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Mike White's high school sports chat: 02.01.22
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Mike White
11:33
Not surprised. They have some good players. Sfanos and Schlegel are very good guards and Dvorak has really improved since his sophomore year and gives some inside presence. Should be an interesting one against North Hills.
Todd
11:33
The OLSH winning streak definitely needs an * by it, as it was set by an all-star team.  As impressive as the consecutive wins streak is, it pales in comparison to that of Uniontown and Washington as those schools’ streaks were achieved by home grown students that had to live within a defined boundary.
Mike White
11:37
Yes, we all know OLSH is a Catholic school who gets players from many areas. Even OLSH coach Mike Rodriguez said he'd never compare his teams to Uniontown and Washington. Uniontown would probably beat OLSH by 20 or more. You know how good those Uniontown teams were? I think Washington would beat OLSH, too. I saw the Washington teams play. But let's give OLSH some credit. I mean, they won a state title last year and have a chance to win again this year. I will say OLSH doesn't exactly play much of a non-section schedule, like Bishop Canevin does, but I'm not going to cut down OLSH. Incidentally, I think OLSH has a good chance to break state record of 68 games.
bball fan
11:38
Mr White, great to be back. Have you been able to see much of Berlin Brothersvalley  out of D5? I know they are good distance from our area but boy are they disciplined. Pretty young team taking lumps this year but could be a year or two away from another talented team. I think the coach is a WPIAL GUY. also to a question above, didn’t Leechburg struggle with or lose to Giebel Catholic? Geibel lately has been pretty below average. I think Eden is a more deserving 4 seed
Mike White
11:40
Believe it or not, I have not been following Berlin Brothersvalley. I see they are 10-5. Yes, their coach is Tanner Prosser, a Pittsburgh guy. "We believe, we believe in Berlin Brothersvalley." As for Leechburg, like I said earlier. They have a lot of work to do before they get a No. 4 seed. As for Geibel, they are pretty decent this year. 12-4 record.
Can o Corn
11:40
What is involved with a district firing a coach ? Is it the school boards call ? The AD ? The principal ? Who generally makes the call on that ?
Mike White
11:42
Ultimately, it's school board decision. But superintendent, AD, principal can make recommendation to school board. But coaching contracts are usually only one year contracts, so school board can decide not to re-hire a coach, even without a recommendation from superintendent, AD or principal. You see, in coaching around here, it's all about having the right "five" people on your side. If you tick off the wrong "five" people on school board, you're gone.
WPIALGuy
11:42
From the NC area. The Laurel situation is simple; he did sit the wrong player. Player's parents were mad, and they complained and the spineless administration sided with the parents. It is a gross situation all the way through.
Mike White
11:43
That is what I heard also. True? I don't know. Coach wouldn't say anything other than he was "forced" to resign.
KDub
11:43
What did you make of Fox Chapel's team this year? I believed you covered their game vs. Central.
Mike White
11:44
Very good. No size, but experienced team with pretty good guards that plays hard and has one of the WPIAL's best players in Eli Yofan. I think Central had 16 points through three quarters. That won't happen the next time they play. But Zach Skrinjar does a great job there and they will be a factor in playoffs, even without size.
Coach O
11:45
Mike, one more follow up to Laurel story; I sat on my local school board for two terms and my experience and talking to other districts the general public has no clue how many times one or two influential parents talking to one or two influential board members will cause someone to be hired or fired. A handful of people can run a district behind the scenes if the administration or other board members don’t speak up. Sorry for the editorial comment.
Mike White
11:47
You are exactly right. And you've got some administrators who don't stand up to parents and let parents have too much of a say. But the bottom line is this. If a few complaining parents are close to a few school board members, that's all it takes and a coach could be gone. And you have administrators worried about their jobs if they try to stand up to some school board members. Honestly, it can be a mess.
Pizza Hut
11:47
So why is NH after years of choosing to play up now deciding to play 5A when they have one of the best teams? And looks to be good next year?
Mike White
11:50
Simply because they decided to play this time where their enrollment puts them. What's wrong with that? Think of it. Right now, they play in a five team section against two teams that have double - or close to double - the enrollment as North Hills. And another (Butler) that has close to 200 more boys.
