Leading off today: I meant to write about this three weeks ago, ahead of the first game of the Aquinas vs. Bishop Kearney boys basketball series this season. I never got around to the topic then, and I'm glad now because it's probably more timely to chime in now.
Host Aquinas defeated Kearney 76-71 in double overtime on Jan. 11 in one of the better regular-season games folks around here could recall in the decade. Aquinas has two seniors who have committed to lesser Division I colleges and Kearney has two underclassmen who could be major recruits down the road, so there's tremendous talent to behold when the schools get together and there's also a history between the schools.
I'm not sure why, but there hasn't been much of an uproar in the Rochester area over the whole public/private issue in sports this winter. Perhaps people do not realize yet that we're on pace to see Aquinas win sectionals in Class AA and Kearney do likewise in A. Kearney would have an honest-to-God shot of winning the NYSPHSAA title in Glens falls, though I have too much respect for the Jamesville-DeWitt dynasty to write that as an absolute.
As an Aquinas alum (Class of ... uh, not important, let's just say it was awhile ago) and with my roles in reporting on high school sports, I'm aware of the annual frustration by some across the state and locally over the success the Little Irish in football.
But, as I said, there's no meaningful local discussion of basketball. Once Bishop Kearney was kept in Class A after a push to move the Kings to the highest class in November, a lot of people stopped talking about the schedule. Truth be told, people are more upset about Class D, where private schools have often been too much (in quantity and quality) for their public counterparts in the semifinals and finals.
That's not to say there isn't some conversation out there about the broad subject of fairness when it comes the private schools competing alongside public schools.
For instance, Dave Powers has written a draft of an interesting position paper posted on the website of the Basketball Coaches Association of New York. Besides being an outstanding girls basketball coach at Tuxedo, Powers is a past president of the BCANY.
As the preface to the document notes, the BCANY board of directors has not adopted the position put forth by Powers. Rather, they hope it will lead to discussion of the issue.
It's probably best for me not to try to summarize Powers' thoughts, because the document is short enough for you to read and digest in just a few minutes. Though I disagree with some of what is stated there (though a lack of conscience might also come in handy, anyone with a pulse can start an AAU program; so that's hardly an advantage exclusive to private schools), the paper is a thoughtful read. And some of what I disagree about is actually not too far away from what I would propose.
Take a look at it and, if you're so inclined, shoot me an email with your thoughts.
Live blog tonight: I'll be blogging from the Kearney-Aquinas game tonight beginning around half an hour ahead of the 7:30 p.m. tipoff. You can monitor the blog by clicking here.
Be smart out there: Keith McShea of The Buffalo News followed up on the Juri Wright controversy in a column Wednesday. Wright is the New Jersey high school football star who was expelled from school last week by school
