Hillsborough: News and notes

By JOE SMITH and KEITH NIEBUHR, Times Staff Writers
Published January 15, 2008

Pinellas Park vaults into the top spot in our boys basketball rankings, and St. Petersburg Catholic reclaims No. 1 for the girls. Also, Tampa Bay Tech's girls basketball team secured the No. 1 seed at the upcoming Class 5A, District 8 tournament with its 47-41 win over Bloomingdale on Monday night. Check it all out at highschool.tampabay.com.

Plant's football 'circus'

At Plant, "it's like a three-ring circus," Panthers coach Robert Weiner said, with college coaches appearing daily. Auburn stopped by Monday. So did Georgia, Michigan State, Western Kentucky and Elon.

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville watched clips of junior quarterback Aaron Murray, who was recently offered a scholarship. Tuberville offered all-state receiver Derek Winter a chance to make an official visit to Auburn next week. Weiner said Winter, who is considering USF, plans to take the trip.

Did you know?

It has been well-documented that Bloomingdale has had little success in football - American football, that is.

But in the other football - soccer - the Bulls have been very good. Entering this season, the boys and girls programs have combined for 10 trips to the state semifinals.

Here's a further breakdown of each.

The boys have a 30-11 postseason record, three state titles (1993, '95, '98) and have made six state semifinal appearances.

The girls have a 28-17 postseason record and one state title (2001), and have been to the state semifinals four times.

Check it out

Catch 47 has tapped Gaither at Chamberlain boys basketball as its game of the week. So if you can't make it out to the 7:30 start on Friday, just turn on the TV.

[Last modified January 15, 2008, 01:22:41]