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Mike White's high school sports chat: 12.15.20
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Mike White
11:00
Well, high school sports are shut down - but we can still talk. Plenty to blab about, right? So the store is now open for questions.
Wike Mhite
11:00
Mike, always a pleasure joining you to talk sports. 2 questions, I don’t know if you have heard anything or not. Will the Piaa cut down the 15 practices before the first game to get the season started for some teams? Also, will Chartiers valley girls lose a game this year, I know it’s always possible but who knows they might never lose lol. Stay blessed my friend!
Mike White
11:02
According to PIAA, there are no plans to cut the 15-practice rule. Many teams already have it in. According to PIAA, that comes from sports medicine committee and they don't want to mess with that. I think it should be cut this year to 12. You can make an exception this year. As for Char Valley, they've won 58 in a row. State record is 62. I think they definitely break record. Playoffs can be challenging, though.
11:04
Speaking of playoffs, WPIAL might come out with basketball playoff plan next week. I think there is good chance you'll see open tournament this year.
Coach
11:04
I for one am very disappointed the piaa and wpial haven’t gone to bat for the winter sports kids. At the very least these kids should be able to practice during this 3 week shutdown!! There are some kids who are relying on a sport to get them the extra financial aid they need to help pay for college!! Hoops teams have been practicing since the summer and there have been ZERO cases of transmission through sports, even with the rise in cases recently!!
Mike White
11:07
What? You're "disappointed" WPIAL and PIAA didn't go to bat. Heck, day before shutdown, PIAA gave blessing for schools to start season. What do you want schools to do, go against a Governor-ordered shutdown? Please, "Coach." Just stop it. I agree that no evidence of transfer through a sporting event, but please don't say WPIAL and PIAA haven't gone to bat for kids. It's the total opposite.
Gizzeria
11:07
Hi Mike, who are your top 3 in order in Class 4A boys basket?
Mike White
11:08
Quaker Valley, Lincoln Park, Belle Vernon and North Catholic. We had different rankings in Post-Gazette last week, but the above are my "personal" rankings.
JoeButlerMetroIndex
11:08
Should Pittsburgh media report the “commitments” of high school athletes to D3 schools? There are no athletic scholarships involved, so what are they committing to? Also, I see a lot of these travel teams in the area highlighting their pupils playing in college, mostly at the D3 level. So parents spent all this money to get extra instruction and travel to showcase games and tryouts to get offered a D3 commitment with a yearly price tag of $50-60K a year. Where was ROI?
Mike White
11:11
When we know about them, we give them one sentence in Brad Everett's "Recruit Report." And yes, some parents spend loads of money for their kids. Many parents are naive and throw money away to some organizations, but who are we to cast judgment on how a parent should spend money on their kid?
Mike Hatry
11:11
How’s Morton doing this year? Saw Purdue had a rough start to the season.
Mike White
11:16
Well, he's playing 16 minutes a game. Not bad for freshman. But, like many freshman sometimes in big-time programs, it's not easy. Takes a while. It certainly didn't help that he got mono and missed two-plus weeks of practice right before the season. He practiced only twice before first game. So I'm sure that took some time to recover. A freshman missing more than two weeks in preseason can be hard to come back from. I've watched a few Purdue games. Seems like still adjusting to the offense. They run a ton of sets and they like to get ball inside. He's only scored 8 points. Looks like that's biggest adjustment for him. He's playing various roles. But he's second on team in assists. And Purdue is 4-2. They're not a great team but I wouldn't say rough start. Lost to a pretty good Clemson team. Blew it against Miami. Big Ten loaded this year. I'm sure, like lot of freshman, Ethan will have ups and downs.
Brady Kraus
11:17
Best 1A team going into the season?
Mike White
11:18
We had Bishop Canevin No. 1 and rightly so. Four starters back from a 20-win team.
11:19
For Bishop Canevin they have forward Dom Elliott (18 ppg) and junior guard KeVaughn Price (17 ppg). Plus, a few transfers in.
Todd
11:19
AAA girls basketball looks loaded with defending champ Mohawk, north Catholic and Laurel.  I guess it all depends upon how good of a recruiting class north Catholic had. What do you think?
Mike White
11:19
You're so hilarious.
Canon
11:19
I am so confused with these shut downs and schedule adjustments.  Will the basketball season finish the same week or will it be lengthened?
Mike White
11:22
Nothing to be confused about. Regular season in WPIAL will be extended until the last week in February. That leaves teams time to make up some games. State championships pushed back a week. But PIAA is taking only district champions to playoffs. So PIAA tourney will be shorter and won't take as much time.
JoeButlerMetroIndex
11:22
TJ’s Jake Pugh had an outstanding season leading team to WPIAL and PIAA titles? Must have college potential. Any word on any offers for him?
Mike White
11:22
I don't know his recruiting status. Probably Div. 11 or lower.
Big blue
11:22
Last year spring high school coaches got paid even though they didn't have a season.  They argued that they practice and run their program all year long not just during the regular season.  I 100% agree that they should get paid. This year I be coaches will get screwed if the rumors are true.  Shame on administrators if they stiff the coaches.  They already don't get paid the amount that they deserve for the countless hours they put in.
