AA Boys Playoff Open Thread.

[Crimson's Ghost]

I think it all comes down to what we all said, D6AA boys was down this year, that's all. Scheduling helps, but talent is probably a better weapon going into the state playoffs.

[deepcreek]

true, but kids only develop talent by playing better competition to expose their weaknesses so they can work on them. A false sense of security is a bad thing.

[Dragoncat]

I agree that playing good competition will always get you better. Playing D7 teams is not the only way to find good competition, they are not that special. I think Blairsville was very aggressive in there non conference games this year.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Playing a tougher schedule definitely makes you better, I'm always a proponent for local teams to step out and play people. It's just simple sports logic, the same as saying a 2 loss LSU team is better than an undefeated Boise State team. They come more battle tested. It obviously makes sense.

I closely followed the McCort teams, heck I played on some teams and we always played some tough non-conference teams. And while we didn't win a lot of games on a statewide level, I always felt we were prepared and I thought the more recent teams with Trexler and Hipp were also prepared. Blairsville lost by 20 points and more often than not, I think maybe playing a few better teams may have better prepared them.

McCort always scheduled tough, Johnstown does off and on, Westmont usually finds a couple of tough games too. Somerset went to District 3 And played some AAAA teams this year even.

I get what dragoncat is saying, the WPIAL isn't great basketball. Bad teams in the WPIAL would probably be bad here too, but if you can go out and sneak onto the schedule with some bigger WPIAL AAA or AAAA schools with athletes and play on their gym, there is value in that. Even playing the smaller Jeannette/Aliquippa type teams are good too.

You don't always have to turn to the WPIAL though, There's games available down in Harrisburg, Philly teams will play you if you head down there. Head out of state even. Do what McCort and Johnstown did, find a local partner and they hosted an Eastern Charter school one game on Friday night and one game on Saturday afternoon.

[Dragoncat]

What Crimson is saying makes all the sense in the world and that is exactly what Blairsville did. They have room for 6 non conference games and they were: Holidaysburg, Westmont Hilltop, Bishop Carrol, Central Cambria, Southern Fulton and Somerset.

[sonofpsycho]

dragoncat, I understand what you are saying but it takes more than scheduling a few competitive games during the season to be competitive in the state playoffs. oohmy kinda nailed it. The kids from D7 are just playing more hoops and more competitively. In addition to summer leagues, shootouts, etc against some good competition alot of the kids are playing competitive aau ball April-July.

We in D6 are at a disadvantage because of our school sizes and population decline there is not much in the way of consistent competition. And as far as i can tell there is no competitve aau in the area. By competitive I mean teams that have tryouts, practices and play in the best tournaments in NYC, Philly, DC, BAlt, Columbus, Chicago, etc -- and then in the TOP BRACKET of competition where they will be exposed to the best talent.

Not all kids in D7 are playing this kind of aau ball but then there are some that are and when they come back to their school teams and play in shootouts, summer leagues, etc -- the level of competition is stepped up a notch. This really benefits AA and A kids and that's why we, in the hinterlands, are finding it difficult to compete outside of D5 and D6 at any class.

i saw a post on the girls thread about the same thing - D6 getting pummelled in AA by D7. Something like 7 of the remaining 8 teams from the western bracket are from D7. It was never that way when D6 had a competitive aau program back not so many years ago. There was a 3 year span where D6 did not lose a state playoff game to a D7 team in AA.

It quite simply all comes back to competition, who wants to put in the time and who can stand getting their butts kicked at times to get better. As it stands in D6, the teams just have not been exposed to the intensity and pressure they are seeing in the sttae playoffs and we are seeing the results.

[Icoach]

There are good basketball teams across all districts. The WPIAL is not the answer to it all, although the style of play is different than in other districts (it seems). Dragoncat brings up a good point with Blairsville….they played some good out of conference games….but when hit with a WPIAL team that had multiple threats, pressure defense, and was disciplined….they could not adjust. Maybe it goes back to what was said before that D6 AA was not as strong in years past. I got a chance to see Blairsville play a few times this year. With the athletes they had, I saw them play decent to just ok.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Yeah scheduling can only take you so far, sometimes you just don't have the players. Chestnut Ridge could have played the toughest schedule in the state, GCC still probably beats them.

[theprophet]

Playing a tougher schedule only helps if you are able to compete with the tougher teams you play. If you play Chester and lose by 40pts you nor them got any better.

[HSD6FAN]

Couldn't the same rationale be used to compare the D7 teams to the Philly teams? Don't the teams from the Philadelphia City League tend to dominate at the state level?

Is this a scheduling reason, or just a product of better basketball?

My thought is that the PIttsburgh region offers a better basketball product than the D5/ D6 area. At the same time, the Philadelphia area offers a better basketball product than Pittsburgh.

There are always going to be exceptions, but if an area has a larger population to pull from, they usually do better. I say this with a small twist, because some schools find ways to counter that by being a private school. This allows them to have talents brought in that are not within the district lines.