{"id":79338,"date":"2017-03-09T14:01:55","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T14:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=79338"},"modified":"2023-04-14T19:40:29","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T19:40:29","slug":"sportstalk-shop-state-basketball-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-state-basketball-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"The SportsTalk Shop: State Basketball Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The PIAA <\/a>basketball playoffs are almost upon us and RCN-TV is gearing up for outstanding coverage <\/a>of your local teams!<\/p>\n

To get you ready for the state playoffs, here are some storylines to follow as the schools in the RCN coverage area embark on facing teams from across Pennsylvania over the next several weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the Winner Is\u2026\u201d<\/em>
\nNo \u201cLa La Land\/Moonlight\u201d moments here, there was no doubt who the Cinderella team was in this year\u2019s EPC <\/a>& District XI<\/a> playoffs\u2014the East Stroudsburg North <\/strong><\/a>boys basketball team.<\/p>\n

While many fans in the Valley incorrectly assumed a game against ESN would be a cakewalk, a few local coaches warned me before the regular season ended that opponents should not take ESN lightly.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves are a scrappy team that\u2019s fun to watch in each of their playoff games, which included wins over Emmaus <\/a>(EPC\u2019s #1 seed), Whitehall <\/a>(a higher seeded district team) and a Central Catholic<\/a> team that also was playing really well entering the post-season.\u00a0 ESN defeated a very good Pottsville <\/a>team in the district final, and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what this team can do in the state playoffs.<\/p>\n

Expanded Playoffs = (Some) Weaker Competition<\/em>
\nIt isn\u2019t enough that 2017 has been widely regarded as a \u201cdown year\u201d for a number of the District 12 power house boys\u2019 schools, but by allowing more teams into the PIAA playoffs, it will almost certainly guarantee a weaker-than-normal first (and possibly second) round of states.<\/p>\n

With the exception of the 6A boys and girls classifications, there have been quite of bit of complaints by local fans (and less than tremendous turnouts) as many of the district playoff games were less than spectacular, with several blowouts (especially in the 4A boys classification) and frequent sloppy play.\u00a0 That trend probably won\u2019t change much in the opening round of the PIAAs, with many of Pennsylvania\u2019s top programs squaring off against sub-500 squads and teams that barely qualified for states\u2014even with more spots available\u2014especially outside of the biggest school categories.<\/p>\n

Watch the Women\u2019s Teams<\/em>
\nWhile they may not get the attention the boys teams do (but still outnumbered a couple of the routing sections than at the boys\u2019 games), there are a plethora of tremendous girls high school teams in Pennsylvania and several of them are from the Lehigh Valley<\/p>\n

Archbishop Carroll<\/a> is one of the \u201csuper teams\u201d across Pennsylvania and are certainly heavy favorites to win a state trophy and, unless your team is playing them, are definitely an entertaining squad to watch.<\/p>\n

I predicted on last winter\u2019s \u201cSportsTalk\u201d that the 2016-2017 Lehigh Valley girls basketball teams will combine for are one of the best overall years in terms of the number of talent and competitive teams.\u00a0 The play of the girls\u2019 games over the last few weeks has only strengthened that contention.\u00a0 Entering the state playoffs, Bethlehem Catholic<\/a>, Southern Lehigh<\/a>, Easton <\/a>and Nazareth<\/a><\/strong> all have strong chances at going deep in the PIAAs and I wouldn\u2019t count out Northampton<\/a>, Central Catholic<\/a>, Parkland <\/a>or Notre Dame-Green Pond<\/a><\/strong> from pulling an upset in the opening round.<\/p>\n

With the possible exception of the Allen <\/a>and\/or the Becahi boys teams, I think the Lehigh Valley\u2019s best chances of seeing state gold lies with one of the areas girls programs.<\/p>\n

Keep An Eye On Allen<\/em>
\nSpeaking of the Canaries of William Allen<\/strong> high school, Doug Snyder\u2019s team had been ranked number one in the state since early January and, until this week, had not fallen from the top spot, even after their one and only regular season loss to Bethlehem Catholic (also ranked statewide).<\/p>\n

