Western Pennsylvania doesn't have a reputation for producing much top Division I college basketball talent over the past couple decades, but some former players from the district have done some big things this season, evidenced by the honors they received in the past couple days.
You'll be hard-pressed to come up with a year when this many former WPIAL-City League players got this many honors at the Division I level. On top of that, we could see a handful of WPIAL-City League players in the NCAA tournament this year (see below).
But first, the all-conference honors:
T.J. McConnell
University of Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell was named second-team all-Pac 12. While that's quite an honor in a power conference, McConnell might be just as proud of this honor: He was named to the five-player all-Pac 12 defensive team.
And McConnell, a former Chartiers Valley High School star, has been named one of the 24 finalists for the Cousy Award, given annually to the top college point guard in the country. (McConnell is pictured during his Chartiers Valley days).
McConnell is averaging 8.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists and leads the team in steals with 57. He is 16th in the country in turnover-to-assist ratio (172 to 57) and 30th in the country in assists.
It makes me chuckle that some people are surprised that McConnell would play this much or have such an impact for Arizona. But when McConnell decided to leave Duquesne University and Arizona coach Sean Miller courted him, Miller's design all along was to have McConnell as a starting point guard.
"He's the missing piece to our team's puzzle," Miller said two years ago when McConnell decided to go to Arizona.
Oh, by the way. Shoutout for Miller, the former Blackhawk High School and Pitt point guard who was named the Pac-12 coach of the year.
DeAndre Kane
Kane is a senior guard at Iowa State who was named first-team all-Big 12 Conference. On top of that, Kane was named today as a third-team All-American by Sporting News, BleacherReport.com and NBCSports.com.
Kane, a former star at Schenley High School in the City League, averages 17.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and finished the regular season 20th in the country in assists at 5.9. (The photo is of Kane in his junior year playing against Aliquippa's Herb Pope in a regular-season game in 2006. It was sort of Kane's coming-out party when he scored 18 points early in the season for a team that featured DeJuan Blair, D.J. Kennedy and Onion Bryant).
Like McConnell, Kane is a Cousy Award finalist. Who would've thunk it: Two Western Pa. players, who attended high schools only 12 miles from each other, are finalists for the Cousy Award. I say tremendous. McConnell and Kane are good examples of how Western Pa. guys can be better than a lot of people - or college coaches - think.
Jesse Reed
Reed isn't as well-known as McConnell and Kane, and he isn't playing on a level like the Pac-12 or Big 12, but what Reed has done is awfully impressive also.
Reed is a 6-foot-5 sophomore guard at American University and named second-team all-Patriot League. He also was named the conference's scholar athlete of the year for basketball.
Reed played at Greensburg Central Catholic and then attended Kiski School in Saltsburg for one post-graduate year. (Reed is pictured during his senior year at GCC). He has helped American reach the championship game of the Patriot League tournament and American plays Boston U. Wednesday night for the right to go to the NCAA tournament.
Reed averages 14.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.2 steals a game. He is shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 472 percent from 3-point range (57 of 125).
Devin Wilson
Virginia Tech got involved with Devin Wilson late in the recruiting process last year when he was a senior at Montour. But the Hokies ended up signing Wilson and Wilson ended up one of the top freshmen in the ACC.
Virginia Tech is having a rough year record-wise, but Wilson (pictured at Montour) has been
a bright spot. He was named to the all-ACC freshman team. And how is this for select company. Only five players were named to the team and the others were Jabari Parker of Duke, Tyler Ennis of Syracuse, Kennedy Meeks of North Carolina and London Perrantes of Virginia.
Wilson is fourth in the ACC in assists at 4.8 a game. He is averaging 9.2 points and 3.3 rebounds. He is playing 34 minutes a game and is the only player on the team to start all 30 games.
Consider what McConnell, Kane, Reed and Wilson have done this year, and throw in that Duquesne's Micah Mason (Highlands) led the country in 3-point percentage during the regular season, and it's been quite a year for former Western Pa. players.
Now about the NCAA tournament. Could we see as many as four players from the area in the tourney? McConnell and Kane are in because their teams are locks. I thought Sewickley Academy's Tom Droney might also get in at Davidson, but Davidson lost in the Southern Conference tourney final in overtime last night.
Reed makes it if American beats Boston U. in the Patriot League tourney final Wednesday night. And Gateway's Barnett Harris could make it. He is a freshman at Delaware and Delaware is playing in the Colonial Athletic Association championship tonight against William & Mary. Harris has played in 27 games for Delaware.