Bits and Pieces 20 

  This Saturday Delaware Sports will be at the DISC swimming and wrestling championships. The schools competing for titles are Sanford, Tower Hill, Tatnall, Friends, Westtown (Pa.), and St. Andrews. I think that's it. For the most part, the wrestlers in this conference won't get very far at the individual states, but the Friends team is 9-1 right now and could possibly make a bid for a Division II dual meet state championship berth. Jeff Rhoades is a 130 pounder who has enough talent to perhaps place at states. 
  The St. Andrews swim teams should be at the top of the Delaware teams in both boys and girls competitions. I don't know anything about the Westtown team, so I couldn't begin to talk about a total conference sweep for them.

  With Basketball playoffs right around the corner, I've been getting hit with the questions about the selection process. So here we go and we'll start with the boy's tournament.

 Twelve teams receive automatic berths; #1 and #2 teams in Blue Hen A and B, Henlopen North and South, Independant, and Non-Conference (odd but true.)

  Just for kicks, as of last Tuesday those teams were A.I duPont, McKean, Hodgson, Dickinson, Sussex Central, Sussex Tech, Lake Forest, Delmar, Sanford, St. Andrews, Caravel and Salesianum.

 That sounds like a fun tournament already, but indeed there are more! 12 more to be exact and that selection process is laid out like this:

 Twelve at-large teams will also receive berths in the tournament. The Committee will use the tournament point index system to select the at-large teams from the remaining teams in the state that choose to participate in the tournament. 

  The eight teams with the highest point indices as determined by the tournament point index system, will receive a bye in the first round. These teams will be seeded 1-8 in the second round based on their point indices. 

 The 16 teams that do not qualify for a first-round bye will be seeded 9-24 based on their point indices. 

  The following point system will be used to select the non-conference representatives (the answer to how this was going to figure the #1 and #2 in the non-conference), and the at-large teams and to seed the 24 teams that qualify for the tournament.
  1- 2 points for each win during the regular season
  2- 1 bonus point for playing a team whose final regular season wining percentage is above .500 regardless of which team won.
  3- 2 bonus points for playing a team whose final regular season winning percentage is above .700 regardless of which team won.
      a- A team would receive 4 points for defeating an opponent whose final regular season winning percentage was above .700 and would receive 2 points for losing to that team.
  4- A team's point index is determined by dividing the total number of points earned by the number of regular season games played.
    a- A team must play a minimum of 18 games at the varsity level in order to be considered for the tournament. A team's point index will be based on a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 22 games.
    b- If a team plays a 23rd game against Ferris, the results of that game will not be used to determine the team's point index. (Powder puff games are also not included.)
 

  Those are the main points to remember. The girl's tournament point system is basically the same except that girl's aren't allowed in Ferris to play so that sentence should not be taken into consideration.

  The girl's tournament field will consist of the six conference champions and 18 at-large berths. As of last Tuesday those teams were Glasgow, Mt. Pleasant, Ursuline, Caesar Rodney, Seaford, and St. Andrews. (Odd not to see 3 of the top 4 Delaware Sports top ten teams in there isn't it?

  Well, this is where the girl's tournament gets a little strange. We have Padua and St. Marks in the Catholic Conference who will straight up spank any of the downstate teams right now, but they could end up being seeded lower than one of two of them. The same thing goes for Caravel, who should now be the consensus number one team after beating Glasgow Friday (more gloating about that in a minute). The Bucs, though, have played a tough out-of-state schedule and will earn bonus points for all of the five games that they lost. At least two points in each and it appears that a four-spot bonus will be earned against one of them.
  That might very well mean that a few games that should be played much later in the tournament might get played too early. It would be a shame if Glasgow and Caravel met in a quarterfinal or a semifinal match-up, when they very well might deserve to be the two teams in the finals. It has certainly happened before and it could happen again easily.
  A quirk in the system works in the opposite way for some teams too. Take the Glasgow loss to Caravel. Glasgow gets 2 points (as of now anyway) for the loss because Caravel is over .500. But the Bucs haven't lost in state. They could easily have an over .700 winning percentage playing a totally instate schedule. They opt for a tougher out-of-state schedule and that ends up costing the Dragons 2 bonus points for losing to the number one team in the state!
  It's not a perfect system obviously, but how could it change? I don't think that we could assume that more points should be given for losing to a Catholic Conference team, for example, because the balance of power could change in a few years to a rising downstate program and then the rules would have to change again. 
  This system does offer some equality for all of the teams throughout the state, but we want the best two teams in the finals, not two that have made their way in through a handicapping process.