Allen was certainly disappointed by its District XI semifinal loss to Parkland <\/a>(more on them below) last Wednesday, but I still believe that\u2014on paper\u2014the Canaries are one of the best and most complete team in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the lost to the Trojans will refocus the team as it gears up for the state playoffs and enter what is probably the most competitive of the six boys classifications in this year\u2019s PIAAs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNotable By Their Absence\u2026\u201d<\/em>
\nI feel it appropriate to borrow an often-used term by RCN Basketball Announcer and Former Head College Basketball Coach John Leone to talk about a few teams that will NOT be in the state tournament.<\/p>\n

When the new classifications were released and Whitehall <\/strong>was placed in a category away from tradition rivals like Allen, Parkland, Emmaus and others, many basketball fans in the Lehigh Valley practically guaranteed a spot in the PIAAs for the Zephyrs.<\/p>\n

A number of fans within the township thought this year\u2019s team was one of the best Whitehall teams they had ever seen\u2014a statement that I never agreed with.\u00a0 They definitely had many talented players on the roster and owned one of the best records of any team in the Valley through the first two months of the season.\u00a0 However, their up-tempo style of offense overshadowed a suspect defense, and the team struggled anytime an opponent forced them to play a half court style of play\u2014a fact that haunted them as they couldn\u2019t protect a lead in their final game again East Stroudsburg North in the first round of Districts.<\/p>\n

The Zephyrs ended the year by losing 5 of its last 6 games, leaving many fans in the Whitehall community stunned and disappointed.<\/p>\n

Bangor <\/strong><\/a>was a more underrated team all year long, despite the fact that I was touting them before the season even started.\u00a0 They graduate four of their five starters, who captured three consecutive Colonial League<\/a> titles. I was surprised to see the Slaters fall to Pottsville in the district semifinals.\u00a0 With only two state playoff spots available in the 5A classification, I knew it would be interesting to see which of a number of talented teams (including Whitehall, Allentown Central Catholic, East Stroudsburg North, Southern Lehigh, Pottsville and Blue Mountain<\/a>) would qualify.\u00a0 But I have to admit I though Bangor would definitely be one of those two teams, and am disappointed I won\u2019t get to see Dylan Benton and company play one more time.<\/p>\n

Both Whitehall and Bangor can be very proud of their season\u2019s overall, but it will be strange to open the state playoff race without a Lehigh Valley representative in one of Pennsylvania\u2019s largest playoff classifications.<\/p>\n

A Record Setting Appearance<\/em>
\nLastly, the Parkland<\/strong> boys\u2019 basketball team (who\u2019ll open their state playoff run against Archbishop Ryan<\/a>\u2014Saturday, 6pm LIVE on RCN-TV<\/em><\/strong>) capped off a phenomenal and historic night for high school basketball in the Valley.\u00a0\u00a0 In the first of what will probably be many future games at Allentown\u2019s PPL Center<\/a> Arena, the Trojans win over the state\u2019s previously number-one ranked team Allen (in front of a record setting crowd of over 7,600 attendees) will be something people will be talking about for months, if not years to come.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll talk more about the state playoffs and get in-depth with our previews, insights and predictions involving teams within the RCN-TV viewing area on Thursday\u2019s \u201cSportsTalk\u201d program!\u00a0 Email your sports opinions and questions to us at rcnsportstalk@rcn.com<\/a> and we\u2019ll read and respond on this week\u2019s show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The PIAA basketball playoffs are almost upon us and RCN-TV is gearing up for outstanding coverage of your local teams! To get you ready for the state playoffs, here are some storylines to follow as the schools in the RCN coverage area embark on facing teams from across Pennsylvania over the next several weeks. \u201cAnd…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[51,780,88,162,779,178,180,219,362,382,385,401,623,618,497,550],"class_list":["post-79338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop","tag-bethlehem-catholic","tag-blue-mountain","tag-central-catholic","tag-district-xi-basketball","tag-east-stroudsburg-north","tag-easton","tag-emmaus","tag-high-school-basketball","tag-nazareth","tag-northampton","tag-notre-dame","tag-parkland","tag-piaa-basketball","tag-pottsville","tag-southern-lehigh","tag-whitehall"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe SportsTalk Shop: State Basketball Preview - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SportsTalk Shop: State Basketball Preview - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The PIAA basketball playoffs are almost upon us and RCN-TV is gearing up for outstanding coverage of your local teams! 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