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I’d put it this way, not every great junior high team becomes a great varsity team. But every great varsity team probably was really good in junior high.

Crimson's Ghost wrote: ↑July 14th, 2020, 2:01 pm I’m not equating junior high championships to varsity championships. I’m just saying you can definitely tell in a lot of cases when you have a good group or a good player or two at the junior high level.

Fair enough

One thing nobody has mentioned here is that basketball is a very skill oriented sport and practicing/refining fundamentals like passing, dribbling, shooting, cutting, screening, and footwork are critical for growth in the sport.

I watched a kid at our high school (who played major D1 football and was a 4 year starter, now an NFL TE) play for 4 years. I watched another kid who started at safety and punt returner at PSU for 2 years also play varsity basketball for 4 years.

Both were dominant players in middle school because they were athletic, physical presences. Both were moved up to varsity as frosh. Both contributed significantly to the varsity team as frosh.

With that said, both also decided to devote the majority of their time in HS outside of basketball season to football and did very little in the gym, other than maybe 1 team camp in July.

Their basketball skills atrophied from their Frosh year to their senior seasons. They were obviously both very strong and athletic, so they contributed for all 4 years even at the big school level in western PA. I’m not so sure that would’ve happened in a more basketball rich area. Neither player was dominant as they moved through high school. Both struggled at times with ball skills, shooting, and footwork. That was strictly due to the lack of off season skill work. However, both were physical and “got after it” on defense and in terms of rebounding. They always drew tough defensive assignments and were very difficult for often the other team’s best offensive player to go against because they were both really strong and really athletic. You don’t need many skills to play defense, set a good screen, or rebound, just the attitude and passion!

For example, I watched the 6’4” 240 pound kid who is now playing in the NFL absolutely abuse a slender 6’11” kid from Lincoln Park who played at Temple. He pushed him off the block, out of the lane, and went aggressively at him on offense. He threw him around like a rag doll for the 12 minutes that the 6’11” kid was able to stay in the game and play. This resulted in the 6’11” kid getting in serious foul trouble because he was too weak to guard our monster and he finished with maybe 4-6 points and a couple of rebounds for the game.

The 6’11” kid was a mid-major D1 college basketball player. I think he learned a little lesson that day about the importance of strength training in becoming a better basketball player.

Had both of these two kids from our school focused solely on basketball, they could’ve been solid, contributing PSAC level D2 players (think UPJ.) Obviously they chose the correct sport. They are both 2 great young men (now men) who have never forgotten where they’re from. Both are still around (one in the off season.)

As an aside, one if my favorite HS Basketball moments from these two was when the kid who is now an NFL TE missed a dunk he had on a fast break. He came off the right lane and went up and the defender just ran away from him so he wouldn’t get killed...The ball slipped out of his hand and went 8-10 feet above the rim. I think the backboard/rim are still shaking.

Since this is a “Richland” thread, I suspect that Burke was similar to the two guys I describe. However, he was more dominant because he was playing against competition that wasn’t quite what our two guys faced. He was athletic enough to get away with not spending as much time on skills in the off season, although since his dad coached him he likely spent more time at basketball in the off season than most other D1 football kids who play HS basketball. I suspect that Burke could’ve been a good collegiate D2 guard had he focused on basketball. I believe that both of our guys would’ve been 1,000 point scorers if they’d played in the LHAC/lower classes of District 6.

Crimson, Until they decide to get religion @ BGU, BMCHS, or BC. Then the deck gets stacked.

Crimson's Ghost wrote: ↑July 14th, 2020, 2:01 pm I’m not equating junior high championships to varsity championships. I’m just saying you can definitely tell in a lot of cases when you have a good group or a good player or two at the junior high level.

I think you need to keep in mind that some schools constantly bump up their best 8th graders to play 9th grade and even the best 9th graders to play JV. I’ve seen terrible 9th grade teams but 2-3 9th graders that would have been on that team are getting quality time in JV. So it’s hard to predict sometimes.

Yea, I think it's more commonplace to call up freshman now than it was 10-15 years ago.

What does being a graduate of Wesmont have anything to do with coaching there? Roman always seems to be looking for greener pastures rather than developing the talent at Westmont. Very overrated as a coach.

Wallpaper...Do you have any idea what you are talking about? Greener pastures? Perhaps you’re not a DRJR fan because his teams have had success.

Whippy
No not jealous just stating fact. Every time a position comes up he’s always looking. As far as players, he discourages them from playing other sports and if they do he belittles them and demotes them because of it.
That’s a fact jack.

Wallpaper,

Where do you get your information? My guess is out of a box of Cracker Jacks or Cocoa Puffs.

The guy took the Jtown job for a year, and there's no evidence that he has ever applied anywhere else.

Westmont is a small school and therefore, many of the best players are muti-sport athletes by necessity. Roman has supported multi-sport athletes over over his many years of coaching. Why don't you ask Ryan Gleason, the Kanuchs, Valente, Glennon, etc. what they think of Coach Roman? All of them played sports other than basketball in college and were successful.

Please provide some evidence to back up your statements that Roman is constantly on the hunt for a job, and belittles/demotes multi sport athletes. Bet you can't.

Here is what is really going on with you taking shots at Roman:

I'll bet that your son played for Westmont and you are just disgruntled and blame Roman for your son not getting a college athletic scholarship. Like many parents, you had an inflated perception of his athletic abilities. You and your son's mom probably screamed at the refs and coaches from the stands too, just like true BLEACHERCOACHES, which is what you are. Nothing more. Time to let it go.

The reality is, that few kids end up playing college athletics, even at the D3 level where athletic scholarships aren't even given to student/athletes.

You're living up to your screen name. You're like wallpaper...Old wallpaper is hard to remove, but when newly applied, you stick on the wall for a couple of decades and nobody really cares about you until you change your carpeting or furniture.

Please spare us and go look at an old yearbook so you can talk about the old days and how your son was gyped out of 5 minutes of playing time per game.

YAWN. You're just another person who thought your son was the next LeBron...and that's a fact Jack!