Amidst girls basketball tournament madness and the Roger Clemens hearings on Capitol Hill, an emptying of the notebook:

Jim Hicks’ Second Annual Playoff Preview is scheduled for Saturday at Forest Brook High School.

Hicks, the proprietor of RCSSports.com, perhaps the top Web site dedicated to Houston-area boys basketball, has scheduled four intriguing matchups pitting 5A against 4A teams and, in one case, a home-school team.

The schedule has nationally-ranked Yates playing A&M Consolidated at 3:30, Eisenhower (30-3) against Smiley at 5 p.m., HCYA against Huntsville at 6:30 and Wheatley against Whitehouse at 8 p.m.

The original schedule had Yates playing HCYA.

Both teams made the Houston vs. The Nation tournament in December the coming-out party for themselves and the entire area. HCYA pulled the rare feat of participating in two tournaments that weekend; it defeated St. Pius at Houston vs. The Nation and won the Second Baptist tournament.

Yates defeated Oak Hill Academy in the final seconds. The Lions currently are ranked No. 5 by USA TODAY and No. 3 by Scout.com.

Neither Eisenhower nor Smiley has lost in 2008. Eisenhower defeated Memorial 80-55 Tuesday night to cap a 14-0 season in District 19-5A; Smiley is 14-0 in 21-4A.

Saturday’s matchups probably wouldn’t otherwise occur because of conference. Eisenhower and A&M Consolidated are 5A teams; Huntsville, Yates, Smiley and Whitehouse are 4A; and HCYA is comprised of home-schooled student-athletes.

The coaching carousel

In an offseason that was sure to be interesting because of realignment, several coaching changes have further shuffled the deck.

In the Cy-Fair ISD, Robert Blackshear has left Cypress Springs after 11 years to start the athletic program at the new Cypress Lakes High School. Gene Johnson has been hired away from Fort Bend Hightower to pioneer the program at Cypress Ranch. Both schools will start varsity play in 2010.

Johnson guided Hightower to the regional finals, where the Hurricanes lost to North Shore.

Blackshear will be succeeded by Roland Gonzalez, who most recently coached at Corpus Christi W.B. Ray. Gonzalez was 33-20 in five seasons at his alma mater.

In Fort Bend ISD, Jeff Hulme left Clements for Mansfield High School near Dallas. Hulme was voted the Touchdown Club’s Coach of the Year after Clements went 13-1, losing to eventual 5A-Division II state champion Katy in the regional semifinals.

At Eisenhower, interim head coach Ray Evans recently was promoted to the full-time job. He succeeds Darryl Phipps, who was relieved of his duties shortly after the 2007 season ended.

Area playoff times announced

Several girls basketball coaches met Wednesday morning to determine times and sites for area playoff games Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Thursday's games are Cy-Fair vs. Madison at the Aldine Campbell Center and Bellaire against Hastings at Alief Taylor. Both games are 6 p.m.

At 7 p.m. Friday, Cinco Ranch will play Nimitz at Cypress Ridge and Lamar meets Elsik at Alief Taylor.

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