Curiosity got the best of me Wednesday, prompting me to look up just how the District One Class AAAA playoff system will operate this year.

While up at State College for Chester's state-title victory last March, I overheard a rumor that District One was getting an additional seed in the PIAA bracket. This is true. District One now gets nine teams into the 36-team state-playoff field.

It used to be that the eight teams that make the district quarterfinal round make states automatically, then volley for seeding in a series of three games that follow. That still will be the case, but the ninth seed will be up in the air among an additional eight teams, those which lose in the round-of-16 second round.

The ninth-seed playoffs and the traditional District One playoffs will coincide, with each playing on Feb. 20, 24 and 27. For more information on this, check out the district's Web site.

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At the midway point of the basketball season, I'm sure a lot of folks are feeling down about their teams' chances at making the postseason.

Well, don't feel so bad.

It appears Palisades High School, in nearby Bucks County, suffered its 85th consecutive loss Tuesday night. (Just for kicks, the state record is 88, established by Mifflinburg from 1972-75). The hardest pill to swallow is that the Pirates actually led with a minute and a half remaining in their most recent loss.

American Christian guard Tyreke Evans made an official visit last weekend to Memphis, one of six schools vying for the 6-foot-6 star guard. And according to a source close to the situation, The Daily Times has learned Evans did not commit to the school before returning home.

Evans was on Memphis' campus for the highly-anticipated matchup between the No. 1 Tigers and No. 2 Tennessee. Memphis' perfect season ended in a 66-62 loss to the Volunteers.

Recently named a McDonald's All-American, Evans is kicking around offers from five other schools - Connecticut, Louisville, Seton Hall, Texas and Villanova. Evans averages more than 33 points per game for the Eagles.

BIG 5 COACH SIGHTINGS
The District One Class AAAA championship game drew a sell-out crowd, with two of the seats at Villanova's Pavilion Sunday were occupied by Big 5 coaches. Temple's Fran Dunphy and Villanova's Jay Wright were on hand for the 61-47 Chester win. It is believed that both coaches are courting a Chester player, as they have been seen at a number of the Clippers' games throughout this season.

The Chester Clippers successfully defended their string of District One Class AAAA championships Sunday to take home their seventh in a row.

The Clippers (28-1) handed Norristown (28-1) its first loss of the season in a 61-47 decision at Villanova's Pavilion.

Karon Burton finished with team highs of 20 points and 7 assists while Nasir Robinson (pictured) had 18 points and 12 rebounds. The senior duo connected on three alley-oop dunks in the win.

In the PIAA Class AAAA state playoff bracket, Chester will take on Williamsport (19-8), the second seed out of District Two, in the first round. That game will be played next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Norristown High School.

FOR MORE ON THE GAME...
...pick up a copy of Monday's Daily Times. Included will be a game story; a sidebar on Burton's rebound from a sloppy first quarter; a column by Terry Toohey on Chester coach Fred Pickett; and another sidebar by Chuck Smith on Norristown's take on the Clippers.

I'll be the first to tell you all that I love my job - I really do. Covering games, meeting new people daily and telling their stories is like nothing else.

But I can't be everywhere.

So here's my pitch: if you're a player and you're headed to college to play basketball, let me know. And I'll reciprocate with some much-deserved coverage. This goes for coaches and parents, too, or simply anyone who can confirm a student-athlete's commitment to a school (Division I, II, III or otherwise).

I'd like to think I have a good relationship with most - if not all - of the coaches in Delaware County. But in case something slips by me or the coaches (Hey, we're all busy. It can happen), just drop me a line either through e-mail or right here on the blog. And I'll make sure that player gets some ink ASAP.

IN PLAYOFF NEWS
The District One Class AAAA championship might have been pushed back to Sunday, but there are some good games out there today. Here are my must-see tilts.

• AAAA: Ridley vs. Souderton, 1 p.m., at Plymouth Whitemarsh. Going into states on a winning note will be on Ridley's mind.
• AAAA: Penn Wood vs. Pennsbury, 1 p.m., at Norristown. The third seed in states is on the line.
• AAA: Holy Ghost Prep vs. Upper Moreland, 1 p.m., at William Tennent. Gotta pull for HGP, my alma mater, in this one. Winner gets a berth in the state bracket.

I spoke this morning with Chester coach Fred Pickett, who confirmed that tonight's District One Class AAAA championship game is postponed due to inclement weather.

The game - between No. 1 Chester and No. 2 Norristown - will be played Sunday at 4 p.m. at Villanova's Pavilion.

The area's snowfall coupled with the forecast of an ice storm to follow caused the cancelation of classes at Chester and Norristown, which forced the postponement of tonight's game.

