Recently in YAIAA basketball Category

Eastern York standout Andrew Nicholas is headed to Rutgers. In two years, of course.

The 6-foot-6 sharpshooting wing committed to Rutgers and head coach Fred Hill on Monday, media outlets in New Jersey reported. Nicholas becomes the first commitment for the Scarlet Knights 2011 recruiting class.

Nicholas averaged 21.2 points per game as a sophomore last season, making 63 3-pointers. He was named Class AAA third-team All-State by the Pennsylvania Associated Press.

Nicholas, nicknamed "Red" because of curly, red hair, has already scored 1,169 points in his two seasons at Eastern York.

Nicholas will have to wait 15 months until he can sign his letter of intent with Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights made a hard push for Nicholas last season.

It's a little strange to be talking about basketball in May, but this piece by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker caught my eye and I thought it was worth sharing.

The article talks about how underdogs in sports have a much better chance of beating heavy favorites just by adopting an unorthodox or unexpected strategy. But the part I found the most intriguing involved the advantages of using a full-court press in basketball all the time. The YAIAA team that immediately came to mind was the West York girls, which won the league tournament title this year and was known for its relentless pressure.

Gladwell writes about a girls' team of 12-year-olds with limited experience that made it to the national championships by sticking to a strategy of non-stop full-court pressure on defense:

It was as if there were a kind of conspiracy in the basketball world about the way the game ought to be played, and Ranadivé thought that that conspiracy had the effect of widening the gap between good teams and weak teams. Good teams, after all, had players who were tall and could dribble and shoot well; they could crisply execute their carefully prepared plays in their opponent's end. Why, then, did weak teams play in a way that made it easy for good teams to do the very things that made them so good?

Which Division I college basketball programs have shown interest in York Catholic sophomore guard Kady Schrann? Fighting Irish coach Kevin Bankos said that's the wrong question to ask.

"It's probably easier to tell you the ones that haven't been showing interest," Bankos said with a laugh. "Some of the big name ones have definitely contacted me."

Schrann was named first-team all-state for the second consecutive season on Wednesday and helped the Irish win a fourth consecutive District 3 title and reach the PIAA championship tilt for the fourth straight season. The sophomore led the team in scoring with 17.5 points per game.

She has impressed enough people to garner serious attention from programs like Duke, Maryland, Penn State and Notre Dame among others.

No state titles, but still an incredible season overall for the YAIAA.

Any other year, York Suburban would probably be the top-ranked boys team in the area, what with the Trojans winning the District 3 Class AAA championship and reaching the state semifinalists. All of that just happened to occur in a season where William Penn went 32-2 and reached the championship game in the state's highest classification.

There is a change from last time on the girls side. Rationale and full rankings after the jump.

York Daily Record/Sunday News reporter and resident sports historian Jim Seip emailed me this morning after seeing my front-page story for today's newspaper. Seip knows York County basketball and is sure the 1957-58 William Penn boys' basketball team had far fewer than 32 wins:

The 1958 basketball team has no where near 30 victories. They went 23-1. The team's record has been verified with 1958 microfilm from the Daily & Gazette.

Back then only the Central Penn League champ entered the District 3 tournament, and when it did it entered the tourney with a bye -- starting play in the quarterfinals or semis. And back then the state tournament consisted of only district champions. The tournaments didn't have as many teams, the seasons were shorter.

There's no way the 1958 team could win 30 games -- they just didn't play as many games back then. Even the 1980 team (24-5) that reached the state semis didn't play 30 games.

The William Penn boys basketball team was unsuccessful in their bid for the first state basketball title in school history, losing to Penn Wood 72-53 in Saturday's PIAA Class AAAA championship game at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center.

Look for extensive coverage of the game on Gametime and in Sunday's York Sunday News.

It took a Jevaughn Murphy 3-pointer at the buzzer for William Penn to go into halftime down by single digits. The Bearcats opened the second quarter with an 11-3 run, but Penn Wood answered back and leads 34-26 after two quarters of play.

The adrenaline must have already been pumping, but Malachi Leonard's dunk to make the score 21-14 ignited the crowd and seem to help his teammates take it to another level. William Penn continued it's strong play and made the score 22-20 on a Chemin Lambert layup with 5:10 left in the second quarter.

Penn Wood rediscovered its game at that point, forcing the same turnovers that plagued the Bearcats in the first half. They were also forced fouls on key William Penn players, as Kelvin Parker and Chemin Lambert have both picked up their third.

For William Penn, Leonard has clearly come to play tonight and has been a major factor so far. He finished the first half with six points. Jevaughn Murphy has been another star and leads the Bearcats in scoring with 11 points.

Coming off the bench, Jevaughn Murphy scored the last five points of the first quarter to pull the Bearcats within 10 points after eight minutes of play.

The junior guard first drew a foul on a drive to the basket and easily made both foul shots. William Penn stole the ball on the next Penn Wood possession and Murphy drove to the hoop again, this time sinking the layup while drawing the foul. He made his third consecutive free throw.

A 10-point hole is much easier to stomach than a 15-point deficit, but the Bearcats clearly have their work cut out for them over the final three quarters.

William Penn fell further behind as the first quarter wore on, eventually trailing 19-4 with 1:38 remaining in the first quarter and forcing coach Troy Sowers to call another timeout.

The Patriots are forcing a ton of turnovers, about nine so far. The Bearcats are also having a hard time knocking down shots, with most of their attempts coming from the perimeter.

Malik Generett is visibly frustrated. After Penn Wood's Will Brown came up with a steal with Generett down on the floor trying to grab the loose ball, the senior pounded the floor with his palm loud enough for the entire arena to hear. Brown sank a layup, drew the foul and converted the free throw.

The only real ovation from the William Penn stands came when Duane Johnson missed a dunk. Penn Wood still stole the ball on the next possession and scored.

It only took 36 seconds for Penn Wood to take a 7-0 lead. Three William Penn turnovers helped make it happen, as did some offensive rebounding by the Patriots.

Anybody following the Bearcats recently knows they have been in this position before. It will take another recovery from a regrettable early performance to earn the state crown.

That is how 1996 William Penn grad and Bearcat assistant football coach Ali Johnson described seeing his beloved school in the PIAA Class AAAA finals.

"This seems unbeliveable. This is the state championship game," he said with glee.

Following Archbishop Carroll's 68-45 decimation of Lampeter-Strasburg in the PIAA Class AAA girls' championship, the Bearcats are 2009's final hope for District 3 to capture a state title.

For the first time in seven years, the YAIAA and District 3 did not win the girls' AA title when Villa Maria bested York Catholic Friday afternoon, 56-51.

Not used to getting shut out for PIAA gold, the district is counting on a William Penn victory in the final of of eight weekend games.

Between live blog posts, Steve Navaroli and I took some time to verbally dispense our insight regarding tonight's PIAA Class AAAA championship game from the Bryce Jordan Center stands.

Watch the video above to hear more about Penn Wood and what we think the Bearcats will need to do to win the first state basketball title in school history.

If you're looking for the biggest difference between William Penn's play in the PIAA Class AAAA tournament compared with, just keep your eye on No. 21.

The uniform is worn by sophomore Kelvin Parker, who has been William Penn's best defensive player all season but has nearly doubled his season scoring average with a state tournament output of about 19 points per game.

"Kelvin Paker has been the X-factor during this state run," Sowers said. "He has just attacked the basket."

Some of the same characteristics that make Parker so tough to face on defense has allowed him to step up when his team has the ball.