Time to inaugurate best prognosticator

Today is a special day, one that comes just once every four years and draws the attention of the entire country.

You mean, The Dribbler watching a hockey game is that important?

No, not quite. Plus, that’s every 10 years, not every four.

It’s presidential inauguration day, or as The Dribbler refers to it, the day the leader of our country needs to start showing a strong interest in basketball.

The Dribbler isn’t here to get all political with you. He won’t give his views on health care, immigration or climate change. His focus is strictly basketball and how much Donald Trump will talk about it in his days in office.

Basketball fans have been spoiled the past eight years. The White House has never housed a basketball fan as passionate as Barack Obama. The longtime Bulls supporter (Chicago, not Brashear) attended NBA games, displayed a strong knowledge of the sport, and even once gave a shout out to Schenley grad DeJuan Blair while filling out his presidential bracket.

Will Trump reach Obama’s level when it comes to a love for hoops? It will be interesting to see if our new president shows much of an interest in the game we love.

After a regrettable 4-4 week, The Dribbler is now 26-11 (.702) on the season.

Here are his thoughts on this week’s top games:

Boys

North Hills at Butler, 7:30 p.m. today — What a weird night it had to have been for Nick Smith on Tuesday. He broke the school’s alltime scoring record, one that had stood for 38 years. However, his team didn’t just lose, it got hammered, falling to North Allegheny, 93-65. Consider that a blip on the radar for North Hills, which will lean on Smith to get back on track. He hit the winning jumper with three seconds left to beat Butler, 63-61, exactly one month ago. Winner: North Hills.

North Allegheny at Pine-Richland, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday — A team from the WPIAL’s largest class has not gone undefeated in the regular season since New Castle in 2013-14. Pine-Richland is trying to match that feat. Beating North Allegheny a second time won’t be easy. Pine-Richland slipped past North Allegheny, 49-46, last month, and the Tigers — behind Luke Carter’s 10 3-pointers — rolled to the lopsided win against North Hills on Tuesday. Winner: PineRichland.

McKeesport at Trinity, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday — Shout out to McKeesport. With little fanfare, McKeesport is 6-0 in 5A Section 1 and has a two-game lead over secondplace Trinity and Laurel Highlands. The Tigers last won an outright section title in 2008, but they’ve put themselves in good position to change that. Trinity gave the Tigers their closest section game a month ago, falling to them by six points. They won’t be able to tame the Tigers this time, either. Winner: McKeesport.

New Castle at Quaker Valley, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday — There hasn’t been a bigger game in the WPIAL this season. It’s a colossal clash of the top two teams in 4A. Each is 12-1. No. 1 New Castle handed No. 2 Quaker Valley its only loss, 54-53. The Red Hurricanes scored the winning bucket with 30 seconds left. Quaker Valley has been ultra impressive, even winning at Beaver Falls by 20 points. This will be Quaker Valley’s biggest regular-season win in years. Winner: Quaker Valley.

Girls

Winchester Thurston at West Greene, 6:30 p.m. today — Vincentian and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic combined to win the past eight WPIAL 1A titles, but with those teams now in larger classes, No. 1 Winchester Thurston and No. 2 West Greene have established themselves as championship contenders. West Greene will press more than a dry cleaner, but it won’t have an answer for Winchester Thurston forward Ayanna Townsend. Winner: Winchester Thurston.

Mohawk at Neshannock, 7:30 p.m. Monday — The Dribbler wanted to get a mohawk haircut when he was 10 years old. His mom nixed the idea, but he still thinks about asking his barber to hook him up with one some day. Maybe he’ll just go watch a Mohawk basketball game instead. This might not be the ideal spot, though. Neshannock is very good and has limited opponents to — get this — just 28.9 points per game. That ranks No. 1 in the WPIAL. Winner: Neshannock.

Norwin at Penn Hills, 6 p.m. Tuesday — Two-time defending WPIAL champ Norwin already has three more losses than last season, but the teams that have beaten the Knights (North Allegheny twice, Pine-Richland, Penn Hills) have a combined three losses. No shame in that, especially after graduating Post-Gazette player of the year Alayna Gribble. Penn Hills won at Norwin, 53-49, last month. Bring out the brooms. Penn Hills will sweep the regular-season series. Winner: Penn Hills.

North Allegheny at Pine-Richland, 7:30 p.m. Thursday — A matchup of the top two 6A teams in the WPIAL and two of the top three in the state. That’s enough to sell The Dribbler on making the trip. PineRichland is 15-0 and North Allegheny is 13-1. Pine-Richland handed North Allegheny its only loss, 50-47, on Jan. 5. Pine-Richland was hot from the perimeter, knocking down 11 3-pointers. Amanda Kalin and friends will get the best of the Tigers once again. Winner: PineRichland.