Iup basketball

[Ship69]

It's all so freaked up now it's hard to keep track. I don't know what's next for Aliquippa football. They are a Class A school by enrollment (and a small one at that). They just went 14-1 in Class 4A and lost in the PIAA final. The WPIAL may move them to the the PSAC next.

The public/private debate in high school sports gets tiresome but it is real problem.

In girls basketball last week I had to laugh when little Homer-Center (near Indiana) drew Kennedy Catholic in the PIAA Tournament. It would be hard to find two programs more different. One is home-grown. One recruits better than most D1 programs.

The boys coach at little Union High School went on a tirade several weeks back about his team losing to a private school full of ringers. His outburst actually got a lot of air time on Yinzer sports radio stations. He wasn't wrong.

I personally think 6 classes has ruined the WPIAL ... not sure the effect out in your parts.

School enrollments aren't declining as much in our area as they are in the West (Cumberland County is the fastest-growing county in the state), which makes it an entirely different story. I think our District 3 has only about a half-dozen (or fewer) 1A football schools in the whole region. One of those is Steel-High, which actually has been pretty successful in the football playoffs. The most common football class in our area is 5A, where last I looked the District had about 30-some schools. We do have a few 6A such as Cumberland Valley Reading, Central Dauphin, etc. I think the big schools around Philly account for a lot of the 6A schools.

I certainly come down on the separate playoff side of the public-private dispute. One of my wife's cousins was a coach and AD for years at a small District 5 high school and has many tales of being raided by an area Catholic school. Bishop McDevitt in our area recruits shamelessly. They're on the east shore of the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg and have brought several players in from the West Shore over the years. I remember them getting the Robinson kid out of Mechanicsburg who later played running back at Penn State. And he didn't go there for the "Catholic education" as Trinity Catholic High School is located within the boundaries of the Mechanicsburg school district. I believe this past year's McDevitt team has three players going to the Big Ten and another to Virginia Tech. Their sophomore QB was all-state. And for all that, they play at 4A, same level as Aliquippa has been forced into, and don't even play in the toughest division of the Mid-Penn Conference. I don't know how they get away with it. In our 4A district playoffs they played Manheim Central, a highly respected public program that has won a state championship and a bunch of district championships, and beat them 40-0. After the game, the Manheim Central coach just shook his head, chuckled, and said, "That was a nice 6A team we played out there today."

[IUP24]

It's all so freaked up now it's hard to keep track. I don't know what's next for Aliquippa football. They are a Class A school by enrollment (and a small one at that). They just went 14-1 in Class 4A and lost in the PIAA final. The WPIAL may move them to the the PSAC next.

The public/private debate in high school sports gets tiresome but it is real problem.

In girls basketball last week I had to laugh when little Homer-Center (near Indiana) drew Kennedy Catholic in the PIAA Tournament. It would be hard to find two programs more different. One is home-grown. One recruits better than most D1 programs.

The boys coach at little Union High School went on a tirade several weeks back about his team losing to a private school full of ringers. His outburst actually got a lot of air time on Yinzer sports radio stations. He wasn't wrong.

I personally think 6 classes has ruined the WPIAL ... not sure the effect out in your parts.

It isn't a coincidence that there was only one district to vote against the move 6 classifications. I agree that it destroyed what was the mystique of the WPIAL (and although that wasn't the actual reasoning, I'm sure it made the decision makers within the PIAA happy that it knocked them down a peg). Heck, in no other part of the state was winning a district championship more important than winning a state title.

The move watered down everything so much. The move was primarily done to appease eastern PA, where they have merged school districts, have larger districts overall, and there's far more people. I think there's like 10 schools that play 6A football in the WPIAL.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Another good reason to have separate championship playoffs for public and private schools, although it's usually worse on the football side.

My local high school, which plays Class 5A in most sports, gets pushed up to 6A in basketball because of all the tiny Christian and other private schools that play basketball. That meant we got Reading in the second game of our district playoffs this year. Fun.

It's all so freaked up now it's hard to keep track. I don't know what's next for Aliquippa football. They are a Class A school by enrollment (and a small one at that). They just went 14-1 in Class 4A and lost in the PIAA final. The WPIAL may move them to the the PSAC next.

The public/private debate in high school sports gets tiresome but it is real problem.

In girls basketball last week I had to laugh when little Homer-Center (near Indiana) drew Kennedy Catholic in the PIAA Tournament. It would be hard to find two programs more different. One is home-grown. One recruits better than most D1 programs.

The boys coach at little Union High School went on a tirade several weeks back about his team losing to a private school full of ringers. His outburst actually got a lot of air time on Yinzer sports radio stations. He wasn't wrong.

I personally think 6 classes has ruined the WPIAL ... not sure the effect out in your parts.

[Ship69]

In the recent PIAA boys and girls finals..The Philadelphia Catholic League went 4-1 in the title round. West Catholic for the boys and Lansdale Catholic, Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll for the girls for the win and Roman Catholic lost to Reading on the boys side.

Hopefully IUP can recruit a few players from the PCL…

Another good reason to have separate championship playoffs for public and private schools, although it's usually worse on the football side.

My local high school, which plays Class 5A in most sports, gets pushed up to 6A in basketball because of all the tiny Christian and other private schools that play basketball. That meant we got Reading in the second game of our district playoffs this year. Fun.

[IUPalum]

He's going to be a major headache for the rest of the PSAC West.

I think the question for SRU is can they get enough of a quality supporting cast around him based on their somewhat limited scholarship numbers. Assuming they do also sign Ike Herster and have Lashon Lindsey returning ... that's probably three full rides right there. Average year SRU probably has 4.5 to 6 equivalencies. So, that probably means building the rest of the roster spread over 2-3 equivalencies.