Mike White
11:25
I do not know the status of spring coaches at schools. I don't know if every school paid their coaches in the spring. I know some did. I don't know if any did not. I agree with you that many coaches put in so much time in offseason and preseason. I agree they should get paid. But I'll also be honest. Some sub-varsity coaches (junior high and middle school) really only start the first day of official practice and don't do anything else.
Coach Z
11:25
Hi Mike!  How about what Meg McConnell is doing at Duquesne so far.  One would argue that if she scored more last season she would have been the runaway player of the year in the WPIAL
Mike White
11:30
She was A-10 Rookie of the Week. Nice start. This is all surprising because the plan was to redshirt her. But things changed with new NCAA rule giving kids extra year of eligibility if they wanted it. So Duquesne decided to play her and she has done well. She can still play four years after this season. Without the pandemic and that rule, she might have been redshirted. As for her scoring, that's not what she is. I don't think she fits the style of someone who would score 27-28 a game in high school. That's not what CV needed from her last year. They needed her to be point guard. Run team. Score when needed. Sound familiar in that family? Read: Brother in NBA.
JoeButlerMetroIndex
11:30
Why is Josh Hough going to the Orange and not the Blue and Gold? Like he can’t be given a chance to play RB for Pitt.
Mike White
11:31
Because he wanted to go to Syracuse. Pitt ended up offering but he liked Syracuse the best.
Coach Z
11:31
How good are the transfers that CV girls team got?  Anyone around the state that can challenge the streak.  Hard to see a WPIAL team beating them.
Mike White
11:33
I only know of one transfer for CV girls. Marian Turnbull. Was at Mt. Lebanon as freshman, at a school in Virginia last year.
JoeButlerMetroIndex
11:33
Nice job on the all-time Fab 22 team. Any heartburn from past players who did not make the cut?
Mike White
11:37
Ahhh, I don't know what you mean "any heartburn?" First off, I've said this publicly like 30 times now. This was not MY TEAM!!!! About 25 current and former coaches voted. 6 Post-Gazette current and former high school sports staff members voted. It was done by vote. I didn't agree with all 22 picks, but we did it as fair as we thought we could've. A few players close to the top 22 were Tom Tumulty, Curtis Bray, Jordan Whitehead. Tough team to make. I have no heartburn over it. Was one of the most enjoyable projects I've worked on in about 40 years at the Post-Gazette. Lot of work, but well worth it. Hope people liked it. You do a thing like that, you're always going to hear about people who "didn't" make it. But that's what makes that fun. Great to debate.
Be Like Mike White
11:38
Mike - just want to thank you for your commitment to scholastic sports. You know it inside and out and report it with passion..kudos Mike
Mike White
11:38
Why thank you "Be Like Mike." Where do you want the check sent?
Todd
11:41
In all seriousness, what are your thoughts on AAA girls basketball.  I was very disappointed to see that Mohawk was preseason #2 with north Catholic #1 as NC lost their top 9 players.  I guess you must know who they brought in to replace those 9. I was hoping you could shed some light on that.  Mohawk returns 4 of 5 starters from a championship team and Laurel return everyone from  a runner up team.  So unless NC brought in a few players, they shouldn’t even be in the mix.
Mike White
11:48
First off, I did not do the 3A girls rankings. Those are done by our high school staff. Would I have had North Catholic No. 1? Probably not. Would've probably went with Mohawk. Secondly, I have no idea of any players who came to North Catholic this year. I have no idea who are their starters. Their best player might be Lewandowski, sister of one of their top players last year. But I still would've ranked them 1 or 2. Why? First off, they're coming "down" from 4A. And you'd be a dolt to not rank them highly whatever class they're in, regardless of how many starters they lost. Molly Rottman has won, what, like, 96 WPIALs. She can coach a little. And by know, I think you might realize with programs like North Catholic, there are players sitting on the bench who are pretty good. It's all part of the "program." And when some players graduate, there are others with talent ready to step in who probably are pretty decent. Get it?
JoeButlerMetroIndex
11:48
How have you covered high school sports for such a long time? Do you ever get tired or burned out? How do you stay energized?
Mike White
11:53
I've done numerous other things along the way, but have always done high school sports also. Burned out? Yeah, there are times I might leak some oil because it's a long school year of games and stories - August to end of June. But I have always liked high school sports, even before I ever started covering them. And hey, you're dealing with sports and kids. Two of my passions. How could you grow tired of that? I admire many coaches also. I've had tastes of covering big-time college sports before and even a little in the pros many years ago. There are benefits to that, but sorry. Leave that to others. I have no great desire to deal with what goes in that territory.
Slick Rick
11:53
Here is a thought on transfers who do not get full approval.  It makes no sense to me allowing players play all regular season and making them sit during the playoffs.  Their performance during the regular season may be the reason other teams miss the playoffs.  Why not have them play JV only.  That way they can still play HS basketball but it will not be at the expense of another team.
Mike White
11:54
I don't disagree. But decision makers in PIAA don't think that is the way to go. WPIAL offered that scenario years ago and most of PIAA didn't bite on it.
JoeButlerMetroIndex
11:55
Any chance a high school FB coach from the area makes the jump to college at some point? Could/would Cherpak or Kasperowicz ever get the itch to try it? Read Cherp had chance during Wanny’s reign?
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