Monday, Jan. 6, 2014: Schedule likely to lock PSAL out of MSG

   Leading off today: A scheduling conflict apparently will keep the PSAL Class AA basketball championship games out of Madison Square Garden in March, The New York Post reported Monday.

   The paper reported that the two mid-March weekends that would be logical candidates for staging the boys and girls title games are booked solid at one of the world's most famous arenas. There is a WWE card March 8, a New York Rangers hockey game March 9, Knicks basketball on March 15 and another Rangers game March 16.

   "We have not yet finalized our plans, which we will announce when they are done," PSAL spokesperson Margie Feinberg told the paper. "Meanwhile, we do have a longstanding relationship with MSG, but recognize their scheduling constraints."

   The Garden has hosted the PSAL final since 1989.

   With the Garden unavailable, Barclays Center would be a logical candidate to host. If the PSAL opts to play at a college facility, St. John's or Fordham would be candidates.

   First family of wrestling: Aaron Paddock's 100th career varsity wrestling victory last month turned out to be just half the story.

   Actually, it was just one-tenth the story.

   By winning on Dec. 14 at the Attica Blue Devil Challenge, the youngest of the five wrestling Paddock brothers notched the family's 1,000th scholastic victory, which could very well be a national record. (A story I came across on the internet says the previous record for one family was 865.)

   Entering this week, the brothers' win totals while representing Warsaw are:

    • Burke, 268
    • Ian, 268
    • Paul, 235
    • Joey, 156
    • Aaron, 112

   Burke is a senior and Aaron a sophomore, meaning there could still be close to 150 opportunities to add to the win total.

   Coach undergoes surgery: Lou Terrusa, the girls basketball coach as Staten Island's Notre Dame Academy, is unlikely to return to duties this winter following surgery to remove a large part of his esophagus and the top third of his stomach following a cancer diagnosis, The Advance reported.

   Terrusa, 54, was just five games into his first season after nine years coaching the St. John Villa JV team when doctors informed him that esophageal cells damaged by chronic acid reflux looked suspicious.

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   "It was a total surprise to everybody. All the tests had come out negative, even the PET-scan," Terrusa told the paper hours before Friday's surgery. "I never felt a thing. Even today, I could go out and run like nothing's happening."

   Terrusa will learn later this month whether chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments will be required. He hopes to return to the bench next month, though, as a spectator while continuing his recovery.

   "The doctors told me it's going to beat me up," Terrusa said of the treatment and recovery process. "But I'm hopeful. They said that symptoms might not have presented themselves for another year and a half, two years, and by then it might have been too late. They said because we caught it early, there's a very high chance of a cure."

   Coming up: We'll be announcing the New York State Sportswriters Association all-state football teams in Classes B, C and D on this site Tuesday at 2 p.m.