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What we learned from the opening weekend of H.S. hoops


A few stream of conscious reflections from the opening weekend of the high school basketball season...

You can find Saturday's girls' roundup here, and the boys' roundup here.

Dallastown and York Suburban both look strong. Might as well start here, since I spent the last two nights at York Suburban's Tip off Tournament. First the Wildcats, who beat the Trojans in tonight's championship game. A lot of things to like about this team, and it goes beyond their impressive size. Senior point guard Judd Gemmill was phenomenal Saturday night, dropping in 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting. If he's making shots and stretching the defense out, those big guys down low are going to be a handful. And while Dallastown's starters are all seniors, sophomores Ben Doorn and Mitch Small have played quality minutes off the bench.

As for the Trojans, it's easy to see who their go-to option is. Ted Hinnenkamp figures to be one of the league's most versatile players, with the size (6-foot-6) to thrive down low and good enough jump shot to score from outside. He's going to put up A LOT of points this season. But Suburban also has plenty of depth, and I was really impressed by the play of point guard Ryan Donahue and others. They're only going to get better as the year goes on. At this point, I feel pretty comfortable pegging them the favorites in Division III.

In other words, lot of positives for both teams to take away from this tournament. And both still have plenty of room left to reach their ceiling.

On the boys' side, Division I should be really strong. Of the five teams from this division playing in tournaments this weekend, four won them. William Penn cruised through two games to win its tournament. Central York picked up a pair of solid wins against Susquehanna Township and Bishop McDevitt. Red Lion took Gettysburg's tip-off tournament. We already touched on Dallastown. And we still haven't seen South Western yet.

Granted, it's two games. But if the early returns are any indication, this division should be pretty fun to watch.

Mixed results in Division II. Also in the small sample size department ... I won't draw any conclusions from Northeastern's slip-up to Donegal. That offense needs to show some cohesiveness, though. That was a problem at times last year.

Meanwhile, Dover showed encouraging signs in two wins, and West York took Hempfield to two overtimes. This division is looking less clear cut.

York Catholic boys and girls sweep Trinity. Encouraging stuff from both squads. The girls needed a couple of wins to kick-start the post-Kady Schrann era. And the boys provided more evidence that they can be a group to watch this season.

I'm thinking Division IV comes down to Delone Catholic-York Catholic on both the boys' and girls' sides.

Watch out for the Red Lion girls ... again. The Lions didn't just win the Conestoga Valley tournament. They steamrolled through it. First, a 62-26 win over Manheim Township. Then a 60-30 victory against Lower Dauphin. I don't know much about the Blue Streaks or the Falcons this season, but I know that's two 30-plus point victories against two quad-A teams. Yikes.

Other girls teams that impressed:

Delone Catholic, Dover, Kennard-Dale

Other boys teams that impressed:

Hanover, New Hope

I'll try post some (very early) boys' and girls' basketball power rankings next week.

In the meantime, what say you all? Any observations from opening weekend?