Column: A deeper dive into the brackets
By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
Leaving the WPIAL pairings Tuesday night, I was kind of impressed by how many of our local basketball teams and their coaches were pleased with where they landed in their respective brackets.
Of course, that doesn’t include Serra Catholic boys coach Justin Walther. Walther was pretty miffed about his Eagles getting the No. 8 seed in Class 2A after loading up his team’s non-section schedule.
While the Eagles were young, they prepared themselves for the playoffs. And I kind of agree with Walther.
“So, if we would have won Friday night, we move into a bye?” Walther asked, referring to Jeannette’s seed.
The Eagles dropped a three-point decision to the Jayhawks, missing out on a chance to share Section 2 title.
But are the No. 3-seeded Jayhawks five seeds better than Serra Catholic? I don’t think so.
I know the WPIAL doesn’t like to match up section opponents in the first round, but why not? You do it in football. If it’s OK in those cases, it’s OK for hoops, too.
The Eagles face No. 9 South Side Beaver Saturday at Peters Township. There’s no doubt they’ll have a pretty big chip on their shoulders heading into that one. And so they should.
• Of course we’re pulling for all of our local teams. But maybe none more than McKeesport when they open up the playoffs Monday at North Allegheny against West Allegheny.
The biggest reason why? It could give us a matchup between two of our local teams.
With a win, the No. 5 Tigers would face No. 4 Thomas Jefferson in the quarterfinals next Friday. That would be a fun game to watch.
• Seven of our schools have both the boys and the girls teams in this year’s tournament. I remember back in the day how popular having doubleheaders with the girls playing first and boys second were.
So how many times do our local fans get the opportunity this year? One.
The McKeesport girls will play Indiana at 6:30 Monday at NA just before the boys game against West A.
I wish the WPIAL could have been a little more accomodating with the scheduling of doubleheaders.
The bright side is that the boys and girls teams of our other schools don’t play on the same day. It’s just a shame fans have to make two trips on different days.
• I thought it was interesting to see the committee put the TJ girls on the same side of the bracket as No. 1 Chartiers Valley. If the No. 5 Jaguars take care of business, the Colts could see TJ again in the semifinals. That’s something all of TJ Nation wants.
When CV was called up to accept the section championship plaque with a 22-0 record at the pairings meeting, there was a little rumbling through the crowd of coaches. Section champions, yes, but it should be 21-1.
The video evidence doesn’t lie, Perri Page’s basket at the buzzer for the Colts shouldn’t have counted. But if you’re TJ head coach Lisa Fairman, there’s no motivation needed for her team.
A rematch between the two teams would be the game to see on Feb. 26.
But the Jaguars will have to get past Armstrong Tuesday and Oakland Catholic on Feb. 22 before we could start thinking about that rematch.
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