Leading off today: It's not entirely clear whether Sofia Vasselman committed two intentional fouls, but a State Supreme Court justice has arguably committed a technical foul by overturning the one-game suspension of the Commack basketball star.
Vasselman was ejected from a Feb. 7 game vs. Bay Shore after being whistled for her second intentional foul. The disqualification triggered a one-game suspension under New York State Public High School Athletic Association rules, which would have meant sitting out the Section 11 Class AAA playoff opener.
However, Vasselman successfully petitioned Justice C. Stephen Hackeling for a temporary restraining order on Monday in Riverhead, restoring her to the playoffs for Thursday's quarterfinal vs. Huntington.
According to News12.com, Hackeling ruled that the NCAA rules that the NYSPHSAA adopted in 2019 after an uphill battle by the girls basketball committee make no reference to suspensions. However, that ignores the fact that game rules and disciplinary rules are separate matters, and the NYSPHSAA has an across-the-board edict requiring mandatory suspensions that gets applied hundreds of times a year across the state.
"They were confusing NCAA rules with New York State rules," Section 11 Executive Director Tom Combs said. "NCAA gives you the rules on the court and everything else falls under New York state rules and Section 11 rules."
Speaking to Newsday, Combs said he did not see an appeal forthcoming but he expressed concern that what seemed to be a cut-and-dried proper application of NYSPHSAA rules was overturned in court.
"We have to figure out the next step to continue to uphold the integrity of the NYSPHSAA rules," he said. “We have enforced this rule every year."
Passings
Don Santini, who retired in 1992 as the winningest football coach in Section 5 history, died Tuesday at the age of 85.
Fairport hired Santini away from LeRoy in 1975, and he went on to win 206 games with the two schools.
Former Watertown Daily Times sportswriter
Casper "Cap" Carey died Feb. 19 at the age of 59 following a stroke, his family said.
Pay attention to Rick Pitino's message
I rarely stray into college sports topics here, but the architect of a noteworthy Division I basketball resurgence has made news for something other than wins and losses, and it is food for thought for parents of prodigies and semi-prodigies.
St. John's University men's basketball coach Rick Pitino, who has the Red Storm in the national championship (or at least the Final Four) discussion, said out loud what a lot of his peers undoubtedly have already been thinking. In the era of the transfer portal and substantial NIL money, Pitino said in an interview he is focusing on recruiting players already at the college level, whether that's NCAA, NAIA, or junior colleges.
Will he still welcome an elite prospect straight out of high school or prep school? Presumably, yes, despite Pitino saying in the interview that a Division I program cannot win anymore with 19- and 20-year-olds. The tightrope he's walking there is that a young superstar who becomes an NBA one-and-done amounts to just another transfer portal guy, disrupting continuity to the program.
I mention this in the context of an under-reported development at the end of last year. The NCAA Division I Board of Directors agreed to a waiver for some junior college players that grants them an additional year of eligibility. It's fallout from a lawsuit by Diego Pavia, who played two years of quarterback at a junior college, the next two at New Mexico State, and then last fall at Vanderbilt.
A federal court in Tennessee granted Pavia an injunction barring the NCAA from counting his junior college seasons, thus granting him a fourth year of NCAA eligibility. The NCAA is appealing the ruling, but the largest governing body for college sports tends to do poorly in court. Consequently, we may be on a pathway to all athletes having four (or more) years of NCAA eligibility even if they previously played at a junior college.
The immediate consequence of the court ruling is that, given a choice between a kid out of high school or one from a junior college, coaches will often times lean toward the one who already has two years of college experience -- and that might be on top of an additional year of playing time at a prep school.
So, mom and dad, answer this: Are you sure your child's verbal agreement for college scholarship money this fall or next is worth the paper it's written on? What's your fallback plan?
A long time coming
It seems unfathomable that a school could go more than
two decades between victories in its sectional basketball tournament. On Friday, Oswego broke just such a dry spell.
Junior guard Daniel Callen (29) and senior forward Noah Bwalya (26) combined for 55 points as the Buccaneers edged Whitesboro, 82-74, in the first round of the Section 3 Class AA boys playoffs.
Oswego is the No. 6 seed in the tournament; Whitesboro was seeded 11th.
Oswego (12-9), which had last won a sectional game in 2004, advances to play at No. 3 East Syracuse Minoa (12-7) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. The teams traded home victories during the regular season.
Strong Section 2 showing in state skiing
Ava Bachta of Shaker and Forrest Slingerland of Glens Falls won overall NYSPHSAA skiing championships on Tuesday at Gore Mountain.
Bachta won the slalom en route to securing the girls alpine combined title, while Slingerland clinched the nordic combined award with his relay showing following a win in the boys individual race on Monday.
The Queensbury boys and Saratoga Springs girls earned nordic team championships. On the alpine side, the Saratoga Springs boys and Mamaroneck girls captured team honors.
The other champions:
• Girls nordic individual and combined: Cora Hinsdill, Adirondack.
• Girls giant slalom: Shayla Byrne, Glens Falls.
• Boys slalom: Aidan Fromm, Hastings.
• Boys giant slalom: Michael Stevens, Fairport.
Transgender vaulter's win sparks political fight
The issue of transgender athletes competing in girls sports grew more contentious this week after a Maine lawmaker's social media post that includes photos of a high school pole vault state champion was followed by another criticizing the state's inclusive policy.
Maine Rep. Laurel Libby rejected House Speaker Ryan Fecteau's request to take down the Facebook postings. Fecteau tried making the case that there was a privacy issue in Libby's decision to show side-by-side photos of vaulter Katie Spencer on the boys awards podium following a 2024 indoor meet and on the girls podium last week after winning by clearing a height of 10 feet, 6 inches.
"This is an issue that is pertinent to all Mainers, but especially Maine girls, who should be able to expect a level playing field and right now they don't have that," Libby said. "It's absolutely unfair to female athletes who work hard every day to compete in their respective sports and who have to compete against male athletes."
The Sun Journal in Lewiston reported Libby's posting of the photo had generated more than 44,000 comments and was shared more than 8,000 times in the first three days as the results of the Class B state meet became widely known nationally.
• The U.S. Department of Education's Office of General Counsel asked the NCAA and NFHS to restore records, titles and awards "misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories" to female athletes.
A quick thought
While scouring various online media -- both traditional outlets and various forms of what we used to call "new media" -- I couldn't help but notice the reluctance in many of the reports about the Maine pole vaulter to name the athlete. That includes both reporting on the actual sporting event and coverage of the ensuing controversy.
As noted in the above item, the House speaker in Maine took issue with disseminating photos of the transgender athlete. There is a delicate balance at play because we're talking about a teen, but its indisputable that the indoor track meet was held in a public setting and the results were going to be easily available. Given that the winner's transgender status was already widely known, the proverbial horse had already left the barn.
Having said all that, I can see how people might relate this episode to a question that used to cross my desk about once a year:
In some situations related to divorce or separation, a parent may have legitimate concerns for the safety of their child, which may be supported by a court order of protection. In such cases, the other parent may not know where the child lives and attends school. However, that anonymity may be pierced by having the child's name or photo published in the report about a soccer game or tennis match.
In such cases, a coach or school administrator may approach media members and ask them to take measures to not inadvertently out the player. I ran into the situation personally once and have had other reporters come to me with similar stories. In that instance -- especially when the courts are involved -- discretion is understandably in order.
In that context, it might be fair to ask if transgender athletes need to be afforded the same consideration. The time to contemplate that, however, probably is not now because the broader question of transgender participation in girls sports has tempers flaring and makes civil discussion of the safety aspect nearly impossible.
