ICC Basketball

[hshoops1]

I haven't seen to many ICC south games but ive seen a lot of the north. It's still early but looks like Bellwood, West Branch, and Mount Union are going to be in a three team race for the north division. Mo valley isn't close to these three but they are much improved and are so much better than where they were a year ago when they weren't even competitive. A big surprise is how much W-burg has struggled and worse yet JV sits at 1-8 after winning the ICC a year ago. JV misses their point guard but they should be no worse than 6-2 at this point with how many seniors they have. It's to bad they didn't hire Brock Anders as their new coach. I hate to throw the new guy under the bus but he had no head coaching experience just AAU all star teams. Look like clays burg is most likely going 0-22.

any thoughts on the ICC south? I'm glad to see Evertt get some early wins after going 0-22 last year. I though Tussey would be better and knew NB was rebuilding after starting 5 seniors last year. Not sure about the rest of the pack???

I don't get to to many girls game but I wanted to check the JV girls out after reading about 4 of their starters came from northern Bedford, chestnut ridge, and Altoona. Saw them play Bellwood and saw them in holiday tourney and mark it down their final record will be 19-3 or 20-2. They look dynamite which was the name of the AAU team they all played on. Love it or hate they are going to be good for at least the next 4-5 years. Bellwood will win north again this year but it might be their last for awhile.

[voncap]

I agree with your assessment of the ICC North. Bellwood and WB seem to be the front runners with Mt Union just a little behind. I would not be surprised to see W-burg and/or JV win a game or two against the top three especially at home.

The ICC south is also a three team race. The surprise so far is no doubt McConnellsburg. They beat Tussey at home and went on the road and beat a good Chestnut Ridge team in a non-ICC (SHL) battle. The top three in no particular order are Tussey, McConnellsburg, and S. Fulton with Everett a step below as the best of the rest. I would be shocked to see any of the bottom tier teams beat any of the top three. NB and FR are too young and Everett and SH are improved but are not quite ready to compete with the top teams in the league yet.

The league winner will come down to who wins the head to head battles of the top three. Tussey has already lost at McConnellsburg and at Southern Fulton so they will have to be almost perfect in the league the rest of the way to have a chance to win the league. That will be a difficult task but With both the other top teams having to go to Saxton, it is not out of the realm that that could happen. I don't see the south champion having more than two losses this year.

[dadw/2sons]

As far as the girls side goes, Tussey will have no problem representing the South at Claysburg on Feb. 14. Everett might be the only team that gives the Titans a game. SH is improved and NBC is decent, but I think the Lady Titans are the crème of the top.

[d6footballfan]

Nice ICC assessment hshoops1. The JV boys would have been 100% better off with Brock Anders as coach also. They should be contending for the crown again this season even with out the services of the missing PG, but <<<<. The new coach is a really really nice guy, but he has no stake or commitment in this season and this group of players. Next year they will be much worse off as they will be much smaller and younger. It seems he has already thrown in the towel for this season and has his excuses he will sit on until he can bring up his picks for the future. He has two kids coming up through the JH ranks that he has focused on for the last 2-3 years and the program will be built and grow around them. Just like in football, the hoops coaching hire plays a huge role in the TEAM outcome.

Believe me, I can can give many many many examples where my comments can be vetted as truth and fact, not innuendo and finger pointing, but many of those cases would involve naming people (including kids), and I wont do that in a public space and setting. Here is a small sample

The newly appointed AD (former boys hoops coach from last season) lasted less than 2 months as AD. Its also known the when he was brought into this position at the question of just about everyone, , the super of the district quoted as saying "he wont last one year". Prophecy or setup? So now they bring back ion the recently retired female AD for more money. ???

