High school basketball beat writers Kevin Cooney, Todd Thorpe and Scott Huff give their take on the upcoming District One AAAA Tournament in this first installment of the Intelligencer/Courier Times Playoff Preview. Cooney is the high school basketball writer for the Bucks County Courier Times while Thorpe covers high school basketball for the Intelligencer. Huff is the basketball beat writer for SuburbanOneSports.com. Check back for their predictions and perspectives before each round.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Share your thoughts about Tuesday's second-round games, especially the games pitting SOL schools against each other.
Kevin Cooney: I thought Bensalem played a really good game Tuesday night, but they couldn’t get over the hump. Wissahickon is better than I gave them credit for, I’ll say that. Their inside play is really good, and on a night when they really got nothing from their guards until Casey hit the two threes in the fourth quarter – it was all two men (Jordan Reed and Tanoh Kpassagnon). Bensalem kind of ran out of steam at the end, but give Wissahickon credit.
As far as the other two games, Norristown was an awful matchup for Pennsbury. From what I heard, Norristown must have hit about 70 percent of their shots. Give the Eagles a little bit of credit.
As far as CR North, I think I tried to allude to it nicely before the last round – there’s something wrong there. They haven’t been the same for three weeks, and it bit them in the (butt) on Tuesday night. Now they’ll have the toughest of the three playbacks in that (SOL) group against Plymouth Whitemarsh.
When you look at the SOL teams, you have two American Conference teams in Norristown and Wissahickon, and you’re talking two Continental Conference teams in Central Bucks West and Souderton and one National Conference team (Abington).
Todd Thorpe: The surprise wasn’t necessarily in the results - it’s how the results transpired. I said it earlier in the week, in the four SOL vs. SOL matchups, I wouldn’t be surprised if any of the teams won, as the matchups were that even on paper.
That being said, Souderton was a clear underdog going to Council Rock North, and Souderton shot lights-out, led by Luke Moyer and Ryan Connolly, to win by 17. That’s a shocker. As were Norristown winning by 14 at Pennsbury, and CB West taking out Cheltenham by 15. On paper, those were much closer games. Wissahickon, at home, had too much for Bensalem late and won by seven, which is about what I would have thought for an evenly-matched game.
In my opinion, Chester, Lower Merion, Coatesville and Abington were obvious second-round picks and that proved to be the case. In all, only one of the eight second-round games were decided by single-figures. That’s the surprise.
Scott Huff: This round is the perhaps the most pressured round in that if you can advance to the quarterfinals you can exhale knowing that you will advance to states and have at least three more games to prepare for in hopes of continuing an already successful season. The all-Suburban One League bracket played out to chalk with both Central Bucks West and Wissahickon winning home games over Cheltenham and Bensalem. West looked like a final four team in its win over Cheltenham while Wissahickon left its calling card with a gutsy win over a talented Bensalem.
Those pair of wins weren’t as surprising to me as the Norristown win over Pennsbury and the Souderton victory over Council Rock North. Norristown scored 24 points in the second quarter in that win, and the Eagles are not known to score points at a 96-point pace. Souderton’a win over Rock North was a comfortable one. It was not the best of nights for the elite of the SOL National Conference as CR North and Pennsbury were beaten on their own home courts – and Bensalem suffered a road loss. It took Abington to carry the banner for the SOL National as the Ghosts went on the road and beat a #6 seed in Great Valley. Plymouth Whitemarsh gave #2 Lower Merion all it could handle until the Aces broke open the game late in the fourth quarter. The PW-CR North playback game should be interesting.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Your thoughts about Friday's quarterfinal games. Which teams have the best chance of advancing and which are on shaky ground?
Kevin Cooney: When you look at the Wissahickon/CB West game, I don’t know how CB West – for as great as Adam Sherman is as a coach – battles those two inside guys. They don’t have enough height to really battle.
Souderton will have to slow the tempo against Lower Merion. Souderton is such a system team, from what I’ve heard, and they’re going up against a system team. Lower Merion is about as well coached a team as there is in the district. I don’t know if this is a matchup that favors Souderton. Then again, I think both Souderton and CB West deserve credit for getting there.
