PIAA Basketball

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We had a decent football thread going, so it's about time for a basketball one.

A girl just got shot up at a game at East High in Erie...pretty messed up.

Nobody is that great from D9 this year that I've seen. DCC is decent, ECC sucks this year. They must have had less scholarships available.


Also, Beaver Fall lost to Sharon, which made my jaw drop. I guess BF has had a few dumb losses, but Sharon has to be on another level.


You guys that live over in the east should have some good basketball to watch.

[FIRE CHIEF]

Chartiers Valkey is going to get upset by Moon in the WPIAL playoffs/finals. Whenever they meet. That's my only bold prediction for now.

Also, Peters is as good as anybody in WPIAL Quad A. But, they are probably the worst WPIAL Quad A top team I've personally ever seen. They aren't even as good as recent winners like Mt. Lebanon, Bethel or Central. Who were pedestrian. Probably since the Cinderella Char Valley team in 2001, when Uniontown was tough anyways. This will be a bad year in states for quad A WPIAL teams.

[king99]

Pa. Hoops?

hahaha, Not a nationally ranked one in the bunch

NJ? hmmm...hahahaha, only kidding

Chief, I missed on Chester my apologies, and way off on my part

NJ 1-2 and #12

[FIRE CHIEF]

Chester has a new coach this year. I am real skeptical on how well they will play in some tight playoff games.

Norristown is a real talented team too. I wouldn't be shocked if they are the best team in the state when all is said and done.

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How good is that McConnell kid from Chartiers?

Sadly enough, I get most of my basketball info from Pennlive, so I can't really trust a lot of that stuff.

I did read a really good article in the Post Gazette about how Schenley's teams from the past few years keep looking better and better with the success of Blair and DJ Kennedy.

[FIRE CHIEF]

McConnell straight up is the best shooter I've ever seen in high school. My dad says Dante Callabria was better, but I don't remember him well enough.

TJ is about 5'8 and 140 pounds and has a division 1 scholarship. It's Duquesne too, a team that is in the upper half of D1. He is really really quick on defense too and has great handsa nd instincts for steals. But, his shooting makes him really special. He's at least as good as 5'7 Archie Miller who had a nice career at NC State from what I've seen.

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Girl at St. Mary's already broke 1000 career points just halfway through her sophomore year. Pretty amazing.

She's breaking a lot of records that another girl from DCC held who ended up being a 4 year starter at Duke.

And not sure if Indiana basketball is any good in WPIAL play, but they were beating Punxsy 47-6 at halftime last night. That is crazy...their football team was pretty good this year, maybe they have some good all-around athletes.

[FIRE CHIEF]

Indiana is OK. They are a little off the pace in their section with Greensburg Salem and Uniontown I believe being the front runners.

The WPIAL regular season ends Monday and they make playoff pairings Tuesday night. We have about a week until my unofficial start of March Madness. Nothing is better than millions of WPIAL then PIAA then NCAA tournament basketball games.

[FIRE CHIEF]

WPIAL finals tonight and tomorrow.

Single A Sewickley Academy vs Serra Catholic
You have the snobs against the Mon Valley snobs. Serra is the defending state champions and they look tough again led by TJ Heathrington. Their guard play is outstanding and they are well coached. Up until last year they could never get over the hump, but I think this group has changed things. SWAC, led by their diabolical coach "Cheat to" Win(fred) Palmer, has their best squad since the Alderdice boys spent their one year there in 2004. Serra is a little too quick and I definitely like their coaching advantage here. They win a game at their pace.
Serra 67 SWAC 60

Triple A Hampton vs Highlands
I knew Chartiers Valley was a house of cards. I just expected Moon to knock them off. Both these teams knocked off Moon and CV in the last round. Highlands is very athletic and after a VERY disappointing playoff appearance last year looks like they've grown up. They are ultra quick at guard but kindda undersized. Hampton is a big team who just outmuscled the young Moon Tugers in the semis late. I look for Hampton to win an old fashioned WPIAL bloodbath in this game.
Hampton 48 Highlands 45

Double A Jeannette vs North Catholic
An absolute nightmare for everybody involved besides unbiased fans like myself. The Duquesne campus security and Pittsburgh police better have the riot gear out. I can't imagine his game being played clean on the court, or in the parking lot before and afterwards after the ugly brawl that caught the nation's eye last year involving phenom Terrelle Pryor. To the game. North Catholic is led by a zillion Longs and a big black dude named Pwono inside. They are good shooters and disciplined. Jeannette is a tough tough team. Theya ren't nearly as talented as the state champions from last year, but theyw ant it just as badly. Jordan Hall puts them on his back and wins what will be a truly epic final. I honestly can't wait to see it.
Jeannette 64 North Catholic 60