Local basketball fans hoping to see Chester further its District One dominance, you better keep your fingers crossed and hope we don't see any snow plows.

I spoke with District One chairman Bob Ruoff, who assured me postponing Friday's district title game would only cause more headaches. Here's how everything at Villanova's Pavilion shakes out should Friday's game get moved back:

• Saturday won't work. Five district title games are already scheduled.
• Sunday is the most viable option. Christian schools could object, however.
• Monday is out of the question. A Villanova-Marquette game at the Wachovia Center limits the game crew at the Pavilion.
• Tuesday is even worse. Night school classes limit available security and parking spots.

With the state playoffs beginning a week from today, Ruoff said something's got to give. "We could always let them play Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, or something like that," he said. "While the rest of the state would be filling in their district's blanks on the state bracket, we would just have to do that later on." We should have a decision on tonight's games by 12 noon Friday. So, like I said, keep your fingers crossed.

MORE ON CHESTER/NORRISTOWN
Pick up a copy of Friday's Daily Times for all the details about the game tonight (or tomorrow ... or the next day). Among the stuff you'll find inside: a feature story previewing the game, a capsule running down the ins and outs of both teams and the probable starting lineups.

There were plenty of juicy subplots to watch for in Tuesday's District One Class AAAA semifinal between Chester and Penn Wood:

• Would the underclassmen of PW usurp the senior-laden Clippers?
• Would Chester sweep a three-game set with the Patriots?
• Would their familiarity play into the game's outcome?

In the end, none of that really mattered. It was simply a case of Chester being Chester in a 74-52 win at Norristown High School. Nasir Robinson and Karon Burton (pictured) were big as usual in the win.

Check out my game story as well as a column by Jack McCaffery on the head-scratching of Penn Wood coach Clyde Jones that went into preparing for Chester.

With the win, that makes 35 straight victories for Chester in the district tournament, which matches Lower Merion's 35 from 1930-46. The Clippers have won 35 in a row from 2002 to the present, while the Aces reeled off that many in a time when the district tournament was only three rounds.

***In other boys basketball news, Wednesday's Daily Times includes a profile story on Delco Christian's Jake Godino and Jon DeShields --- two great kids with great back stories who are leading the Knights into an all-important playoff game tonight. Check it out.

The Central League has "set the standard for District One" by collecting more than $17,000 this season for Coaches vs. Cancer, according to charity spokesman Bill Campo.

Campo sent an e-mail to the league's coaches and administrators to announce that collective fundraisers generated $17,300, a record for a high school sports league. Just how big was this year's tally? "Last year, the Central League might have raised $8,000, and that was considered a great accomplishment," Campo said by telephone Monday.

Credit for the more-than 100 percent jump from 2007 to 2008, Campo said, is due to the league's relationship with its referees.

"The fact that game referees donate their checks is something that isn't as common," Campo said. "That's $65 per referee and $130 per game that we wouldn't have had donated."

ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER
The one and only playoff game of local interest tonight is No. 5 Penn Wood vs. No. 1 Chester in the District One Class AAAA semifinals. The game is set for 7:30 p.m. at Norristown High School. Here's a breakdown of the two regular-season meetings between these Del Val League foes:

• Dec. 11 - Chester 76, Penn Wood 40: Both teams entered the game unbeaten, but the Clippers (4-0) blew past the Patriots (5-1) in the league opener for both squads. Despite the big offensive showing, the Clippers' leading scorer Nasir Robinson scored just 14 points.
• Jan. 22 - Chester 82, Penn Wood 70: Between games, the Patriots narrowed the gap and played to the slimmest margin of any of the Clippers' league games. Chester's Kevin Green Germany scored 27 points and Penn Wood's Duane Johnson countered with 29.

Had you told Penn Wood coach Clyde Jones three months ago that his team would be in the District One Class AAAA semifinals, he might have had his doubts.

Conceivably, it was possible. Coming off a 12-13 year and a No. 28 seed in the district in 2006-07, it was almost unlikely. But after beating Souderton Friday, the Patriots are now set up for a colossal matchup with a familiar foe from the Del Val League - Chester - in the semifinals next week.

In other local quarterfinal games of interest:

• Council Rock South didn't even give Chester a good contest. With four scorers in double figures, the Clippers won their 34th straight district tournament game.
• Pennsbury was just too much for Ridley, which hit a game-long cold spell and couldn't recover. Highly-recruited guard Dalton Pepper stole the game for Pennsbury.

Make sure you pick up a copy of today's Daily Times for preview capsules of today's four games: Monsignor Bonner in the Catholic League playoffs; Radnor and Springfield in the Class AAA tournament; and Delco Christian in its Class A opener.

