Prep vs. public school hoops

In many cases, prep schools are seen as athletically superior to public high schools. Oftentimes, depending on the school and the sport, that is the case. But it’s certainly not true across the board.

After watching Monday’s Portsmouth Abbey-St. George’s boys basketball game, I’m not convinced that Newport County’s two private school teams are significantly better than the local public school teams.

That’s not a knock on St. George’s, which won the game 50-43, or the Abbey. They’re both decent teams with quality players. It just seems that the likes of Rogers, Middletown, Portsmouth and Tiverton could compete with, and beat, the Dragons and Ravens.

(Note: What follows is merely one man’s observation and analysis based on what he’s seen in boys basketball games this season and in no way should be interpreted as negative criticism of any teams that play in Newport County.)

My guess is that no team in the county — public or private — can beat Portsmouth, with star big man Andrew Chrabascz. The Patriots are far from a one-man show and have the balance and depth to compete with anyone.

But let’s break it down scientifically, with a make-believe tournament. Even though the competition isn’t the same for all six teams, for the sake of argument, we’ll seed them by their current records.

1. Portsmouth (15-1)
2. St. George’s (9-4)
3. Portsmouth Abbey (11-6)
4. Middletown (11-8)
5. Rogers (7-10)
6. Tiverton (2-13)
Portsmouth and St. George’s get a bye into the semifinals.

Portsmouth Abbey vs. Tiverton: While Tiverton junior Ben Bergandy would give Portsmouth Abbey trouble, as he does with every team the Tigers play, Tiverton is struggling this year and doesn’t have enough to hang with the Ravens.
Winner: PORTSMOUTH ABBEY

Middletown vs. Rogers: Luckily we have some hard evidence for the outcome of this game. Rogers beat Middletown 62-42 in their annual non-league matchup in December. As well as Middletown has played this year in Division III, I have to believe Rogers would win again.
Winner: ROGERS

Semifinals
(Normally in this format, Portsmouth, being the top seed, would face the lowest remaining seed. But in the interest of public-vs.-private matchups, we’ll go with an all-Portsmouth semifinal game.)

Portsmouth vs. Portsmouth Abbey: Even though Portsmouth is the top seed, I’d almost rather see this game at the Abbey, because the atmosphere in that tiny little gym is pretty intense.
Regardless of the location, this is Portsmouth’s game. Not only is Chrabascz too good, he makes his teammates better. The Ravens can try to stop him all they want, but he’ll get his points and rebounds, and with the added attention, guys like Pat Fagan and Evan Hole, among others, are going to have big games.
Winner: PORTSMOUTH

St. George’s vs. Rogers: The Vikings are scrappy, and could match the Dragons’ athleticism, but St. George’s has size and plays pretty good D. For a Rogers team that has, at times, had trouble scoring this year, that’s a problem.
Winner: ST. GEORGE’S

Final
Portsmouth vs. St. George’s: I would love to see Chrabascz and St. George’s big man Josh Fuhrmeister go toe-to-toe. They have very different styles of play, but they’re both big and are the anchors of their respective teams.
Fuhrmeister might — and I emphasize MIGHT — have a better team around him. But Patriots, as evidenced by their record, are playing exceptionally well together this season.
They’re far and away the best public high school team in the county, and I think they’d be the best of both worlds, if given the opportunity to prove it.

A tournament such as this would be difficult to bring together, but it seems very much in the realm of possibility for these teams to meet every year for some spirited non-league competition.

Those games would be immensely entertaining and they could be the subject of a lot of interesting discussion throughout the county.