Quad A Peters Township vs Mount Lebanon
Peters is coached by a former assistant coach of mine in high school, Mr. Gary Goga. They are a huge sentimental choice for me. What a great guy and I've learned a ton from him. Not as much as from our head coach who was legendary for teaching me to chew tobacco inside discreetly. The game will be a vintage white ball south hills struggle to 50. If you like illegal screens, pushoffs, 45 second set plays and excellent foul shooting this is the spot for you. Peters to me has been slightly better all year. I've seen both teams play a number of times and just always have put Peters slightly ahead. Mostly due to Wilcox, their best player. Joey David is attempting to become just the second Quad A coach to win two titles in the WPIAL. Tim McConnell is the only otehr active coach to have accomplished that, and he's in Triple A now. I don't think they have the game breaker to finish it off in this one though. Great job by David too after the parents tried to run him out in 07. He rebuilt that team last year and have them right back where he should now. A loss would not mean a bad season for him and the fans better remember this.
Peters 51 Mt. Lebanon 45

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Was browsing the PG website this evening and stumbled upon the headline "Perry shoots down Allderdice." I had no clue it was about a basketball game until I read the whole article.

EDIT: I remember the whole North Catholic fiasco pretty well last year. Those guys didn't earn any respect from me. Hall is a pretty fine basketball player too.

[FIRE CHIEF]

Yea, that whole North Catholic thing didn't reflect well on what has always been known as a sleezy program. Even if what they said to the Jeannette kids was true, and I'm sure it was, down 26 wasn't the time to say it. Actually there was no time to say it in that venue. Save it for the summer if you really want it off your chest.

That shooting is sad. Kind of surprising too. Those are two schools I definitely wouldn't expect that coming from. Brashear is in some big time turf wars within their district and Schenley is on the Hill. I figured if they didn't shoot anybody nobody would.

Tpom Droney looked good for SAWC last night. I didn't realize Serra's second best player was ejected Tuesday night and suspended for this game. I'mm hoping rthese teams rematch.

Don't like the new ejection rule. Getting kicked out of the current game is punishment enough. You don't need suspended for another automatically. Do it if it's needed, don't mandate it. Kids get in little scraps and kicked out all of the time around here. It's part of the game. Highlands had a kid who drove and was called for an offensive foul late and down big. He stood up and hit a Hampton kid and got kicked out. That's not a suspendable thing to me. Just tell him to hit the showers and try next time.

[king99]

After all this is Pa. hoops, I Have not seen much up here that would remotely rival NJ Hoops.

I see box scores every day, games in the 40's are common, I scored 44 in a frosh game.With no 3 point line.Just kidding altho the second part is true.

[king99]

Up here Holey Cross is it, and they got 46 against Dunmore?

HC is a combined program of Bishop Hannah I think and another private?

[FIRE CHIEF]

Bishop Hannah I believe was the state champs in 04. I did not realize they combined, but I don't pay attention to that area much.

No, that's a lie. I'm thinking Bishop O'Reilly. They beat Sewickley Academy in 04. Hannah is Gerry McNamara's school. Bob Sura I believe too.

Basketball is ugly in most of the state. Philadelphia is still good. Pittsburgh has a good team every few years. Pitt's Dejuan Blair and St. John's DJ Kennedy played together a few years ago and were absolutely a wrecking crew. Norristown is pretty good this year. No surprise to me they won their district over Chester. Football is still king here. I don't think the top NJ football teams would have a prayer in the WPIAL. Basketball is just to stay in shape for a ton of kids here.

I'd also like to congratulate my man Coach Goga for winning with Peters Township. I called him last night and left him a message and he already got back to me this morning. He's worked his way up and done it the hard way. I hope his team makes a nice run in the state playoffs.

And while we're bragging king, I had the 8th grade single season record for FG% at my school. And still do. 74%. Only averaged 7 a game, but I picked my spots well.:D

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Yeah, we don't play pretty basketball in PA.

That Schenley team a few years ago was amazing. Pryor was an outstanding basketball player as well. There have been a few other blue chip guys from the west that I remember...the one big went to NC State, can't remember his name. Herb Pope could have been something else too, but the poor kid couldn't seem to catch a break.

Of course, the Philly area seems to have 3 or 4 Herb Popes every year, but it's the opposite for football.

Nothing too much going on at the D9 basketball championships. ECC won again for the guys, but they aren't that good this year. Probably the worst ECC team in a half dozen years or so.

Clearfield won in AAA has only lost 2 games all year, so they could make some noise. I don't think they've played anybody that good. They were a solid team last year and got a transfer from Harmony I think. They have pretty balanced scoring, so they might only lose to the first WPIAL team they see by single digits. :p

[FIRE CHIEF]

Nice tripleheader down Palumbo tomorrow that I'll be checking out. Washington and Quaker Valley at 5. Aliquippa and Central Cambria at 6:30. Then the main event, Beaver Falls and Jeannette at 8. I'm feeling a Beaver Falls run here in the state playoffs. Dougie Biega usually has them better in the states than the WPIALs for some reason. Wouldn't shock me if they are at PSU representing the west in the least bit.

