Feb 22, 2014 5 min read

Chris Dugan’s column in the Feb. 17 edition brought up several valid criticisms regarding the size of the WPIAL basketball playoff pool as well as the large number of blowouts that occurred in the opening round. When so many teams with losing records advance to the postseason, there is bound to be a predictable weeding-out process where the higher seeds dominate the lower ones. This, in addition to more teams qualifying for the playoffs than those who do not (all but eight teams in boys Class A), it provides ample fodder for those who believe that the time has come to trim the number of playoff participants. One can argue that quantity has outstripped quality when the entire playoff field is considered.

However, your column fails to point out what I – and many others – feel is the real problem with the WPIAL basketball playoffs: the unmistakable imbalance of power held by private/charter schools over public schools, particularly in the lowest enrollment class. Consider these facts:

• Private/charter schools have won the last seven WPIAL girls Class A championships and 14 of the last 18.

• In boys Class A, private/charter schools have won the last six titles.

• The top five seeds this year in girls Class A are private schools; four of the five top seeds in boys Class A are private/charter schools.

• Of the eight schools that received a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in Class A and AA – boys and girls – only one (Burrell, in Class AA girls) is a public school.

While playoff seeding does not guarantee a championship for the top seeds, it does provide a fairly accurate snapshot of the overwhelming disadvantage that public schools are up against, most profoundly, in Class A. All of which begs these questions: has the quality of play among Class A schools deteriorated that far? Or, do the private/charter schools hold such an unfair advantage over small-enrollment public schools that the playoffs are essentially over before they begin?

Your column referenced the lopsided scores by which Lincoln Park defeated Mapletown in the opening round of the last two boys playoffs. You also asked the question, “do you really think players on the Mapletown team were excited about playing top-seeded Lincoln Park, a charter school that has several players drawing NCAA Division I interest?” I will not attempt to answer that for the Mapletown players. However, I will retort by offering this question: What outcome did we honestly expect when the WPIAL – and PIAA for that matter – administers a playing field where a public school drawing its enrollment from a couple of sparsely populated townships in southeastern Greene County is matched up with a school that obviously has sought out the best basketball talent from across the region?

This is not an attempt to pick on a school, but rather to show in the current alignment, the vast majority of small public schools in the hardly stand a chance to capture a championship. Whether it’s Lincoln Park vs. Mapletown, Quigley vs. West Greene or St. Joseph vs. Jefferson-Morgan, the results were painfully predictable and shamefully permitted.

The enrollments between these schools are equal, but that’s where the similarities end. How can anyone argue that a private school that takes in students from dozens of school districts across multiple counties does not have an unfair advantage over a small public school that is limited to its local residents? If the playing field were indeed level, we wouldn’t have to look as far back as 2007 to find a public high school winning a WPIAL Class A title.

Your column questions the rationale behind the number of playoff qualifiers. Let me offer this theory: Perhaps the WPIAL wants as many small school teams to qualify for the postseason because it provides both a sense of accomplishment and a smokescreen to disguise the fact that when championship time comes around, the public schools will, by and large, be long gone. “Build your program’s future on playoff appearances, not on a realistic shot of winning basketball championships.” That’s the message I hear the WPIAL sending to small schools.

There are solutions, but it would take serious backbone on the part of the WPIAL and PIAA to pull it off. All private/charter schools should be made to “play up” at least one classification, if not two, in basketball. This would make Class A, and perhaps Double-A, entirely public schools, therefore eliminating the stranglehold that nonpublic schools have on the Class A championships.

There’s the age-old argument that private schools should not be eligible to compete against public schools for district and state championships. Rather than fracture the WPIAL/PIAA membership, I suggest that private schools remain an integral part of the mix, but not so on the lowest enrollment classification(s). If anyone needs further proof as to why this needs to happen sooner rather than later, check the number of public vs. private schools that advance to the semifinals of this year’s WPIAL boys and girls Class A basketball playoffs. If a 7:1 ratio of private to public is good enough for you, then my argument has fallen on deaf ears.

Ben Brudnock

Sycamore