The Lehigh Valley has a number of star athletes who have excelled throughout the regular season and the first few weeks of the playoffs.

The star athletes get the most attention for their accolades, abilities and impressive statistics. However, I always try to look beyond the marquee names and highlight some of the tremendous efforts that might not get as much attention as they should.

With that in mind, here a look at my “All-Underrated Team” members–based entirely on my experiences of games I’ve either announced, reported on or attended as a fan.

• Nazareth’s Maihan Ramin
  Nazareth’s point guard got a huge lift when Ramin’s good friend and Penn State-bound Jahan Dotson returned to the school this year, but Ramin was “the engine that drove the ship” according to Blue Eagles’ Head Coach Joe Arndt. Ramin ran an efficient offense, delivered some of the best passes I saw all year and, when Dotson was not available, stepped up with some key buckets. In his final home game against Liberty in last week’s district playoff game, he had one of the best all-around games of anyone in the post-season thus far.
• Central Catholic Girls Basketball Team
  Aside from us (see our blog two weeks ago), no one had the Vikettes advancing to the EPC final. Central Catholic’s team contains a number of people who have flown under the radar this season. Margaux Eripret has been one of the top girls players in the EPC the last few years but hasn’t seemed to have gotten the recognition of other top girls players in recent years, and Eripret realizes when other players have the hot hand, to find a way to give them the ball.Her teammates also have gone unheralded this winter and their improvement as the season has gone on just recently came into the spotlight with the team’s success in the post-season. Regular contributors Jess Davis, Kayla Reed, Diana Kocsis, Morgan Dietz, and Lizzy Szmigiel all deserve to be in this category. Emily Vaughan is one of several outstanding freshman ball handlers who should NOT be in this underrated category by next season, and has outstanding potential that should be recognized sooner rather than later.
• Allen’s Malik Gordan
  Some of the most aggressive defense and best passes I’ve seen have come from the Canaries boys basketball team, and Gordan has been a big part of Allen’s success for a few years now. Last year, he fed two Division-I athletes the ball and played well in the shadows of two tremendous scorers. This year, the team has taken a more blue-collar approach in having success this year, and Gordan’s blend of athleticism, court savvy and unselfishness have paced his team with great court-making decisions.
• Catty’s Cullen Bond & Miguel Hernandez
  It  isn’t hard to overlook anyone besides Isaiah Graves, who frequently scored over 30 points per game for Catasauqua this winter, but on a team that didn’t have much height, Bond was one of the guys chosen to guard the opponent’s big man and did a lot of the blue-collar work on the rare occasions that Graves missed a shot. Bond was the Rough’s tallest player (listed at 6-foot-2) and sometimes faced post players while giving up five (or more) inches in height, but never complained about his role in helping his team reach both the league and district playoffs for the first time in years.When it wasn’t Bond in the post (he missed the last few weeks due to lung surgery), it was Hernandez (listed as 6-foot-even) who did tremendous work inside this winter, guarding taller players and grabbing down rebounds. Hernandez’s singular effort in their game against a much taller Southern Lehigh team was one of my standout moments of the regular season.Bond is fighting to come back from the injury to help out his team during a playoff run and Hernandez missed last week’s games to be with his ailing grandfather in Florida. Both deserve kudos for their work on the court and for what they’ve had to deal with off the court.
• Liberty’s Amadeus Cannon
  Like Graves, Cannon’s efforts (over 11 points & nearly eight rebounds per game) go under the radar because of the awesome scoring machine known as Alex Serrano at Liberty. The Hurricanes had to win the final three regular season games to clinch a playoff spot and, with every opponent’s top priority being to shut down Serrano, Cannon’s efforts down the stretch run were even more pivotal. Cannon’s scholastic career numbers have been very solid over the last few years and he deserves a shout-out.(By the way, I listed Will Harper as a standout freshman star last year here at “The Shop” and he’s not getting the press he deserves, so make another note that you heard it here first if he shows up on an All-Star list a year from now).
• Easton’s Jonathan Pineda
  Wrestling teammate Jonathan Miers seemed to receive most of the individual attention for the Red Rovers this winter, but Pineda was a steady regular in The Morning Call’s “Top Wrestler Rankings” each week. Easton Head Coach JaMarr Billman was very complimentary when we asked about Jonathan’s success and abilities on a recent “SportsTalk” program. Helping his chances of making the “underrated” team—Pineda was also a big piece of another underappreciated squad this fall—the Rovers lineman on the school’s football team.Pineda got to shine last weekend as the Rovers continued “the streak” for their wrestling program by capturing a good medal in the District XI Individual Wrestling Finals.
• Northampton’s Cory Weisenberger
  On a team with Aidan Ellwood, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. But make no mistake, Northampton’s success this year was a great team effort, with lots of hustle and great defense all across the board. Weisenberger not only rose to the occasion when needed by providing some major offense during key games this year, but–on multiple occasions—also realized when Ellwood had the hot hand and read what the opponents’ defense was trying to do and found the best possible ways for the team—not necessarily him—to score.Weisenberger has also showed a tremendous amount of character during his career at Northampton and, without sounding too political, that’s a more-valued commodity nowadays than anything that will ever show up on a stat sheet or post-season awards listing.

