LL Column

11/7/07

LLHoops.com returns…after some technical difficulties, llhoops is up and running..I believe this our 9^th or 10^th season.?  Kind of unreal that we are still alive and kicking. LLhoops.com started out covering Section 1 teams.  I remembering watching Hempfield the year they played Harrisburg in the district finals. LLhoops.com expanded to include all the LL teams with scores and standings…the next step was to have team pages for each team. LLhoops.com stats are second to none.…finally we included rankings and Beats from around the state. Jon K from the Neast continues to draw well from many sources. Curtis from Delaware finds a nice niche on LLhoops.com also…finally our long time friend and PA guru of hoops, Jerry Shenk adds the rankings. Jerry is recovering from surgery following a fall after covering a PIAA palyoff game. We hope he can continue to update his rankings for us this season.

Sponsors..As always, some begging at the beginning of the new season for sponsorship of www.llhoops.com. Thanks to all our sponsors. One  new sponsor this year is Faulkner Chevy. Please click on the picture for Faulkner and check out their website for cars and contacts. If you buy from them, make sure you let them know you appreciate their sponsorship of LLhoops.com. Money is not the driving issue at LLhoops.com but we must make ends meet and keep my accountant happy. If you would like to sponsor LLhoops or know of a business that would like to get involved, please email us at webmaster@llhoops.com

Jeff Landis…thanks to Jeff for helping us out with an interview. I thought the Landis crew was the foirst brother combo in the LL. I know of at least one other brother combo but not quite sure they both coached in the LL. One for sure did…Can you name the other brother combo?

Beats…we’ll try to keep the Beats going..looking for Mid
Penn  writer—always.

Newness..the LL had a large amount of turnover heading into this season. In fact ¼ of the schools have new coaches..Long time vets, Bob Borden (23 yrs), Danny Walck (11yrs), Paul Blackburn (9yrs) and Dell Jackson (14 yrs), are no longer coaching. New coaches in no particular order are Jeff Landis (Warwick), Brad Herr (CV), Kevin Dolan (Etown), Ryan Butt (Donegal), Chris Firestine (ELCO), and newcomer/oldcomer Craig Coletti (Lebanon). The trend this past hiring season was to go with assistant coaches and guys who have been around programs. Lebanon goes with an experienced alumni in Craig Coletti. Good luck to the new coaches in the LL

Rule me…The new rules for this year will drive the fans nuts. They have changed the 30 second sub rule to 20 seconds this year—make the coaches think quicker and have less wasted time when a player fouls out. That’s not too bad but now the buzzer is going to ring 5 seconds after a player has fouled out. Then the final buzzer at the 20 second mark. If a player is not in by then, then a “T” will be assessed. We’ll keep an eye on that one. I guess 10 seconds makes everyones lives easier? Always seems like rules are made to speed up the game - not for the betterment of the game. Examples being the 7^th foul rule instead of 1 on 1 on the 5^th and the 30 second timeouts instead of full.Also all home teams must have white jerseys.

3 me…the LL refs are pushing a three man crew. Mid Penn  has all their section 1 or whatever they call it covered by three man. It seems that the LL should be moving in this direction as the game is called differently with a three man crew and ALL playoff games are using 3-man crews. The problem is costs. Not sure there is a good solution. Some Section 1 teams have 3 man for some games. Others, such as CCrest have 3 man for all games but boosters pay for the 3^rd ref.

Blog me…I was thinking of having a blog but really I don’t have much to say from one day until the next and have little time to write. It might be better for all not to have the LLhoops.com blog.. however check out our friends at the Lancaster Newspapers with their blogs- Jeff Reinhart, Mike Gross and company. We might try our hand at a pod castJ

Schedules are up…LLhoops had all the schedules up. Thanks to coaches who completed our teams. We will need rosters of all teams when available.

Tip-me…Nov. 30. Can you believe it?

Stars to watch..coming next addition of LLhoops.com

~Dell Jackson