Some people never grow up...

By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@Oklahoman.com 

You ever have that dream of going to some big event without tickets and just waiting it out until you did? I have and plenty of times I’ve given up on it before seeing it through.

But not Jeff Tompkins, the new Edmond North boys basketball coach. Tompkins made the trek to San Antonio to watch the Final Four and stayed with it. And did in fact see the games.

“I knew it was going to be a special event – didn’t want to miss it,” Tompkins said.

But Tompkins never turned off his coaching hat, watching each game not as a fan but as a coach.

Tompkins even went as far as to tell me why Memphis blew out UCLA and struggled for a while against Kansas.

Guard play. More specifically, the way the Tigers guards were defensed by the Bruins and Jayhawks.

Against UCLA, Tompkins said, the Bruins were right in the face of Memphis’ Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts. This allowed the two speedsters to smoke UCLA and get to the cup.

The Jayhawks, on the other hand, played back and kept Memphis in front of them. The trio of defenders of Russell Robinson, Brandon Rush and Sherron Collins did not get beat off the dribble.

Tompkins is not afraid of moving to the big boys club, going from 2A Rush Springs to 6A with the Huskies.

“The same principles apply.”

With Tompkins in the fold and Kevin Korstjens leading the girls program, Edmond North is on the right track.