Starks eligible for Hillcrest after Tournament of Champions

How will Trey Starks' (left) impact the Hillcrest Hornets? Can you say district champion?

Former Glendale Falcons standout Trey Starks will be eligible to play for the Hillcrest Hornets on the Monday following the Tournament of Champions (January 18), as confirmed by Hillcrest coach John Schaefer.

If you’ve missed all of the Starks storyline, here it is in a nutshell:

Starks is a 5-foot-11 senior guard, who was expected to star at Glendale this season. Filled with an explosive game that stretches to the 3-point line, but the strength to defend larger forwards, Starks was ruled academically ineligible for the fall semester. He withdrew from Glendale and enrolled at Hillcrest, switching from southeast Springfield to the north side. But, it turned out, he was technically living with a relative on the northside.

Starks and Hillcrest filed for a MSHSAA hardship waiver that would allow him to participate during his senior season, despite transferring within the city limits and the Ozark Conference. It was granted and as long as Starks got his grades up, as well as did the required credit recovery, he would be eligible.

As Schaefer said this morning, Starks is good to go.

But, more importantly, what does that do for Hillcrest (7-2), a team that has struggled with its guard play? It means the world.

Pair Starks with Taylor Sade and Byron Williams on the perimeter and Dorial Green on the block and the Hornets all of a sudden look like one of the area’s best teams. As for the chemistry, it shouldn’t be a problem. Starks has been practicing with the Hornets all season long. And I know Starks a little from covering the HS beat at the News-Leader. While he neglected other responsibilities, there’s no question basketball comes first. Hopefully, a second chance should be good for him.

I know this, no one in Class 5 District 12 can be happy, now. (Yes, that means you Central, Joplin, Neosho, Willard and host Carthage). As for the rest of this season’s schedule, Starks will have missed three OC games, including Parkview, Kickapoo and Glendale, but he’ll get to play in eight regular-season games and a tournament before districts. Surely 10-plus games will be good enough, right?

Want to get in touch with Allen Vaughan? E-mail him at Allen@TagSGF.com. You can follow him on Twitter here or on Facebook here.

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T.I.

With Trey Starks and Byron Williams Hillcrest beats Ozark by 20. They will be the best team in the area.

Allen Vaughan

TI,
Better than Branson? Nixa?

T.I.

Possibly the areas best 2 players, on one team, paired with one of the best coaches around could mean great things. I do believe they will be better than Branson and Nixa with him as long as they stay healthy…we should have a chance to see during sectionals, if they take care of business during districts. The injury to Byron Williams has forced other people to step up and now it looks like they’ll actually have some depth whenever they have all of their pieces. All I know is that I wouldn’t want to be the coach game planning against them on either end of the floor.

http://glendalebasketball.com GlendaleFalcon27

I wish Trey the best at Hillcrest. While I would’ve been pleased to have him play at Glendale this season, everything has worked well. Our sophomores have been able to play together and learn while not having to run most of the offense through Starks. Trey will get a second chance with the Hornets and, quite frankly, a better shot at post-season success than he would’ve had at Glendale.
http://www.tagsgf.com Brett Johnston

I thought Hillcrest was the favorite to win that district before this news. As much as Starks can score, I think he’s even more of an asset on the defensive end of the floor. Green has been putting up huge numbers, even when he drifts from time-to-time, but It doesn’t seem like he really wants to be the offensive focal point on every possession.

There is still the question of what his role will be and how the other rotation guys adjust. Does he start immediately? I guess that’s for Schaefer to shuffle, but this could get interesting.

Good luck with sorting through your Rec Specs 15 the next few weeks, Allen.