From The Sun’s Stefen Lovelace:

The Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) A conference is already established as one of the premier leagues in the country in boys’ lacrosse. Schools like Boys’ Latin, Loyola and Gilman are household names when it comes to the nation’s best.

But Archbishop Spalding first-year coach Zach Burke hopes his team can generate some discussion this season as a top MIAA team. So far the Cavaliers have proven they have some legitimate talent, starting the season 4-0.

"What we lack in lacrosse IQ we make up in athleticism," Burke said. "Our guys have been playing the game since they were four. We don’t have anyone less than 6-foot or less than 180 pounds. We’ve been dominating teams now, but until we get that IQ it doesn’t matter how good of athletes we are."

Spalding already has won all of their non-conference games in convincing fashion. They’ve beat River Hill 14-4, Broadneck 9-0 and St. Charles of Columbus, Ohio, 16-3.

You’d think the lopsided victories would please a coach, but Burke knows that they mean little when compared to league play. If anything, the results have been disappointing.

"They’re not getting us ready at all," Burke said of the non-conference schedule. "Right now I don’t know where we stand. We beat a couple of teams we should have and we didn’t win some games as well as I thought we would. I’m not happy with any of it."

Still, Burke concedes his team is making progress.

"We’re taking baby steps," Burke said. "Our goal is to be a little bit better every day. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t."

The Cavaliers open up league play Friday at No. 4 St. Mary’s.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

From The Sun's Stefen Lovelace:

Junior Loyola quarterback Leon Kinnard made a verbal commitment to play football at the University of Connecticut, confirmed Loyola coach Brian Abbott yesterday.

Kinnard, who was a second team All-Metro selection this season, chose UConn because they will allow him to play quarterback. Other schools -- such as Penn State and Rutgers -- had shown interest in Kinnard but some were recruiting him for defensive back.

"He wanted the opportunity to play quarterback and I support that," Abbott said. "I think it suits what he currently does. We run a similar style (to what UConn runs) and it will allow him to be effective in their offense, otherwise they wouldn’t have offered in the beginning."

Abbott said that UConn offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Rob Ambrose had been the one recruiting Kinnard and he believes the staff will give Kinnard plenty of support at being a collegiate quarterback.

Loyola teammate Terence Garvin, a fellow junior second team All-Metro selection, has been offered a scholarship by Maryland as a free safety, Abbott confirmed.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The U.S. All-Stars Roster has been announced for the 8th Annual Charm City Challenge. The U.S. team will face the Baltimore All-Stars at 5 p.m. on April 6 at the Towson Center.

The roster includes (name, position, high school, college going to next season)

Catalin Baciu, center, Veritas Christian (N.C.), Clemson
Dee Bost, guard, Hargrave Academy (Va.), Mississippi State
Roscoe Davis, center, Hargrave Academy (Va.), West Virginia
Xavier Gibson, forward, Northview (Ala.), Florida State
Mookie Jones, guard, Peekskill (N.Y.), Syracuse
Kris Joseph, forward, Archbishop Carroll (D.C.), Syracuse
Luke Loucks, guard, Clearwater (Fla.), Florida State
Darius Miller, forward, Mason County (Va.), Kentucky
Nasir Robinson, forward, Chester (Pa.), Pittsburgh
Quintrell Thomas, forward, St. Patrick's (N.J.), Kansas
Chris Turner, guard/forward, Christian Life Academy (Texas), undecided

The U.S. team will take on the Baltimore All-Stars, which features: Sean Mosley (St. Frances), Henry Sims (Mount St. Joseph), Troy Franklin (Mount Carmel), Omar Strong (Douglass), Brandon Greene (Towson Catholic), Marcanthony Franks (Mt. Carmel), Brad Bald (Severna Park), Byron Westmoreland (Mervo), Gerrard Sheppard (McDonogh), Terrence Jones (Notre Dame Prep, (Mass.), Lake Clifton), Kimmie English (Notre Dame Prep, (Mass.), Randallstown), and Allan Chaney (New London, (Conn)., St. Paul's)

Eight of the US All-Stars were in Scout.com's top 100 for the class of 2008 (Baciy, Davis, Gibson, Jones, Joseph, Miller, Robinson and Thomas.) and nine were in Rivals top 150 (Baciu, Bost, Gibson, Jones, Joseph, Loucks, Miller, Robinson and Thomas). The team will be coached by John Jordan, the current coach at Veritas Christian Academy in Fletcher, N.C.

