While the Poplar Bluff Mules were practicing during their 2003 MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown appearance, a pint-sized Adrian Webb would dribble a basketball around.
Now 15 years later it's Webb chasing a ring.
"It made me want to make sure I got there at some point in my high school career," said Webb, now a senior who vaguely remembers those days hanging out with the team when his dad was an assistant coach.
"My goal is to win a state championship before I graduate."
Webb and the Mules begin their quest Wednesday as one of 16 teams in the MSHSAA Class 5 playoffs.
"We've got as good a shot as anybody else," Webb said. "Like why not us?"
Poplar Bluff (18-8) faces Hazelwood Central (26-2) at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Mo.
The teams meet 77 days after facing off in a hotly contested game at Waynesville that the Hawks won 59-55.
"They're big, strong, fast and physical," Mules coach William Durden said. "They're a really good team."
Shaun Williams leads Central in scoring at 16.6 points per game having sank 37 percent of his 3-point shots and is a 76 percent free-throw shooter. The 6-foot-4 senior also averages 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.3 steals. In the first meeting with the Mules, Williams scored 18 points but had just three field goals to go with 10 of 14 at the foul line.
The Mules held Cameron Williams, who averages 14.0 points and 5.5 rebounds, to one field goal and six points. The 6-foot-4 senior is also a good foul shooter at 75 percent on the season.
Xavier Ball, a 6-foot-7 senior, is averaging 11.4 points and 6.3 rebounds but had just five points in the first meeting with the Mules.
Poplar Bluff held a late four-point lead but the Mules turned the ball over twice, not counting an offensive foul on Dominique Hardimon, his fifth. It was one of 13 games decided by single digits this season with the Mules going 9-4 but they've won their last five close games.
"Even though we've seen them and played them, and played them close, sometimes we'll walk into a gym and a team will take us for granted," Durden said. "We really don't pass the eye test. We've got a bunch of guys with big hearts, we're just going to go out there and play hard."
The Mules had to overcome an 11-point, second-quarter deficit in the first meeting without their leading scorers for much of the night. Hardimon and senior Rodney Houston both had early foul trouble but junior Xander Martin scored a career-high 22 points.
It was the only game this season in which Hardimon did not reach double digits in scoring, finishing with a season-low nine. The junior is now averaging 19.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game with 12 double-double performances. He needs 31 points to reach 1,000 for his career.
Houston is averaging 11.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists while five more Mules -- Tyler Cline, Joseph Hardimon, Martin, Carlton McDonald and Nik Rowland --are averaging 4.5 points or more.
"Anybody on our bench can give you 15 or 20 on any given night and that makes us hard to stop," Webb said.
The Hawks have given up an average of 54.7 points per game to Poplar Bluff's 55.8 but the Mules are 11-2 when holding teams to 55 points or less with the losses coming in the early-season conference tournament.
"They're a team of runs, they'll get out and get 10 on you quick before you even blink," Durden said. "We've got to get back and stop the ball."
Like the Mules, Central got to the playoffs after falling short in the district final last year, losing by three points to Pattonville. The Hawks have won five straight since a 68-57 loss to second-ranked Rock Bridge and their only other loss was to Orr Academy, the top-ranked team in Illinois' Class 2A.
Like the Mules who started 7-7, Central played a tough schedule. The Hawks have wins over ranked teams such as Vashon, Webster Groves, St. Mary's and Whitfield.
Poplar Bluff, meanwhile, has won 11 of its last 12, beat a Charleston team that reached the Class 3 Show-Me Showdown and also beat Jonesboro, which will play for the Arkansas Class 6A state title.
"They've beat some really good teams so we're going to have to have the best game we've had all year," Durden said.
Central is one of seven ranked teams in the field with seventh-ranked Chaminade (24-2) facing Francis Howell (25-3) in the other sectional playoff that advances to Saturday's 2:45 p.m. quarterfinal at Lindenwood University.
Poplar Bluff has not gotten to the quarterfinals since the current seniors were toddlers when the Mules won the second of consecutive state championships in 2005.
After ending a nine-year playoff drought, they're inspiring future Mules to aim for a championship banner.
Durden's sons and the younger brothers of Martin and Jaylon Lathon have been around the team all season, helping with water during games. On Sunday members of the varsity team were at the High School gyms working middle school games.
"It's been nice," Durden said. "These guys have been doing the book and clock for games. They've been out playing with the guys at halftime. We turn around and see those same faces at our games."