[Bleed2Win]

can someone clear this up for me? how many different PA state tournys are there, ive seen A, AA, AAA, and WPIAL now.

[king99]

I have seen Pryor play up here on tapes, when he was in both FB and hoops, as a hoops guy he was a clear big Time DI guy from my view.He was very very good.

I saw him play FB On TV as well a man among HS guys, could not tackle him and when you did not he threw it long.


Philly area use to be almost the second market in U.S. Maybe 3 behind Chicago, NJ has supplanted that by apparently a ton. Not sure why?

I know NJ is a state and Philly just a part of a state, but NJ hoops is almost second to none with blue chips these days.

[Paul Schwartz]

Go to Camden or St. Benedict's:D

[FIRE CHIEF]

Beaver Falls looked good Wednesday night. So did Washington. The Little Prexies dominated Quaker Valley.

Hampton is looking like big threats out of the west in triple A. It's been since the Duane "The Brain" Compo led 2004 Moon Tigers has a WPIAL represented the west in the state championship. Playground legend Derek Gallagher was a great 6th man that season for Moon. I run into him every now and then in the summer time. He's going to be one of those guys who can make every horse shot on earth when he is 35.

[FIRE CHIEF]

Triple A got shook up last night. Neuman Goretti went down. Most people who I respect had them as the best team in any class. Farrell went down out here and they were favored by most people to get there. I like Hampton and they won pulling away late against a Cinderella HGP squad. That sets up an all WPIAL western final Tuesday night. Kind of cool. Greensburg Salem has won two buzzer beaters in a row. The magic runs out when they play a very good Hampton team.

In single A we have the nine thousandth meeting between Elk County Catholic and Kennedy Catholic. KC used to ominate this but ECC finally broke through a few years ago. I'll do what I usually do and pick KC while rooting for ECC. Google Joe Votino and you'll see why nobody on earth should be a KC fan.

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ECC isn't that great at all this year.

I really think Kennedy will beat them pretty easily, but I'll be rooting for Elk too.


Coach Straub has them riding a hot streak, but they are due for a bad game. Last time they won the state title, they were stacked from day one. This year they have one or two nice players, but nothing special. I heard their point guard has mono or something too.

ECC was the 6th seed in the district 9 playoffs and now they are top 4 in the state. That's unreal. They won two of their district playoff games by 1 point, so they could have not even made it into the PIAA's altogether.

[FIRE CHIEF]

I like KC by a ton.

The AA game is interesting. North Catholic has been beating everybody. Washington is so balanced and athletic. They REALLY rebound well. I'll take the Little Prexies in a mild upset.

Hampton by a bunch in Triple A. Though Greensburg Salem's guards have elevated from good to elite in this tournament. Klimchock and Matthews are TOUGH.

Don't know a thing about Penn Wood. Hopefully they rely on pressing. JKoey David gets his Mt. Lebanon teams prepared to beat athletic pressing teams better than anybody in the business.

[dyoung]

Triple A got shook up last night. Neuman Goretti went down. Most people who I respect had them as the best team in any class. Farrell went down out here and they were favored by most people to get there. I like Hampton and they won pulling away late against a Cinderella HGP squad. That sets up an all WPIAL western final Tuesday night. Kind of cool. Greensburg Salem has won two buzzer beaters in a row. The magic runs out when they play a very good Hampton team.

In single A we have the nine thousandth meeting between Elk County Catholic and Kennedy Catholic. KC used to ominate this but ECC finally broke through a few years ago. I'll do what I usually do and pick KC while rooting for ECC. Google Joe Votino and you'll see why nobody on earth should be a KC fan.

Damn right they're a cinderella, they lost to Devon Prep not that long ago.
I wish I could contribute more to this thread but going to school outside of the center of the universe sucks sometimes.

[FIRE CHIEF]

Here are my picks...

Quad A
Penn Wood 60 Mt. Lebanon 55
Plymouth Whitemarsh 72 York 65

Triple A
Archbishop Carroll by a ton
Hampton 63 Greensburg Salem 53

Double A
Imhotep (Gotta go with any school named after an Ancient Egyptian Astronomer) by tons
Washington 65 North Catholic 64

Single A
Scottlamnd
Kennedy

That A state final will be the two greatest Class A programs in the past 20 or so years. Usually I don't get too excited to see either team play. But I really would like to see them play one another. I think KC beat them once or twice in the late 90's.

[king99]

where is this, I want to see if these teams are any good?

[FIRE CHIEF]

Penn State.

The games are on The Pennsylvania Cable Network live today. Single A and Triple A were last night. Double A is at 2 this afternoon and Quad A was at 8.

Don't know a thing about any boys team playing but North Catholic. VERY well coached. Not super athletic but they shoot very well and don't make mistakes. They may be overwhelmed today. They have a nice 6'5 kid but he's by himself up front. They should be able to break any press. I'm concerend about rebounding and getting back in transition.