I'd guess a change of scenery (and coach) is going to do wonders for Herster. Khalid Gates may regret leaving.

Gates leaving probably opened the fund to get Austin.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

TribLive said two years of eligibility and he'll play as a grad student. What the TribLive article didn't say is why he left the Duquesne program. Connect the dots, but his older sister died in January 2020. He was a star at Kennedy Catholic (Joe's alma mater), scoring 1,971 points and winning four state titles. Played in the shadow of Oscar Tshiebwe.

He's going to be a major headache for the rest of the PSAC West.

I think the question for SRU is can they get enough of a quality supporting cast around him based on their somewhat limited scholarship numbers. Assuming they do also sign Ike Herster and have Lashon Lindsey returning ... that's probably three full rides right there. Average year SRU probably has 4.5 to 6 equivalencies. So, that probably means building the rest of the roster spread over 2-3 equivalencies.

I'd guess a change of scenery (and coach) is going to do wonders for Herster. Khalid Gates may regret leaving.

[hawks16]

Former Kennedy Catholic star (and Duquesne player) Maceo Austin is announcing his transfer destination this afternoon. Sounds like he has one year of eligibility.

TribLive said two years of eligibility and he'll play as a grad student. What the TribLive article didn't say is why he left the Duquesne program. Connect the dots, but his older sister died in January 2020. He was a star at Kennedy Catholic (Joe's alma mater), scoring 1,971 points and winning four state titles. Played in the shadow of Oscar Tshiebwe.

[hawks16]

Those first four schools to contact Tomiwa yesterday ... if he signs with any of them he'd be nuts. IUP has better fans, support and facilities than all of them. Going to some dumpster fire like Cleveland State just to say you play D1 ... each his own, I suppose. Tomiwa is also a showman. He was a celebrity in Indiana and the crowd loved him. He may not find that in the places that come calling for him.
.

Said it once and I'll say it again -- Joe's best recruiting is bringing players on campus on an April Saturday to walk through the Co-op food court during prime day drinking season. Hawk Family but also Hawk groupies and Lady Hawks. The men's and women's basketball players are the celebs on campus. (Swimming/track are a close second because they throw the best parties.)

[IUPTrackMan]

Bethea's season was very strange. He came out of camp on the active roster (rare for a Joe true freshman). He was playing, on average, I'd guess 10-14 mpg in NOV and most of DEC. Then ... poof. Gone. They activated Jaylen Stewart and Bethea was never seen again (minus some occasional mop-up time). He's a nice-size PG and very quick. I thought he was a very good defender for a true freshman. He wasn't allowed to do anything on offense (like most of the team) so it's not fair to even comment on his offensive potential.

Polce went from playing decent minutes to essentially nothing for most of February. So, I don't know what the story is there other than something obviously changed.

Didn’t Polce have a knee injury at some point during the season that may have left a step slow?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It seems something happened to the team in February. The Team that beat ESU by 14 would have had a better chance in the NCAAs , as it was, they just weren't up to it.

It slowly evolved into a one-man show and unfortunately Joe didn't get a grasp on it. The more they went AAU offense (basically from February forward) the worse they got. Their offense was hard to watch the final 5-6 weeks of the season. It was a total mess.

[IUPNation]

In the recent PIAA boys and girls finals..The Philadelphia Catholic League went 4-1 in the title round. West Catholic for the boys and Lansdale Catholic, Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll for the girls for the win and Roman Catholic lost to Reading on the boys side.

Hopefully IUP can recruit a few players from the PCL…

[ironmaniup]

Bethea's season was very strange. He came out of camp on the active roster (rare for a Joe true freshman). He was playing, on average, I'd guess 10-14 mpg in NOV and most of DEC. Then ... poof. Gone. They activated Jaylen Stewart and Bethea was never seen again (minus some occasional mop-up time). He's a nice-size PG and very quick. I thought he was a very good defender for a true freshman. He wasn't allowed to do anything on offense (like most of the team) so it's not fair to even comment on his offensive potential.

Polce went from playing decent minutes to essentially nothing for most of February. So, I don't know what the story is there other than something obviously changed.

It seems something happened to the team in February. The Team that beat ESU by 14 would have had a better chance in the NCAAs , as it was, they just weren't up to it.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The Twitter world thinks Maceo Austin and Ike Herster are going to sign with Slippery Rock as a package.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'd prefer neither of those guys leave. I think Bethea has good upside. And I like what Polce can bring.

Bethea's season was very strange. He came out of camp on the active roster (rare for a Joe true freshman). He was playing, on average, I'd guess 10-14 mpg in NOV and most of DEC. Then ... poof. Gone. They activated Jaylen Stewart and Bethea was never seen again (minus some occasional mop-up time). He's a nice-size PG and very quick. I thought he was a very good defender for a true freshman. He wasn't allowed to do anything on offense (like most of the team) so it's not fair to even comment on his offensive potential.

Polce went from playing decent minutes to essentially nothing for most of February. So, I don't know what the story is there other than something obviously changed.

[IUP24]

Correct. So, the recruiting will give us something to talk about but as far as next year goes it's real simple. He needs 3 players to round out his 7-8 man rotation.

Ethan, Dallis and Stewart will be starters (3 of the 8)

Brooks and Waldo will certainly be in the rotation (5 of the 8)

Polce and Bethea are candidates to be in the rotation (if they are still here). KJ will still be on the team but I assume he'll go back to the '9th man' super utility role. I'd assume his two walk-ons remain on the team.

Bottom line, he needs to sign two transfer guards (one needs to be a pure PG) and one post player. He'll also sign at least one high school player so I suspect this class to have 4-5 guys (and bigger if Polce or Bethea leave).

I'd prefer neither of those guys leave. I think Bethea has good upside. And I like what Polce can bring.