The governing body for high school competition in Texas is the University Interscholastic League (UIL). UIL competition for the state is divided into four geographical regions. Although it varies a little from year to year, and from one classification to another, Region 1 is generally the area of Texas that is west of the Dallas/Ft Worth metroplex and from the San Angelo area north, Region 2 is the metroplex north, and NE Texas, Region 3 is E Texas and the Houston area, and Region 4 is San Antonio and those schools both west and south of there. As I said, the lines vary….there are schools that might be in Region 2 for one alignment and Region 3 for the next, etc…

Within each of those four Regions, the schools are then grouped into 8 districts with other schools that are of similar size in enrollment. Because of changing populations, this alignment is re-examined and re-done in two year cycles. The number of schools in each of those districts vary, depending upon the proximity of other schools of similar size.

Once competition starts, teams advance thru district play into the playoffs, working through a playoff bracket against other schools of their size (classification) throughout the Region. In basketball specifically, the winner of each Region then meets in a 4-team State Tournament to determine a State Champion for each classification.

In Texas we currently have 6 classifications (1A – 6A). Prior to 2000, there were only 5 classifications. Add up all the State Champions from the State Tournaments held over the past 40 seasons (from 1978 thru 2018 roughly the amount of time girls have been playing 5 on 5 basketball in Texas), and there have been 223 Texas State Champions crowned across all classifications in Girls Basketball.

Over a sample size as large as 40 years, the numbers and Law of Averages usually takes over, which would mean that each Region should win close to the same number of State Championships…..approximately one-fourth of them. One fourth (twenty-five percent) of 223 is 55.75. So, according to the mathematical odds, each Region shouldve won about 56 or so State Championships in Girls Basketball across all classifications over the past 40 seasons.

Of course, we all know that mathematical odds are rarely exact after applying extenuating factors and variables from the real world ….so, here is where we start talking specifically about the real world of Region 1 Girls Basketball, and about straight up dominance. Mathematical odds or common sense certainly dont apply to this discussion…..in fact, the statistics are really nothing short mind-boggling.

Remember that 56 would be about each Regions fair share of State Championships…..well its a little bit of an understatement to say that Region 1 has not shared well with the rest of the state. A quick reference to the UIL State Tournament archives shows that Region 1 has claimed more than 56…..more than 60, more than 70, more than 80, more than 90. In fact, Region 1 has claimed a staggering 115 State Championships over the past 40 seasons! That is 51.6%…..and that means that the other three regions combined could only muster 108 State Championships!!

A couple of other statistical facts: Over those 40 seasons, Region 1 has never been shut out at the State Tournament, winning at least 1 State Championship every single year (no other Region can make that claim). Not only has Region 1 not been shut out, but in only three season were they limited to just a single State Champion. Amazingly, in 22 of those 40 years, Region 1 produced at least 3 State Champions.

The doubter might legitimately come up with a few facts in an attempt to downplay the Regions overall dominance, so to be fair, we need to take look at and discuss them:

1) There are two schools in the Region (Nazareth and Canyon) that have skewed the numbers a little. Many articles have been written about each schools legacy of success, so Im not going to go into detail here…but, those two schools have combined to win 36 State Championships over the past 40 seasons, with Nazareth claiming 21 and Canyon 15. People will point to those 36 Championships and say that those two particular schools have certainly dominated, butnot necessarily Region 1 as a whole. So, for the sake of discussion, lets remove those 36 Championships….just pretend they went to some other school in a different Region. That still leaves Region 1 with 79 State Championships not won by Nazareth or Canyon, which is of course well above the expected 56 or so. I have no way of factually backing up this next statement, but Im going to type it here with 100% certainty: the trouble with taking those two schools out is, very often over the past 40 seasons the second best team in those two classifications in the state also played in Region 1…..meaning if Nazareth or Canyon hadnt won State, another team from Region 1 likely wouldve claimed many of those 36 Championships.

