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And now it’s time for another riveting episode of, “As the Basketball Turns.”
When we left our hero, Spalding, he was recuperating from an inflation needle injury when his physician, Dr. Jay, came into the room, and said simply, “I’m concerned.”
“Is it Baden?,” Spalding asked.
“No,” said the doctor, “even I wouldn’t stoop to use a pun like that.”
It’s been just too easy to knock all three of the PIAA districts in which we have teams – 3, 4 and 6 – for the way their tournaments have played out this year.
In District 6, we almost didn’t have a Class AAA girls entrant, and one fewer Class AA boys. Why? Well, because there apparently is a requirement that the district be notified if a school will exceed the 22-game competition limit for the season.
Which Juniata did, thanks to the Tri-Valley League tournament.
An aside: As dumb as I think the TVL playoffs are, give props to the Halifax girls for beating the two best teams in the league back to back to steal the title.
So if Juniata gets kicked out of District 6, it makes things a lot easier for Forest Hills. I can’t picture the conversation in which district chair Bill Marshall has to explain to Kevin Kodish why the latter’s 19-2 (regular season) basketball team is not eligible for the postseason.
It was even more fun when the district said the game would be Monday, then Wednesday, then Tuesday; at Tyrone, then at Mifflin County. Take notes; there will be a quiz.
In District 4, we had to wait until the last second to determine who was even in, because District 4 wouldn’t know a cutoff date if it dropped out of the sky and hit the chairman on the head.
Please, if you’re going to let every team in the district into the tournament, no matter how bad – and it seems the district is intent on achieving that laughable goal – at least stop the count for seeding purposes before the end of the regular season, instead of two days after.
And I’m loathe to even mention the halftime score of the Danville vs. Midd-West Class AAA girls playoff game – 10-8 Ironmen. There’s some offense.
Districts 3 and 4 combine for the senseless outcome award.
The East Juniata girls, a District 4 member, finished with the third-best TVL record (fourth overall), had the league’s third-highest winning percentage – the Tigers even beat the league champs in their regular-season meeting.
They, however, were retired in the opening round of their tournament, while Newport, Greenwood and Lancaster Country Day (along with Halifax) advanced to the quarterfinals in the District 3 Class A bracket.
Newport and Greenwood lost twice each to the Tigers, and were behind them in their division standings. Lancaster Country Day – another East Juniata victim – was tied for the worst record in the TVL, with only one league win all year. In fact, those three schools combine for only seven league wins to East Juniata’s nine, and overall own only four more wins between them than East Juniata achieved on its own.
It’s fair to note that East Juniata chose to leave District 3 for District 4 – and that it plays in a higher classification than the other three. It’s a reminder of how bad the District 3 Class A bracket has become when all three of those teams entered the weekend on the verge of state qualification. Two of them lost, but Greenwood, which would not have won half its games if it completes a run for the state title, has clinched a spot in the tournament.
At least no one else suffered the embarrassment of the West Perry girls basketball team. When the district gathered team photos for the omnibus tournament program, it inadvertently ended up with a cheerleading squad photo in place of the Mustangs.
Surely someone should have noticed that basketball players haven’t worn skirts like that in a few years?
Word is, the district was at least nice enough to print a few new programs for the West Perry game.
And then people wonder why I prefer wrestling.
Jeff Fishbein is sports editor of The Sentinel. Contact him at jfishbein@lewistownsentinel.com.