I freely admit I’m missing some names from this list and invite you to email me (rcnsportstalk@rcn.com ) the names of athletes who you feel deserve extra attention and we’ll look to mention them either here on my blog or on upcoming editions of “SportsTalk.”

We’ve reached the end of the scholastic regular season and the first wave of playoffs for many of the winter sports teams in the RCN-TV viewing area in Eastern Pennsylvania.

The EPC championships were a battle for both the Bethlehem Catholic and Allentown Central Catholic boys and girls teams, which each contest going down to the wire.

The Colonial League games were closer than the final score would indicate, although both Southern Lehigh girls and Bangor boys teams had a much easier time in capturing their titles. It was the third straight league championship for the Spartans, while the Slaters set a league record by winning its fourth title in a row and capturing championships in five of the last six seasons.

Here are video highlights of RCN’s coverage of local wrestling and basketball games over the last several weeks, including last week’s league playoffs…

Check out our broadcast schedule here on the RCN-TV website and be sure to tune in for our District XI basketball playoff coverage this week!

People who know me well will readily admit that I am not an “I told you so” type of guy.  I try not to be too outspoken and limit my opinions and predictions on the “SportsTalk” show to a minimum. And, despite playing the trumpet for 15 years, I rarely blow my own horn.

But every once in a while, as a representative of our TV sports show and the one responsible for creating the blog entry here each week, I do feel a certain obligation to speak up, point out facts and predictions and defend some of the hard work by the many people we are blessed to have work with us on the “SportsTalk” panels.

In recent weeks, I’ve heard one too many “boy, who would have thought Central Catholic would be this good” and “I don’t know anyone who predicted Catty’s success this winter” to just sit by and not speak up.  Our production team members who get the stories, our guests that are kind enough to give of their time and their opinions, and even a blind squirrel (aka, me) work too hard to NOT say anything.

So for those of who are not active readers or don’t follow RCN Sports on a regular basis, here are ALL of our basketball predictions made between July and the start of this winter’s basketball season (early December, 2017), along with a quick update on the status of each one heading into the post-season.  And if you don’t believe these were given on the TV show, our podcast and/or here on the blog, I invite you to go back and prove me wrong.

Go ahead, I DOUBLE dog dare you! (It’s never too late in the winter for a “Christmas Story” reference).

Becahi boys team will be the top dog this winter

Bethlehem Catholic finished the year with the best record in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and among all District XI 4A teams. Many now expect the Golden Hawks to make a long run in the state playoffs.

Central Catholic’s boys team will be right behind them

Central Catholic held off an impressive Northampton squad and a late surge by Parkland to take the top spot in the EPC Skyline Division and also ranked first in the District XI Class 5A rankings by accumulating the most power points. Some might be surprised if we don’t see Becahi and Central playing for this Friday’s EPC Championship (which you can see Friday, live at 7:30pm on RCN-TV).

Central’s girls teams will also be improved and not need an expanded format to make the playoffs this year 

The Vikettes not only improved on their record this year but enter the post-season with the third highest power point total among all District XI 4A girls schools. They’ll probably face Bethlehem Catholic in the final, and as Easton proved last week, it is possible for a Lehigh Valley team to beat the Hawks. 