Since I was out at Wissahickon covering Ridley/Pennsbury Friday, I also chipped in on a girls basketball playoff game being played there before the nightcap. In Class A, Sacred Heart moved on with a huge win. Be sure to check it out.

Marple Newtown's Soutiri Sapnas brought to an end his incredible sophomore season with a record.

His Tigers fell in the first round of the District One Class AAA tournament, 65-55, but Sapnas became the single-season scoring champ in Marple Newtown history. Sapnas' 527 points in 25 games surpassed the 521 in 26 games posted by Greg Bishop.

Sapnas (pictured) has two seasons left at Marple Newtown and is sure to break even more records in his high school career.

All-Catholic Teams Announced: Six players from Delaware County schools were named to this year’s All-Catholic League Southern Division teams, which were announced Wednesday.

The only area player named to the First Team was Monsignor Bonner’s Lijah Thompson. The 6-7 junior forward averages 14 points per game for the Friars. He also leads the team in rebounds and blocked shots.

Bonner’s Jamal Melvin and Archbishop Carroll’s Kasheef Festus made the division’s Second Team. Selected to the Third Team were Carroll’s D.J. Irving and Ellis Rogers and Cardinal O’Hara’s Zach Tansey. Kudos to those guys.

Additional basketball coverage: Check out preview capsules for tonight's games and a feature story on Chester's Kevin Green-Germany, who has emerged as a consistent 3-point threat for the Clippers.

The Springfield Cougars have won six games this season. Fortunately for them, three of them have come in a row, ever since taking a 3-19 mark into the final week of the season.

Coach Kevin McCormick's crew is headed to the district quarterfinals, where they will play No. 3 Great Valley. Three weeks ago, I'm not sure anyone would have believed this possible, but hand it to the Cougars - they're playing their best ball right now.

MAKE-UPS ON TAP: Two Class AAA games, originally scheduled for Wednesday, will be played today. No. 9 Harriton is at No. 8 Marple Newtown, and No. 10 Radnor is at No. 7 Phoenixville.

THREE TEAMS MAKE STATES: In Class AAAA, three teams are moving onto states after posting second-round wins. No. 1 Chester, forward Shawn Oakman (pictured) and No. 5 Penn Wood and No. 6 Ridley have picked up berths in the PIAA playoff bracket. From here on out, each of District One's eight state-bound teams will play three games for seeding purposes. The sad reality? One of those eight teams will lose three straight games in February and still make the state tournament.

ALL-DELCO UPDATE: I'm enjoying the feedback from my open-door policy with All-Delco selections. Like I've said, I'll never close my ears to a fan's pitch for a player (or two). Plus I welcome the message board-style posting you - the readers - have made possible. Keep it up. And, for clarity's sake, the team has six players: Player of the Year and the top five players assigned by position. So using those guidelines, get in your suggestions.

TEAM COVERAGE: If you're a boys basketball fan in Delaware County, pick up a copy of today's Daily Times. You'll definitely be getting your money's worth. Villanova beat writer Terry Toohey was at Ridley, Eagles beat writer Bob Grotz covered the Catholic League play-in game, I was at Chester and we had a write-up on Glen Mills.

I've been in the office for only a couple minutes but here's what I've learned concerning tonight's area basketball games:

• POSTPONED: Class AAA - Harriton at Marple Newtown. Snow caused the cancellation of classes today leading to tonight's postponement. The game will be played Thursday.
• ANNOUNCED: Class A - The eight-team Class A bracket will be announced Thursday, and I'm hearing that Delco Christian could be seeded among the top 4. Stay tuned.
• STILL ON: Class AAAA - Central Bucks West at Ridley. Despite popular belief (and the district Web site, which says the game is Thursday), this one will be played tonight. Ridley coach Keith Heinerichs assures me of it.

More to come in playoff hoops tonight and tomorrow. Stick to the blog.

I placed a call into the District One offices, which confirmed the inevitable: four of five games in the Class AAAA playoffs have been pushed back from tonight to Wednesday night because of the snow.

Granted, we didn't get as much snow as the poor folks in Buffalo (pictured) have had this winter. But here's a tentative schedule for Wednesday's games:

• Perkiomen Valley at Chester, 7 p.m.
• Glen Mills at Norristown, 7 p.m.
• Council Rock South at Lower Merion, TBA
• Central Bucks West at Ridley, TBA

As for tonight's games: I called Penn Wood coach Clyde Jones, a couple time and he has confirmed that Cheltenham at Penn Wood is on.

Here's what this does for Wednesday: it makes for a loaded slate for Delaware County teams. To be played are the aforementioned four AAAA games; three AAA first-round games; and a Catholic League play-in game. Basketball fans, ready the napkins. I'm sure your salivating already.