-- Stefen Lovelace

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

As now former Arundel pitcher Tyler Hibbs ponders his future, there's word from Kentucky of a high school basketball recruit who has had his scholarship offer rescinded.

Jonathan "Bud" Mackey, a 6-foot-4 guard from Georgetown, Ky., was confronted on school grounds by the principal and assistant principal last fall and found to have had five pieces of crack cocaine, totaling 1.6 grams, as well as $29 in his shoes. Mackey was charged with trafficking cocaine as well as trafficking within 1,000 yards of a school zone, both felonies.

Mackey said he was delivering the cocaine to someone and despite his never having been in trouble before, Indiana, which had accepted his verbal agreement before, took back its scholarship offer.

Mackey left his original high school and transferred to a prep school in Ohio, where he was paired in the backcourt with a kid who accepted the scholarship that was taken from Mackey. Mackey, meanwhile, was indicted last month by a Kentucky grand jury and continues to play at his new school.

Posted by Milton Kent at 7:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Now that Terrelle Pryor, who announced yesterday that he will play only football at Ohio State, it's time for Baltimore high school observers to wonder if Dunbar phenom Tavon Austin participated in his last high school basketball game.

Austin, a junior, is a pretty fair basketball player for the Poets, running the point effectively last Friday in Dunbar's loss to Snow Hill in the state semifinals.

On the other hand, Austin is a transcendent football player, having already set the Maryland state record for touchdowns with 92 scores in only three years. He has led the Poets to two state championships and reportedly has standing scholarship offers from Maryland, Boston College, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia and Wake Forest, among others. It would appear, then, that it would be foolhardy for Austin to risk injury and an opportunity to be a football superstar to dabble in basketball, and college football coaches will likely ask him not to.

And yet, Pryor who, at 6 feet 6, not only became the first player in Pennsylvania high school football history to run and pass for more than 4,000 yards in a career, but scored more than 2,200 points in basketball and led his Jeannette High team to a state title last week, is a terrific example of how a star athlete can balance two high-profile sports. Here's hoping Austin finds a way to do the same.

Posted by Milton Kent at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Maryland women's basketball forward Crystal Langhorne said, in her final regular season game last month, that the two most important decisions a young person makes is whom they'll marry and where they will go to college, because both will influence the rest of your life.

In that sense, it's probably a good thing that Terrelle Pryor, the highly recruited Pittsburgh area quarterback, took an extra six weeks to make the life-altering decision to play at Ohio State next year, a choice he announced at Jeannette High School today.

Granted, Pryor, who had originally chosen Ohio State last month before his father suggested he take more time, has advantages that aren't available to most high school athletes. Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon and Michigan, the four schools on Pryor's final list, were willing to wait for his decision, a luxury afforded to only the upper echelon of athletes.

Still, Pryor was quite wise to use all the time at his disposal to make such a momentous decision. Hopefully, more kids will do so in the future, especially considering the potential stakes involved.

Posted by Milton Kent at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Terrelle Pryor, arguably the nation's top football recruit, whatever that means, apparently will bring his long recruitment to an end this afternoon at his suburban Pittsburgh high school when he announces where he will attend college.

Pryor, a 6-foot-6 quarterback, scheduled a press conference in February on national signing day, supposedly to choose between Michigan, Penn State, Oregon and Ohio State. He then abruptly canceled the presser to take more time, at his father's behest. Pryor was set to choose Ohio State then, but his father wanted him to give Penn State more consideration.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Pryor, who said he was down to two schools, but didn't identify them, will choose between Ohio State and Michigan.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

In conjunction with its state basketball championships, the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association presents sportsmanship awards to schools based on the conduct of players, coaches, cheerleaders and spectators at the semifinals and championship games.

