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Mike White's high school sports chat: 1.23.18
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Mike White
10:59
Now open for business. Let's get right to it.
.
11:00
For 6a basketball... is it looking like a Pine Richland and Butler rematch?
Mike White
11:02
They are two of I'd say probably six or seven teams that have a legit shot to go far.  But no way can you say Pine and Butler are the favorites. Myself, and a lot of coaches, believe 6A is pretty open. There is no one great team in 6A. No state champ in 6A will come from WPIAL. But a number of good teams. You have to look also at Penn Hills, Mt. Lebanon, Woodland Hills. Heck, don't discount Central or Latrobe. By the way, Butler plays at Pine Friday.
Jerry
11:02
Rank the top 5 in boys 2A and which of them is a legitimate title contender?
Mike White
11:05
OLSH, Sewickley are definitely 1-2. Jeannette and Serra next in line. Jeanneette beat Serra in close game, but Jeannette just lost to Leechburg. I'm not going past those four.
The South Will Rise
11:05
With the Peters girls basketball team knocking off Bethel Park for the second straight time and the fact they are tops in a difficult section.  Does that put them as the potential top seed for 6A girls.  It seems that North Allegheny maybe overrated, especially since their section is so weak this year?
Mike White
11:06
No way Peters is No. 1 seed. It's definitely NA. Hands down. Doesn't matter if their section is down. They are defending champ, lost only one player from last year and are undefeated. How could they not be No. 1 seed??? Peters No. 2.
‘T’ from Green Tree
11:06
Went to ‘Dice’-Mars game last! Great game! What classification is Allderdice?
Mike White
11:06
Allderdice is Class 6A.
White Mike
11:09
Expectations for dice vs highlands on Sunday?
Mike White
11:10
Dice is rolling. Awww yeahhh!!! But Highlands is a pretty good team. Really like what Tyler Stoczynski has done since taking over as coach. Allderdice definitely favorite but Highlands could keep it close. Allderdice is good but certainly not unbeatable.
11:11
One of best non-section games over weekend is Quaker Valley vs. Lincoln Park Saturday at Moon.
Randal
11:13
What are those twins that played at the Dice a few years ago doing now?
Mike White
11:15
You're talking about the Jackson twins - Tim and James. Graduated two years ago and it was extremely difficult to find them the past couple years. Coaches and administrators for Allderdice didn't even know. But funny you ask. Trusty P-G sports writer Brad Everett has a little story on them for Friday. THE JACKSONS HAVE BEEN FOUND!!!! They are at Scott Community College in Kansas now, hoping to play football in fall. Since Allderdice, they have been at a junior college in Oklahoma, at a JC in Erie and most recently CCAC-Boyce hoping to play football. Stay tuned.
Simon
11:16
Mike I am glad to see you agree that NA girls should be a one seed.  Have you seen their non section schedule, Gilmore Academy, Abington, Parkersburg South, Altoona twice, winning them all. They are going to play Spring-Ford, Bethel and Peters before the end of season.  If they get through that undefeated, Wow.
Mike White
11:16
Exactly. No one they are not the No. 1 seed unless maybe they lost to Bethel or Peters. Actually, it will be shocking if NA doesn't win WPIAL.
11:17
For me, headed to Mt. Lebanon at Canon-McMillan tonight. Quietly, Canon-Mac has turned into one of top teams in 6A. Only loss so far to Mt. Lebanon.
11:18
Just a tidbit. Stanford was at Butler practice Monday to see Ethan Morton.
Cuz
11:18
Is it just me, or is there a lack of height around the WPIAL? You look at some of these AAU teams from other cities that have college-sized lineups. I know those teams pull from all over, but how many really big guys are there around this area?
Mike White
11:20
Cuz, it's not you. There IS a lack of height in WPIAL. Has been for years. I don't know what it is. We went through a couple years about 10 years ago or so where we had big guys like DeJuan Blair, Herb Pope and the like. But something in the water in Western Pa., that stunts growth of basketball players.
