PIAA...Unreal

[Relayer]

Yes, I used to be a head coach in the WPIAL and never understood why our #7 or 8 needed to be in the state tourney. I've sat in playoff seeding meetings and gone to state meetings. There is no need to have a 32 team bracket. I get the proportional amount of teams in from each region. The proportion does not need to include more than 4 teams no matter the size. If you could not get to the semi's in your district you dont get a shot. Yes I know teams like Aliquippa and others have won from a lower seed. Drop it to 24 teams, give teams a bye, end it a week earlier.

I totally disagree. The Suburban One League alone had 3 of the 4 semi final teams in the girls 6A bracket . Upper Dublin just won the state title as the 9th seed from District 1. All those schools absolutely belonged in the state playoffs. The SOL went 7-1 in the first round of states.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Yes, I used to be a head coach in the WPIAL and never understood why our #7 or 8 needed to be in the state tourney. I've sat in playoff seeding meetings and gone to state meetings. There is no need to have a 32 team bracket. I get the proportional amount of teams in from each region. The proportion does not need to include more than 4 teams no matter the size. If you could not get to the semi's in your district you dont get a shot. Yes I know teams like Aliquippa and others have won from a lower seed. Drop it to 24 teams, give teams a bye, end it a week earlier.

Well for all your past coaching experience, you just seem to be spouting off things that make no sense.

"There's no need to have a 32-team bracket."
- So that's your preference, not based on anything else.

"Drop it to 24 teams, give teams a bye, end it a week earlier."
- Yeah, you've really thought that one out. Currently, with 32 teams, R1 is played on Friday, and R2 is played the next Tuesday. With 24 teams, you'd have 8 that would have byes, and 16 that would play R1 games. The only way you would save any time (not close to a week) would be to have the 8 winners of R1 games play their R2 games a day or two after their R1 game, which would be quite unfair to those teams. So 24 teams would basically take the same amount of time as does 32. In addition, by going to 24 then there would be all kinds of issues to resolve in terms of which teams get byes and which ones have R1 games.

"The proportion does not need to include more than 4 teams no matter the size."
- so now you're advocating screwing schools/athletes from Districts that have most of their schools playing in a specific class, and basically making it easier for schools/athletes from Districts that have very few schools playing in the same class. That makes so much sense.

 

[GoGoBanana]

Very proud alum tonight as my alma mater/home town team, Abington Heights (a public school!), won its first ever state basketball championship tonight, defeating Mars in the class 5A boys game...hats off to longtime AH coaches Kenny Bianchi and Jeff McLane and the Comets on an unbelievable season...it was a great game played by both teams (especially Robby Carmody for Mars and George Tinsley for AH who were both unbelievable), as both sides exuded class, respect, and sportsmanship! Comet Pride!

 

[MDNittanyLion]

Also a proud AH alum. Great game, great season for the Comets.

 

[bkmtnittany1]

Also a proud AH alum. Great game, great season for the Comets.

Bianchi is a fine coach...and a super nice man.

 

[Mister Magoo]

Was at the game last night. Was a good game.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Girls 5A final was interesting. Archbishop Wood was the favorite, and appeared to be headed to a win, but they got sloppy toward the end. They ended up being tied with Mars at the end, and held for the last shot. Alas, they made a lazy pass which was picked off, and the Mars girl scored and was fouled with 4 sec left. (She made the And-1.) Wood's desperation heave from midcourt was not even close, so Mars with the upset win.

the Boys 6A final is being played right now, and without a doubt it's been the best game of the PIAA BB Championships. (Not necessarily the most exciting, but the best collection of talent, by far.) It's an all-Philadelphia final between Roman Catholic and Lincoln. It's 39-36, Roman, at the half.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

So Roman wins 6A, 92-80. Both teams were from District 12. The final score wasn't indicative of the game. It was very close for most of the game. In the last minute+, Roman was holding the ball, so Lincoln had to foul. Plus Roman scored a bucket at the buzzer after Lincoln had conceded the game. Several of the starters in this game should play D1 basketball.

Interestingly, Lincoln won the Dist. 12 final over Roman, but Roman won the State Championship over Lincoln.

 

[Relayer]

Agreed Tom, that was the best game of the week in terms of basketball skills and execution. Granted, outside of D12 no one probably watched. If the PIAA put that game in the Palestra, they would have had 8,000.

Congrats to Abington Heights! Going through the likes of Chester and a very good Bonner team is not easy, well deserved!

Interesting that the PIAA just past new transfer rules for the spring sports. No doubt based on the outcry from the N-G female transfer from VA and the Egan football transfer in the fall. We'll see...

https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/...approved-attendance-woes-addressed/461772002/

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Interesting that the PIAA just past new transfer rules for the spring sports. No doubt based on the outcry from the N-G female transfer from VA and the Egan football transfer in the fall. We'll see...

https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/...approved-attendance-woes-addressed/461772002/

Interesting article. The transfer rule modifications certainly seem to be an improvement.

As for ongoing complaints about parochial schools, Lombardi is correct that it's out of his hands. People seem to forget that most of them (excluding Philadelphia) could participate in leagues, but could not participate in PIAA tournaments before 1972. They participated in the PCIAA playoffs. A Citizens Voice article from a few years ago provides more details at THIS LINK.

Getting back to the Class 6A final, I hope some people outside of D12 watched the game. It certainly warranted a larger viewing.