State wait for Valley boys basketball teams

By Joe Scalzo

Boys basketball teams face toughest challenge getting past semifinals

In 1994, the Dallas Cowboys won their second straight Super Bowl (and the Buffalo Bills lost their fourth straight), “Schindler’s List” won the Oscar for Best Picture, Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain committed suicide, Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were murdered (presumably not by O.J. Simpson), Major League Baseball went on strike, the sitcom “Friends” premiered and the North American Free Trade Agreement was ratified.

Oh, and a boys basketball team from the Mahoning Valley won a state title.

It hasn’t happened since.

Ursuline’s improbable run to the 1994 Division III title after a 10-10 regular season gave the Valley its third state crown in 13 months, joining Girard (II) and Campbell (III) from the year before.

Since then, seven area teams have won football titles and two won girls basketball titles. But the Valley hasn’t even advanced to a state championship game in boys basketball, going 0-6 over the last 15 years.

The question is: Why?

One big reason? Football.

“The Mahoning Valley is always going to be a football area,” said Warren Harding coach Steve Arnold, whose team fell to Columbus Northland in Friday’s Division I state semifinal. “That’s not going to change.”

Football is extremely popular statewide, of course, but most of Ohio’s other major population centers have managed to balance success in both sports. Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo all have football and boys basketball state titles over the past five years.

Why can’t the Valley do the same?

“Around here, I think it’s harder to win a state title in basketball than football,” said Campbell coach Brian Danilov, who led the Red Devils to their 1993 title. “There’s not a whole lot of Division I basketball players around here.”

Comparing football to basketball is always tricky; football has more players and more divisions. But the divide in the Valley is significant. Youngstown hasn’t produced a major conference Division I basketball player since Boardman’s Terence Dials (Ohio State) in 2000.

By contrast, the Valley annually produces at least a dozen Division I football players and has had seven players selected in the NFL Draft over the last two years.

“A lot of the best boys athletes around here tend to focus on football,” said Ursuline girls coach Sean Durkin, who led the Irish to a Division III title in 2004. “You’re obviously going to want some of those football athletes. But if they’re a big part of your team, you have to wait until football is over.

“With girls basketball, you can be a lot more consistent with your offseason stuff. You can work on your chemistry and you’re not behind in the first few weeks.”

Girls basketball, by contrast, competes with volleyball and soccer in the fall, which aren’t as popular as hoops. Perhaps as a result, the Valley has many more Division I girls basketball players, including three 2008 graduates who started at least one game on women’s NCAA Tournament teams.

The Valley schools that do emphasize boys basketball — Sebring is the most obvious example — aren’t ones that produce Division I athletes.

“The tournament is a tough grind,” said Durkin, who has produced two Big Ten recruits in his girls program over the past five years. “Sometimes when you’re having an off night, you need to rely on those athletes.”

Durkin also coaches baseball — his Irish won a state title in 2000 — but said there’s not as much of a conflict with football.

“It’s much easier, absolutely,” he said. “Football beats you up. But by the time spring rolls around, you’re back and ready to compete.”

Football players who also play basketball tend to fall into two categories, Arnold said. The elite athletes — Harding’s Mario Manningham, for example — can excel in both. The good ones, however, tend to be role players. The Raiders had two of those this season: Paris Bruner and Oneal Brown.

“Basketball is a year-round sport,” Arnold said. “You have to have a core group of players that just play basketball.”

“You’ve got to develop a skill level in basketball,” added Danilov. “You can get a big kid in the weight room and make him into a lineman because he doesn’t catch a ball or throw a ball. A lot of running backs are going on instinct.

“In basketball, you have to dribble and pass and shoot. That takes time.”

Of course, football isn’t the only issue.

“I think the biggest problem around here is falling population,” Danilov said. “Sports is a game of numbers. The more numbers you’ve got, the better chance you have good athletes.”

School districts like Campbell often have transient populations, which means many of its best athletes end up at other schools.

“We’re a smaller school, so if we lose a kid to a transfer, it hurts more than at another school,” Danilov said.

Conversely, getting a talented transfer can have a huge impact. Danilov is the first to admit that both Girard and Campbell benefited from having players from the Bahamas on those 1993 teams.

More recently, Harding has benefited from adding Desmar Jackson (who spent his first two years at Warren JFK) and Angel Gonzalez (who grew up in Puerto Rico).

When you’re only playing six or seven players, that’s a big help.

“Sometimes you need a kid to move into your district,” said Danilov, who isn’t known as a recruiter and who may be the only area coach with the courage to admit this on the record. “If everything checks out, you’re not going to say, ‘Oh, you can’t come here. You’re too good.’

“People will say, ‘Ah, they recruited him.’ But that’s not always the case.”

Luck also plays a big role in winning a title. Harding may have had its best team last season, but the Raiders lost in the regional final to Lakewood St. Edward thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that didn’t beat the buzzer.

They got more bad luck this year when their standout senior guard Sheldon Brogdon suffered a season-ending ACL injury.

“Everything has to fall right,” Danilov said. “You have to stay away from the flu and sprained ankles. Kids have to be eligible. Their home life has to be solid.

“So many things need to happen.”

Battling bad luck is one thing. Battling history is another.

Ready for a scary statistic? No Mahoning Valley boys basketball team has ever won a big-school state title. The closest was Rayen’s AA title in 1982 and Fitch’s B title in 1931.

“When you compete in Division I, you’re basically competing against future pros,” Arnold said. “People around here don’t realize that.”

Arnold has seen it firsthand. Over the last few years, Harding has lost tournament games to Canton McKinley (which had NBA prospect Raymar Morgan, now at Michigan State), GlenOak (Utah Jazz forward Kosta Koufos) and Columbus Northland (which has Mr. Basketball Jared Sullinger, who could jump to the NBA after one year at Ohio State). Most top-level Division I high schools have multiple Division I college prospects.

“It takes a special group of kids to get to Columbus,” Arnold said. “You need a lot of talent and a great work ethic.”

That work ethic isn’t easy to find, Danilov said.

“Most of the kids are better at Wii basketball than real basketball,” he said, referring to video games. “The only thing in shape are their thumbs.”

Of course, most coaches will tell you winning a state title isn’t their main goal. Danilov admits he loves practice as much as the games, sometimes more.

That title 16 years will always be a wonderful coaching memory, he said, but it’s just one of many.

“I remember a lot about that state game, but heck, I remember a lot about all my kids,” he said. “I really enjoy seeing kids come together as a team, becoming more than they thought they could be.

“That’s what I love most about coaching.”

scalzo@vindy.com