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Mike White's high school sports chat: 12.17.24
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Mike White
11:10
Hey everyone. Sorry for lateness. Some technical difficulties back at Chat command control. But we're open now for business.
basketball
11:11
We are a couple weeks into the season, what are some of the best teams you have seen or heard from other coaches in the WPIAL
Mike White
11:13
Well basketball, kind of the ones who were ranked highly to start the season. Saw some of the Montour-Upper St. Clair game. Montour wins. Obviously Montour is good. But they are more than 6-11 Ama Sow. Saw Knoch up close. No. 1 4A team. Very good. They have enough definitely to win 4A. Jackson Bauman excellent point guard.
Panic Button
11:13
USC lost a game over the weekend. Time to press the panic button ? Fire coaches. Bench players.
Mike White
11:13
You're sooooo funny.
Hooper
11:14
The Imani saga continues with a postponement of the hearing. Why am I not surprised? By all indications nothing will stick to them. Shame on the PIAA. The school "suspended" the coach for a few games but he still showed up and was communicating with the bench. Clowns all around. If the school suspended him that is an acknowledgement of guilt. They gave a year to Rottmann and tried to give a year to the Shady Side coach for a social media post, but Imani skates by. Do you have any thoughts of why? I do.
Mike White
11:19
Honestly, I also am a little baffled by the situation. Just the timing. You are right. Imani did suspend coach Wilson for two games because of the accusations. Keith Barnes from our paper reported that yesterday and AD commented on it. But this whole thing started on Sept. 30, the day of the hearing for a transfer and when recruiting accusations were first brought up. So they finally are supposed to have a hearing with Imani yesterday. That's 2 1/2 months from when case was first brought up. Imani doesn't show and WPIAL pushes hearing back to mid-January. Really? Will WPIAL do anything to Imani? Who knows. But to not have any kind of ruling, one way or another, until 3 1/2 months after case is brought up? I'm sorry. Just doesn't make sense at all. Even if WPIAL doesn't do anything, does it take 3 1/2 months to make some kind of ruling?
Peabody
11:19
Hey Mike, not to beat a dead horse - but any insight appreciated here. I was told to watch Trey Schacter from Allderdice when I asked my son which prospects are big from the area. He went 0/10 from 3 when I saw him and has 4 total rebounds on the season per Maxpreps. Can you please direct me towards real college prospects?
Mike White
11:21
C'mon, man. I'm not going to bash a high school kid on here. You can't pay a whole lot of attention to MaxPreps stats. They aren't always correct or up to date. Do I think Trey Schachter is a big-time player? No. But he somehow got a few scholarship offers. So be it. From what I hear, he can shoot it at times.
WPIAL - Pitt
11:21
Why do you think the WPIAL isn't recruited very hard in Football by Pitt?  PSU hits it hard, and I think WVU may start going after more with Rich Rod back at the helm.  Seems like Pitt just doesn't try.  Turk is a great get, but he shouldn't be alone in his class for WPIAL kids.  I guess they wait until they go away and transfer back to be closer to home.
Mike White
11:24
I don't think we can make any judgments on whether Pitt recruits WPIAL players hard. How do you know how hard Pitt recruits WPIAL kids? Usually all of the ones who go to Penn State were also offered by Pitt. Recruits go on visits to Pitt. I see it all the time. Pitt just isn't getting them. There aren't all that many power conference players in WPIAL any more. Would be nice to see Pitt get some of them. But for whatever reason, they haven't gotten many lately. However, I don't think you can say it's not because they didn't recruit them hard. Some kids just don't want to go to Pitt, for whatever reason.
Slim
11:24
After watching Robbins at LaRoche over the weekend I have concerns for him at the next level.  Thoughts?
Mike White
11:26
I saw some of the game. Was not a great game for Robbins or Upper St. Clair. He's big but he's not a true "5." He has some skills to play some on the perimeter. He's not as athletic as Montour's 6-11 Ama Sow (they played against each other Saturday). But I think Sow had only 13 and Robbins 11. I think the MAC is a good fit for Robbins. Will he be an impact player there right away? Probably not. But he could eventually be a factor there if his game continues to progress.
South Fayette
11:27
I ran into Buddy Valinsky out at the South Fayette v. Allderdice game watching his old program. Boy, do I miss some of those teams Buddy had. Allderdice looks more like a Central JV team these days! Why is the talent level so low compared to years past - are those kids transferring to prep/Imani....? I am lost.