Whitehall and Parkland will not have the success they’ve had in recent years, but will play better by the end of the season

I think many would agree that Whitehall did improve and will be a force to be reckoned with again next year. They were in a lot of ball games and posted some impressive wins, including victories over Parkland, Dieruff and Boyertown.

Parkland defeated Nazareth in mid-January and ended up winning 8 of their last 11 games. Their furious finish just edged out the Blue Eagles (who were 9-3 at once point) for the final spot in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playoffs. While some fans thought that this might be the year Parkland didn’t qualify for the league and district playoffs, they enter the post-season as one of the most dangerous 6A teams in the Valley. 

Catasauqua boys AND girls teams, after struggling the last few years, will both be improved and capture more wins this season and the boys Rough Rider team will make the playoffs this year (we even predicted Catty’s boys would struggle from the free throw line this winter)

Catty’s boys team did qualify for both the league playoffs (a number-four seed) and the 3A District playoffs (a number-three seed) after having their best regular season in years. The Roughies were one of the few Colonial League teams that hung with Bangor until later in the fourth quarter. A few people (including myself) thought the Roughies might give the recently depleted Bangor team a run in Tuesday’s semifinals (which you can also see live on RCN-TV) and make it to the championship. Instead, Catasauqua will have to shake off a disappointing 21-point loss from Saturday’s opening round playoff game against Wilson to have success in the district round of the post-season.

Catty girls did register two Colonial League victories this year including a win over Saucon Valley and an 11 point contest versus Pen Argyl. It certainly appeared like the Rough Riders girls program were moving in the right direction by the end of 2018.

Freedom and Easton (both boys and girls) will be major players in both the league and district playoff races

Easton’s girls team defeated Becahi, won the Rotary Tournament (which included Southern Lehigh this year) and held the best overall record of any team in the EPC entering the playoffs. They look to build on their success and have a very good chance of making a nice run in the PIAAs.

Easton boys clinched both the EPC and District XI playoffs for the first time in a number of years. The Rovers posted some strong wins (including Nazareth, Emmaus and Central Catholic—all on consecutive games) and also played powerhouse Bethlehem Catholic tight for three quarters in BOTH meetings.

While the Freedom girls team did have their best season in years and could make some noise in districts, Freedom’s boys did not make the playoffs—missing by three games—although there were in the hunt until the final 10 days of the regular season.

On a side note, the Patriots also had some impressive “upsets” this year, including perhaps our best finish of an RCN game to-date—a buzzer beating, game-winning three point shot in overtime against the Blue Eagles in the first of several “must win” games Freedom faced during the final two weeks of the regular season.

Bangor will again dominate the Colonial League

The Slaters barely had any competition in the league again this year and only had a couple losses overall (one of them to Easton, which made both the EPC & District Playoffs this year). Furthermore, they only had three regular season league games decided by less than 11 points all year in completing their second straight undefeated Colonial League season.

We’ll got a first-hand impression of the Bangor boys basketball team when Head Coach Bron Holland and his players visited our studio last week (you can see their “SportsTalk” show through RCN On-Demand and hear the podcast here on the RCN-TV website.)

East Stroudsburg North will struggle this year after its magical District Championship Title run last season

It was a disappointing year for ESN as they failed to make the playoffs—even with the expanded formats—for both the league and district post-season.

Becahi’s boys & girls team, along with Central’s and Bangor’s boys and Southern Lehigh’s girls team will not lose 10 league games combined this regular season

Becahi boys lost 1

Becahi girls lost 2

Central boys lost 2

Solehi girls lost 0

Bangor boys lost 0

Again, apologies for the braggadocios tone this week, but really, if you’re not following us at RCN each week, please don’t ask me if I’m surprised that our predictions came true — especially when some of these predictions were made months before the current basketball season got underway!

And, if you don’t want to stay in the dark for the upcoming high school basketball playoff season, make sure you tune into our show on Thursday, February 15^th when local coaches and media members will give analysis and insights (and predictions) for the postseason.

We’re halfway through the high school basketball and wrestling winter seasons, with lots of exciting games and matches broadcast on RCN-TV.

