There are two high school basketball powers in New York City. The Catholic H.S. Athletic Association (CHSAA) and the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL). One coach wants to introduce a departure from the norm that he says will equalize and maximize the exposure for both teams, players and the league.
In the PSAL, historically Brooklyn has dominated the regular season where top flight schools like Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, South Shore and other Class AA teams in the borough play each other in league play on a regular basis. These competitive match-ups have not only drawn large crowds but most of the college coaches and recruiters who are looking to offer scholarships.
However, PSAL teams from the Queens but especially Bronx and Manhattan have less compelling games due to lack of competition. Consequently, the better teams in these three boroughs will have deceptive, undefeated or nearly undefeated regular season records with few regular season challenges. It’s not until the playoffs do we see a consistent menu of competitive and compelling games.
Conversely, in the CHSAA, because there are less Class AA teams and divisions, every team has a consistently competitive schedule and therefore attracts the Lion’s share of college coaches. Abraham Lincoln Railsplitters head coach Dwayne “Tiny” Morton says he has a solution for the PSAL regular season. “A new [division]. We need our kids to be exposed to as many college coaches as we can. The only way to do that is to make sure the competition for every game is on the highest level possible.”
Morton says that the reason why many good high school players are transferring outside the state is because of the lack of competition within the state. “It’ll also help our league get more sponsorships from companies,” he added.
The top tier breakdown of this elite division would be as follows according to Coach Morton. “I would put [teams] in the categories of eight. So, you have your top eight for the last ten years.” These would consist of the teams that have won a city or borough championship or have been runners-up for the last decade. The division would be comprised of three Brooklyn teams, one Manhattan team, two Queens teams and two Bronx teams.
The next tier would include teams that won an Class A chip along with Class AA teams that made it to the final four in the playoff in the past ten years etc. The upside is that all the teams would have consistently tougher schedules and would not only play teams their borough.
Because the game would mostly be interborough, critics sight that it would be an undue financial burden on players who would have to travel between boroughs. Coach Morton, after speaking with Lincoln’s athletic director, countered saying student-athletes already are eligible to get additional MetroCard’s from the PSAL, good on gamedays an d weekends until 8:30 pm.
Morton said he would like to iron out the details and implement this new elite eight division for the upcoming season. “I spoke to a couple of coaches that are in agreement with it. I spoke to Ted Gustus (Winter Sports Supervisor for Brooklyn Varsity) who thought it was a great idea. Now we just have to talk to the powers that be; the principles and administration.”
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