If you asked me to pick among the SOL teams, Wissahickon is playing the best, and Wissahickon is probably the best team in the bunch.
Abington - Coatesville will be interesting. I thought Abington has really overachieved, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. Abington is a team that has played over its head in the sense that they don’t turn the ball over, they maximize every possession, they’re very confident with what they can do. Give them credit, but going to Coatesville is a tough draw. It’s a tough place to play. Coatesville is very quick and very good.
I’m picking PW over Council Rock North in the playback round. I think Rock North is in trouble here. They look like a team that is crumbling, and I don’t know if they can turn it around that quickly.
Todd Thorpe: Let me start by saying that I hate that these games aren’t at neutral locations. It’s the final eight in the district, and games of such magnitude shouldn’t be played at home sites. I’m not sure of the exact reason for the change a couple years back, but what it does is decrease the chances of a lower seeded team pulling off a monumental upset.
That being said, I think Chester-Norristown and Lower Merion-Souderton could be played anywhere on the planet and the results would be the same. Nothing against the Eagles or Indians, but the chances of an upset in either quarterfinal are very slim.
The other two games could be interesting. Despite playing at home, I think fourth-seeded CB West is a slight underdog against fifth-seeded Wissahickon. After the first quarter Tuesday, West’s defense did a terrific job slowing down Cheltenham, but with a powerful inside game, the Trojans will attack the Bucks’ zone a bit differently. Limiting offensive rebounds will be huge for West, and like it did last round, it will have to shoot well again from the outside.
Abington traveling to Coatesville to take on the Red Raiders is the intriguing game of the night. Playing at Coatesville is never easy, but coming off to two solid victories, the Ghosts should be confident. If they get off to a quick start and play from in front, there’s a real possibility for an upset here.
As for the playback games, it’s difficult to say. All of the teams are solid squads, but I think these games are less about talent and sizing up the lineups, as to how much each has left and how much they spent emotionally in second-round losses. The first playback game is generally the most difficult.
Scott Huff: The SOL game of the week is the Wissahickon invasion of Central Bucks West on Friday night. The winner moves on to play the winner of the Norristown-Chester game in a 7:30 pm start at Temple University next Tuesday. The key to the game will be if CB West can limit the powerful inside game of Wissahickon. The Bucks have not always looked like a 20-win team, but when the game is over, West has the most points and a victory. Wissahickon has the awesome tandem of Jordan Reed and Tanoh Kpassagnon who accounted for 49 points in the Trojans’ second round win over Bensalem.
Norristown – like CB West – doesn’t often make a fan’s jaw drop with the way they play the game. But – like West – when the game is over, the Eagles have scored the most points and have earned yet another win. Chester, however, is never the team you want to meet anywhere in the bracket – and that is the challenge that Norristown has to contend with this week.
Souderton was touted at the beginning of the season as a team that could make some noise in the playoffs – and the Indians did just that with the defeat of CR North. The next test for the Big Red will be #2 seeded Lower Merion, which struggled somewhat against Plymouth Whitemarsh. Souderton could be a sleeper here.
Abington was my long shot team to get to the final four, and the Ghosts have not let me down with wins over both Marple Newtown and Great Valley. Abington must face one of the storied programs in District One – Coatesville, but I still have a real good feeling about the Ghosts in this one.
SuburbanOneSports.com: Your picks for the eight games.
Kevin Cooney: Chester over Norristown, Lower Merion over Souderton, Coatesville over Abington, Wissahickon over CB West, Bensalem over Cheltenham, PW over Council Rock North, Pennsbury over Methacton, Penn Wood over Great Valley.
Todd Thorpe: Chester, Wissahickon, Lower Merion, Coatesville, Pennsbury, Bensalem, CR North, Penn Wood
Scott Huff: And the winners are --------------- Chester over Norristown; Wissahickon over CB West; Lower Merion over Souderton, and Abington over Coatesville in my upset special. ------ bonus selections in the playback round --- Pennsbury over Methacton; Cheltenham over Bensalem; CR North over Plymouth Whitemash; and Penn Wood over Great Valley.
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