I got a call Monday night from a PSAL ‘AA’ girls basketball coach who shall remain nameless. Before I could get the word “hello” out of my mouth, the coach quipped: “I hope you’re not done ripping the PSAL.”
My answer? No. Not by a long shot.
Just when I was about to holster my weapon after a befuddling but not altogether egregious ‘AA’ seeding Saturday, I took a gander at what the PSAL came up with the for the ‘A.’ Now I’m no expert on the middle league in the league’s three-tier system and I was coming into it with an open mind. But I just don’t understand how the seeding committee could have done this:
1. Wings Academy
2. Goldstein
3. Baruch College Campus
4. Tottenville
5. Brooklyn Collegiate
6. Bryant
7. Hillcrest
8. Bronx Science
9. Brooklyn Technical
10. Curtis
11. Beacon
12. Martin Luther King
13. South Bronx
14. Forest Hills
15. Bayside
16. Seward Park
17. Lab Museum
18. Norman Thomas
19. Erasmus Hall
20. Thomas Edison
21. John Bowne
22. New Dorp
23. West 50th Street Campus
24. HS Graphics Communication Arts
25. Taft
26. A.P. Randolph
27. School of the Future
28. Fort Hamilton
29. Wingate
30. Townsend Harris
31. Samuel Gompers
32. James Monroe Campus
33. Adlai Stevenson
34. Clara Barton
35. LaGuardia
36. Flushing
37. John Adams
38. Canarsie
39. Franklin K. Lane
40. HS Health Professions
41. Hunter
42. Morris
The most perplexing thing here involves No. 23 West 50th Street Campus, a team that has made back-to-back ‘A’ semifinals appearances and was, once again, one of the stronger squads in the league despite multiple key injuries.
A few weeks ago, Seahawks coach Kinsley Kwateng found out that his team would have to forfeit six games due to ineligible players. Two of his girls had a credit discrepancy with a school inside his building and they competed illegally without him knowing.
If not for the forfeits, West 50th Street would have been a top-eight type of team. Even the PSAL thought so or the league wouldn’t have invited the Seahawks to their annual PSAL ‘A’ Girls Basketball Showcase. With the forfeits, though, the committee made them No. 23, bucking all precedence for something like this.
Four years ago, Thomas Jefferson forfeited seven games for ineligible players and finished 7-7, good enough for fourth place in its division. The Orange Wave, by far the strongest team in the ‘A,’ was seeded first. This season, the Brooklyn Collegiate boys team forfeited six games for ineligible players, finished fourth in its division and was seeded ninth.
So why was West 50th Street penalized? Now the Seahawks, who beat No. 3 Baruch College Campus in league play, will likely have to meet No. 10 Curtis in the second round. That isn’t fair for either team. Department of Education spokesperson Margie Feinberg did not return an email to The Post for an explanation Monday night.
“I know we had the forfeits, but the way the seeding went it’s like the girls got punished,” Kwateng said. “The forfeits weren’t the girls fault. They work hard. They take care of business in the classroom.”
Let’s get back to Curtis. The Warriors were seeded 10th after beating No. 5 Brooklyn Collegiate not once but twice in non-league games. Basically what the league is saying here is that non-league games don’t even matter. Why bother even playing them?
Same thing with No. 4 Tottenville, which beat St. John Villa. Villa beat No. 2 Goldstein. Shouldn’t that common opponent be enough to give Tottenville the No. 2 seed? To most people, yes. But not to the PSAL seeding committee. Hey, beating a team head to head doesn’t even matter anymore apparently. Look at Curtis-Brooklyn Collegiate and Hillcrest, which lost to Bronx Science in the Showcase but is seeded higher than the Wolverines.
It seems like the PSAL weighed division winners very heavily. But then how did Brooklyn A East second place team Brooklyn Tech sneak into the No. 9 seed instead of division titleholders like MLK and Norman Thomas? The Engineers played Brooklyn Collegiate tough last week, but BC coach Dytanya Mixson admitted to not playing his full team for disciplinary reasons in that game. If they liked second-place teams in solid divisions so much than how about Taft, which only lost to top-seed Wings by eight points in their first meeting this year.
There are just too many inconsistencies to count. The committee really undervalued Staten Island, which I warned against Friday night. Tottenville, Curtis and even New Dorp are no joke. Curtis hung with ‘AA’ No. 2 seed South Shore for three quarters Sunday.
I expect the Warriors to make a deep run and I would not be surprised if they met the Pirates in the finals. Then maybe the PSAL will see the error of their ways. But I doubt it.