2) In the states larger classifications, teams from the Dallas/Fort Worth area are usually included in Region 1. The reason is simply that there are not enough large schools out in the West Texas/Panhandle area to fill out 8 districts. Doubters will use that fact to dispute the dominance of Region 1, saying (accurately) that those teams are not West Texas/Panhandle teams. The problem with that argument is that only 14 of the 115 Region 1 State Championships were won by teams from the DFW Metroplex. Take those 14 Championships out, and you still have 101 (45.3%) from the heart of the Region (West Texas/Panhandle)……still way more than any other Region.

3). People will claim that girls basketball in general, and athletes specifically, have changed dramatically over those 40 seasons….that the metropolitan areas now dominate and are producing most of the D-1 players in the state. Region 1 has produced many D-1 players over the years…..but, honestly, a D-1 girls basketball player in the West Texas/Panhandle area is the exception now, rather than the rule. So, I think it is absolutely fair to say that athletes have changed and therefore the game has changed. Given those facts, it would seem a logical conclusion that the percentage of State Champions from Region 1 has dropped in this more modern era of girls basketball. However, the numbers simply dont support that line of thinking. Since 2001 (the year in which the State tournament expanded to 6 classifications) there have been 18 State Tournaments and 108 State Champions crowned. 54 of those 108 state champions have been from Region 1…..only slightly lower than the percentage prior to 2001, and again, certainly way more than their fair share. So, Region 1 has continued to dominate in this modern era of girls basketball.

The numbers and results are beyond question, so that leaves the million dollar question of, WHY? Why has the least densely populated area of a state the size of Texas, dominated so dramatically for 40 years in girls basketball?

Obviously, there is no single answer….if there were, other areas of the state wouldve already copy and pasted. Many factors have played a role:

* winning breeds winning (you work hard to keep up with the Joneses, towns around you are winning, so you work harder to win)

* competition breeds winning (youre playing against the best teams in the state, you get better or crumble)

* sparse population and distance between towns (the gym was often the social center of the town)

* lack of competition for kids time from volleyball (many of the smaller schools didnt start volleyball programs till after most of the rest of the state),

Those are a few of the minor factors…..coaches have certainly been a huge factor. Some of the best coaches in the history of girls basketball have coached in Region 1. Thereis Dean Weese who won 7 State Championships at Levelland after coaching at Wayland Baptist, and professionally. There is Joe Lombard whose teams won a thousand games before losing their hundredth (take a minute to wrap your brain around just how unbelievable that sounds). There are coaches like Hunt, Mouser, Wrenn, Bearden, Darden, Martin just to name a few more. There are literally thousands of wins accumulated amongst that group, and dozens of those 115 State Championships….and Im leaving some GREAT coaches off that list!

But, in order to find the true start of it, the biggest factor in the why of it all….the biggest influencing factor on all those coaches, the biggest influence amongst the communities in the Panhandle area…..all you have to do is go to Plainview, home of Wayland Baptist University. Search the web for Wayland Baptist Flying Queens and youll get a true history of womens basketball…..before Coach Sharp at Texas Tech, before Coach Conradt at Texas, before Coach Summitt at Tennessee, before Geno at UConn…..all GREAT coaches and pioneers in the womens game…..but, before them, there was Coach Harley Redin at Wayland Baptist. Attached is a fairly recent article on Coach Redin and the Flying Queens (from the LA Times of all places) and their role in the beginnings of women playing basketball:

Womens basketball has grown exponentially since the early days when Wayland Baptist was the dominant program in the entire country. But, there is no doubting that in Texas High School Girls Basketball, the State of Texas is still dominated by the sparsely populated West Texas/Panhandle Region that is home to Wayland Baptist. A domination unmatched in the athletic world…..Region 1 Girls Basketball.

** I typed this in a different location, then copy/pasted it to here. When I did that, it didnt pick up my apostrophes or spaces between paragraphs…my apologies……the grammatical mistakes bug me, I probably need to update my WordPress