Bishop Carroll vs. Monessen

[motown2]

Honestly, it doesn't matter if the school refuses to sign off an a transfer and the district denies eligibility due to transfer for athletic intent - because the PIAA will reverse the decision on appeal. Minnie at Lincoln Park was deemed ineligible by the WPIAL twice (unanimously) and although the PIAA upheld their ruling on the first appeal, when a second appeal came into play (because of "new evidence" that Lincoln Park supposedly had), the PIAA ruled him eligible. The board member that changed his vote actually stated that it had nothing to do with the rules, that he just thought that the kid should have the opportunity to play.

Minnie is from Monessen and Monessen school district has to pay Lincoln Park $9K a year for him to attend the charter school, which is 60+ miles from Monessen. Minnie lives with another LP player during the school year and he has siblings that still attend Monessen - so how can anyone deny that he is attending LP to play basketball?

I'm encouraged that some district 6 posters think that Monessen may be able to pull off the win tonight against Bishop Carroll. I checked the BC record and although they've had some blow-outs, many of those wins came against teams with losing records, while Monessen plays a very tough non-conference schedule. The greyhounds will have to find a way to stop Lee and Martinazzi without getting in foul trouble, because BC has such a huge roster.

If Monessen can play like they did against Vincentian, I think Monessen will win tonight.

[costanza]

motown, what was your impression of vincentian? must have been one back and forth game with monessen!!

[motown2]

actually, I had a death in the family and had to miss that game. Many people said that it was the best game they ever saw! Two very similar teams in terms of style, that play pressure defense and rely on their speed to push the ball and wear down teams. No one gave Monessen a chance to win that game but the 'hounds led the entire game.

[deepcreek]

Simply. BC is a very ordinary (ordinary good team) when they can;t force turnovers and have to play half-court offense. Good ball handling teams that know how to break a press have a shot (see BG games), while teams that have good athletes that can't break a press or ball handle struggle against BC (see Richland and Bishop McCort).

So if Monessen can break press, I am certain they will be the most athletic team BC faced all year and they will get easy hoop after easy hoop and then force BC to play offense and shoot the basketball. BC has nice outside shooters, but other than Martinazzi they cannot create space to shoot.

[motown2]

deepcreek,

I hope you're right! How has BC done against tough man-to-man defense? I'm pretty sure our pointguard, Javon Brown, will be on martinazzi - he typically defends the top scorer and forces turnovers.

[deepcreek]

I dont want to paint BC in a bad light, they are really good and the coach is top notch. However, I dont know how they will react to very hard on-ball pressure, because they haven't played a team cabable of doing it yet. In my oponion, they should have tried to play a little tougher quality of opponent like the AAAA teams in D6 and close WPIAL teams like Indiana. They did play Hollidaysburg (AAAA), but hburg had a down year.

So, I will be curious as well to see how it works out. Since I am a D6 person, I hope BC pulls it out, but my gut tells me Monessen in a close game.

[motown2]

Coach Salvino's approach is to always play the best competition and an extremely tough out of conference schedule to better prepare the team for the playoffs. He'd rather lose to a AAAA team and improve the team's skills than to beat a weak or mediocre team.

Honestly, one thing that concerns me is the mindset of some of the players. I don't believe that anyone on the western side of the bracket can beat Lincoln Park with their stacked all-star team, so I can see how some players may feel that ultimately it doesn't matter how many more games they can win because to get to Hershey you have to go through LP.

For some schools, the players may feel that the further they go in states the better chance they have of attracting some attention from college coaches; but, in the case of Monessen, all of the starters are football players that will play football at the next level - none will play college basketball. A few of our freshmen, that do get minutes off the bench will be pure bb players in the future.

[PerryChicker]

The animosity is not toward any team or player. It is toward the rules themselves. Open enrollment vs an A size school district? Please. It has been 15 years since a school district has won a state championship. 15 years and the districted schools outnumber the open enrollment schools 5 to 1. For it to be a level playing field, the school districts would have to win the next 75 in a row. I just don't see that happening.

[Crimson's Ghost]

If mindset appears to weigh in on Monessen like you say, I don't think it will for Carroll. Winning builds confidence and undefeated means you are pretty confident, and it has carried over from last season. 4 starters back from a team that beat Vincentian twice and lost to Lincoln Park 88-86. So maybe the Monessen kids have their 40 point loss to LP in the back of their heads, but Carroll is thinking they were right there last year.

[motown2]

don't be fooled by the fact that LP has many of the same players on the roster. They are a much, much better team this year. With that said, I'm sure that BC is confident and there is definitely value in being naïve enough to think that you can beat LP. I would love to see someone knock them off before they get to Hershey but I just don't think it will happen.