Allderdice ready for ‘third’ season
Allderdice spent the regular season beating some of the top WPIAL teams. Now, Allderdice will play some of the WPIAL’s best again, but this time for real.
Allderdice is the fivetime City League champion that will play in the PIAA Class 6A playoffs. During the regular season, Allderdice played 13 WPIAL teams and won 11 of the contests. It wouldn’t be right to say those games were meaningless. It gave Allderdice a chance to measure itself against the best from the WPIAL and coach Buddy Valinsky believes playing good competition prepares his team for the postseason.
But in the grand scheme of things, those games meant nothing in terms of standings or playoff seeds. Now, it’s win and advance. Lose and go home.
Allderdice begins the PIAA tournament Saturday against Mt. Lebanon, 4 p.m. at Obama Academy. Mt. Lebanon was a WPIAL semifinalist that lost to Allderdice, 71-63, in mid-January.
“We always joke that we have three seasons,” said Valinsky. “One is the City League season. Two is the WPIAL exhibition season. Three is the state playoff season.”
Every year around this time, Valinsky turns WPIAL prognosticator — for the following season. When he is making his team’s schedule for the next season, he tries to predict what might be the best WPIAL teams. And then he tries to schedule games against them.
This season, he has defeated two WPIAL champions (Mars and Vincentian), two WPIAL semifinalists (Highlands and Mt. Lebanon) and five other WPIAL playoff teams. Allderdice lost to Penn-Trafford and also Penn Hills, the WPIAL 6A champion.
A notion exists among some coaches and fans that Allderdice might be the best team — from the City League and WPIAL.
“Sometimes when you’re in the City League, you might not get to see everything that is out there,” said Valinsky. “A lot of this is exposure for our kids. I love coaching against the better coaches in the WPIAL, too.”
Valinsky already is putting together next year’s Allderdice schedule. Allderdice will have three returning starters, including excellent guards Jackson Blaufeld and Bobby Clifford. Valinsky said the Dragons are set to play in Butler’s tipoff tournament. Butler features Ethan Morton, who is ranked among the top 75 sophomores in the country by scouting services.
“You try to play the good teams. That’s what the kids want,” said Valinsky. “Sometimes you play a team that’s not as strong, but that’s not what the kids go after. Kids follow players. They know the Ethan Mortons already for next year and want to play them.”
As for the Mt. Lebanon game, Valinsky said the first meeting was one of the better games he has seen in a while.
“It was up and down,” he said. “Their strength is on the perimeter. Our strength is on the perimeter. With us and them, whoever has the higher field-goal percentage will probably win.”
Rematch of WPIAL semis
Franklin Regional and Highlands play in a Class 5A first-round game Friday, a little more than a week after Franklin Regional beat Highlands in a WPIAL semifinal.
The PIAA pre-sets basketball brackets and the No. 2 team in WPIAL 5A plays the No. 4 team. Thus, the rematch. This will be the fourth time these two play. They split two regular-season contests.
Rematches of WPIAL semifinal games are not uncommon in the PIAA playoffs in the larger classifications, but they won’t happen again in Class 6A or 5A starting next year. The PIAA already has set brackets that would take away first-round rematches of WPIAL games in6A and 5A.
However, in Class 5A, seven teams from District 3 (Harrisburg area) and two from the Philadelphia area will play in the western side of the Class 5A bracket. That means more travel for WPIAL teams.
Defending champs
Five of the six defending champions are back in the PIAA playoffs this season. The only one that isn’t is Archbishop Wood (Class 5A). The Vikings lost in the Philadelphia Catholic League quarterfinals to Archbishop Carroll.
Other defending champions in the PIAA tournament are Reading (6A), Imhotep Charter (4A), Neumann-Goretti (3A), Sewickley Academy (2A) and Kennedy Catholic (1A).
Neumann-Goretti has won seven PIAA titles in eight years. Imhotep Charter, which won the Philadelphia Public League title this season, is ranked No. 8 in the country by USA Today. Imhotep features 6-7 Donta Scott, ranked one of the top juniors in the eastern part of the country.
Facing a 7-2 player
If Allderdice or a WPIAL team makes it to the PIAA Class 6A semifinals, which is a decent possibility, there is a chance that squad will face a “big” challenge.
Plymouth-Whitemarsh is on the western side of the bracket and PlymouthWhitemarsh features 7-foot2 Naheem McLeod. A junior center, McLeod was one of the reasons the Colonials were ranked No. 1 in the state for much of the season. But Plymouth-Whitemarsh, located near Philadelphia, was upset in the District 1 championship by Abington, 75-73. A WPIAL team or Allderdice wouldn’t meet Plymouth-Whitemarsh until the semifinals.
Abington also is strong with 6-7, 250-pound Eric Dixon, ranked the No. 72 junior in the country by Rivals.com. Abington is on the eastern side of the bracket.
Ones to watch
One of the top players in the PIAA tournament, regardless of classification, plays at a school just outside the WPIAL boundaries. Oscar Tshiebwe is a 6-foot-8, 230-pound power forward who plays at Kennedy Catholic in Hermitage. Tshiebwe transferred to Kennedy from a school in Virginia and is ranked the No. 57 junior in the country by Rivals and holds offers from Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia and many others.
Tshiebwe has the body of a man and likes to do one thing — dunk. He sometimes throws down ferocious dunks.
A few other top players in the PIAA tournament are:
• Seth Lundy, a 6-6 junior at Roman Catholic who is ranked No. 105 in the country in the junior class. Penn State, Connecticut and Oregon are among the schools that have offered scholarships.
• Isiah Wong is a 6-2 junior guard at BonnerPrendergast. Wong has scholarship offers from Division I colleges already and is ranked No. 92 in the junior class. Bonner-Prendergast is in the Class 5A playoffs.
• Drew Friberg is a 6-6 forward at State College who has committed to Princeton. State College plays Woodland Hills in a Class 6A first-round game.