Mike White
11:28
Allderdice doesn't seem to be as strong as recent years. Might just be a down cycle for them right now. I still think they are OK. Just not great. Speaking of Buddy, how bout this: He is coaching the Fox Chapel freshman team this season. And what a battle there will be Friday when Buddy's Fox Chapel team goes against North Hills 9th grade team. Highly anticipated matchup. I heard it's so big that ESPN+ is thinking of picking up the game. Should be at least 2,000 on hand.
Curious
11:29
Given the dominance of Pitt Women's Volleyball I was curious to see that they have no local talent. I would figure since they're the best team in any sport in this region you'd see a spike (no pun intended) in girls playing the sport. And that some schools would produce D1 quality talent. I guess not.
Mike White
11:31
Well Curious, have to disagree with a little. WPIAL has produced a decent amount of Div. 1 players. Are they talented enough to be on Final Four teams? Maybe not. But Pitt has had a few WPIAL players in recent years. And they have a junior recruit from WPIAL committed -- Isabelle Hoppe of Pine-Richland. She has been on some USA national teams. Ranked among top juniors in country.
Back to volleyball question. I think girls volleyball is doing OK with participation in WPIAL.
North2South
11:31
Have you seen Natalie Wetzel play this year?  Better than last year and has to be one of the best girls players around here in recent memory.
Mike White
11:32
Not yet this year, but she looks like she's off to an awesome start. If you're good enough to go to Miami, you should do some damage around here.
Swanny
11:32
Game of the night?
Mike White
11:33
We are actually covering three games tonight because they're all really good. Baldwin at Peters Township... Chartiers Valley at Montour. ... Uniontown at Latrobe.
Popular Sovereignty
11:33
Girls basketball seem to be the biggest sport there is as far as "haves" and "have nots". very rare to see any competitive games anymore.
Mike White
11:34
Yeah but you see it in boys, too. But definitely more in girls. I saw a WPIAL score this year where team scored 1 point. Another with 2. Terrible.
Mr Ed
11:34
93-14???? What alternate universe am I living in that a Beaver Falls boys basketball team would lose by that score? Winless in BB so far, 0-10 in football. I grew up in Beaver County many years ago, I can never recall them not at least being competitive in those sports. How about you? Crazy after all these years, boom, talent pipeline suddenly went dry.
Mike White
11:36
Mr. Ed, you're not horsin' around. I've noticed the drop in Beaver Falls program also. It's astonishing. It has slowly dropped the past few years. Now it's hit rock bottom. They were held below 20 in two games. I know Mr. Ed, it's hard to figure. But I think they are playing many young kids.
Bucky
11:36
Girls 5A hoops looks like South Fayette, Peters and then the rest?  Can the rest of the field sneak up on these two?
Mike White
11:36
They do appear to be the top two.
Wpial
11:36
Who would you say is the best wpial basketball team ever?
Mike White
11:38
I can't give you one. 1967 Ambridge is one team at top of list. Players go to Duke, Purdue and North Carolina. The Midland team with Simmie Hill and Norm Van Lier. Uniontown had a couple great teams in the 1960s. Farrell had some great ones in 50s and 60s. Don't forget about a few City League teams also, like Schenley of 1971 and Kenny Durrett team of 1966. Fifth Ave. team of 1976 with Sam Clancy. And hey, you at least have to put 2007 Schenley team in conversation. But I wouldn't name one.
Games of wpial past
11:38
Where would one have to go to find broadcasts of past wpial football championship games?
Mike White
11:39
No idea.
Canes
11:40
Other than the freshman from New Castle who is having a big impact are there any others in the WPIAL that have stood out as a major contributor?
Mike White
11:41
Jacob Zader from Mt. Lebanon, freshman point guard, got off to a good start. But for freshmen, I have to bring up this James Armstrong at Hopewell. I haven't seen him play anything yet, but he's 6-3, 210 and had a pretty darn good year in football at quarterback. He was averaging around 16 a game after first few games in basketball. And I hear he's heckuva baseball player, too. Many people have talked about him to me. I need to see him. Might be next multi-sport star we are writing a lot about.
Ziggy Z
11:42
Better competition (bball); Worst section in 1A or City League?
Mike White
11:42
I don't understand question. Send again.
Basketball fan
11:42
Highlands cancelled game tonight against mars.  Any idea if they will cancel more games.
Mike White
11:42
No idea.
Arthur
11:42
Have you ever heard a head coach quits to spend time with family but he's coaching the following year somewhere else and his former team is horrible. You ever think to yourself he didn't quit to spend time with family. He quit cause he knew his team would not be any good next year?
Mike White
11:42
Oh yeah. It happens. Family is always a good excuse. Sometimes, it is true, though. And who might you be talking about?
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