Delco Madness: Debate over Sweet 16 boys teams already raging
As much as Selection Sunday traditionally provides entertainment to basketball fans, its appeal would not be as strong without what would have come first.
That would be the debate. The bracketology. The strength-of-schedule considerations, the resume comparisons, the minute-to-minute discussion of what should happen and why.
So with the Daily Times careening toward its own Selection Sunday and the revealing of Sweet 16 brackets of the greatest high school boys and girls basketball teams ever to spring from Delaware County, there already is some robust discussion.
As for the boys tournament, who should be in?
Who should be thinking NIT?
Who should be wondering what went wrong?
Who should be imagining the thrill that will come with winning the mythical tournament to choose the best team ever from a county that has had more than its share of great ones? And who should begin thinking about next year?
Dave Burman, the legendary Delco hoop fan and the voice of delcohoops.com internet broadcasts of the most important games of the season is the unofficial curator of Chester High basketball history, of there has been plenty. If Chester doesn’t dominate the field, expect him to protest.
“I would put all eight Chester state championship teams in there,” Burman insisted. “All eight PIAA state championship teams. They were unbelievable.”
Burman’s campaign may be revealed to be anything from a blast of wisdom to wildly over-ambitious. Who knows? Chester may even receive more than eight bids from the committee of Daily Times sports writers after consultation with some county sports historians and consideration of suggestions submitted to sports@delcotimes.com.
Though all respected bracketologists are anticipating the Clippers to enjoy numerous bids, Delaware County has produced 19 state champions and 23 more that lost in a PIAA championship game. With Catholic League and other private-school teams of excellence, there will be rampaging competition for the 16 available spots.
“One team that comes to my mind is the first team from Delaware County to win the state championship,” said Rich Pagano, a Philadelphia Sports Writers Association executive, board member of the Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum in Radnor and recognized county sports historian. “And that would be the 1953 Yeadon team. They were state champs.”
Not only did the 22-2 1953 Eagles win it all, Pagano notes, but they were legendary for choosing to play in the highest-level PIAA Class A tournament, even though Yeadon was a smaller, Class B-level program.
“They had some great players,” Pagano said. “Jack Boyd played at Duke. Jack Weissman played at Villanova. Fred Cohen would play for Temple. And they were really well coached by John Naegeli. He lived in Scranton, would teach at Yeadon during the week and go home on the weekends.”
If the Eagles are selected for the Sweet 16, they again will have to overachieve against the larger schools expected to clog the bracket.
“You have to consider Clyde Jones’ 2009 Penn Wood team, awesome, state champs,” Burman said. “They were right there. The 2009 Archbishop Carroll team, with the pride of Chester, D.J. Irving, was an incredible squad. Darby-Colwyn had some good teams. Darby Township won state championships at the smaller-school level.
“In 1958, Haverford won it all, beating Chester. They lost to Chester twice in the regular season, but beat them for the district championship. But everything always has to go through Chester. It’s unbelievable.”
The consensus is that will not change during Delco Madness.
“My top three Chester teams begin with the 2012 undefeated team,” e-mailed former Daily Times sports writer Rob Knox, the associate director for athletic communications at Towson University and a devoted supporter of the Clippers and their legend. “Perfection rules. And they had an amazing two-year run. There was the 1989 team. Their only two losses were to Glen Mills. They beat Penn Wood three times, including the Eastern final and beat a loaded Frankford squad in the Seagull Classic. And there was the 2008 team. There was so much Division One talent on that team. They were like a Division Two college team and had to beat Norristown twice. Wow.”
The boys bracket will be revealed Sunday. The Sweet 16 girls teams, in the tradition of the NCAA Tournament’s “Selection Monday,” will be revealed in the Daily Times the following day.
As soon as the complaining ceases from fans of those teams sidetracked to the First Four Out or Next Four Out scrolls, the simulated games will begin, with the Daily Times sports staff providing game “reports” as the bracket is filled.
Who will cut down the imaginary nets?
“I would say it would have to be that undefeated Chester team,” said Jim Vankoski, the 2018 Delaware County Sports Figure of the Year for his dedication to preserving Delco sports history at the Sports Legends Museum. “They were No. 1 in the country at one point. So you’d have to go with them.”
While it’s safe to forecast that those 32-0 Clippers will be a high seed, the road to the finals is expected to be treacherous.
Former Daily Times sports writer Joe Lunardi of ESPN, has received a sneak peek at the committee’s rough bracket.
“The committee has put together a phenomenal bracket,” the world’s foremost bracketologist said in a text, grasping the spirit of the endeavor. “My tweaks would be minimal. Let the upsets begin!”
