Mar 13, 2016 4 min read

The high school basketball playoffs in Pennsylvania are down to the Final Four in each classification and, as has become an annual rite of March, much of the talk around the games has shifted from basketball to Christianity. Not the religion so much as the advantage Catholic schools – along with other private and small charter schools – have over public schools.

Public schools are tired of being knocked out of the postseason by Catholic schools and the charter schools that are considered by many to be “basketball factories.”

For more than two decades, private schools have dominated the PIAA tournament, especially in the lower classifications and girls basketball.

Chris Rossetti, a former assistant sports information director at Clarion University and editor of a website devoted to PIAA District 9 sports, crunched the numbers. They are staggering: Over the last 16 years, only four public schools have won the girls Class A state title. It’s even worse in girls Class AA, where public schools are 0-for-15 years. Only four Class AA girls teams have even played for the state title since Karns City won the championship in 2000. And the last time two public schools played for the Class A girls state title was 1988.

Public schools have the system stacked against them. They are unable to “recruit” like the Catholic schools. They can’t bring in players from other countries, states or school districts. Not all schools are playing by the same set of rules, yet they’re playing for the same championship.

What is an opponent to do?

It’s been long overdue for Pennsylvania to take a stand. If other states can have two leagues for its championship tournaments – one for public schools and one for private/parochioal/charter schools – then it should be good enough for Pennsylvania.

Just don’t expect that to happen. The PIAA is too afraid of the legal ramifications that would result with such a change.

For now, teams like the South Fayette girls, who won the WPIAL Class AAA championship before running into Villa Maria, a Catholic school in Erie that is ranked No. 9 in the nation by USA Today, in the state quarterfinals Saturday and were eliminated 54-44, will only get job-well-done pat on the back.

South Fayette coach Matt Bacco was only speaking the truth when he said of talented Villa Maria, “It is no consolation, but that team is ranked No. 9 in the country and they have six Division I players. Those kids are there to play basketball. They go there because it’s a perennial power. I’m proud of what our kids accomplished. We aren’t going to hang our heads.”

A public school team still has a chance in Class AAA, and its one that has ties to Washington. Villa Maria will play South Park in the semifinals Tuesday night. South Park, which upset Trinity in the opening round of the state tournament, is coached by Juliet Highberger. You might remember her as Juliet Sargent when she played for Wash High and Washington & Jefferson College.

• Before half the field for the NCAA basketball tournament was revealed Sunday by CBS Sports during its drawn-out two-hour snoozefest, the entire 68-team bracket had been leaked and seen by millions on social media.

Somebody has some explaining to do.

• The next time the NCAA and college presidents start complaining about sports gambling, somebody should remind them the Pac-12, West Coast, Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences all held their postseason basketball tournaments in Las Vegas.

• The Pirates’ signing Friday of free-agent third baseman David Freese was one that, well, came out of left field. Nobody saw this one coming.

The 32-year-old Freese is a career .276 hitter who spent the last two years with the Los Angles Angels. The 2011 World Series MVP while playing for St. Louis, Freese is an insurance policy if Jung Ho Kang is slow to return from injury. He allows Josh Harrison to play second base and shortstop Alen Hanson to remain in the minor leagues instead of opening year in the majors at second base.

And all Freese will cost the Pirates is $3 million – less than half of what he was paid by the Angels last year – which seems too good to be true.

That’s not a bad find in the bargain bin.

• Forget about spending hours filling out those NCAA tournament brackets and anguishing over who will win that Pitt-Wisconsin game. Admit it, no matter how much time you put into the brackets, some secretary who picks winners based on school colors or nicknames will win your office pool.

Again.

Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com.