Time to go bananas over basketball

The Dribbler has been just peachy this week.

It all has to do with the return of the game that used to involve peach baskets.

Figuring out which games to go to opening night was difficult. There were a lot of tasty matchups. The Dribbler had a fruitful discussion about it with Mrs. Dribbler. He’s bananas for her, so he agreed to go to the tournament of her choice. She’s one in a melon, you know?

Unfortunately, the team they most looked forward to watching got beaten to a pulp. Great start, but they ran out of juice. The talent is there, but the Dribbler heard through the grapevine that they do have one bad apple. After seeing that blowout, they made like a banana and split.

The Dribbler doesn’t want this to sound like sour grapes. When life gives you lemons, you should always make lemonade. He and Mrs. Dribbler did have a great night and got home in one peach. It takes two to mango, and the two make the perfect pear. If she were a fruit, she’d be a fine-apple.

Hey, how do you make a strawberry shake? Put it in the freezer!

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

Boys

Upper St. Clair at Canon-McMillan, 7:30 p.m. Friday — The Dribbler is too young to remember how big a star Frankie Avalon was in his heyday, but if he wants to see what Avalon looked like, all he has to do is go to a USC game and look at Panthers coach Danny Holzer. One WPIAL coach actually refers to Holzer as Frankie Avalon. Avalon made a cameo appearance in the movie Casino. The Dribbler bets USC wins this game. Winner: Upper St. Clair.

Seneca Valley at Central Catholic, 7:30 p.m. Friday — Word is Seneca Valley has no nails left, this after winning two nail-biters last weekend, edging Hempfield by two points and PennTrafford by three. They’ll hope to nail down another win in a game that features a matchup of quality big men — Central Catholic’s 6-6 Luke Nedrow and Seneca Valley’s 6-6 Marcus Might. The difference will be guard play, and Seneca Valley has David Ritchie. Winner: Seneca Valley.

North Allegheny at Pine-Richland, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday — Will Pine-Richland be back at full strength for this Class 6A Section 1 showdown? The Dribbler believes it will. Starters Phil Jurkovec and Andrew Kristofic just won a state football title Saturday, so it has been awhile since basketball has been at the forefront of their minds. Even without those two, Pine-Richland won its first two games. With them back in the lineup, the Rams will roll. Winner: PineRichland.

New Castle at Quaker Valley, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday — Big section game between rivals. One of them a defending WPIAL champ. One team hoping to get its state champion football players back. This sets up similarly to Pine-Richland-North Allegheny. Quaker Valley’s Ricky Guss should be back for this one after leading Quaker Valley to its first PIAA football title. Guss and Coletrane Washington will push the Quakers past the reigning champs. Winner: Quaker Valley.

Allderdice at Penn Hills, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday — Before he talks about Allderdice, The Dribbler must give a shout out to another City League team, Westinghouse, for grabbing early wins against New Castle and Central Valley. Impressive. As usual, Allderdice is playing an aggressive non-section schedule, and this will be its toughest game so far. Penn Hills is good, but The Dribbler believes this Allderdice team could be really special. Winner: Allderdice.

Girls

Norwin at Penn Hills, 6 p.m. Tuesday — These Class 6A powers were a combined 1-5 going into Tuesday’s games. Say what? To their credit, they did play in the meat grinder of a tournament at North Allegheny which included the likes of North Allegheny, Chartiers Valley and Mt. Lebanon. This is the Section 2 opener for both and it’s a big one, as these two are among the top two or three teams in the section. Last year’s section champ will prevail. Winner: Penn Hills.

Peters Township at Bethel Park, 7:30 p.m. Thursday — Bethel Park. That’s where The Dribbler will be parking his behind next Thursday. This should be a dandy. If you haven’t seen Peters Township’s Makenna Marisa play, you should. She’s really good. Bethel Park, though, could be the best team in Class 6A not named North Allegheny. The Black Hawks are more balanced than Peters and should slip past a team they went 0-2 against last season. Winner: Bethel Park.

Avonworth at Bishop Canevin, 7:30 p.m. Thursday — Canevin, put your running shoes on. It’s time for “Running with the Robinsons.” Hunter, Hayden and Harris Robinson are sisters playing for Avonworth, and each is really fast. Hunter is a PIAA champion sprinter who is headed to run at Tulane, while Hayden is the best hooper of the three. Harris is a freshman. Avonworth is one of the best teams in Class 3A, but Canevin is the best. Winner: Bishop Canevin.