It’s all over. The wild and woolly PSAL girls basketball regular season came to an end Friday and not without some typical craziness. South Shore beat McKee/Staten Island Tech in a non-league game between two teams that figure to be very close in the seeding and Francis Lewis all but secured a No. 2 seed by beating Midwood.
So what do I think the seeds should look like? Well, I’m not the PSAL and I have absolutely no insight into what will be taking place at that meeting Saturday morning. I have no clue what is going through the committee members’ heads. But I think I can make a case for the following list. I’ve damn sure seen enough PSAL girls hoops the last three months.
Here we go:
1. Murry Bergtraum (20-0, 14-0 Manhattan AA)
2. Francis Lewis (18-3, 14-0 Queens AA)
3. John F. Kennedy (17-7, 12-3 Bronx AA)
4. South Shore (16-7, 12-2 Brooklyn AA Group 1)
5. McKee/Staten Island Tech (23-2, 14-0 Staten Island A)
6. Midwood (14-11, 10-4 Brooklyn AA Group 1)
7. Manhattan Center (14-10, 9-5 Manhattan AA)
8. Thomas Jefferson (12-7, 12-2 Brooklyn AA Group 2)
9. Banneker (11-7, 8-6 Brooklyn AA Group 2)
10. Lincoln (12-10, 7-7 Brooklyn AA Group 1)
11. Truman (12-10, 8-7 Bronx AA)
12. Boys & Girls (7-8, 7-7 Brooklyn AA Group 2)
13. Grand Street Campus (5-9 Brooklyn AA Group 2)
14. Clinton (3-12 Bronx AA)
15. Frederick Douglass Academy (2-12 Manhattan AA)
16. Lehman (3-12 Bronx AA)
17. Beach Channel (3-10 Queens AA)
18. Madison (2-12 Brooklyn AA Group 1)
19. Cardozo (2-11 Queens AA)
20. August Martin (2-12 Queens AA)
It doesn’t get any easier than picking Bergtraum No. 1. But the rest? You could almost choose them out of a hat.
To me, Lewis has to be No. 2. The Patriots have three losses to very good teams: St. Michael Academy, St. Peter’s and North Babylon. They also haven’t lost a PSAL game. That goes a long way in a year of insane parity.
Kennedy at No. 3 is somewhat controversial. But the Knights have beaten Midwood, Manhattan Center and own a key non-league win against Mary Louis, the same team that crushed South Shore.
I think the South Shore-MSIT game Friday decided the fourth and fifth seeds. South Shore has played a tough schedule and owns a very good win against Mount Vernon. McKee/Staten Island Tech’s record says No. 2 or No. 3 seed, but its weak schedule doesn’t. The Sea Gulls haven’t won a big game since beating Manhattan Center in December.
After that, things get a bit crazy. I thought Jefferson could have backed its way into a No. 6 seed by virtue of bad losses this week by Midwood (Lincoln) and Manhattan Center (Truman). But then the Orange Wave lost to Boys & Girls on Friday in another shocker.
Manhattan Center also got a bit lucky. The Lady Rams could have been looking at a dreaded eighth seed – i.e., Bergtraum in the quarterfinals – but with Jefferson’s loss, Center stays at seven and Jefferson is at eight.
After the top eight, things were up in the air until this week. Banneker has been the best of the rest for most of the season. Lincoln and Truman follow after their big upsets. Then there’s Boys & Girls, which at one point, could have snared the No. 9, and Grand Street, proving Brooklyn is probably the top borough.
The rest is pretty much a toss up. Clinton has the extremely underrated rebounding machine Sara Smith and FDA has two players I love in Shayla Russell and Iasha Hill. Queens is by far the worst of the boroughs with three of the last four seeds. It wasn’t long ago that Lewis, August Martin and Cardozo were three of the city’s top teams.
What happened at Cardozo was a disgrace. Two seasons ago, the parents ran out coach Larry Carradine, who didn’t do anything but win in 25 years at the helm. Since then? The Judges are a combined 6-23. It’s not coach Vince O’Donogue’s fault. He was put in a bad spot. But I wonder how those parents feel now as the once-proud program is facing complete irrelevance.
Sorry, got a little sidetracked. That’s my ‘AA’ seeding. As for the ‘A,’ Medgar Evers and West 50th Street Campus are clearly the top two and Wings is probably No. 3. I like defending champ Baruch College Campus at No. 4, but the rest is up in the air. In the ‘B,’ Goldstein should cruise to the top spot after routing Lafayette on Friday.