To help you get caught up on all of our coverage so far, here are highlights of our broadcast events over the last month of the winter sports campaign!

Check back to the RCN-TV website over the next several weeks for even more highlights from our sports broadcasts so far this winter! Also, join us for this week’s “SportsTalk” show during which we’ll speak with head basketball coaches from both the Pennsylvania and Washington, DC regions about their teams’ successes this season.

It has been an interesting off-season for the Phillies—not one that has gone on without contradictions.

On the one hand, the Phillies repeatedly talked about patience and giving young players like third baseman Mikael Franco, first baseman Rhys Hoskins and others an opportunity to play every game while insisting they were not going to make any big splashes this off-season.

Then, in the span of a couple days they paid handsome amounts to obtain two established, veteran relievers and one of the most consistent bats in the game, in first baseman Carlos Santana.

One move that did make a lot of sense was adding some depth and experience behind the plate. The Phillies signed a former Lehigh Valley standout, Matt McBride, who became a free agent this winter after playing in the Indians, Rockies and Athletics’ organizations.  I talked with the veteran catcher about his approach to the upcoming spring training, the Phillies’ young starting pitching staff and the changing philosophy for teams to use more relievers…

 You can hear more Phillies’ interviews coming up on our “SportsTalk” program.

The Colonial League has had some great basketball games so far this season. Our “SportsTalk” cameras were out at some recent games (more highlights and interview videos are also coming your way on this Thursday’s show on RCN-TV and also through RCN On-Demand).

Last but not least, the local wrestling regular season is slowly winding down. We’ll have several Lehigh Valley wrestling gurus on this week’s show to talk about the season to-date, and also look ahead to the upcoming District XI team post-season action.  We’ll also have live reports from Minneapolis previewing this weekend’s Eagles/Patriots Super Bowl!

We’re half way through the high school basketball and wrestling regular seasons, with lots of exciting games and matches broadcast on RCN-TV.

To help you get caught up on all of our coverage so far, here are highlights of our broadcast events through the first two months of the winter sports season!

Check back to the RCN-TV website over the next several weeks for our schedule of upcoming games and even more highlights here at the “Shop” from our sports broadcasts this winter!

Our “SportsTalk” cameras were busy over the holiday season capturing some of the tournament action for winter sports teams in both the Eastern Pennyslvania and Washington, DC areas. Here are samples of some of our interviews:

Previously, I’ve used this blog during the first full work-week of the calendar year to thank all of those who have guested on our “RCN SportsTalk” program in the prior year.

That list has gotten quite lengthy over the last few years, and because blog space is at a premium, we’ve decided to just take a moment to highlight all of our “first- time” guests who appeared on the program in 2017.

So, here is a list of the “new” guests we were proud to host on “SportsTalk” over this past year (in no particular order)…

ESPN’s Freddie Coleman

Fox Sports Football TV Analyst Matt Millen

NFL National Columnist John McMullen

Washington Nationals Reporter Luke Monaldo

Washington Redskins Radio Announcer Scott Schaeffer

 Washington Post Sports Writer Gene Wang

 Philadelphia Phillies (then current) Manager Pete MacKanin

 Philadelphia Phillies Play-by-Play Announcer Scott Franske

 Philadelphia Eagles 2017 New Drafted Players

Philadelphia 76ers GM/President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo

Philadelphia 76ers Players, including Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons & DMV Product Markelle Fultz

 DeMatha HS Head Basketball Coach (and Fultz’s Fmr HS Coach) Mike Jones

Good Counsel High School Head Football Coach Andy Stefanelli

 Imhotep Charter High School Football Head Coach Nick Lincoln

Woodrow Wilson High School Head Basketball Coach Angelo Hernandez

W T Woodson HS Head Basketball Coach Doug Craig

 George Washington University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Maurice Joseph

 “Wrestling Wrealm’s” Brian H. Waters

 CBS Sports NFL Reporter Jeff Kerr

 CBS Sports/SportsRadio WIP’s Phillies & Sixers Reporter Jon Johnson

 Fox Sports Radio’s Monet Anderson

 Highland Games Multi-World Champion Dan McKim

 Bethlehem Catholic Girls Basketball State Championship Team

Moravian Academy Girls Field Hockey State Championship Team

Central Catholic Girls Volleyball State Championship Team

And, as always, a huge thanks to our “regulars” who are kind enough to give of their time, whenever I ask, every Thursday night. We appreciate all of our participants, and thank all the players, coaches, administrators and special guests that we have the pleasure to interview, either in-studio, via Skype or on-location, for our show for this past year.