Pops
11:50
I hate to pile on but Todd is right.  * for OLSH's record.  Other private schools go out and play really tough non-section schedules, but OLSH does not.  Trophy chasers in my opinion.
Mike White
11:50
I don't call them trophy chasers, but yes, their non-section schedule will not wow you.
GhostofArtBernardi
11:51
Hi Mike - with Devin Carney closing in on 2000 points at Butler I started wondering about other teams/WPIAL champions that boasted multiple 2000 point scorers.  Ethan Morton finished up just south of 2200 before he graduated in 2020 (Carney's sophomore year).  Are two career 2000 point scorers playing on the same team exceedingly rare or not as much as you would think?
Mike White
11:52
Very rare. Only other team was Beaver Falls when Lance Jeter was a senior and Todd Thomas a freshman.
Pizza Hut
11:52
Fox Chapel always seeded/ranked super high but get upset every year. Do they take this into account seeding wise? Or will they be a top 4 seed again?
Mike White
11:53
I won't try to predict any more what WPIAL basketball committee will do with seedings. Some real head scratchers past couple years. Let's just leave it at that.
Rudder
11:53
Mike, Public schools scream that private/Catholic schools supposedly "recruit", but they are quite guilty themselves.  Look at North Hills a few years back with that center (Ish?) who was from New York and was friends with Nick Smith
Mike White
11:54
No doubt some public schools get transfers. But I think people's main complaint is Catholic-private schools can get athletes from anywhere. Public schools can't. That makes a huge difference.
NorthPGHHoopFan
11:55
So I was able to see Maluk and Parham in the same week.  Big difference in level of play.  Parham very strong plays big.  Maluk, as expected, doesn't really know how to use his big body yet.  He is not a super skinny 6'10'', will be interesting to see how he develops.  Part of it may have been the over all level of play in 6A vs. 1A.  The Pine NH game, was crisp, clean, good shooting and few turnovers.  Everyone looked good in that game, but Parham definitely is impressive.  1A games tend to be sloppy which is not necessarily a good thing for Maluk's development.  Will be interesting to see how long he stays at Imani, which is fine.  I for one am a supporter of kid's being in a situation that allows their unique talents to grow and provide them with opportunity that they otherwise may not have.
Mike White
11:59
Totally different players. Maluk is bigger. I've seen Maluk in two games on tape. Royce, in my mind, is most certainly ahead. I think he plays harder, but Maluk can learn that maybe with maturity. Maluk definitely lot of potential, but he's not going to get much competition in 1A. Will he stay at Imani? Who knows. He was at Bethel Park last year. But I wonder who else might be coming to Imani in the future -- basketball and football. As for Royce, nice he got the Duquesne offer two weeks ago. I know Pitt has offered Maluk. Honestly, I don't see why they haven't offered Parham. He just turned 15 last July. He should be in 9th grade. Judging the way he's built, and with his genes, I think he'll be 6-9. I think he should be Power Five.
5a Fan
11:59
Have you been able to catch the South Fayette girls team yet, they start 4 underclassmen and Maddie Webber is a star, only 3 losses and held leads late in two of those (CV and Moon), avenging the Moon loss last week.  Going to be a tough out in the playoffs.  That section is nuts with CV, Moon, SF and Oakland Catholic, seeding will be difficult with 3 of the top 4 in 5a in the same section.
Mike White
11:59
Sorry, I have not.
Bob
11:59
If you want to talk about recruiting lets talk about laurel highlands boys basketball.  They brought an entire aau team into the district.  The players have discussed it on social media and it has been published.  They are there for athletic intent.
Mike White
12:00
I wrote a story last year about Davis and DeShields showing up at Laurel Highlands. Wonder why they showed up there? But WPIAL went ahead and made them eligible.
Pizza Hut
12:00
Favorite 6A basketball gym?
Mike White
12:01
I really don't have one. A number of them are nice, but I can't say I have a favorite. A number of them are newer, too. I must say I like Baldwin some because they have seats in the end zones. I like that.
Well that's it for this week. Thanks, everyone. And only two weeks left in basketball regular season. Wow. Be good.
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