There’s no such thing as too much basketball for Ryan Arcidiacano.
The Neshaminy sophomore saw his high school season end when the Redskins fell to Penn Wood in the second round of the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament in mid-March.
At the insistence of his father, Arcidiacano took a week off after his high school season ended.
“I just played video games and relaxed,” the SOL National Conference MVP said. “My dad wouldn’t let me touch a basketball, wouldn’t let me work out or anything like that.
“Maybe here and there I’ll take two or three days off to give my legs a rest, but my dad wanted me to take a full week to rest my body for the upcoming season. It was the worst week of my life.”
Arcidiacano is happy to be back on the court again, and so far so good for the Neshaminy sophomore and his teammates on the elite Pa Playaz AAU team.
PaPlayaz – despite losing five of its 10 players before the semifinals because of a banquet - advanced to the final four at the Hoop Group Jam Fest at the University of Pittsburgh. The tournament included 76 of the top 16-year-old AAU squads in the nation.
More recently, they captured the title in the Providence Jam Fest, which included the 54 top teams in the Northeast for the Class of 2012.
Making those accomplishments even more impressive was the fact that PaPlayaz is comprised of players from largely two Bucks County schools – Council Rock North and Neshaminy. Rock North’s Arron Goodman, Owen Rice, Aaron Morgan and Billy McAlister are joined by Neshaminy’s Arcidiacano, Tyler Katz and Dwight Williams.
Another SOL player – Central Bucks South’s Dan Brown – is a recent addition to the squad, which also includes Gene Williams from St. Joe’s Prep and Malvern Prep’s Brendan Kilpatrick.
On a circuit where many teams have 10 players from 10 different high schools on their roster, a team of players from the same community is rare indeed.
“These kids are not only competing, they’re dominating,” coach Gene Rice said. “That’s what is very, very unique about this group.
“I don’t know if they’ve ever had a group in one grade with that many talented kids. Ryan was not only first team all-league, he was MVP of the league. Aaron Morgan made first team all-league, and Arron Goodman made second team – all of them as 10th graders. We just happen to be very blessed.”
The Playaz has more than talent working in its favor.
“The other teams have their 10 players, but maybe they don’t have the chemistry we have on our team,” Arcidiacano said. “Off the court, we hang out a lot. We just have a bond, and that’s a positive for us because all of us have played together for a while. We played together growing up.”
“We’re like brothers,” McAlister said. “We’re great friends. It’s fun, and it’s a really good experience.”
Some have been together since fourth grade when Arcidiacano joined forces with the CR North players on Upper Makefield. They served early notice that they were something special, one year compiling a 38-0 record and winning both the New Jersey League and Suburban League.
“Every year we only lost two or three games,” Arcidiacano said.
Pa Playaz was formed when the players were in seventh grade. At every level, this group has experienced success.
“The thing I was concerned about this year was they had been playing at a very high level, but we don’t have anyone tall,” Rice said. “Our tallest guy is Arron Goodman at 6-5. The teams we play against will have multiple kids 6-8, 6-9, 6-10, so my concern was – are we going to still be competitive at a very, very high level?
“That was what was so great about those two tournaments. Not only were we able to compete, but we won one of them and advanced to the final four in the other without having anyone tall. It was nice to see that these teams that have all these tall guys - even though we’re at a disadvantage defensively and rebounding, they were at a disadvantage because they can’t guard our kids.”
McAlister – who measures in at six feet – has the unenviable task of going against some of the big boys in the paint.
“They’re just monsters,” he said with a laugh, acknowledging that the key in rebounding is hard work and boxing out.
What the Playaz lack in size, they more than make up for in other areas.
“Billy McAlister and Dwight Williams play bigger than they are,” Arcidiacano said. “They just box out and stop the other team’s best player.
“We might have to match up with them, but they have to match up with us. We’re all guards. If they have really big men, we spread them out because Arron Goodman and Brendan Kilpatrick can beat their big guys to the hole. That makes the other team take their big men out and makes them play our game.”
“That just takes them out of their flow,” McAlister said. “It’s hard for teams to match up against us.
“Every team gets frustrated when we play them – all the speed and shooters that we have. They don’t know what to do.”
The Pa Playaz will be on the road quite a bit over the upcoming weeks and months. Later this month, the team will travel to North Carolina for the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions. In June, they will be competing in the Battle in the Bronx. July includes trips to West Virginia and Florida.
“The summer is when it gets good because we’re out of school, and we can just play basketball all the time,” Arcidiacano said.
But first there’s the not-so-little matter of defending their Division I Mid-Atlantic title this weekend if they hope to earn a trip to AAU Nationals.
“This weekend is big,” McAlister said. “We’re off to a good start, we have good confidence, but we can’t get cocky.”
NOTES: A recap of the Providence Jam Fest would show that in game one Pa Playaz defeated Mass. Elite 62-46. Arcidiacano had 15 points while Kilpatrick had 12 and Rice, 11. The Rhode Island Breakers was the Playaz next victim, falling 74-55. Rice had 16 points, Katz, 15 points and Dwight Williams, 14 points. Goodman had 13 rebounds. Pa Playaz downed the Rhode Island Hawks 64-49 in the third game (link to highlight video below). Leading the way were Arcidiacano (16 points), Goodman (14 points) and McAlister (12 rebounds). In game four, Playaz defeated New England Storm 71-61, sparked by the 33-point effort of Arcidiacano. Kilpatrick added 24 points, and Morgan had 11 assists. In the semifinals, Playaz downed Team Fidonte 63-43. Williams had 13 points, Goodman contributed 12 rebounds and Dan Brown had six steals. In the title game, Playaz edged Hoop Heaven 56-53. Arcidiacano had 20 points, Kilpatrick, eight points, Rice, six points, and Dwight Williams, 15 points.
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