This reply more about my indictment of whats wrong in sports programs in many HS. Kids are not playing sports for many reasons and I know people like to blame video games, etc, but quite frankly what is going on at JV is a prime example why kids are not playing sports and has nothing to do with video games, jobs, and cars.. These kids and their parents are not as stupid as many would like to believe, but they also have no time or desire to see their kids used as pawns to prop up the preferred JV elitists. The sports programs at JV revolve around one family and a tight, close knit circle of friends and employees; of which includes girls hoops, football, and now boys basketball. These same folks also have within their ranks school the board influences and also several hold teaching positions as well where they use the union and tenure to grab all of the desirable vacancies. One by one these inner circle members are taking the coaching positions, etc,, regardless of experience or desires. In some shape or form they all have very close knit ties to each other and they stretch cross all grade levels of these major team sports at JV. It is the new order of plagiarism and nepotism that has over taken extracurricular activities in JV. It seems they no longer has the stomach or desire to remain competitive in boys sports based on their recent hiring decisions on coaching positions and AD. These folks ALL played a large part in the firing of Smith as football coach and getting rid of the past boys hoops coach. Funny though that the girls programs their have pretty much free reign to what ever they want. Its nice though to see them wheel and deal to success. The girls hoops coach is a great coach, and an even better person, though it seems she will be wrapped by controversy due to her successes regardless how those success are achieved. I hope she watches her back as the minute she goes against the JV inner circle, they will do anything to force to get her out of the way so one one of their own can take over for her. Hope they do well this season and build towards the future.

[Sideling Hill Fan]

ICC South still looks like Southern Fulton as a slight favorite to me with McConnellsburg and TM just a notch below. Whichever of the two Fulton County powers can win at Tussey should win the league. There is also the very real possibility that SF sweeps McConnellsburg too. As mentioned earlier, I don't see anyone touching these top three from within the rest of the league.

On the Girls side, I see TM and Everett battling for the title. I've seen Everett and I'm quite impressed. NBC is a distant third and a longshot to maybe upset one of the big two at home.

ICC North seems like it will be very interesting on the boys side while the girls will be all Bellwood-Antis. Hearing a lot about the resurgence of JVHS on the girls end as they look like the obvious #2 team in the North.

[no/excuses]

As a parent,if my kid isn't a starter,that means they have not worked hard enough.

[districtsixhoops]

d6,

- The JV girls team is contaminated with success and turmoil. The success is mainly due to the new players, but also because they have pushed some returning players to improve. From what I am hearing, there is about to be a major standoff because of parents of girls from the Valley that never will play varsity basketball. Remember the transfers are all 9th and 11th graders meaning any girl from 9th grade up with most likely never start a varsity basketball game at the JV. If you were their parents how would you feel? You are spot on, the girls coach is a great person and really good basketball coach. Many will see her past coaching experience pay off with these talented girls, however, she is going to have to keep the team together as things get troublesome.

I asked this question on another thread but maybe you have the answer. How did these other players end up at JV? How did they all pick JV? Not a girls basketball power and the girls aren't really that close in travel distance. What made them all come together and pick JV?

[districtsixhoops]

Oh, so they all played for dynamite AAU? Now I understand. They are all nice players but probably wouldn't crack BG lineup. I figured they picked somewhere they thought they could play right away. I guess when all the parents at Ridge said no to that idea they picked somewhere else.

[districtsixhoops]

You can see why it isn't good for high school athletics to have AAU teams playing together at High School. Just look at what BG and JV will do in the next few years. Funny thing is that they will have to go head to head at some point so I guess we will find out which AAU team was better. Pa Pride vs Dynamite. Sad state of high school girls basketball in area.

[d6footballfan]

BlueDevil9,

Explain how the football coaching vacancy got filled without posting the position, and explain how the new boys hoop coach gets the nod over Brock Anders, when in fact he had no prior experience as a head coach and the no nepotism or plagiarism policy got ignored. Brock Anders record and creds speak for themselves and anyone who follows basketball in this area knows what he has done in the past. The football coach has coached before in various other boys and girls sports , and has repeatedly every time has shown his lack of ability to coach in any sport or in any capacity. Just look it up if you don't believe me.

You seem to have all of the logical responses, but they don't wash very well with those outside the inner circle at JV. I too know quite a bit about this little district and have a pretty good idea who you are, so it makes sense that you would protect the inner circle with some pretty ridiculous comments justifying the terrible decisions made this past year at JV. I have lived in this district over 30 years as well.