  So, y'all thought I was crazy leaving Caravel up in the one slot since day one didn't you? HAHAHA! I got one right at least, and it's time to do my little "Marshal was right" dance in my living room. Go ahead, y'all can do it with me! At least those of you who are Caravel fans anyway. (It should be known that I don't actively root for anyone, but I did get enough mail from Glasgow fans after the news Journal ranked them number one to silently hope for a Buc win this past Friday).
  That has nothing to do with who I like or dislike, I should add. I like our girl's sports in this state and follow them with a certain passion that most don't have. And I do know one thing; I am an excellent judge of talent. This Caravel team is talented. 
  Keep in mind also that I haven't really been able to get to very many boy's games, so how my votes here for top ten rankings have been decided are by a different type of statistical analysis and input from other sources. Consequently, they aren't as accurate, as was the case with football this past year. 

   I did spot two Bucs at a Goldey-Beacom - Kings College basketball game yesterday. Jessica Bogia and Courtnee Dickson were on hand to watch the Lightning struggle against Kings and returning Delawareans Denise Igo, Maggie Widdoes, and Tiffany Verasse. 
  Also spotted were Ursuline's Sarah Boltz, Tower Hill's Kelly Hocutt, and William Penn graduate and former all-stater, Michelle Whalen. 
  Whalen is currently at the University of Delaware and not playing ball. She had hoped for a full tryout on a walk-on basis with the team, but was basically blown off after a 20 minute "official tryout." She will be transferring to another school next year most likely. Kings and Goldey-Beacom both have expressed interest in her talents. (Which would have been very welcome at Delaware too...but NOOOOO!)
  Goldey-Beacom needs some players too. They are down to only seven on their roster. St. Mark's guard Lindsay Hageman signed with them this past week, and if she was allowed she could step in right now and make a difference. Former Spartan forward Erin Calloway was playing the One for them yesterday and that's just not her spot.
   Cape's Julie Parseghian is also on the Lighting, but she is really there to play softball. St. Elizabeth graduate and Goldey junior Michelle Tobiason is on the roster, but she went to Goldey on a volleyball plan. So, it's been a tough first year for Goldey, but let's hope coach Aiello can sign up some more local talent for next year.

  Another great wrestling match this past Saturday between William Penn and Hodgson. And as soon as I got home I saw a note from a Rider fan who was questioning their number two ranking now that the Colonials had just barely beaten a team that they had soundly defeated. 
  Oh well, what can I say. First of all, if not for a lucky move by Eugene Mercante at heavyweight, Hodgson would have won that match. IF that had happened there would have been a change, but it didn't, so the Colonials stay on top. (Refer to the last two article in the archives for my reasons why please.) By the way, Mercante has been getting a lot of All-Heart team nominations since that match, but all of the nominations have been done incorrectly so far. His pin against St. Marks was also the difference in that dual meet.
  Second of all, there is history between these two teams that creates a different type of atmosphere matside, much like a C.R.- Sussex match. Hodgson head coach Jerry Lamey used to wrestle for Jack Holloway and he has modeled his program at Hodgson after William Penns, and also a lot of his coaching philosophies. This is not just a regular match for either of those teams. There was more emotion built up for the Colonial match than there was for the Rider match, and there were some key roster moves since that time. The Hodgson team, even by Holloway's admission, was going to be much tougher than the week they wrestled C.R.