Now, time to prepare for our 2018 shows…!

Each year, when we do our “SportsTalk: Year-in-Review” program, there are inevitably a few topics that, because of time limitations, we don’t get an opportunity to present on our show.

While Keith Groller and I had some great ‘back-and-forth’ for the topics we did get to debate during the show, there were once again a few topics that we didn’t get to address.

Today, we’d like to present some of these sports conversational pieces that didn’t make it on-air…

1. Hardest working group in sports? 

   KEITH — It has to be the RCN4 Cable crew. People have no idea how hard everybody works to set things up before a game and then has to tear it all down in a matter of minutes after a game ends

   ME – Local Girls basketball teams (on and off the court); there were a number of very hard working teams in the RCN viewing are that went deep into the state playoffs, and some great stories of local teams participating in charity events, for Cops ’ n ’ Kids, local food and homeless shelters and more.

2. Biggest Myth of 2017? 

   KEITH — That because we had one great basketball night at PPL that the District 11 basketball was going to automatically return there. The PPL Center has not made it affordable and have not afforded good dates for the district. You would have thought the PPL Center would welcome high school sporting events back with open arms. It hasn’t happened.

   ME – That the media is “out to get” the Catholic schools by looking for stories to make them look bad and/or avoid covering them in favor of public schools.

3. 2017 Will Be Remembered As the Year… 

   KEITH — That athletes and politics collided and depending on your viewpoints, you either treated the athletes as heroes for their stands or started to turn away from them.

   ME – A decided change in sports journalism and the ways sports are covered–in virtually every aspect.

4. Most Disappointing Administrative Decision in 2017? 

   KEITH — The PIAA and District 12 allowing a kid who played football all season in New Jersey come over and play for Conwell-Egan in a state quarterfinal against Palisades which created an uproar and put a spotlight on how unfair the system is when it comes to certain private and public schools.

   ME — Missing out on “teachable” moments…several examples around sports teams this year in where schools could do the right thing/create a very rich real life learning experience – but instead took the “safe” way out and washed their hands of an issue.

5. Toughest Coaching Challenge Heading into 2018? 

   KEITH— Locally, it’s whoever gets the Catty, CCHS and Northampton football jobs. All three programs were down in 2017 and Central in particular may face a difficult climb being back in the EPC South.  On a more national level, whoever gets the job coaching the New York Giants who turned into a complete mess under Ben McAdoo and now have to deal with a building juggernaut in Philadelphia.

   ME – Any one that plays Bethlehem Catholic girls basketball team – so well balanced, so well-coached and a very smart group of athletes… they are relentless defensively and very deep…it will be almost impossible for any Lehigh Valley team to beat them this season.

6. Local Sports Change You’d Like to See in 2018? 

   KEITH –I would like to see a local boys basketball state champion in Hershey. It happens all the time in wrestling and the girls have had their share, but it has been since 1986 with Central Catholic that we’ve had a local team get the gold in Hershey.

   ME — When one team is up by a large margin, play the bench players earlier than the last few seconds of a game. These kids work hard too and deserve a chance to play a little when an opportunity arises—especially when the team is on TV.

For more “year-in-review” comments and topics, make sure you watch the show on RCN On-Demand and our podcast, found here on the RCN-TV website!

First of all, props to Morning Call sports writer Steven Gross—not only did he recently get married and treat his new bride to an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour at Yankee Stadium (yes, she’s a die-hard pinstripe fan!), he captured the “Best of RCN-TV” award by receiving the most votes for our “SportsTalk” program during a contest held recently on our website.

To see Steve’s “winning” appearance from this past year, tune in to RCN-TV on January 1^st for the entire lineup of the top moments from our broadcasting schedule from this past calendar year!

