Try Outs in Central PA for PIAA Schools

As Football season comes to an end, Basketball season begins....   For the kids who went to every open gym, every weight training session, ran all of those bleachers, worked with personal trainers, YOUR day is here....    For all of those kids who have dreams and hopes of player for their neighborhood school, this week just doesn't get any better....  
From 7th grade all the way to 12th graders, the first day of tryouts is probably the most anticipated day of the year...  

With the new structure for middle school, it will be interesting to see how many good kids get left off of their school teams....   A lot of schools have gone to the JV/Varsity style for 7th, 8th and 9th graders....   What that means is there is now two teams for three grades so the pickings will be kind of tough.....

Schools like Susquehanna who went undefeated for 7th grade last year has a decision to make...  Do you put half of those guys on the Varsity and half of JV???   or do you keep the entire group together on Varsity and CUT the 9th graders??? 

Schools like Harrisburg only have 1 team for 3 grades so it will be interesting to see who's left off that team....   New Freshman Coach Craig Peters has a slew of talent to pick from including 7th grader Shaquon Butts who is the top 7th grader in the area....  

From what I've heard, 7th grader Tim Kater made the Freshman team at East Penn, Nick Ramsey made it at CD East, DaRon Jennings at Central Dauphin to go along with Elyjah Camp, Ahmir Wright and Tito Flemister who will be playing Freshman for their second year in a row....

I think most teams in the area will decide to put their best 7th and 8th graders up on the Varsity Middle School team......  This could be good for the kids development if the kids will play a lot...  If not, it's a better idea for the kids to just stay with their grade and not rush things....   Kids will develop in due time....

Then you have kids that are in a UNIQUE situation....  Tyrece Little and Casey Caruso who are in the 8th and 7th grades respectively will be playing on the HS Varsity team at Emmanuel Baptist Christian Academy...   Since it's not a PIAA school, they do not have to wait until their 9th grade year....    That really helps these young guys to learn the speed and pace of a Varsity game....  Regardless if the level is that of Single A basketball...

Some of the Varsity teams in the area will have some big decisions to make...   If your upperclassmen aren't that good, do you keep them around and have the freshmen and sophomores play JV?  or do you cut the upperclassmen so the Freshmen and Sophs can have a chance to contribute on Varsity??    Harrisburg has Sophomore Jahaad Proctor to help with the much needed outside shooting....   Susquehanna added One of the top Freshmen in the State, Nehemiah "Bud" Mack to team up with his brother Gabe and the rest of the crew....    McDevitt is starting to show that it's not just a basketball school with the addition of Justin MacAuthor and a few others....  Chambersburg returns one of the top guards in the league in Kellen Williams....  Emmanuel Baptist lost Bud Mack but gained NYC product Kareem Oden who can flat out score the rock......while CD East still has Eddie "Always Steady" Cowan who as a four year starter is ready to make a big splash on the State of PA......

Some of the tougher teams to look for this season will have to be Harrisburg, Trinity, Carlisle, Chambersburg, McDevitt, Cumberland Valley and Susquehanna.....   Although there's always a few "Sleeper" teams out there like Palmyra, East Pennsboro, CD East and Steelton....   

Be on the look out for a list of the Pre Season Top 17 players for HS and also a Top 15 for Middle School aged players....   Also, we'll have players of the week as well.....   

This will be an interesting year.....  Can't wait to see how it goes....