As far as the lack of talent statement, the numbers and results don't bear that out.

- Explain how one kid brought this lack of talent football team back from a blowout, shutout loss in the first game to a playoff team, when he was finally given a touch of the football in the second half of that game and scores two TD's on 4 touches, 120+ receiving, has an INT that put the team in a position to win or tie the game, then forces a fumble via a punt block to yet again set up this lack of talented team to win yet again. but doesn't see or touch the ball again the rest of that game or the season. That one half of a game of football with that particular player in use on this untalented team was the best this team looked all season, period. Explain how the only kid from JV who got a mention on the Mirror team did not even start or barely got in during the first few games of the season on O or D, and as far as I'm concerned only got in when the numbers got so low they had no choice but to put him in? The two biggest and most aggressive players, but definitely the slowest, were both taking turns in the backfield. According to the Head coaches own admission, they needed help on the line and blocking. At least one or both should have been at a minimum a FB or on the line. I followed these 2 kids and know their families well enough to know why they were not used in the situations they could have helped the team most, but again it comes down to coaching the team and not playing favors to kids and parents. I am certainly not suggesting in any stretch that this team had championship caliber, but they were much better than a one win season. The talent level was certainly there for at least a few more wins.

- 5 returning senior letterman from last years ICC champ team, of which, 3 of those kids were starters. Granted one of those kids is the team point guard and is hurt and likely out for the season. The other two returning starters from last years team, both of whom are 3 - 4 year starters also, are almost non-existent this year, why is that? The 4th and 5th returning players are leading the team in just about every category this year, and they got in every game and played significant minutes last season and primarily led the junior varsity team to its best record perhaps ever at JV. Where did all of the kids, er "talented players" go? Last years team graduated 6 or so players out of 20+ from the varsity team that won the ICC, of which only 3 of those who graduated played any meaningful amount of minutes on last years team. The junior varsity team also won the ICC north and had their best record perhaps is school history, and the JH team that produced the best record since the early 90's teams that won states was second overall ICC to Everett, who by the way, are having a turn around season from a terrible team last season. The new varsity coach I am certain would like to take all of the credit for last years JH team, but in fact that team was coached not by him, but by a lady who is a long time JV resident, and perhaps one of the most prolific players in girls sports programs ever at JV. Her message from day one was that hoops is a team sport,and not about 1 or 2 players only. That is why she said she took the team because she feared that the other coach would focus on one or two players over others. Does that sound familiar of prophetic? Again without the PG, which definitely hurts, the talent is there for at least a few more wins. I am going to ask again where the "lack of talent" statement comes from?

- Also this same group of untalented players also play baseball, and as a team largely made up of underclassmen made a deep run into the state tourney, finishing a close second to BM last season in the D6A finals, They probably should make a run this year also by returning the whole infield and have the outfield options to replace the few they lost there. Pitching depth will be the key for this teams success, as they have almost all starters back from last year's team as a good starting point. I guess this teams success depends if the inner circle at JV decides to fix this broken boys program as well and then blame it on lack of talent.

The other issues relating to funds, or lack thereof, can and will be a direct result of parents who collected and had access to these same funds, and they are still there this year. This same issue has occurred in the district before and until proper processes are put in place for al programs and funds raised will occur again and again. I am not giving the coach a pass on this but just bringing up the

As far as me complaining about "my kid" not starting, blah blah blah; to those who think this is my motivation for my posts, I say this. "You have no idea who I am and who my kid(s) are. If you knew, you would certainly feel like a total moron for those ridiculous innuendoes."

My motivations are as a parent and a taxpayer who is tired of the wasting of public taxpayer funds, the chronic complaining about recruiting of players for the success of the private schools in our district, and the pathetic jumbo babble that is posted here explaining the demise of public school sports and kids not playing. When you hire amateurs or unqualified people and expect high results, and you value things like team, community, fairness, and accountability, you to will be writing posts like mine. Like I have said in previous posts, if I had things to do over, my kids would be attending one of the privates in D6, not JV, and not because of just sports, but for all of the things I mentioned that matter to me.