**********

Speaking of holiday programming…

Morning Call Senior Sports Writer Keith Groller and I conducted our annual “Year-in-Review” show live last Thursday at 7pm on RCN-TV.

We’ve gotten quite a bit of feedback following the initial airing of the show and invite you to check out the show when it repeats again as part of the holiday’s special programming schedule coming up this week (check out the entire RCN-TV broadcast schedule over the next week here on the website).

Just to give you a little sample of what we talked about, here are a few “brief” responses to most of the topics we discussed on this program. Keep in mind, there was quite a bit of “cross-talk” and debate about a few of these issues, along with some interesting opinions and some “fun and games” we also had on the show, which we hope you will check out for yourself.

“Year-in-Review Topics for 2017”

1. Best collection of sophomores?

Keith:  How about Carson Wentz, Doug Pedersen and the entire Eagles coaching staff? After some first-year mistakes, this crew has definitely avoided any notion of a sophomore jinx.

Me:  Nazareth Football, a team I got to see five out of six weeks in a row this year—and boy did they never disappoint! Anthony Harris (one of several great 10-th grade QBs in the area), Nate Stefanik (who made the catch of the year at BASD setting up a big win), Kyle Paccio (an underrated running back in a pass-happy offense), Jake Wilson (probably the most underrated two-way lineman among any under classmen) and more.  Definitely a team to watch for next year.

2. 2017’s Sign the Sports Apocalypse was at hand?

Keith:  The Yankees firing Joe Girardi, who took the team within a win of the World Series and hiring Aaron Boone, who has no previous managerial experience

Me:  A parent attending a high school sports practice while watching a program (I “think” it was “The Walking Dead”) with the volume up while the coach was trying to teach his players

3. Biggest sports embarrassment?

Keith:  The US team failing to qualify for the World Cup

Me:  Chip Kelly’s hiring at UCLA…not necessarily the move itself but one of the comments from their President saying that Kelly would restore “respect” to the program (he’s replacing, Jim Mora, who was a classy guy, while Kelly was on probation while at Oregon, had some major PR issues and a checkered past with Philadelphia and San Francisco and wasn’t really “respected” as an analyst this past fall)

4. Worst story of 2017?

Keith:  The tragic way Roy Halladay died.

Me:  Continued issues of inappropriate hazing and multiple stories of disrespect between schools, including a few incidents when one football team ran out onto the field showing up another team—and one time an administrator got involved in the back-and-forth of school on Twitter

5. Favorite Lehigh Valley story?

Keith:  The two nights the PPL Center rocked with high school or college sports fans – the District 11 6A semifinals packing the place for basketball and the Lehigh-Penn State match bringing all the wrestling fans out.

Me:  All the LV state champions we had this past year on our “SportsTalk” show …the fact we had zero this fall shows how rare and how special it was to have so many during the ‘17 school year

6. Biggest “National” Question Mark of 2017?

Keith:  With the national anthem controversy taking hold and the continuing concerns about concussions and other major injuries, is the sport of football headed for a big dip in popularity – both from fans and participants

Me:  Phillies new manager and the “new direction of baseball”…trend is towards analytics and I love stats, but we’re losing the personality of baseball and some of the traditions of the sport (first time since 1970 the Phillies don’t have a former player on their coaching staff)

7. Most underrated sports program?

Keith:  Southern Lehigh

Me:  Northwestern Soccer is one of the single sports programs that gets overlooked the most. If you look district-wide and across all sports… Bangor comes in second

8. Most overrated team/personality?

Keith:  LaVar Ball. A poster boy for everything that’s wrong with sports parenting.

Me:  Roger Goodell…new deal/extension for over $25-million … acts like a czar one minute for things like over-inflating footballs by an ounce, then hides on other issues, including the awful brutality of NFL players against women

9. Most underrated head coach?

Keith:  Freedom football coach Jason Roeder

Me:  Joe Stellato/Joe Arndt/Eric Snider – all three have issues they had to overcome this past year, yet all are overly welcoming when I come to their practices and games, year after year

10. Best national sports story?

Keith:  The Houston Astros, just a couple of months after the city was ravaged by a hurricane, getting its first World Series title.