The opening round of the District One Class AAAA playoffs is through and the field of 11 Delaware County teams has narrowed to five, which will play second-round games on Wednesday:

Three of the advancing teams were from the Del Val League. Click the link for a recap.
No. 1 Chester took down No. 32 Methacton in a game that wasn't as close as the final score, 68-56, would indicate.
No. 5 Penn Wood, led by junior guard Duane Johnson (pictured), beat No. 28 Central Bucks South 55-42.
No. 18 Glen Mills needed the final seconds (and a couple free throws) to secure a win over No. 15 Plymouth Whitemarsh.

Two teams from the Central League kept their seasons alive. Click the link for a recap.
No. 6 Ridley routed No. 27 Owen J. Roberts, 69-43.
No. 8 Lower Merion handled No. 25 Academy Park, 91-58. But the game was more about coach Rick Pergolini's return to the Knights' bench than a playoff win. Pergolini said he is days away from a full comeback, which would include returning to his guidance counselor role at the school. Click the link above for a full story on the game.

Ushering in the playoffs is like celebrating two birthdays in the same year. It's that much fun. I'm sure there are plenty of over-prepared coaches, nervous parents and anxious players who'd contest that statement.

The District One Class AAAA playoffs begin tonight, with nine Delaware County teams trying to keep their seasons alive. For a full schedule of the games, check out the print edition of the Daily Times. I'll be at the Lower Merion/Academy Park game, so pick up Saturday's paper for more on that.

In terms of playoff previews, I wrote one for each of tonight's games in addition to a feature on Ridley senior Dan Robinson, who carries the offensive load for the Green Raiders. There's also a story recapping readers on the District One Class AAA playoff field, which was announced Thursday.

Enjoy tonight's games. It's the time of year for good basketball.

Haverford's Joey Cafferky isn't just a solid scoring option for Fords coach Terry McNichol; he's also a translation machine.

Philadelphia Daily News managing editor Pat McLoone sent out an e-mail last month to a bunch of his friends, including McNichol (who's also his neighbor). McLoone was seeking someone, anyone who could translate a Swedish newspaper story on former NHL star Peter Forsberg.

McNichol put Cafferky, a Swedish exchange student, to the task. Cafferky translated the story, phoned McLoone with his report from the team's bus, then scored 10 points in the Fords' 62-40 win over Radnor Jan. 29. In the journalism business, everyone knows everyone. I once interned at the Daily News (and for McLoone) in the sports department. He's good people, and I'm glad he got the story translated. Kudos to Cafferky, too. What a heck of a story.

The Fords (14-10), the No. 21 seed, will travel to take on No. 12 Cheltenham (17-7) Friday night in the District One Class AAAA playoffs.

I've gotten a couple e-mails from people inquiring into the point system used to seed the PIAA's district tournaments, a system that appears to be as complicated as college football's BCS formula.

On the surface, it looks like each team eligible for the district tournament is graded on three criteria: Wins, Strength of Schedule and what is labeled 'Bonus points'.

Each win over a Class AAAA team garners 5 win points. So for Chester, which won 23 games, the Clippers picked up 115 points. Beating a AAA team counts for 4 points, AA team is 3 points and A is 1 point.

It only gets more complex from there.

Strength of schedule factors into this formula as well. It multiplies the winning percentage of a team's opponents by 5. Again - using Chester as an example - the Clippers played three teams that were nationally ranked at some point. So naturally, they led the field with 76.41 schedule points. The next-closest team was Penn Wood with 69.18.

Bonus points are compiled by multiplying the winning percentage of the opponents a team beat by 12. And a power rating is contrived by adding the three aforementioned criteria together and dividing the sum by the total number of games a team played.

Make sense? It took some research - and the help of Chichester assistant coach Ray Palladino, who chipped in with some e-mail pointers - to figure this all out.

Chester made it all the way to the PIAA Class AAAA title game last year, before falling to eventual champ Schenley (pictured, courtesy Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).

The road to the state tournament is set, with the District One Class AAAA seedings announced Sunday. Here's where Delco's teams landed. Higher seeds host Friday's games:

1 Chester vs. 32 Methacton
5 Penn Wood vs. 28 Central Bucks South
6 Ridley vs. 27 Owen J. Roberts
8 Lower Merion vs. 25 Academy Park
9 Conestoga vs. 24 Council Rock South
18 Glen Mills vs. 15 Plymouth-Whitemarsh
21 Haverford vs. 12 Cheltenham
23 Garnet Valley vs. 10 Coatesville
26 Upper Darby vs. 7 Downingtown West
30 Chichester vs. 3 Pennsbury

In my last notebook, I projected that as many as eight Delco teams could make the tournament. I'm surprised so many got in, but I'm not complaining. The complexion of the game changes in the playoffs. I'm pumped for Friday.