03/10/2006
By Brian Porter , Staff Writer

PLANO - A three-headed monster can be limited in its success. One head may be cut off. A second may be hampered. Rarely can it ever be destroyed.

That's why coach Tom Inman likes the chances of his Plano basketball team. That and the fact he has a seven-footer coming off the bench and three top-notch players in a guard rotation. That's before considering starting forward Lawrence Mann.

"How do you explain how fortunate we have been to have everything fall into place," Inman asks. "Our three-headed monster has led us all year long. Lawrence has been steady in the playoffs. Landon Skinner brings the 'X-factor.' "

Plano has advanced to its first UIL Boys Basketball State Tournament appearance since 1980, a team led by Texas Player of the Year Kirk Lundblade and Jack Crain. Twenty-six years later the Wildcats are back.

Plano (27-8) meets Richardson Berkner (31-7) at 7 p.m. today in a Class 5A state semifinal. San Antonio Warren (30-9) meets defending state champion Kingwood (35-5) at 3 p.m. in the other semifinal. The Class 5A state championship takes place at 8 p.m. Saturday. All state tournament games take place at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin.

"We have a chance to win our first championship against the defending champion," Inman said. "It's the perfect storybook script. It's a bad Disney movie. Its 'Miracle on Ice' and 'Rookie of the Year' all mixed into one.

They wouldn't film something like that. I'll film the documentary."

The lead role is the three-headed monster -- Joe Fulce, John Roberson and Eric Zastoupil. Fulce averages a double-double. Roberson and Zastoupil are close. Roberson compiled the first triple-double on record at Plano and has eclipsed double figures scoring in every game this season.

Lawrence Mann, who averages 7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2 assists, is the forward opposite Fulce. Zastoupil is the post and Roberson the point guard.

The off guard position is held by Landon Skinner, but Nate Christian, Tyler Roof and fab freshman Rex Burkhead have starts at the position this year.

Plano can go big, fast, athletic or all three at once. It a chameleon of a basketball team.

"Every year I come to the state tournament and dream about what it would be like to be down there on the floor as a coach," Inman said. "There are a bunch of great coaches who have never coached a game on that floor. I think all the coaches are just glad they brought us along for the ride. These are great players making this happen."

Inman first came to Plano as an assistant under Stan Hicks in the 1989-90 season. It was 10 years removed from Plano's last appearance at the state tournament, a 70-69 loss in the Class 4A championship game to Houston Kashmere. Plano also fell to Dimmit, 62-40, in the Class A championship in 1952. This is the team's third ppearance in the state tournament.

The team will lean on all the experience it can get. Plano girls basketball assistant Michael Kuban, who has coached in four girls state tournaments and one boys state tournament, is along for the trip. He once coached in both the boys and girls state tournament in 2003 at Buffalo. He won the 2002 girls Class 2A state championship.

"Mark Cuban has a nicer plane," Inman said. "Michael has been a lot more help to us."

Kuban has become a well-traveled volunteer boys assistant since the Plano girls team fell out of the playoffs.

"I saw Duncanville twice," Kuban recalled. "I went to Midland to see Odessa. I saw San Antonio Warren last week."

Abdullah 'Bull' Lawal, the Plano single-season and career steals and charges drawn leader, is back with the team after chipping in to watch Berkner in its regional.

There are others Plano will lean on and, yet, Inman believes this is a team that won't fall prey to the horror stories of the state tournament.

"I'd be really surprised if they came out wide-eyed," Inman said. "The floor is still the same length. It is still a gym with two baskets and the ball is still the same shape. I'd be shocked if it affected our guys."

Berkner poses a rematch and one in which Plano could have the upper hand. Plano is 6-0 in games at Berkner under Inman and swept Berkner the last time the teams were aligned in the same district.

"I don't know that history will play into it," Inman said. "They probably know all that stuff. We do feel like we've had a lot of success against them. At first I didn't like having to play them in the semifinal, now I think I'd rather play them right away."

Plano ended a two-game losing streak four games into the season by defeating Berkner, 66-55, with a 17-8 run in the second period and a combined 46 points from Fulce and Roberson.

Plano was without starters Lawrence Mann and Landon Skinner. The playoff success of the football team removed Burkhead and Christian. Berkner was also short-handed without some football athletes.

"I wouldn't read anything into that game," Inman said. "There's no way you can draw anything from it. It was a long time ago and a lot of players weren't in that game."

Plano played a schedule which included 14 games against playoff qualifiers and five games against Class 4A or 5A regional finalists. The Wildcats, ranked No. 18 in the final TABC Class 5A state poll, hold a 2-1 record against teams in the state field. Plano is 17-1 with a one-point loss across its past 18 games and has won 19 of its past 21 games.

Berkner, the No. 3 team in the final TABC Class 5A state poll, is 18-1 across its past 19 games with the loss coming in a playoff warm-up game.

Plano enters the game off a win over the state's last unbeaten team in any classification.

"I think sometimes basketball teams north of the Trinity River are sold short," Inman said. "It speaks well of both teams. It speaks well of northern suburban basketball."

As the coaches speak in basketball terms, the student bodies may most remember football. Plano was a Division II-Region I finalist. Berkner was a Division I-Region II finalist. The teams never met, but it goes deeper than that. Plano went winless in 2003 for the first time in program history. A missed extra-point set up an overtime session which Berkner won to reach the playoffs and hand Plano its first 0-10 season in more than 100 years of playing football.