Scholastic Notebook... {Some Good Reading} !!!!!!
Posted: February 17th, 2007, 6:37 pm
Scholastic Notebook ...................
2/16/2007 -
Seedings. Game sites. Teams to beat. As usual, those were some of the hot topics with the boys’ and girls’ basketball coaches after the WPIAL announced its playoff pairings this past Wednesday, February 13th. But there was one new topic that was stirring up a lot of chatter among the coaches...The ball.
The WPIAL has a three-year monetary agreement with Rawlings to use Rawlings basketballs throughout the playoffs. At the playoff pairing meeting, each team was given a new Rawlings basketball.
Teams have not used Rawlings basketballs in recent history. Most teams have used Wilson basketballs.
A sampling of 10 coaches showed the Rawlings balls are not being accepted with open arms. None of the coaches wanted to go on record with their comments because they didn’t want to criticize the WPIAL.
“The Rawlings balls are horrible,” one coach said. “We just started shooting with them this year. The kids don’t like them.”
This sounds a lot like the NBA, which went to a new ball at the start of this season. But after so many complaints from the players, the NBA went back to the old ball in January.
“We tried using the Rawlings ball early in the regular season. We put it away,” said another WPIAL coach. “It’s not a good ball.”
Here are some comments from other coaches:
“It’s a ball that feels harder and heavier. Plus, it’s slippery.”
“We have a Rawlings ball on our ball rack. No one on our team wants to shoot with it.”
“You don’t want to sound like you’re complaining about everything, but it’s just not as nice as other balls. It will be interesting to see if shooting goes down with this ball.”
“It just feels heavier and it doesn’t get any better the more you use it. … I understand the WPIAL benefiting from an agreement with a ball company to use their balls. It’s good financially. But the bottom line is the balls just aren’t very good and no one likes them.”
Teams that get to the PIAA playoffs will use a different ball than the Rawlings.
The “ball” problem sounds a lot like football season, when coaches complained about having to use a Spalding football in the WPIAL playoffs. Most used a Wilson during the regular season and said they did not like the Spalding.
Still Going~```~~~~~~````~~~~~``````~~~~~````~~~~~`````~~~~~~````
First some clarification. Over the past few weeks, it has been reported in some places, including this notebook, that the New Castle boys had qualified for the WPIAL playoffs 14 years in a row, which was the current-longest streak in the league. That was only in Quad-A, and that streak was broken this year.
The longest streak in WPIAL history is still going. Monessen has qualified for the playoffs for the 26th year in a row. The second-longest streak also is still going. Blackhawk has made the WPIAL postseason 24 years in a row. The third-longest playoff streak is 22 years in a row by Penn Hills. That streak lasted from 1980-2001.
More Records::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Here are some more numbers of interest heading into the playoffs. The Uniontown boys have qualified for the playoffs for the 53rd time, most in WPIAL history. Washington is right behind with 52 and Monessen is next at 50.
The North Catholic girls have qualified for the playoffs for the 32nd time, the longest streak in WPIAL history. Next in line is Serra at 25 years in a row and that streak is still going.
Washington won its 41st section title this season, second-most in boys’ history. The Little Prexies are only one behind Uniontown, which has 42 section titles.
Chance at the Record?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
The Aliquippa boys average "81" points a game and scored "76" in one half of a game earlier this season. Thus, maybe the Quips have a chance at the WPIAL playoff scoring record. It is 109, by Brentwood against Elderton in 1989.
Making Points.......................................................................................................
Now that the regular season is over and the points have been tallied, there were some interesting things going on this season.
Is it just us here at MSA Sports, or was individual scoring really down in girls’ basketball? Only three girls in the entire WPIAL averaged more than 20 points a game – Southmoreland’s Vanessa Abel (28.0), Elizabeth Forwards’ Cassy Sanderson (23.5) and Carmichaels’ Megan Stuvek (21.4).
On the boys’ side, 22 players from the WPIAL averaged 20 points or more, also three from the City League. The leader was Monessen’s Josh Arnold, who averaged 32.0.
Arnold is the first WPIAL player to average 30 or more in the regular season since Shaler’s Yuri Demetris averaged 30.7 in 1999-2000. Arnold’s average is th ehighest since Bentworth’s Bryant Thomas averaged 32.5 in 1997-98.
Strange But True...................................................................................................
The strangest statistic of the basketball season still has to belong to the Riverview boys’ team. The Raiders had the No. 1 defensive team in the entire WPIAL, giving up only 36.6 points. But Riverview also had the worst – that’s right, worst – offensive team in the entire WPIAL, scoring only 36.7 points a game.
A Lot of Sweat.....................................................................................................
Juniors Terrelle Pryor of Jeannette, Jonathan Baldwin of Aliquippa, Shayne Hale of Gateway and Lucas Nix of Thomas Jefferson have been getting publicity for being ranked high nationally among juniors. But Andrew Sweat of Trinity is a player who hasn’t gotten as much publicity, but is being very heavily recruited.
Pitt, Penn State, Ohio State and a number of other Division I colleges already have offered scholarships to Sweat.
