(Sam Capen and Newfane crash the poll party after a big win over Maritime on Saturday)
Large Schools
1. Health Sciences (A2) - The Falcons marched past West Seneca East on the final day of February to reach the Class A2 Semifinals, where they'll take on South Park at 7:45 pm on Thursday.
2. Canisius (A) - On Tuesday night, the Crusaders will play in the Manhattan Cup championship game for the 10th time in the last 12 years.
3. Park (A) - Falling to the #3 spot for now as the postseason that they aren't part of begins to unfold. It's a difficult situation and I feel badly for the players & coaches who performed all season with the team. But the postseason is special. It elevates the status of the teams & players that climb the mountain and deserve to be rewarded for that success.
4. St. Joe's (A) - After reaching 20 wins for the first time since 2013, the Marauders will try to win the Manhattan Cup for the first time since 2008.
5. Niagara Falls (AA) - Made it past Frontier to once again return to Buff State, where they'll face a tough team from Lancaster on Tuesday night. A five-peat is now two wins away.
6. Jamestown (AA) - A third win on the season against Orchard Park is now needed to reach the Class AA Final after earning that in the quarterfinals over Clarence.
7. Orchard Park (AA) - A third straight season to Buff State for the Quakers after defeating Lockport and hoping to avoid a third straight loss to Jamestown for a date in the Class AA Final.
8. Amherst (A2) - The Tigers topped Williamsville South on Friday night for the third time and are once again a final four team in Class A2 where they'll take on a new face in the classification and an old face in the WNY postseason from East High on Thursday night.
9. Lancaster (AA) - The postseason begins with a trip to Williamsville North on Saturday. The Legends defeated North by double figures in the most recent meeting between the two, but lost the first time the teams played in Williamsville. Only one of them gets to Buff State.
10. Williamsville East (A1) - The #1 seed in Class A1 beat Hamburg for a third time on Friday night and now must defeat the two-time defending champions from West Seneca West to get back to Championship Saturday.
Small Schools
1. Randolph (C2) - The Cardinals advanced back to the semifinals at JCC, where a third win on the season over Salamanca on Tuesday is needed for a fourth consecutive title game appearance.
2. Middle College (C1) - It's back to JCC for the Kats, where they were crowned in 2019 and looking to repeat in Class C1 as they face Chautauqua Lake in Monday's semifinal game.
3. Timon (B) - A strong start against St. Mary's made sure victory was never in doubt on Saturday night, advancing the Tigers to the Woj Cup Final to take on the defending champs.
4. Cardinal O'Hara (B) - Still the champs and looking to stay that way, these Hawks have improved throughout the season and are a win over Timon, who they split with in the regular season, from repeating.
5. Allegany-Limestone (B2) - A quarterfinal rout sends the Gators back to Buff State to begin their title defense in Class B2 against CCAA I West for Fredonia on Tuesday.
6. Tapestry (C1) - Another team that reached the semifinals by way of rout, the Thunderhawks now face Silver Creek on Monday night at JCC, a team they've seen a few times before over the years.
7. Fredonia (B2) - It's tough to beat a team three times in a season and Fredonia is a tough team already without any clever cliches. Expect Tuesday night's semifinal against Allegany-Limestone in Class B2 to be a battle.
8. Olean (B1) - I picked them as my sleeper in Class B1 and they proceeded to dump a bucket of water on anyone who was snoozing on the Huskies with a huge win at #2 seed Iroquois in the quarterfinals. They now earn a rematch with Depew in Wednesday's semifinals, a team they defeated in the regular season.
9. Bennett (B1) - The Tigers are back at Buff State for the first time since 2011 after knocking off Medina in the quarterfinals and now face East Aurora in the Class B1 semifinals.
10. Newfane (B2) - The league champs from the N-O picked up a big win in the quarterfinals over a Maritime team that was playing great basketball. The Panthers now have a chance to reach a Section VI title game for the third time in four seasons on Tuesday night, but will need to beat the top seed in Class B2 from Olmsted to make that happen.
-centercourt
Falling to #3 after winning two games since becoming #1 ..and oh beating health science ..The BOYS have suffered enough through this through the adults agendas..But it keeps piling on...hey guys just know you never lost a game in WNY played the toughest schedule by far and you beat who is now deemed #1 weeks ago. Go finish strong in SC playing teams stronger than WNY teams and know your worth. We will see if guys and teams who fell early in playoffs will be penalized the same , I can give that answer now ..no
Posted by: Carlos B | Sunday, March 01, 2020 at 02:25 PM
BTW canisius moved ahead of you guys without playing a postseason game lol and they only play one game to go to states so that 1 game trumps a whole season lol
Posted by: Kidslast | Sunday, March 01, 2020 at 02:44 PM
It's almost like they're punishing The Park School for playing with illegal players. Hard to be ranked number one when you don't even qualify as a playoff team. Parks season is over. Now they go to South Carolina to play against a 9-9 team and call it a better tournament? Should be playing Albany Academy if the AD at Park was qualified for the job and not somebodies daddy. Ohhhh those poor children. No worries you can always transfer to a new school. Never been at one for more than one year anyway. Adios Los.
