Summer Headlines

from Dave Burman,

Pennsylvania's Roving

Ambassador of Basketball

Dave Burman (center) was playing some summer playground hoops in Avalon, NJ when he met John Mayer (left) from St. Joe's Prep and Joe Mostardi (right), from Archbishop Carroll. 

Joe's old brother, Vince, (not in photo) was among those playing hoops. Vince just graduated and was a key member of the Archbishop Carroll 2009 "AAA" PIAA state championship team and the 2010 "AAA" state quarterfinal squad.  Joe's career is just ahead!

 

Heading back home, Albert hired as Steel-High basketball coach

MICHAEL BULLOCK, The Patriot-News, August 09, 2010 10:39 p.m.
 
One can understand why John Albert — a Steelton native and a 1971 Steel-High graduate — is excited and anxious to roll out the basketballs and get started.
He’s going back home to coach.   Approved at Monday night’s school board meeting as Steel-High’s newest boys’ basketball coach, Albert was selected from a pool of 14 candidates to succeed Mike Pilsitz. Pilsitz, whose 2008 club claimed the PIAA Class AAA championship, was 84-52 during his five-year reign.
Albert’s most recent coaching gig was at Cumberland Valley (2002-09), where in seven seasons the former Rollers point guard piloted the Eagles to an 81-93 record. CV also reached the District 3-AAAA semifinals twice and qualified for the PIAA Class AAAA playoffs in ‘07.

Prior to his lengthy run at CV, Albert spent six seasons as an assistant under Jack Hoerner — three with the Rollers in the 1980s and three more at Cedar Cliff.
"It’s been a while, but I’m very happy to have it," said Albert, who is retaining former Rollers great Tramayne Hawthorne as one of his assistants.

TOOHEY: Pro hoops in France fine for Chester's Linehan

By TERRY TOOHEY    230terry@gmail.com.    July 16, 2010

CHESTER — At 32, John Linehan is still living the dream. The man once deemed too small to be a big-time college basketball player let alone a pro, just helped Cholet Basket win the French ProA championship, the highest professional league in France.

Linehan averaged 10.6 points, 4.6 assists and 2.8 steals during the regular season, and an unheard of 11.5-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He had 138 assists and just 12 turnovers in 30 games.

On top of that, Linehan was named the league’s co-Defensive Player of the Year.

Some things never change.

It’s the fourth straight year the All-Delco guard from Chester High School has earned Defensive Player of the Year honors, three in France and one in Estonia.

“I’ve been lucky,” Linehan said from his mother’s home on West Ninth Street. “I’ve been able to do what I love for a long time. Obviously, I wish I could have fulfilled my ultimate goal and played in the NBA, but I’m not complaining. I’m still playing basketball and getting paid to do it.”
 

Former William Penn coach Keenan Preston dealing with life's biggest adjustment

Keenan Preston survived his battle with inoperable cancer, but it came at a price for the former hoops coach at William Penn.
 
By JOHN CLAYTON
York Daily Record/Sunday News, 07/22/2010

Keenan Preston, looking at a reflection of himself on a basketball trophy in his basement, was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer a little more than 10 years ago. 'I was told "Get your things in order. Take your vacations. Get your legal things in order,"' recalled Preston, then 47 with teaching English and coaching basketball at William Penn as higher priorities. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Jason Plotkin)

Ten years later, the old coach does not go back to his former gym often. His energy comes and goes now, like a flickering flame. More than that, Keenan Preston sometimes feels removed from the game he loves. When it comes to basketball, he calls himself a dinosaur.

New Aliquippa boys' coach invites challenge
 

By Chris Adamski, Tri-State Sports & News Service, August 05, 2010

 
Bobby Williams has been away from the day-to-day rigors of coaching basketball for seven years. A Bridgeville resident who works full-time at Carnegie Mellon University, he is returning to the sidelines.
Williams will take over an Aliquippa High School program with one of the most storied traditions in the WPIAL.
"The timing seemed right," said Williams, a former assistant at big-time college programs.
"I'm so eager to get back into it, and what better program to get into it with."
Williams accepted an offer to become the new coach at Aliquippa last week. A former head coach at Mount Aloysius and assistant at several NCAA Division I schools, Williams replaces Marvin Emerson, whose contract was not renewed.
"I absolutely think this is a great opportunity for me in terms of getting back into the mix," said Williams, who has been an has been an assistant at Saint Francis (Pa.), Lafayette, Lehigh, Cornell and North Carolina-Greensboro. "I felt like now was the right time to do it.
 

Basketball: Sciolla resigns at Pennsbury

By Kevin Cooney , Staff Writer, Bucks County Courrier

He ran the entire summer program, overseeing the weightlifting and conditioning drills that he helped bring to the Lower Bucks landscape.

But in reality, this was going to be a major test for Frank Sciolla — one designed to see if he could kick the basketball habit cold turkey when the leaves fell off the trees in the fall.
“I kept thinking that something would kick start it and force me to stick around,” the Pennsbury boys basketball coach said. “But the more I thought about it, the more that stepping away seemed to be the right move.”
And so, that’s exactly what Sciolla did on Tuesday — ending his 15-year run as head of the Falcons program by resigning his position and informing his team at a late afternoon meeting.

4 Philly High Schools Merge Into One!!!  
                          -new name: Pope John Paul II High School

By Rick O'Brien
Inquirer Staff Writer, (Phila Inquirer)
Pope John Paul II High School, which will officially open its doors to about 900 students on Sept. 10  at the school's 83-acre campus in Royersford, Montgomery County,   Pope John Paul II will be home to many of the former students at St. Pius X, in Pottstown, and Kennedy-Kenrick, in Norristown, both of which were closed, along with Cardinal Dougherty and North Catholic, in June by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

One thing that is firmly in place is the school's nickname. In an online vote by students last month, Golden Panthers won out over Dragons, Pioneers, and Swiss Guard,

Former West Catholic player chooses Drexel

By Keith Pompey , Phila Inq, 8/6/10
 
It has been a busy week for Aquil Younger.  The 6-foot senior combo guard gave an oral commitment Tuesday night to play men's basketball at Drexel.  Aquil Younger , who averaged 18.9 points, five assists and five rebounds, chose Drexel over five other schools. Younger chose Drexel over Niagara, Temple, La Salle, Charlotte, and St. Mary's College (Md.). He cannot sign a binding national letter of intent until November.
On Wednesday, he officially transferred from West Catholic High to PIAA Class AAAA powerhouse Penn Wood.

"I wanted to leave West Catholic the last three years, and my coach, Bill Ludlow, was retiring," Younger said of his decision to transfer. "Plus, I live right around the corner from Penn Wood" in Lansdowne.

Mt. Lebanon's Turman happy with choice of Robert Morris


Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Mt. Lebanon's Deion Turman was rewarded for his patience. Turman, a recent graduate who helped the Blue Devils win a WPIAL title, accepted a scholarship Tuesday to play basketball for Robert Morris.
"It's a program that has been on the rise for the last couple years," said Turman, who at 6-foot-9 could play center or power forward for the Colonials.
"It's a place I think I can be successful both on and off the court."

Lewistown Recreation 3 on 3 Tournament Results, 2010
 Find video on U Tube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruBxp55GGDg
 

..Lewistown vs Greenwood (Millerstown, PA)--
 
Lewistown (Joe Stewart, Matt Hilton, Pat Hilton, Mike Baker)
 
Greenwood (Andrew Rhoades, Trey Ritzman, Tyler Ritzman)