BleacherCoaches.com

… but girls teams can.


I have no answer, but I would like to hear theories about it. 

I tried to put together the numbers on this, and the girls definitely win big. 

http://hce1947.blogspot.com/2017/03/why ... -from.html

This isn't exclusively a District Six problem, it's a Western PA thing altogether. Pittsburgh is well behind the Eastern half of the state too.  The coaching, talent pool, and emphasis in basketball altogether is stronger on the Eastern half of the state. They have better AAU programs, and a more genuine interest in basketball top to bottom. And more importantly, numbers.

Kids in Western PA play basketball to pass the time until football season, kids in Philadelphia play basketball as their main sport.  There are athletes on this half of the state, but it doesn't seem like basketball is their genuine focus. A great example is the New Castle team that won the Quad-A state a few years ago, their best player was Malik Hooker. Great athlete, but he's going to be an NFL first round pick.  They didn't have a Division One basketball player on their team. 




Girls basketball is better than boys because of it being more of a focus, and having stronger AAU emphasis.  There just aren't enough kids playing basketball beyond November-February around here. Where in girls side of things, they are playing more basketball.

Johnstown 2004 or 2005 were also a runner-up in the boys category.

Interesting enough, a coach friend and I were having this exact discussion a few weeks ago. I think the answer to this is two-fold.

First, is the difference in areas. There are many more girls that end up playing basketball in the "country" compared to in major cities, for a variety of reasons.  Because of this, there ends up being more good players. Along with this, there are several good girls summer leagues in the area. Comparing that to the boys...many more boys from the city decide to play basketball, as compared to football and baseball, which this area is much more known for. As far as summer leagues are concerned, there really aren't any good ones in this area

The other reason for the girls having more success, in my opinion, is due to the areas AAU programs. I know that there is a ton of criticism of AAU programs by many on here, but in the end, they do make better players, on the whole. Programs like Blue Thunder, and other like it, have been taking girls all over the state to play against really good competition for many years. On the boys side, this has not been the case until very recently. The best program in the area is Winners Circle, but it has only been around for about 5 years.  I think if you give it a few more years, the boys have the possibility of doing some damage in the state playoffs.

some will say players are made at aau

I think all the above mentioned carries a lot of truth. I'd go even further in saying history plays a role as well. Boys have always had options athletically. They could pursue many different avenues to athletic success. So you have diversity in boys athletics in regards to the best athletes amongst the sports. Girls historically never really had options until title 9 which is still pretty recent. One thing girls had, for the most part, from very early on is basketball. I think because of this and what was already mentioned resulted in a culture where more of the best female athletes pursue basketball rather than other sports.

juniata valley boys won the state title in '96 and appeared in the finals the year before.  The difference is Philly.  Mens Hoops in Philly is legendary and is the number 1 sport, period. Imagine an area nearly twice the size of pitt proper and any player within that city can goto what ever school they wish, very comparable to what Kennedy Catholic has today except public transport exists that helps get kids from one side of the city to another and room and board don't have to be included in the expense to attend another school outside the public school district the student lives in.  I remember the debates that took place very well about letting the Philly schools back into the PIAA.  Folks were saying that the chances for a state title in PA would be greatly diminished if they let D1 back into the PIAA.  I would say the prognosticators were maybe somewhat correct.

The only future in basketball for boys is for those who are going to grow to be 6'6" or taller. Why invest money in your kid playing AAU basketball if you're 5'8" and your wife is 5'3"?

There are also far more kids living in Eastern PA.

I agree with all of the above. There have been many teams close or have accomplished it once or twice. We can have a team in the area that we can think is really good, destroying every local team they play. When they face off against the Eastern Pa teams, it's the opposite or they don't have the what I call, "basketball athleticism" to overcome that team. Basketball in Western Pa is looked at as something to "keep in shape over the winter." Of course you have some good athletes playing basketball, but they don't play it all year long as much as others. Great football players are most of the time good basketball players and also good wrestlers. There is plenty more to it also.

A good example will be on display in the 6A boys championship. 

Reading's best athlete is Lonnie Walker, a five star basketball recruit signed to play for Miami. 

Pine-Richland's best athlete is Phil Jurkovec, a four star football recruit committed to play quarterback at Notre Dame. 

Two incredible athletes. Except one is actually a basketball player.