Hats off to Bishop Carroll

[Manfred]

Maybe if GCC coaxed Nemo to go w/ Hipp this year.......Naaahh. Now THAT would have been TOO obvious in intent. Or would it?

[deepcreek]

d6footballfan you are way out of line. You really arent setting a good example for your son about how to be a better person. I can see your points on complaining about the system, but leave the young men out of it. It isn't like the BC kids hot dog or play dirty. They play hard, clean basketball.

Fans are fans every school has their bad ones, it sounds like you fit this example for your son's school.

[hoops]

Let's clear up a couple things. First, of course a private school has an advantage over a public school of the same classification. To argue against that is to destroy your own credibility on any future remarks. This BC team has CH best player (Lee) PC possibly 3 best players (Martinazzi, Madonna and Suckinos) BV top 2 or three player in (Lucas) and CC starter (Marruca). That is essentially a local All Star team. The argument that they came together for basketball just isn't true as they have been in the parochial system before they even knew each other from the beginning of their education. There are no late editions for purely athletic intent in this group look as hard as you might. Hate the system all you like. Try to change the system if you are so motivated. Don't hate the kids. Don't compare BC to what LP is. Every kid on BC lives within 15 mile of the school. Essentially the average size of a Class A school. Very rural miles at that. Low population density if you follow me. LP and others draw from truly no geographic boundaries. A district 5 and 6 all star team would struggle to compete with them. How many legitimate high major Division 1 athletes in basketball have there been in those two districts in the last decade. I am not talking NEC or Patriot League. I mean Power Conferences......ACC,Big East,Big Ten. I can't think of three to match what LP has on the floor at the same time. I can't help but notice in one post regarding football ,with low numbers of players, predictions fly that BC is on the brink of closing and is no longer competitive and in the next when they do well its because they "recruit". Which is it? it seems being private is only an advantage when they do well. There are a lot of years when they do poorly or average also. Where does the advantage go those years. What is recruiting anyways? Are these kids being seen driving in booster bought cars. Do you all forget their parents are paying their normal taxes to their home districts while also paying $6000 to the private school. Do you really think the parents are all so blinded by athletic ambition they don't notice how few from our area go on to save money through athletic scholarships. Maybe their really is something to religious beliefs and parents just feeling another school is a better choice for their child for a million possible reasons. My last high school basketball game was a loss to a private school in the state playoffs so I get the way small publics feel. What I don't get is hating on the kids. Remarking on any individual players body build as a means of a put down is just pathetic. If you actually knew any of the BC players you would find them to be some of the nicest. most polite , hard working academic high achievers you could ever hope to meet. Their dedication to each other and to this game is truly inspiring. I congratulate any local group that brings success to our area.

[konjo78]

Great comment hoops! You can't hate on kids as an adult. Sure maybe kids can hate on kids but that's just kids being kids. BC players worked very hard and deserve a lot of credit for that hard work.


LP is just a better version of a parachional school though..... Neither should be in A as you see kids come from many school districts.

[Laloosh]

Well said Hoops. Parochial schools certainly have an advantage and some to that to an extreme, but not most.

[Laloosh]

it seems being private is only an advantage when they do well. There are a lot of years when they do poorly or average also. Where does the advantage go those years. I congratulate any local group that brings success to our area.

This statement truly hits the nail on the head. Hopefully BC provides inspiration to other schools to improve their program. You need to look no further than to D9 where ECC's program has without question provided a model for other schools to follow and Ridgway, as a result, has won two district championships in three years. They recognized that ECC has an advantage and did something about it. Instead of whining, they made their program one that will be successful for years.

[SFB14]

That is a great post hoops. To say that it's not an advantage for a private school to be able to draw players from more than one geographical school district is just ridiculous. I'm not as familiar with the BC kids as I am the BG kids because I've had 3 kids graduate from BG (even though I went to a small public school) and I currently have a nephew in their junior high boys basketball and football programs. It is a similar situation at BG in that all their players have been in their system since they were in elementary parochial school and have stayed together ever since. In addition, all of them live within 6-8 miles or so of the school. Is their situation the same as a small public school? Of course not (especially in their girls basketball program which I'll say right up front is pretty much a farce when it comes to being on equal footing with other small A public schools) but is certainly doesn't mean these kids were "recruited". When I sent my kids to BG they started in a parochial school in 1st grade and I never once thought at that time about athletics and one of them didn't play any sports at all. I just made a decision to sacrifice a great deal of money in exchange for an environment I wanted them to be in. I'm sure that is the case with most of the current parents at BG or BC who have kids playing. Do you really believe they were thinking 10-11 years ago they might be good enough in basketball to make a run in the district/state playoffs so they all sent them to school together?

The system is broken and despite every fix that someone on here comes up with nothing is going to change because the PIAA is unwilling to go down that path. They do seem to be looking at the Charter school situation because it involves taxpayer monies at those schools. Anyone who attacks or attempts to change the system is justified in doing so in my opinion. What isn't okay (again in my opinion) is to attack kids who are playing any sport because you don't like how the system is set up. That is just idiotic. Why diminish any player and the work they've done because of where they go to school?

I was rooting for the local BC kids last night the same as I would have been for Juniata Valley, Blacklick, Ferndale, NBC, or any other local team if they were playing. I want to see District 5/6 kids do well, all of them, when it comes to state playoffs. Public or private, the players work hard to get the most of their athletic experience. I certainly am not going to support anyone attacking them personally for playing under the rules as they've been set up. Those rules may need changed, but it seems to be kids representing their schools under those rules should be left out of the debate completely.

[districtsixhoops]

It is a similar situation at BG in that all their players have been in their system since they were in elementary parochial school and have stayed together ever since. In addition, all of them live within 6-8 miles or so of the school. Is their situation the same as a small public school? Of course not (especially in their girls basketball program which I'll say right up front is pretty much a farce when it comes to being on equal footing with other small A public schools) but is certainly doesn't mean these kids were "recruited".

Thank you for someone with kids at BG for finally saying it. Your almost 100% correct. On the girls side, yes they were recruited. They have not and do not live 6-8 miles or so from school and have not been in their system since grade school. I'm not talking about all of them but that's the point. It just takes a few good players and the teams that were involved are totally different.

[SFB14]

I was talking about the boys program specifically not the girls and attempted to state that during the post although I might not have done it very well. It's obvious the girls have kids from different school disticts although we can agree to differ on whether they were recruited by BG or not. They have the chance to all go there and play together which is something they are not afforded at Public schools. That is the draw as much as anything but as I stated earlier it's the fault of the system, not the players within it.

[lhacbigfan]

Regarding the BG girls team: I would be surprised if BG actually goes out and "recruits" players from other schools. I think the reason they get so many transfers from other schools who are good players is because these girls see the success BG is having and the chance to play with a bunch of other really good players and jump right on it. They would probably never experience playing in the state final at their own public school so they want a chance to do that and go to BG. So really I think BG has more players want to come to them on their own than players who are actually "recruited". This is just my opinion on local teams, now go out to Philly and they do openly recruit. I'm also not saying its fair for BG to get all these transfers but I don't think they go seek them on their own.