From what we’re hearing, this could come down to an Ohio State-Penn State battle.
The Chops....
2/16/2007 -
Seedings. Game sites. Teams to beat. As usual, those were some of the hot topics with the boys’ and girls’ basketball coaches after the WPIAL announced its playoff pairings this past Wednesday, February 13th. But there was one new topic that was stirring up a lot of chatter among the coaches...The ball.
The WPIAL has a three-year monetary agreement with Rawlings to use Rawlings basketballs throughout the playoffs. At the playoff pairing meeting, each team was given a new Rawlings basketball.
Teams have not used Rawlings basketballs in recent history. Most teams have used Wilson basketballs.
A sampling of 10 coaches showed the Rawlings balls are not being accepted with open arms. None of the coaches wanted to go on record with their comments because they didn’t want to criticize the WPIAL.
“The Rawlings balls are horrible,” one coach said. “We just started shooting with them this year. The kids don’t like them.”
This sounds a lot like the NBA, which went to a new ball at the start of this season. But after so many complaints from the players, the NBA went back to the old ball in January.
“We tried using the Rawlings ball early in the regular season. We put it away,” said another WPIAL coach. “It’s not a good ball.”
Here are some comments from other coaches:
“It’s a ball that feels harder and heavier. Plus, it’s slippery.”
“We have a Rawlings ball on our ball rack. No one on our team wants to shoot with it.”
“You don’t want to sound like you’re complaining about everything, but it’s just not as nice as other balls. It will be interesting to see if shooting goes down with this ball.”
“It just feels heavier and it doesn’t get any better the more you use it. … I understand the WPIAL benefiting from an agreement with a ball company to use their balls. It’s good financially. But the bottom line is the balls just aren’t very good and no one likes them.”
Teams that get to the PIAA playoffs will use a different ball than the Rawlings.
The “ball” problem sounds a lot like football season, when coaches complained about having to use a Spalding football in the WPIAL playoffs. Most used a Wilson during the regular season and said they did not like the Spalding.
Still Going~```~~~~~~````~~~~~``````~~~~~````~~~~~`````~~~~~~````
First some clarification. Over the past few weeks, it has been reported in some places, including this notebook, that the New Castle boys had qualified for the WPIAL playoffs 14 years in a row, which was the current-longest streak in the league. That was only in Quad-A, and that streak was broken this year.
The longest streak in WPIAL history is still going. Monessen has qualified for the playoffs for the 26th year in a row. The second-longest streak also is still going. Blackhawk has made the WPIAL postseason 24 years in a row. The third-longest playoff streak is 22 years in a row by Penn Hills. That streak lasted from 1980-2001.
More Records::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Here are some more numbers of interest heading into the playoffs. The Uniontown boys have qualified for the playoffs for the 53rd time, most in WPIAL history. Washington is right behind with 52 and Monessen is next at 50.
The North Catholic girls have qualified for the playoffs for the 32nd time, the longest streak in WPIAL history. Next in line is Serra at 25 years in a row and that streak is still going.
Washington won its 41st section title this season, second-most in boys’ history. The Little Prexies are only one behind Uniontown, which has 42 section titles.
Chance at the Record?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
The Aliquippa boys average "81" points a game and scored "76" in one half of a game earlier this season. Thus, maybe the Quips have a chance at the WPIAL playoff scoring record. It is 109, by Brentwood against Elderton in 1989.
Making Points.......................................................................................................
Now that the regular season is over and the points have been tallied, there were some interesting things going on this season.
Is it just us here at MSA Sports, or was individual scoring really down in girls’ basketball? Only three girls in the entire WPIAL averaged more than 20 points a game – Southmoreland’s Vanessa Abel (28.0), Elizabeth Forwards’ Cassy Sanderson (23.5) and Carmichaels’ Megan Stuvek (21.4).
On the boys’ side, 22 players from the WPIAL averaged 20 points or more, also three from the City League. The leader was Monessen’s Josh Arnold, who averaged 32.0.
Arnold is the first WPIAL player to average 30 or more in the regular season since Shaler’s Yuri Demetris averaged 30.7 in 1999-2000. Arnold’s average is th ehighest since Bentworth’s Bryant Thomas averaged 32.5 in 1997-98.
Strange But True...................................................................................................
The strangest statistic of the basketball season still has to belong to the Riverview boys’ team. The Raiders had the No. 1 defensive team in the entire WPIAL, giving up only 36.6 points. But Riverview also had the worst – that’s right, worst – offensive team in the entire WPIAL, scoring only 36.7 points a game.
A Lot of Sweat.....................................................................................................
Juniors Terrelle Pryor of Jeannette, Jonathan Baldwin of Aliquippa, Shayne Hale of Gateway and Lucas Nix of Thomas Jefferson have been getting publicity for being ranked high nationally among juniors. But Andrew Sweat of Trinity is a player who hasn’t gotten as much publicity, but is being very heavily recruited.
Pitt, Penn State, Ohio State and a number of other Division I colleges already have offered scholarships to Sweat.
From what we’re hearing, this could come down to an Ohio State-Penn State battle.
The Chops....