Schumpert still has ‘passion’ for coach basketball

There is nothing more enjoyable than sitting down and visiting with Doug Schumpert and talking life and basketball.

Thursday Cache’s 7th-, 8th- and 9th-grade basketball teams went to Anadarko to compete against the Warriors on their home court.

Most high school coaches keep tabs on their younger coaches and offer input, however, the venerable Schumpert still coaches his 7th- and 9th-grade teams to give them the knowledge and fundamentals that keep the program very competitive.

Schumpert has climbed to near the top of the all-time list of boys coaches with more than 800 victories and four state titles.

When he was still coaching Carnegie during those glory days at the Hoops City gym I spent time at a few of his practices and there was never a minute when his players weren’t moving, working on fundamentals or scrimmaging.

One afternoon I got to sit next to another coaching legend, Ray “Best of the” West. Ray told me that day that Schumpert gets more out of his players than just about any coach he knew. West spent some nights scouting for Schumpert back when the Wildcats were among the state’s best programs.

Another legend, former Constitution Sports Editor Herb Jacobs, and I went to some of those big matchups at Hoops City and we will never forget the great basketball we saw and the cinnamon rolls that Frank Galindo would make sure were in the coaches office.

My friendship with Schumpert was good enough that when his teams were playing so well they packed every gym in the region, he was willing to change his schedule mid-season so we could host The Constitution Christmas Classic between the Wildcats and Walters at the newly-revamped Great Plains Coliseum.

We had a packed house that night to promote prep playoff basketball at the Coliseum and for several years we had some dandy Area Tournament matchups including a couple featuring Carnegie and Hollis which at the time were among the top 2A powers in the state.

Schumpert’s voice may be scratchy after all his years of coaching but he still coaches his junior high teams just like he coaches his high school varsity with intent to detail and always stressing defense.

After his 7th-graders were done, he came over, sat down and we had a good visit. The thing he made clear was he still has passion for the game, he still loves teaching fundamentals and he still loves to win.

His Anadarko boys, who are now competing in Class 3A, are 18-2 with just a pair of losses to 4A No. 1 Weatherford. Only Millwood, Crooked Oak and Cascia Hall are ranked above his Warriors who seem on track to get a good seed in the playoffs and possibly host a regional.

It will be interesting to see how he and his club fare as the Warriors once again strive to make a deep playoff run. . .

Playoff assignments out

The Oklahoma Secondary School Activity Association announced the playoff assignments for Class 2A, A and B on Friday and there is good news and bad when it comes to area teams.

The area’s two teams competing in Class 2A—Frederick and Walters—are in separate districts but could meet in regionals.

Frederick goes to Merritt for district with Cordell rounding out that tourney. Walters has earned a host site and will welcome Hobart for a two-school district.

The regional sites are Hinton and Colbert while the Area Tournament will be at Chickasha High School.

The large group of Class A area teams are spread across two different Area Tournaments, with one which will be played at Cache High School under Area II. Fletcher has been assigned to the Hydro-Eakly district, while Central High and Hollis will go to Navajo for district. Sterling and Carnegie will make the drive to Healdton for district action.

The regional site for those districts will be at Alex High School with Central High serving as a sub-site.

Empire and Snyder have drawn the tough assignment of going to Binger-Oney for district action. Union City is the regional site with the sub-site being at Empire.

Just two schools, Cyril and Velma-Alma, have been sent east to compete in Class A, Area III which winds up at Noble High School. Cyril will host Wayne and Rush Springs for a district while Velma-Alma is home to host Ringling and Stonewall.

Class B includes 11 schools with them split throughout the Class B, Area II Tournament. Fort Cobb-Broxton is hosting a district with Cement, Corn Bible and Indiahoma. Those teams will then play a regional at Hammon as the main site and Canton as the sub-site.

Chattanooga has earned the right to host a district that includes the Warriors, Big Pasture, Grandfield and Olustee-Eldorado which only has a girls team.

Mt. View Gotebo is hosting a district with Bray-Doyle, Fox and Erick. Geronimo is also hosting a district that will include Duke and Ryan. The other area teams in Class B—Temple and Tipton—are heading to Granite for a district.

Chatty will also be the regional main site with Mt. View-Gotebo serving as the sub-site. The Class B, Area II site will be at Bridge Creek.

The OSSAA should release the full brackets for the 2A, A and B teams by Friday.