Individual scoring is up around the WPIAL

are better. Others believe the scoring is simply an offshoot of a change in styles in high school basketball. More teams are playing at a faster tempo, allowing players to score more. The advent of the “dribble drive” offense and variations of it have opened the court, allowing for more scoring.

Some coaches believe players now have more freedom offensively. While others believe poor defense is a reason for the scoring increase.

“Like any other question, I think there are a whole lot of variables,” said Wetzel, in his 15th season at Latrobe. “Everybody has their own niche of getting things done, but I would say more teams have probably turned to a faster pace, like Chartiers Valley plays or the way North Allegheny used to play. … But I would also say we’ve had some pretty darn good players also. We’ve had some guys from this area go and play a pretty high brand of college ball recently and do well. Heck, we even have one in the NBA [Chartiers Valley’s T.J. McConnell]. So when you put that caliber of player on the court, obviously you’re going to score more.”

Sewickley Academy coach Win Palmer is in his 16th season after coming from Virginia.

“I think it’s a great year for basketball in this area and I’ve definitely seen a difference in the way the game is played here now,” said Palmer. “I think coaches are giving players more freedom, not running as many sets. They’re just letting players play and there are more kids who can make plays.”

At North Hills, coach Buzz Gabos never had a player average 20 points in his first nine seasons. But Smith has averaged 20 or more the past two seasons and is now the school’s alltime leading scorer, breaking a mark that had stood for 39 years.

“If you look at these guys who score a lot, they usually come from good teams,” said Gabos. “So I think it might be a combination of teams playing more up-tempo because they have better players. Then teams score more that way. … Look at how many teams extend defensively now and press. It used to be all half court. You used to look at section games and there were a lot of 50-46 games. It’s not that way any more.”

At Mars, coach Rob Carmody has had seven 1,000point scorers in the past 10 years. Included in that list is his son, Robby, a 6-4 guard. Previously, Mars had one 1,000-point scorer.

“I graduated from North Catholic in 1990 and you saw so many teams running a ‘flex’ offense with seven or more passes before they shoot an elbow jumper. You don’t see that any more,” said Carmody the coach. “I think this is just like you see in football before the spread offenses. Coaches never would think of throwing 35 times a game like they do now. It’s kind of the same in basketball with the style of play and 3-pointers.”

At Washington, longtime coach Ron Faust has never had a player average as much as Popeck. But Faust believes defense has a lot to do with the increased scoring.

“I don’t know if players are better. I have a feeling defense isn’t better,” said Faust. “I’m not seeing a lot of people taking it personally to try to stop someone defensively. They just want to get the ball back and let it fall where it may. It would seem to me that if we have all these individuals scoring this many points, coaches would be trying to devise some system to stop that individual player. But I don’t see it.

“You talk to any old timers, and it’s a different breed of game today.”