Based on what I and some of my colleagues witnessed this past weekend, particularly at the girls championships at UMBC, the committee likely had a hard time finding enough examples of solid decorum to make a determination.

It was, frankly, depressing to see and hear the kinds of vitriol and invective that was hurled on opposing players and officials during the games. A pair of my colleagues, who attended the Mount Hebron-Winters Mill 2A girls semifinal last Wednesday as spectators, report that many of the Mount Hebron spectators, especially the student section behind their basket, were particularly rude to Winters Mill players, booing them and singling out players for special abuse. That continued Saturday night in the final against Poly, only slightly ameliorated by the Hebron fans giving the Poly players a standing ovation as they received their runner-up trophies, but by then the damage had been done.

Topping that, however, was the air of nastiness that permeated the 3A girls final Saturday night between Atholton and Paint Branch. The two student sections, thankfully positioned at opposite ends of the RAC Arena, went back and forth at each other, apparently trying to see who could be more creatively obnoxious. It was as if they had taken notes from watching Maryland and Duke men's basketball games and taken the worst of both.

Even worse was the appalling conduct of parents and adults from both schools. While I more clearly heard the leather-lungs for Atholton who sat behind press row, the folks across the way representing Paint Branch were no less over the top, criticizing every perceived wrong call from both the officials and, at times, the coaches, who, frankly, must be saints to put up with that nonsense from their alleged fan base.

Here's hoping that before next basketball season, school officials take a moment to remind kids and their parents that while cheering and supporting your team is great, denigrating your school's reputation in the process is a lot less so.

Posted by Milton Kent at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Everyone would admit that the Comcast Center on the University of Maryland's campus in College Park is a terrific spot to watch a college basketball game, with wonderful amenities and lots of room for everyone to move about, the media included. And it is centrally located for teams located around the state, from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland, and for all the schools in the I-95 corridor, if you will.

That said, it is a lousy place to watch a high school basketball game for precisely those reasons. Simply put, there's too much room at Comcast Center. The distance between a school's fans and their teams is so vast that the players probably feel a serious disconnect. And while the court is the same 94 by 50 feet that you get in a high school gym, the areas surrounding the court are vast and the high ceiling takes away any sense of intimacy. Also, the teams don't get to practice on the site before the games, and the shooting percentages in many cases reflect their lack of familiarity with the floor and its surroundings.

Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association executive director Ned Sparks says the organization wants to give teams a Division I college experience for championships and that's quite understandable. And the MPSSAA has worked assiduously to establish a relationship with College Park, staging the field hockey, softball and golf championships there, and that's good too.

But there are other smaller venues around that can hold the boys basketball tournament, say the Towson Center or Morgan State's Hill Field House, or better yet, Cole Field House on the College Park campus, where the games used to be played before Comcast Center opened in 2003. Atmosphere does matter, and the atmosphere at Cole used to be the best ever.

And speaking of atmosphere, we'll discuss what we noticed at the girls basketball championship at UMBC later.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

In Sports Illustrated parlance, call this item one of the signs of the apocalypse: Southern California men's basketball coach Tim Floyd has offered a full-ride scholarship, or as close to a full ride as you get these days, to Percy Romeo Miller Jr., otherwise known as rapper Lil Romeo.

Miller, the son of Master P, the erstwhile rapper/basketball player, is 5 feet 10 and averages 8.6 points a game for Beverly Hills High, a last place team. That, on its face, would hardly make him worthy of receiving a $40,000 scholarship to play in a conference like the Pac-10.

That is, until you consider that Miller is the best friend of Demar DeRozan, a 6-foot-5 guard from Compton High, who is universally acclaimed as one of the top high school seniors in the country. DeRozan, not surprisingly, also signed with USC, giving the impression that Floyd signed the two as a package deal and kept a scholarship away from a walk-on player, who could have used it.

Ah, college recruiting.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Beyond the drama of seeing the Atholton girls basketball team put themselves in position to try to win titles in consecutive years on two different levels, fans at UMBC's RAC Arena got to see something fairly unusual last night during the Raiders' Class 3A Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association semifinal game with Western.

