Much of the pre-announcement buzz at the WPIAL basketball playoff pairings meeting centered around the quality of competition — and lack of a clear favorite — in the boys Class AAAA bracket.
Plum coach Ron Richards suggested the steering committee could have had a blind draw and still come up with a fair tournament.
That said, whether his team's seed was pulled from a hat or drawn up in a board room, Richards was pleased to see the Mustangs (17-5) get the No. 6 seed.
They will start the playoffs on Feb. 18 against No. 12 North Hills (11-10) at a time and site to be determined.
Plum will set out for redemption following a short stay in the playoffs last season, when a No. 4 seed led only to a first-round loss to Kiski Area.
Plum, which has the top points-allowed average in Class AAAA (47.2 ppg), is fresh off back-to-back section titles.
“We thought five or six (seed),” Richards said after Tuesday night's meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel in Green Tree. “We usually have one of the toughest sections (Section 2) and it wasn't quite as strong as it's been in recent years.”
“I told our kids how open (the field) is. It is a real opportunity for them. I have seen us play our best basketball, and when we do, we're pretty good. If we play like that, we can play with anybody.”
Fox Chapel (14-8) could be another team to watch in the Class AAAA bracket. The Foxes, seeded 12th, will play No. 5 Pine-Richland (17-5) on Feb. 18 at a time and site to be determined.
“A lot of these teams out there are very similar in the AAAA bracket,” Fox Chapel coach Zach Skrinjar said. “There are going to be a ton of good first-round matchups one through 16.”
Highlands (11-11), back in the playoffs for the first time in three years and first time under coach Tyler Stoczynski, opens in the Class AAA preliminary round against West Shamokin (13-7).
West Shamokin is coached by Mike Nagy, who coached Highlands for a brief stint in the early 1990s. Nagy, the only coach in West Shamokin's 15-year history, plans to resign at the end of the season.
“We played Highlands the last two years in nonsection games, and we're a little bit familiar with their personnel,” Nagy said. “We know they got off to a slow start and had a real nice second half.”
Knoch (13-9), which overcame a season-ending injury to sophomore point guard Austin Hannes to get into the Class AAA bracket, has a play-in game at 8 Friday night against Greensburg Salem (10-12) at Hampton. The winner gets No. 2 Beaver Falls (19-2).
“We've got to give our guys a lot of credit. You lose a player the quality of Austin, he's hard to replace,” Knoch coach Ron McNabb said. “I thought our guys stepped up and I thought we really tightened up our defense,”
A potential sleeper in Class AA is Apollo-Ridge (16-6), which drew the No. 9 seed after tying for second place with Shady Side Academy (15-7) in Section 2. Shady Side has a play-in game.
Apollo-Ridge has Bishop Canevin (16-6) in the first round on Feb. 18 at a time and site to be determined.
“We kind of figured it would be Bishop Canevin,” Apollo-Ridge coach Matt Gourley said. “It didn't really matter to us who played. You have to beat some good teams no matter what.”
Apollo-Ridge should know. Its current seniors were sophomores two years ago when the unseeded Vikings upset No. 4 Jeannette in the quarterfinals.
Ford City (12-10) starts in the Class AA preliminary round at 3 p.m. Saturday against Frazier (11-11). The winner gets No. 1 Aliquippa (21-0).
St. Joseph is in the Class A playoffs for the 13th straight time.
The Spartans (10-12) were tabbed the No. 15 seed and will open against No. 2 Monessen (16-6) on Tuesday at a time and site to be determined.
“That is where we expected to be because of the way we finished the season,” St. Joseph coach Kelly Robinson said. “It's always bittersweet (to make the playoffs). But you never take it for granted.”
Also in Class A, Riverview (10-11) is the No. 12 seed and faces No. 5 Jeannette (13-7) in the first round at 8 p.m. Friday at Yough. The Raiders, one of 27 playoff newcomers, are back in the playoffs for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
“We have put it quite a lot of work to get here,” Riverview coach Joe Farrell said.
“We didn't mind our draw. There are 17 teams (in the bracket) and we're happy to be one of them.”
In all, 48 schools have both their boys and girls teams in the WPIAL playoffs.
That includes five locals: Plum, Apollo-Ridge, Ford City, Riverview and St. Joseph.
The other top seeds are: North Allegheny (Class AAAA), Mars (Class AAA), and Sewickley Academy (Class A).
The WPIAL finals will be Feb. 27-28 at Petersen Events Center.
Bill Beckner Jr. is the local sports editor of the Valley News Dispatch. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com.
