Thursday, February 12, 2009

WPIAL Class A basketball playoffs breakdown

Class A
Boys
Top seeds: 1. Sewickley Academy, 2. Serra Catholic, 3. Neshannock, 4. Clairton
Bits and pieces: Serra Catholic averaged 88.0 points per game in its final three games of the regular season. ... Clairton is the enigma of the bracket. The talented Bears defeated Serra Catholic in the first meeting then lost 80-36 at home. Clairton adds to the confusion by closing the regular season with a win over North Catholic – the No. 3 seed in Class AA. ... Carmichaels coach Don Williams is the dean of the bracket. He's in his 33rd season as the Mikes' head coach and he topped 400 career victories earlier this year. ... Sewickley Academy guard Tom Droney is being recruited by Notre Dame, Pitt and Davidson.
Sleeper: OLSH. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart has top scorers in Jim Orie and Anthony Scappe plus the Chargers are coached by Mike Rodriguez, who guided Windber (District 5) to great success during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Championship: Serra Catholic over Clairton.

Girls
Top seeds: 1. North Catholic, 2. Quigley Catholic, 3. Serra Catholic, 4. Monessen
Bits and pieces: A few eyebrows raised when Quigley Catholic received the No. 2 seed but the Spartans have won 13 straight. On the flip side, only two of those teams (Rochester and Vincentian Academy) have winning records. ... Two of North Catholic's losses came to other No. 1 seeds. It lost to New Castle (AAA) by four and Sto-Rox (AA) by three. ... Behind the play of Jordan Duke (17.0 ppg), Carmichaels lost only twice to a Class A opponent – both games were against Monessen. ... At 6-15, the California girls have the worst record of any of the 150 WPIAL playoff teams.
Sleeper: Fort Cherry. At 17-5, not many No. 7 seeds have a better record or a better chance to make a run. The Rangers, led by Marissa Miles (16.7 ppg) have quality wins over Washington, Brownsville (twice) and Serra Catholic.
Championship: North Catholic over Mt. Alvernia.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can sum up the Bears in Class A for you...when they show up and play focused they are unbeatable (with respect to class). If/when they dont, they will repeat the Serra dibacle.

However, given Clairton's tendency to wait until the playoffs to typically turn it on in basketball, bare minimum they are in the semi's or finals. Serra is going to be a tough out.

Anonymous said...

Now that was the most unbiased opinion ever posted on this message board.

Anonymous said...

i didnt say Clairton was going to win it...

Anonymous said...

Clairton will not win it. I thinkt hey have way too many mental breakdowns to win it this time around.