Me:  My answer to this was pretty descriptive and you really need to check out the show to hear my response to this in its entirety.

11. Nicest Sports Group of 2017?

Keith:  Tie between three groups. Enjoyed our shows with the state champs from Moravian Academy field hockey, CCHS volleyball and Becahi girls basketball – all great kids as well as well as great athletes.

Me:  Pen Argyl girls soccer. A great turnaround story that made the district playoffs for the first time in a long time.  They were a very classy group and great to speak with when our cameras were up at their place to do a story on them—and it certainly was nice of them to promote us on their social media pages this year as well!

For more “year-in-review” comments, topics and opinions, make sure you watch the show on RCN-TV, on RCN On-Demand and our podcast, found here on the RCN-TV website!

The high school basketball season just got underway and over the next few days, there are going to be some great stories produced by the local newspaper outlets with previews, predictions and pre-season layouts of which teams will finish in the top league and district playoff berths.

However, I have been following local basketball in this area for over two decades now and I don’t think I’ve ever seen as “cut-and-dry” season ahead for scholastic teams. So before we get to some more “less definite predictions” for the upcoming basketball season, let’s get a few of the “stone-cold” locks out of the way:

• Bethlehem Catholic will win at least two state titles this winter sports season
• The Becahi boys team will lose no more than three EPC regular season games all year
• The Becahi girls team will lose less than that—and may have only a handful of games decided by single digits
• The Southern Lehigh girls will have more competitive games this winter, yet still will win the Colonial League and District championship easily
• Bangor boys will again dominate the Colonial League
• Central Catholic will be very strong and play in both the EPC & District playoffs

Now that we have gotten the “easy” stuff out of the way, here are a few of the more intriguing storylines to watch unfold this winter sports season:

• Can Catty reach the playoffs?
• Both Boys Coach Eric Snyder and Girls Coach Ed Seidick are two of the nicest guys in the league, and they’ve been trying to build up their programs the last few years to either get to the playoffs (girls) or have any kind of post-season success (boys team). Both have some great talent and, of what I saw over the summer, the boys team will vie for a playoff spot (although improved shooting from the free throw line is a MUST) and I think the girls team could be an improved team in 2018.
• Whitehall will eventually have more success–despite graduating eight kidsHowever, their youth and development programs have been churning out some great young student athletes (I was very impressed speaking with them during the summer leagues—those interviews were posted here on our website) and I think that the Zephyrs will “add by subtraction for this year.” By year’s end, Whitehall almost certainly finishes this year more strongly than they finished last season.
• One of the best teams for the first 95% of last year’s regular season was Whitehall, in a year many Zephyrs fans claimed to have one of the greatest WHS teams of all time (and they’ve had some terrific ones over their illustrious history). However, the team seemed to become unglued heading into the last week of the regular season, and sustained one of the ugliest finishes in many Whitehall fans’ collective memory.
• Allentown Central Catholic girls team will be “back”
• The Central Catholic girls basketball program have put together some of the most impressive consecutive winning steaks (in terms of league/district titles) in the entire state and have the greatest track record among Lehigh Valley schools producing outstanding basketball players. Last year, thanks to the newly expanded playoff format, even a team with a sub-500 record could qualify, which included Central Catholic, and allowed their post-season playoff streak to continue. However, the Vikettes are playing with more confidence this year and I think they will be a legitimate playoff team this year and don’t rule out this team garnishing some individual honors among its players as well.
• Keep an eye out for the “Three Junior Patriots”
  
• Although it sounds like a failed suggestion for a 50’s trio musical group, the Patriots saw more and more contributions from their then-sophomore players (who were very impressive with their scrappy defense) a year ago, and look poised to be prime-time players this winter. Allen, Parkland, Emmaus, Liberty and Pocono Mountain West will be listed as the “6A” teams to beat, and not many people have Freedom on their radar this winter. But don’t be surprised if the Patriots go deeper into the playoffs this February and pull off a few “upsets” this season (and look for Easton to do the same).

Now, time to sit back and enjoy, what should be, a very competitive high school basketball season…and don’t forget to visit the RCN-TV schedule to check out our high school basketball broadcasts through January 31^st — now posted and available to view here on our website!