had a hand in it, much of the credit will go to Roberson for his outstanding play. "You have to be impressed with where he's going and what he's done," Inman said. "Through our early games he was averaging over 30 points and 10 to 11 assists. That's just crazy." In a game aginst Garland Naaman Forest on November 14, Roberson scored 37, which was almost enough to equal Forest's total output through three quarters. Plano won the game running away, literally, 83-51. Reggie Britton and Landon Skinner also had their share of scoring opportunities, with each posting 11 points, and proving that having a star player is one thing, and having the players to win a state championship is quite another.