The Blackhawks are headed into the 4A-1 District Tournament as the second seed. Two home games this past week resulted in very close games, one a loss to Huntsville by 1 point, the second a win over Shiloh by 3 points.
Blackhawk coach Trent Loyd has been on the basketball court from his earliest days as his father is a winning basketball coach.
Loyd is the son of Randy Loyd, basketball coach at Van Buren who recently logged his 700th win.
Neal, too, grew up in a family with education and coaching at the forefront. He is the son of Rick and Sheila Neal, both educators and coaches over the years, with Rick Neal currently the school superintendent at Pea Ridge.
Basketball season is set, Loyd explained, involving 18/3 -- either 18 games and three tournament or 20 games and two tournaments. In the 18 or 20, your conference games fall into that mix. There are 14 conference games.
The Blackhawks compete in numerous tournaments and hosted one this year.
"Tournaments are good experience for post season play. It gets your kids comfortable with that setting, traveling, playing in different gyms with different teams," he said. "In the tournament setting, you're going to play three games in three days -- it's a lot like regional, district state."
Currently the Blackhawks are set for district and are a couple of wins away from locking up a berth for regional, he said.
"Those rankings state wide, I think the only rankings that really matter are when you finish at the end of the year."
Discipline, accountability and passion are the key ingredients to making a good team, Loyd said.
"I try to keep our guys accountable. I expect a lot out of them, they know that. At the same time, I want them to know how much I care for them," Loyd said.
"I grew in a family of coaches. My dad coaches while I was younger. I was born and raised in a gym," Neal said, adding that he played several sports but basketball was his favorite. He said his mother played basketball for Tulsa University.
"We're very similar; we have the same mannerisms, similar philosophies, but we learned from different coaches," Neal said. "Most of what he did, I do a little differently... I took this job as an opportunity to learn more.
"I had to buy into his philosophy," Neal said of being an assistant coach. "As assistant, you are counterpart to his philosophy. Obviously what he does is very successful... That gave me an opportunity to be successful as well."
"We've both been around it, we work together well on the bench and practice," Loyd said of Neal. "I think that's something we've got going well for the program -- we're passionate about the game and our athletes."
Athletic director Tony Travis said: "The thing that is the most impressive about them, is the they run the basketball program together -- the scouting part, the preparation of the opponents that they do for the team is really impressive. When they hit the floor each week, they're really prepared."
Travis said both Loyd and Neal watch films of their opponents and transfer that knowledge to their players. "They know their opponents. I'm fortunate to watch them go through practices.
"We're in a situation where we've got talented kids who have dedicated themselves to being good and being a good team," Travis said of the Blackhawk basketball program.
Loyd said winning 20 games a season provides a good feeling and signals a good season.
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Editor's note: This is the second in a three-part series on coach Trent Loyd and Heath Neal, Blackhawk basketball coaches.
Sports on 02/17/2016