Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011: J-D's Coleman commits to Syracuse

   Leading off today: Dajuan Coleman, Jamesville-DeWitt's coveted 6-foot-9 senior, announced Tuesday that he has verbally committed to continue his basketball career next fall at Syracuse University.

   Coleman, a first-team all-state pick after averaging 24.5 points and 14 rebounds, had narrowed his list to Syracuse, Kentucky and Ohio State. The Buckeyes appeared to fall out of the hunt once Coleman announced Monday that he would make his announcement without taking an official visit to Columbus.

   Coleman is a consensus top 15 player nationally in the Class of 2012.

   Coleman made his announcement flanked by the three NYSPHSAA Class A championship trophies the Red Rams have won during Coleman's career. Teammate Tyler Cavanaugh, who recently committed to Wake Forest, was among the players on hand for the news conference.

   Another commitment: Phil Valenti, a 6-7 forward from Aquinas, has given a verbal commitment to attend Canisius College, The Buffalo News reported.

   Valenti averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Little Irish during a 23-2 junior season that ended with a loss to Coleman's Jamesville-DeWitt team in the NYSPHSAA Class A semifinals.

   The paper reported Valenti was also offered scholarships by Boston University, Hofstra and Central Connecticut State.

   Earlier this fall, Aquinas point guard Christian White -- Coleman's AAU teammate with the Albany City Rocks -- committed to Division I Monmouth.

   Holland's season over: There's a part of me that wants to say that a ruling over the weekend in Section 6 was wrong because it punished kids for a mistake by adults.

   But there comes a point where a line needs to be drawn, and this is as good a place as any. And that's why I have no issue with the Holland girls soccer team, 14-3 and ranked 13th in Class C last week by the NYSSWA, being

Many reporters use Twitter to deliver remote updates. We track those tweets from a variety of venues 24/7. Visit the page to see what's going on.

banished from the Section 6 tournament. Holland was the defending champ and appeared to be in line to be seeded No. 1.

   In the course of seeding its tournament on Saturday, the girls soccer committee determined that Holland had played 17 games this season -- one more than permitted prior to the playoffs. School officials filed an appeal with Section 6 on Monday, but were unsuccessful.

   "Unfortunately a mistake was made and the consequences are severe," sectional soccer coordinator Chris Durr told The Buffalo News. "I know it was an honest mistake, not something they tried to do. They had a great team, great players, they went to regionals last year and had a great team coming back."

   With the possible exception of concussion management, there has been no hotter statewide topic in New York high school sports the last three years than the state-mandated reductions in schedules instituted as a cost-cutting measure.

   The incremental advantage gained by playing 17 games instead of 16 is negligible. But the fact of the matter is that a highly publicized rule has been in place for three years now. The window for saying, "Aw, shucks, forget about it," closed a long time ago.

   Is it fair to the kids? Of course not. But it's possible for an action to be both unfair but necessary, and this is just such a case.

   The streak lives: The Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake girls volleyball team completed its 20th straight unbeaten Suburban Council season with a 25-13, 25-15, 25-11 victory over Shenendehowa.