  I'm still not taking anything anyway from C.R. They are certainly awesome and definitely earned the respect of the Silver Eagles. They are still number two for, but I think that they are going to have a tough time getting to even wrestling William Penn to try and take that number one spot from them. The Riders are going to meet either Sussex Central or St. Marks in the semi-finals (I think it's the Spartans), and it's not going to be easy. It's certainly going to be fun to watch though. That will be Wednesday Feb. 14th at Delaware State University for anyone interested in going down to watch.

  The Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association had our annual sports banquet to honor the all-state football team and announce our picks for the athlete of the year, and a few other awards. I am a member of this group and proud to be even if they all still stare at me funny whenever I talk.
  This year was the first year for the Coach of the Year award. It was an award created at the suggestion of the News Journal's Kevin Tresolini, who is currently the University of Delaware's beat writer. The winner this year was Tubby Raymond, by an almost unanimous vote. 
  I didn't vote for Mr. Raymond for a few reasons. First, it appears as if this award will eventually be named after Raymond and there was some discussion that since this was going to be the case, he should win it in its first year being presented. It, if it does indeed happen, will be a tribute to the best coach that we have ever allegedly seen in Delaware I think since Delaware was created. 
  Sure, he had a decent year this year taking the Blue Hens to the semifinals. That was ok I guess. But did it top the achievement of St. Mark's Tom Dematteis who took both a girls and a boys soccer team to state championships this year? Weren't BOTH of his teams nationally ranked? Hasn't, since we are talking about long-term achievements here, he won ten boy's championships in like 15 years? Sure there is a difference between state and national, but how many National titles has Raymond won? One, two? Division 1-AA? When a Delaware high school team gets a National ranking, its out of a couple thousand teams, not about 150. I think having a top 20 high school program for an extended period of time...one he basically developed mind you, is ultimately more honorable. Then he took a girls team there also.
  It was suggested that anyone could step in and coach that team that Tom does. Could they now really? How many young players are rushing over to Delaware to go play football? They are rushing to St. Marks to play soccer; why might that be? And don't you think that anyone could step in and be the figure head at Delaware? It's a paying job first of all. (A real salary unlike the 1500 bucks or so that a high school coach gets) People fight for that job, and then they get in there and have someone else call offensive and defensive plays for them....for only 11-12 games! 
   Delaware football is also the beneficiary of a lot of press attention and getting the opportunity to cover the local college football team is, I guess, some type of privilege or something. So, after getting treated so nicely by the University for all those years, and getting to talk to the witty coach who is media savvy after all of these years, I guess it's only natural for the DSBA to think of naming the Coach of the Year award after Raymond.
   But let me throw another name into this mix here for a lifetime achievement type of thing. How about Jack Holloway from William Penn? He has been coaching there for over 25 years and has won plenty of championships and even won National coaching honors for his work. To top it off, he is so good at what he does, a dynasty has spun off from his program over at Hodgson with Jerry Lamey. And who knows how many other teams model their programs after him. (Yes, I know the Wing-T is played at many schools here too.)
  How about Bill Doyle from Archmere? Same thing there. Bill Dinardo and Larry Cylc both coached with Doyle and both do a lot of the same things as Doyle did..including win state championships.
  But back to Holloway for a second. I am constantly running into young men who have wrestled for him and learned things about life from him. The number of success stories continues to grow. This type of coaching goes beyond the call of duty. He not only is teaching these young people how to win on the mat (and how to lose well too) he is teaching them how to succeed, period. 
  Jack Holloway, Tom Dematteis, Tubby Raymond, and others, could win a coach of the year award at any time and even have awards named after them at any time. I would hope that our group give some serious consideration to not even naming this award after any one person at all for quite some time.  

Marshal Manlove