LL Column

1/3/08

Stats…Can’t promise as much as in the past. We’ll try to update weekly if I can keep up with them. We already made one major mistake. Kind of fun to see who is scoring and such.

Rankings..Welcome back Jerry Shenk. After going through some medical difficulties at the end of last season, Jerry is back with LLhoops doing his District 3 and State rankings. He told me that ALL Philly Catholic teams are in PIAA this year. As usual, rankings change depenmdiong on who you play when. For example, this week, CCrest plays Hempfield and McCaskey. Bottom line is that if you win you move up and finally we have playoffs to prove who has the best teams.

Star power…Guitar hero beware, the star power is on in the LL. Lead by a 40 point performance before Christmas, Lamar Patterson leads the LL in scoring at 24 ppg. Those are very impressive numbers for a Section 1 player. The Section 1 teams have a tendency to not have as high scorers as compared to the other sections…Jordon Gatchell continues his hot hand in Section 3..The scoring duo of  Mike Seibert and Adam Pittman come in at 20ppg for the Tide of Columbia…All around performer  Greg Forastater lead Ephrata and Section 2 in scoring at 20 ppg. Look for these avg. to come down as LL play continues..Leb Cath.’s Mike Wolfe leads the LL with 15 three pointers after 5 games…Lots of high % for fouls, which is a good thing.

Lamar heads to Pitt…Congratulations to Lamar Patterson heading to Pitt in 2 years. Lamar adds to McCaskey’s D1 scholarships in recent years—Jerry Johnson and Dustin Salisbery.

Wild stat…ok, here is one for you stats coaches…Saw a jn hi game last week where a team went to the line 28 times and the opponent 0..The game was a 6 point game. Home team went 28 times. Not a rap on the refs as each games takes on its own personality . Sometimes when there is a gap between those who go and those who don’t in involves a few things. 1) Did team settle for jumpers and quick shots? 2) Was the team that was behind fouling? 3) Was opponent who did not go to the line the visitor? ..Something we might want to check out for a week of stat watching. J

One more month..can you believe it? The LL is finished with league play at the end of Jan. the LL finals are not going to be at Hershey this season. TBA..depends on who is in or out…We have some big gyms out there.

The week ahead…Cedar Crest puts their unbeaten record on the line this week. They play Hempfield at home Wed. and McCaskey on the road Friday…Columbia travels to LMHS Wed. and then plays rival Lancaster Cath. Friday at home. Cocalico is looking good so far for section 2 and Lebanon has a nice lead in Section 4..

Cover me..The New Era has done a great job of covering LL hoops this season. With 2-3 games covered each night, stats, and columns, the newspaper is a great source of info on boys and girls hoops. Keep up the good work guys!

Happy New Year..With the temps are dropping, Christmas shopping is over, and the teams are establishing themselves, now is the time to watch some good hoops at the Hs level.

Dell Jackson