Who Woke The Sleeping Giants In The Permian Basin?

Just when everyone in Region 5 thought it was safe to come outside (particularly those in the Western (Texas) Junior College Athletic Conference)…the habitual kingpins are beginning to make some noise.

Sure, there’s plenty of games to play before the Conference and District Tournaments are settled, but after slow starts, #21 Odessa College and un-ranked South Plains College are starting to put things together. And that usually means trouble for the other teams in the region.

Both of these teams have routinely been the team to beat in the WJCAC, as well as in the Southwest District. However, there are some other teams with fantastic starts this season who are legitimate contenders.

The Southwest District consists of teams from the WJCAC and the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference (NTJCAC). The top four teams in the final conference regular season standings get invited to compete in the District Tournament. Those eight teams fight it out in single elimination for the automatic bid to the NJCAA National Tournament.

At this juncture, eight of the nine teams in the WJCAC have overall records above .500. Six of the 9 are above .500 in the conference. With many games remaining, the conference standings and crowning of the champion is up for grabs. But after OC and SPC’s uncharacteristic starts to the season, finding them at the top of the heap is a little surprising. Except when you consider who their head coaches are.

Odessa, following their road triumph over New Mexico Military Monday night, are 13-5. The best overall record of all WJCAC teams. Quite the turnaround from the 0-2 start, and 8-5 record in they posted at the end of November. Last night was Odessa’s fifth win in a row since losing to #3 Northwest Florida and lead the WJCAC at 4-0.

Albeit, as I pointed out in my pre-season top 25 previews in October, Odessa was playing a rigorous schedule and returning only two players with significant court time from last year. It might take them 10 to 15 games to get everyone on the same page with Bucket’s system, and developing a team chemistry.

That is exactly what appears to be unfolding with the Wranglers as I write. Transfer Daniss Jenkins from Pacific U., has emerged as the top point producer and facilitator for the Wranglers, averaging 15.8 ppg and 4.8 assists. Daniss is the only Wrangler averaging over 10 points. More balanced scoring will probably be needed for Odessa to make a serious run at another trip to Hutch. But even if that doesn’t happen, don’t count out Bucket and the Wranglers.

A little further Northwest, in Levelland, TX, South Plains experienced an even rougher start to the season. The Texans finished November at 3-5 and were struggling a little offensively. Twice this season, SPC has been held to under 50 points. On the bright side, at least one of those was a “W”.

Since the Calendar has flipped to December, South Plains has gone 6-2 and now stands at 9-7, and in 2nd place in the WJCAC at 2-1. They are tied with New Mexico, but thanks to their 80-71 win over the Bulldogs Monday in the Texas Dome, SPC owns the tie breaker.

SPC didn’t make it to .500 until the last game of 2021, a 74-63 road win at at Chandler-Gilbert (AZ).

South Plains is still having difficulty putting points on the board, only averaging 69.8 ppg, but they are stabilizing some of the early season inconsistencies, and finding different ways to win. The Texans seem to have found a go to guy, as Kieves “Duece” Turner has poured in 30 and 34 points in their last two games, both victories. A transfer from Bucknell, the “Duece” is the team’s leading scorer at 16.1 ppg.

Like Odessa, Turner is the only player for SPC averaging double figures. However, DJ Avery and Savion Gallion are close at 9.7 and 9.3 respectively.

After Monday’s win in the Dome against New Mexico, Coach Steve Green filed this report, “We got force-fed the first 20 minutes, (trailed 33-28) then turned it around and got on a roll. We made some smart plays and made some shots, and we didn’t turn the ball over in the second half like we did in the first half.” Only five of their ball handling errors occurred after intermission.

That’s five games in a row the Texans trailed at half, and 12 of 16 games overall. Fortunately, they’ve been able to turn things around in the final twenty minutes of five of those games to pull out victories, including the last two. But if that trend continues, it can certainly wear on a team.

Don’t be shocked, however, if Green gets this team to start playing smarter and more efficient and taking leads into the locker room going forward.