Posted by: AintNoThang | Thursday, March 05, 2020 at 10:08 AM
The best thing that happened to Park was not being able to play in the NYS postseason. Who would want to get run out of gym by Albany Academy again? Albany Academy is the heavy favorite in Class A after they lost by 1 to #9 in country LuHi in OT on a buzzer beater.
The team Park just beat in SC is 9-10 whose best win is 10-10 Spire Institute? In the last month, Spire has lost to #14 in country Oak Hill by 65 points and St. Ed’s in Cleveland by 63 points. Always nice to win but really grasping at straws to call this a great win.
Posted by: Sam M | Friday, March 06, 2020 at 12:20 AM
Changing the subject, which we should anybody got updates on locals that are playing in college, just curious. I will start Breon Harris 1000 pt. Scorer on a very good Daemen team,hoping for tourney invite. Let’s keep it positive
Posted by: Sal | Sunday, March 08, 2020 at 12:32 PM
There is one team who beat Health this year . Who was that team ? Ain't no thing either your team lost to a team you never should have in sectionals after you ran off kids from your team , or you are a canisus parent or supporter who buys Kyle's kool aid . Either way anyone with common sense knows Park was the best team ub the area this year and no ones polls cause convince ppl who know bball anything more. And do you realize that records cam be very skewed by there competition. I would love to see a NFL team play a schedule any of the schools park plsyed in SC.
Posted by: Clueless | Sunday, March 08, 2020 at 05:15 PM
I thought Park lost to McQuaid? The same McQuaid that lost to St Joes and Canisius.
The best thing about this conversation is whoever thought Health Sciences would be the measure as to whether Canisius or Park or Health is the number 1 team in the area. Ty has brought that team a long way.
Posted by: Clued In | Monday, March 09, 2020 at 02:22 PM
I would imagine most teams would lose shooting 35 less foul shots than a team and 4 starters fouling out. You can create whatever scenario you want to justify your thoughts . Facts are Facts . Head to head park beat Health. Canisus lost to Health. Also no team has as many quality wins as Park has . And none has a loss as bad as Timon (a loss everyone sort of swept under rug). With that said , competition matters. Ty is now the standard of what coaches in WNY should be, ducks no one , develops players and wins the right way.He has built a top football and bball program . Now good luck to those still playing , represent WNY and show some unity against the other sections , as we never will amongst our own.
Posted by: Section6bball | Monday, March 09, 2020 at 03:50 PM
You talking about the Timon that’s playing for the state championship? I forgot about them. By the time it’s all said and done Park won’t even be ranked. You know why? They didn’t play in the playoffs. They went to an AAU tournament and got blown out!
Posted by: Dontletemhurtme | Monday, March 09, 2020 at 05:28 PM
Getting to the state chsaa game is easier than playing class c in the southern tier. Beat a 6-16 team to get to the state chip ,stop. Or maybe you can be in the state A chip game against a team with 10 losses, smh. You are probably someone who actually thought Randolph was better than MEC. Its Health , Park ,MEC and everyone else. You can keep your wny rankings and 1 win state championship Journeys.
Posted by: Cluelessinwny | Tuesday, March 10, 2020 at 06:59 PM
Very entertaining to watch the same person post under different alias to try and justify his opinion. The best part is everyone knows who that person is and is LOL
Posted by: Kevin | Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 12:26 AM
It’s not opinion. It’s FACTS!! And by definition facts are whatever this character says they are. So blind he can’t see he’s sharing his opinion and stating “these are facts”. But that’s the world we live in now. If I believe it, it must be a fact.
Posted by: Carlito | Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 09:33 AM
More teams should consider going the route Park did. Lose to Rochester teams, duck St. Joe's, get destroyed by Albany Academy, erase games from your schedule when you find out they're illegal, cry poor, and then use the Centercourt blog to tell everybody you're #1 in the area because you beat Global Concepts to end your season and then went and made sandcastles in Myrtle Beach.
Posted by: CHS | Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 10:15 AM
CHS, do you have facts on the Park situation! MMA disqualified John Oregun but was he really illegal? Albany Academy refused to play Park in the playoffs but were they right in doing so? The only thing I see as a concrete fact is that Park pulled out of the game with St Joes and it didn’t look good.
Posted by: BD1 | Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 06:36 PM
The same 5 to 10 ppl post on this site daily, with 200 different names, like you "kevin".Bottom line Park did not have an illegal player, Parks reason for being out the playoffs was on administration not on the kid you guys keep trying to pin it on. Sad adults, who have nothing better to do. Well karma works various ways.
Posted by: "kevin" | Thursday, March 12, 2020 at 01:35 PM
Hey - at least he admits it :)
Posted by: Kevin | Thursday, March 12, 2020 at 04:59 PM