Not only did Western junior guard Akeema Richards notch a triple double, with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals, but Atholton's Taylor Chapman, the school's all-time leading rebounder despite standing only 5 feet 10, pulled down 22 caroms last night.

The state's record book, remarkably, does not keep rebounds in a game as a stat, so we can't say with certainty that Chapman is a record holder, but it seems highly notable that a player would get 22 boards in a 32-minute game.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, in conjunction with Allstate, is awarding eight $1,000 scholarships to boys and girls who play sports for public school teams.

The "Minds in Motion" scholarship will be awarded to four boys and four girls from MPSSAA member schools who have played sports and carry at least a non-weighted grade point average of 3.25. The scholarships will be awarded at a ceremony in May.

Posted by Milton Kent at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Long Reach boys basketball coach Al Moraz, Jr. has faced some stern tests in his three years guiding the Lightning, but today's 3 p.m. meeting with top-ranked Lake Clifton in the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Administration's Class 3A state semifinal at Comcast Center might be the toughest.

The Lakers (25-1) have superior height inside as well as talented guards who will pressure Long Reach (24-2) all over the floor, all of which could make for a long day for Long Reach.

"It's a big challenge," said Moraz, Jr. "We feel we're going to do our thing and hopefully limit them to one shot and keep them off the board and try to maybe take some charges and maybe stir it up a little bit, kind of like we did against Aberdeen (in the East regional final)."

But then, Long Reach, which won the 3A title two years, has conquered challenges, not the least of which is bringing a level of respect to Howard County basketball, which is seeking its third straight title, with River Hill having won the 3A championship last year before moving to 2A this year.

"Obviously, it's the city teams, and probably some Baltimore County teams and then Prince George's County in the D.C. area," said Moraz, Jr. "You probably don't think of Howard County as a highly respected league. I think it's starting slowly but surely to erase a little bit in people's minds. We just work extremely hard to raise the level of play and earn some respect for the county."

The Lightning, which has won 14 straight games, has only two players back from its state title run two years ago, leading scorer and rebounder senior forward Obi Ukwuoma and junior forward Julius Fambro. But they have a picture of the championship squad hanging in the school gym to draw strength from.

"We've used that a little bit as motivation with the picture in the gym and how sweet it would be not only to get back there, but to make some noise again," said Moraz, Jr. "It's kind of been flying under the radar. We're fine with that. You've got a lot of teams that have a lot of talent and a lot of athletes, but we're working hard. We've got a great team chemistry. They're believing in each other. The main thing is, they're focused and listening to what we're trying to get across. We're just playing great team ball."

Posted by Milton Kent at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Going 25-0 and being unnoticed is no easy feat, but the Winters Mill girls basketball team somehow managed to pull it off.

The Falcons, who dominated Carroll County and the Blue Ridge division of the Monocacy Valley Athletic League, are the most anonymous unbeaten team you've ever not heard of, heading into tonight's showdown with unbeaten Mount Hebron in the Class 2A semifinal of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association state tournament.

Some of that, coach Bernie Koontz says, is because the team didn't have a great season last year, though they won six of their last eight. No doubt, some of the Falcons' anonymity is due to the fact that Carroll County is not considered a hoops hotbed for girls, with only two state championships in the last 35 years.

But Koontz says he and his players are OK with not being known. At least for now.

"The kids are pretty low-key," said Koontz. 'They go about their business. They get their job done. They work well together. We've tried to get on people's radar and get the respect of others. I think we're still trying to do that. Hopefully, in the next week or so, we'll earn a little more respect."

The Falcons have a marquee player, namely 5-foot-8 senior guard Cassie Cooke. Cooke, who transferred to Winters Mill from Westminster this year, shares scoring leadership with fellow seniors Jordan Neville and Jen Peters at 13 points per game, but is the team's leading rebounder at nine per contest, and shoots 48 percent from the field, while providing intangibles for the Falcons.

"She gives us a well-rounded player that can play both offense and defense," said Koontz. "She gives us another option to be able to handle the ball, or she can slide inside if need be. The biggest thing is she's given us a little bit more depth. That's helped us and she's given us a leader on the floor when need be."