11:22
Also Cuz, coming later this week, I have a column that gives some tangible evidence of how basketball talent used to be. I got all-section teams from 40 years ago. WIll show you how there was so many more Div. 1 players back then. We all knew this, but this is some tangible evidence. Also, the size of the players back then. Impressive.
11:24
From those 1978 all section teams, you had 6-6 Bill Varner (Notre Dame) at Valley, 6-7 Doug Arnold (Duquesne) at Norwin, 6-7 Bruce Atkins (Duquesne) at Wilkinsburg, 6-5 sophomore Marc Marotta (Marquette) at Central Catholic, 6-8 Paul Brozovich (Pitt) at South Allegheny. I could go on.
WPIAL Lifer
11:25
In the good'ole days, Robby Carmody would be shoe-in for PA team at the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic. Any word on what, if any, national all-star games he might be on the radar for? I
Mike White
11:26
Yes, Sonny Vaccaro would have him in the big game, for sure. Have not heard any national all-star games for Carmody. There aren't that many. He's not McDonald's All-American.
rgw
11:26
Not surprised the Morton kid is getting all these looks.  Where Carmody is an explosive scorer, Morton I think does a better job of getting everyone involved, his passing is amazing.
Mike White
11:28
They are two very different type players. Morton is pure point guard. Carmody plays shooting guard, sometimes point guard, really anywhere. You say Carmody doesn't get everyone involved? Well I would guess he takes only about 20 or so shots a game. That's not a ton to average 34. Honestly, last night against Allderdice, when Allderdice came on strong in the fourth, Mars went probably four critical possessions where Carmody didn't touch the ball.
Randal
11:28
You should release, maybe once a week,  random schools all time teams.  Just 5 best all time from a certain school.  Would be entertaining
Mike White
11:29
Yeah, would be nice, but too hard to do. Too hard to know all players from all teams.
Cuz
11:29
Who is the best freshman boys basketball player in the WPIAL this year?
Mike White
11:30
Hard to say exactly, but I think you have to look at Dante Spadafora at OLSH maybe??? I say maybe. He's averaging 19 a game for a good team. Pretty impressive.
WPIAL North
11:30
More talent like you said back 30-40 years ago... are we seeing more 1000 point scorers now? How rare is it though to see multiple players in the area hitting 2000 career points at the same time?
Mike White
11:31
Yes, I think teams score a little more now than maybe 10 years ago or so. I don't think a ton, but yes, a little more. The 2000-point scorers. Well, there have been 41 in WPIAL history for girls. That's a lot. More have done it in the past 15-20 years.
WPIAL North
11:31
Other than 6A with seven or eight legit title contenders, which classification do you feel is most wide open?
Mike White
11:32
Probably Class A. And 5A is fairly balanced also.
Guy
11:32
Do you have the numbers on City League's enrollments/what classification they would fall into? You mentioned Dice is 6A, curious as to what other schools would play in if they qualified for states.
Mike White
11:34
Allderdice and Brashear are 6A in boys hoops. Carrick and Obama are 5A and Perry and Westinghouse are 3A.
huh?
11:39
How does 2-11 North Hills beat 13-1 Butler by 27 points? What happened?
Mike White
11:41
I don't know wasn't there. But sometimes strange things can happen. North Hills has been close to a number of teams this year. Trailed Mt. Lebanon by three and had ball with 1:30 left in game. Was close with Latrobe in fourth quarter. Close to Central. Losing by six to Pine heading into fourth. North HIlls was close with Butler in fourth quarter first time they played. But I agree the blowout was shocking.
Mitch
11:41
Is Curtis Aiken still getting D1 looks?   I’m surprised they don’t have better record this year
Mike White
11:42
I don't know what his status is. I have not heard any D-1 schools looking at him. NA started off badly, but they are coming on. Watch for them down the stretch.
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