Wheaties is known as the breakfast of champions, but the Federal Way girls basketball team is hoping they have come up with the new lunch of champions.
The Eagles and head coach Danny Graham and the rest of his players ate hoagies for lunch Wednesday before dominating the defending three-time Class 4A champion Lewis & Clark Tigers in the opening round of the girls state tournament Wednesday inside the Tacoma Dome.
“I’m pretty sure we are going to be doing the same thing tomorrow,” Graham said with a smile Wednesday night.
Getting some love
The Decatur and Federal Way boys basketball teams got a lot of love from the daily newspapers before the tournament. The News Tribune picked the Gators to win the Class 4A title, 68-66, over the Eagles. And three of the four Seattle Times’ reporters picked Federal Way to beat Garfield in the championship game. The other reporter picked Garfield to beat Federal Way.
The district also had four of the seven players to watch listed in the Seattle Times in Decatur’s Marcus Tibbs, Federal Way’s Cole Dickerson and Michael Hale and Beamer’s Kevin Davis.
Hale and Dickerson also got some love from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer during an article in Monday’s paper naming the best players in the area by height. Hale was named the best player at 5-foot-9 and Dickerson was tops at 6-foot-7.
Mini Stockton
Decatur’s first-round opponent, Gonzaga Prep, had a familiar name on its roster — David Stockton. The senior point guard is the youngest son of soon-to-be NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton. David Stockton was averaging 12.4 points a game entering the state tournament. Gonzaga Prep is also John Stockton’s alma mater, before he went on to star at Gonzaga and for the Utah Jazz.
Three’s not a crowd
The 2009 Class 4A State Boys Basketball Tournament has been a hectic one for the city of Federal Way. It marked the first time in the city’s history that three district teams have all played in a single state tournament — Federal Way, Beamer and Decatur. To compare, Seattle has two participants — Roosevelt and Garfield — Tacoma has one — Foss — and Spokane has one — Gonzaga Prep.
Ten and counting
Federal Way High School head coach Jerome Collins is coaching the Eagles’ in his 10th state tournament during his quarter century career at the helm of the program.
Double dipping
Federal Way High School is the only school to be represented at both the Class 4A boys and girls tournaments.
The Eagles’ girls qualified for the first time since 1998. Last year, three schools had both their boys and girls at the tournaments — Bellarmine, Snohomish and Prairie.
Back to state
Both Federal Way girls coach Danny Graham and Beamer boys coach Brent Brilhante are making their first appearances as coaches at a state tournament. Graham is in his third season as the Eagle head coach and Brilhante is in his first season at Beamer. But both Graham and Brilhante were on Federal Way school district teams that played at state tournaments. Graham graduated from Federal Way in 1991 and Brilhante graduated from Decatur in 1997.
Graham is also the coach of the Federal Way baseball team, which started practicing on Monday.
On the Web
The Class 4A state basketball championships will stream on cybersportsusa.com for a $10 fee. Fans can also listen live to select games free by visiting wiaa.com and clicking on KBCsports.com
First-timers
Beamer sophomore Napa Mefi and senior Kevin Davis were a little awestruck when they made their entrance into the Tacoma Dome before the Titans’ opening-round game against Walla Walla Wednesday.
When the Beamer stars walked into the Dome, they hugged and said, “I can’t believe we are here,” according to head coach Brent Brilhante.
The Titans were knocked out in two games Thursday, but should have a good shot at being back at the Tacoma Dome next year.
T-shirt watch
All three boys basketball teams from Federal Way featured custom-made T-shirts at the state tournament. Federal Way High School’s said, “We heart haters,” in reference to people doubting they could win the state title. Beamer’s said, “Making History and Playing for Each Other,” referring to the school’s first trip to the Class 4A basketball tournament and Decatur’s said, “Play Hard, Play Together, Play Saturday (night),” in reference to the state championship game Saturday night in Tacoma.
T-shirt 2
Beamer’s Mefi didn’t have the best game of his young career during the Titans’ opening-round loss to the Walla Walla Wednesday afternoon. But Mefi did have the largest rooting section in the Tacoma Dome. At least a dozen family members sported T-shirts with Mefi’s name and photos.
Hair dos or don’ts?
The Decatur boys featured some extreme hair during their state tournament opening-round loss to Gonzaga Prep Wednesday night. Senior Cam Schilling and junior Jordan McCloud sported mohawks and senior guard Marcus Tibbs had his number 3 etched into his head.
Suit watch
As he does every year, Federal Way boys head coach Jerome Collins is making a fashion statement at the state tournament with his suits. Collins wore a classy off-white, baby blue combination Wednesday during the Eagles’ opening-round win over Redmond. The combo also featured a pair of baby-blue shoes.
Attendance
First-day total attendance for the boys and girls basketball tournament was 9,468 Wednesday. Last year’s day-one attendance was 11,279.