Posted by Milton Kent at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Normally, a team making consecutive trips to the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association state basketball semifinals could count on the experience of one year carrying over to the following year.

Poly girls coach Kendall Peace doesn't have that luxury heading into tonight's semifinal meeting with Wicomico (19-4), as six players from the 2006-07 season graduated.

"Last year's experience graduated soon after we got there,' said Peace, who is 100-36 in six years at Poly. "I graduated four post players and two guards. We've ended up being very young in the post, but they've stepped up and done some things for me this year."

The relative inexperience on Peace's roster means there's a danger that this year's players could get wide-eyed at the prospect of making only the second state semifinal appearance in school history.

"I told them and we've talked about it, 'I can't create that environment that you're going to have,' said Peace. "'You're going to have to get within each other and within yourselves and tune out all of the other things that are going on in that element and focus on what's important.'"

Posted by Milton Kent at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Growing up on a farm in Jamaica, Digital Harbor girls basketball coach Patrick McDonald learned that working hard always presents a reward, one that admittedly might not be immediate, but a reward nonetheless.

For McDonald, the Rams' appearance in today's Class 1A Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association state semifinal against Pocomoke (22-1) is proof that his grandfather was right, as Digital Harbor (19-3) has advanced on the strength of its collective labors.

"They believe in the work and and they believe in doing the work," McDonald said. "It's just a blessing in our fifth year to have the girls who've done the work and have been the most committed, reaping the benefits of that."

McDonald, who is 57-38 at Digital, said the team had to evolve from "girls that play basketball to basketball players that happen to be girls," and with a precocious group of youngsters, led by sophomores Asia Logan (17 points and 12 rebounds per game) and Nikki Groom (11 points, six assists) and freshman KeShara Floyd (15 points), the Rams have slowly built something to last.

The team stumbled against Western, City and Poly, but beat three-time state semifinalist New Town in the North regional final last week to earn its place at UMBC this afternoon.

The challenge, for McDonald, will be to keep his players from getting overwhelmed by the surroundings and the moment, but the coach says that won't be a problem.

"We've talked all year about the next game and dealing with the game that's in front of us right now," said McDonald. "The environment doesn't matter because the court is still 94 feet (long) and the basket is still 10 feet high. It's the same right now. Step into the moment and make it yours. Hopefully, we'll do that (today)."

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Just as with the girls draw, the boys state semifinals of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association basketball tournament will feature a lineup filled with heavyweights.

No team seeded lower than third has advanced to Comcast Center, where the 3A and 4A semifinals will be played on Thursday, with the 1A and 2A games to be played Friday. Saturday's marquee of championship games leads off with the 1A game going at 1 p.m., followed by the 3A game, then the 2A and 4A contests.

In 1A, Snow Hill (25-0), by virtue of a 76-73 win last night over Pocomoke in the 1A East final delayed by a power outage over the weekend, advances to meet Dunbar (16-5) in one semifinal. The Eagles were the top seed in their region, while the Poets, thought to be in for a long season after they were blown out by New Town earlier in the year, got a No.3 seed in the North region, as well as a favorable draw, to return to the state semifinals.

The other side of the bracket will see Fort Hill (22-3), the top seed in the West sectional of the West region, meeting Surrattsville, which even with an 11-11 record, got the top seed in the South sectional of the South region.

There's a 50-50 chance that an area team will play for the 2A title. Randallstown (22-3), the top seed in the North region will play Wicomico (20-3), the No.1 seed in the East region, while second seeded Winters Mill (19-6), the West champions, will face Gwynn Park (25-1), the top seed from the South region. Gwynn Park has beaten Randallstown already this season, with their lone loss coming in the Prince George's County championship game to Laurel.

Meanwhile, there will be a Baltimore area team in the 3A final, as two local teams occupy half the bracket and will play each other in one semifinal. That game pits area No.1 Lake Clifton (25-1), the top seed from the North region, against Long Reach (24-2), the top seed and champions of the East region. In the other semifinal, third seed Bethesda-Chevy Chase (18-7), the West winner, will face Largo (21-4), also a third seed, but from the South region.

