NEW NIGHTS
The Lackawanna League begins a new routine tonight with boys playing primarily on Mondays and Thursdays after decades of playing mainly on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The boys have reversed regular dates with the girls schedule in the Lackawanna.
FORMAT
The Division 1 schedule and standings are made up of 13 games, two each in a home-and-home with divisional opponents and one game each against the five member schools in Division 2.
Division 1 teams went 21-4 in the crossover games against Division 2 last season.
OPENING NIGHT
Lackawanna Division 1 begins with one divisional game, one crossover game and one game already postponed.
Valley View is at Abington Heights in the divisional game, West Scranton travels to Division 2 Western Wayne for a crossover and the Scranton Prep-Scranton game has been postponed with Scranton Prep’s program paused for COVID.
NEW ON THE SIDELINE
Mike Fazzi is now head coach at West Scranton after taking over on an interim basis last season.
The Invaders are one of District 2’s biggest surprises of December, starting out 6-2 to already double the win total from last season when the team was 3-11.
West Scranton’s 6-2 record ranks behind only Scranton’s 5-0 as the best non-league marks for division teams.
Abington Heights is 4-2, Valley View 4-3 and Scranton Prep 3-4.
FAVORITE
Defending champion Scranton is the clear favorite with Abington Heights and Scranton Prep, the division’s most successful programs, likely to produce the top threats.
2021 STANDINGS
Scranton and Abington Heights each went 11-2 last season, setting up a playoff in which Scranton claimed the championship with a 51-40 victory at Abington Heights.
Scranton Prep and Valley View tied for third with 8-5 league records while West Scranton was last at 3-10.
DISTRICT DOMINANCE
Scranton, in Class 6A, and Scranton Prep, in Class 4A, won district titles last season.
Scranton Prep has won Class 4A all five years since the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association switched to six classifications. The Cavaliers have won seven straight District 2 titles overall and in six of those years, a division rival has captured one of the other district titles.
RANKINGS
League play begins with Scranton ranked first and Abington Heights fifth among Big School boys teams in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
Scranton Prep was ranked earlier this season.
CLASSIFICATIONS
Scranton remains in Class 6A where it leads the five teams in District 2’s Power Rankings race for playoff seedings, based on the non-league results to date.
West Scranton, Abington Heights and Valley View are third, fourth and eighth in the nine-way race for eight playoff berths in Class 5A. If the ninth-place team finishes at .500 or better, the playoffs expand to nine teams.
Scranton Prep is in Class 4A where it is third of 10 teams pursuing 8 playoff berths.
RETURNING STARS
Only 2 players return from the 11 on last season’s Lackawanna League Division 1 all-star team selected by NEPABasketball.com.
Jason Shields from Scranton was the division’s Player of the Year. Robert Rossi from Scranton Prep, coming off an all-state season in football, is a returning first-team, all-star.
Both moved up from being second-team, all-stars in the 2019-20 season.
Adam Howanitz from Valley View was a second-team choice last season as a sophomore, but he is presumed out for the season after suffering a serious knee injury in football season.
Shields was also a first-team, all-District 2 choice, the only one returning from that unit and has earned a Brucelli Advertising District 2 Boys Basketball Player of the Week honor already this season.