Parkville (18-6), the top seed in the North region, is the lone area standard bearer in 4A, and will face Thomas Stone (23-2), the No.2 seed from the East in one semifinal Thursday. The aforementioned Laurel (22-2), the top seed in the South, meets Springbrook (23-2), the No.1 seed in the West.

Posted by Milton Kent at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

We accidentally transposed the times of tomorrow night's Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association Class 2A girls basketball semifinals in this space yesterday.

The Winters Mill-Mount Hebron game, matching two unbeaten teams, will begin at 7 p.m. tomorrow, followed by the Poly-Wicomico semifinal at 9 p.m., contrary to what was originally posted here by me.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The lineup for the final two rounds of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association girls basketball tournament is set, with the Class 1A and 2A semifinals to be played Wednesday and the 3A and 4A semis on Thursday. The 2A, 1A and 3A finals are scheduled to be played, in that order, Saturday at 5, 7 and 9 p.m. after the UMBC men's team plays Vermont in the America East Conference championship Saturday at noon. The 4A title game will be played next Monday at 7 p.m.

If you're looking for a "Hoosiers" scenario, where an underdog team, a la the George Mason men's team of two years ago, breaks through to make a miraculous title run, you've come to the wrong place, as only one team seeded lower than third in their region made it through to any one of the final fours.

In 1A, Allegany (23-3), the top seed in the West sectional of the West region, advanced to meet Surrattsville (17-7), the No. 2 seed in the South sectional of the South region. Pocomoke (22-1), the top seed in the East region, emerged to face Digital Harbor (19-3), the No. 2 seed out of the North region.

The Baltimore area is virtually assured of a state champion out of 2A, as three local teams advanced through their regions. On one side of the bracket, Poly (20-5), the champions of the North region, will meet Wicomico (19-4), the East region winner, who, as the No. 4 seed, is the only team in the field that could legitimately be called a Cinderella. Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket is a clash of unbeaten titans, as Winters Mill (25-0), the West top seed, will meet the South's top seed, Mount Hebron (26-0).

By the way, the MPSSAA announced today that the Winters Mill-Mount Hebron game will start at 9 p.m. Wednesday, with the game between Wicomico and Poly tipping off at 7 p.m., a change from previously announced start times.

In the 3A bracket, defending 2A champion Atholton (21-2) moved up a class size and emerged from the East region as the top seed. They'll meet Western (20-3), the No. 2 seed from the North, ensuring that a Baltimore area team will advance to the finals. Great Mills (24-1), the top seed from the South, will meet Paint Branch (23-0), the No. 1 seed from the West region.

Just as in the 3A region, the 4A alignment ensures that an area team will play next Monday for a state championship. Arundel (21-5) the East region's top seed, will meet Dulaney (19-3), the top seed from the North region. That semifinal winner will face the winner of the semifinal pitting Blake (22-3), the No. 1 West seed, against defending champion Eleanor Roosevelt (22-2), the top seed from the South region.

Posted by Milton Kent at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Zycorrian Robinson from Spartanburg (S.C.) High School threw up a Hail Mary shot from about 80 feet away at the end of a state championship game last Friday that, according to some people, appeared to leave his hands before time ran out and give his team the victory. Pandemonium broke out, fans rushed the court and the Spartanburg team leaped for understandable joy.

However, the three game officials gathered, discussed the situation and ruled that Robinson's shot did not get off in time, giving the win and the title to Summerville. That should have been the end of it, right? The Spartanburg kids learn a hard lesson about the vicissitudes of life and go on to grow and prosper, right?

Well, send in the clowns, er, politicians. The speaker pro tempore of the South Carolina House as well as another state representative have entered a bill requiring the state's High School League to use instant replay in state championship football and basketball playoff games.

Where to begin?

First, the National Federation of State High School Associations prohibits replay in high school competition, and the South Carolina High School League is a part of the federation.

Secondly, don't the other sports count too? Shouldn't the boys who play soccer and the girls who play field hockey and all the other sports also have their games subject to replay or are football and basketball the only sports that matter?

Of course, the third and most important point here is the obvious one: Don't state legislators have better things to do to occupy their time than to insert themselves into kids games? We already know the answer to that one, don't we?

By the way, if you're curious, here are links to the disputed shot via video and through frame-by-frame shots lifted from the video.

You make the call.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

One of Los Angeles' best high school running backs was shot to death and killed Sunday night in what area police are calling a random act of gang violence.

Jamiel Andre Shaw Jr., a 17-year old junior at Los Angeles High, was walking home from a trip to an area mall, when he was confronted by two men in a car, who reportedly asked him, "Where you from?," a phrase that police say is code for "What gang do you belong to?"

When Shaw didn't respond, police said the men opened fire on him, striking him multiple times. His body was found a few yards from his home and he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Shaw, who was nicknamed "Jazz," ran for 1,052 yards last season, averaging more than 14 yards a carry, with 10 touchdowns. He earned his league's Most Valuable Player honors and had reportedly received letters of interest recently from Rutgers and Stanford, among other schools.

Jazz's mother, Army Staff Sgt. Anita Shaw was returning home Monday from a second tour of duty in Iraq to help plan her son's funeral.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Hundreds of high school basketball teams will be crowned champions this month across the country, but there may be no sweeter story of accomplishment than that of the Learning Center for the Deaf girls team of Massachusetts.

The Learning Center squad won the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council D Conference title Sunday over Chase Collegiate of Waterbury, Conn., a school with hearing players. The Lady Ghosts became the first deaf team to not only win that league's title, but to even get to the championship game.

The Lady Ghosts finished the year 28-1, with their lone loss coming, oddly enough, to the Maryland School for the Deaf in the Eastern Schools for the Deaf Athletic Association title game. The players said, however, the win Sunday more than made up for the loss, and you'd have to believe them.

Posted by Milton Kent at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

An Idaho kid is threatening to turn the world of college recruiting upside down by suing a school he claimed made him a verbal scholarship offer, then reneged when the coaching staff that made the initial offer left.

According to SI.com, Daniel Smith, a defensive back from Boise, Idaho, contends that the University of Hawaii made him a verbal scholarship offer on the condition that he not speak to any other school. Smith said he and his mother had sent Hawaii a highlights tape and had received an e-mail invitation from defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold to come to the campus for an unofficial visit, which cost them $4,000.

Roughly a month after the visit, Smith, who had a written scholarship offer from Portland State, a Football Championship Subdivision school (formerly Division I-AA), said he got a phone call from Reinebold offering him a scholarship, which he accepted.

Lo and behold, Reinebold and other Hawaii coaches left that school for Southern Methodist, and the coach supposedly called Smith to tell him that the scholarship offer was off the table because the staff was leaving. Smith said the offensive coordinator called later in January, a few weeks before the national signing day, to say that Hawaii had no record of Smith and denied that he had ever met with a coach on his unofficial visit.

Smith and his family are suing Hawaii, and if they win, the entire sorry, sordid process of high school recruiting could be turned on its ear.

Posted by Milton Kent at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

We told you last week about the possibility that the times of next week's Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association's girls basketball championships could be altered by the potential presence of the UMBC men's basketball team in the America East Conference finals, since that league plays its championship on the site of the highest remaining seed and the Retrievers are the top team in the league.

The MPSSAA has announced that if UMBC does host the title game, the RAC Arena floor will be unavailable to the high school tournament on Friday, March 14 from 1 p.m. on so that the two college teams could practice and that the floor could be prepared for the Saturday noon tipoff.

In order to maintain the tradition of playing at a Division I facility, the MPSSAA has decided that if UMBC is in the America East game, it will move the semifinals up by one day, with the Class 1A and 2A games played Wednesday, March 12, and the 3A and 4A games played on Thursday, March 13. The 1A final, under this scenario, would be played at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 15, with the 2A game following at 7 p.m. and the 3A game coming at 9 p.m. The 4A championship game would be played on Monday, March 17 at 7 p.m.

Of course, all bets are off if UMBC gets knocked out of the America East tournament before the finals. The MPSSAA would then revert to the usual format with the semifinals on Thursday and Friday and a quadruple-header of championship games on Saturday.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)