Panas / Averill Park class A NY state semi-final primer
First off congratulations to Panas. Getting by Harrison to win Section One was a great accomplishment. And then the big victory over Wallkill to send them to Troy.
It’s not gonna get any easier. They’re going against Averill Park, that beat Tappan Zee in the regular season by double digits and also beat Tappan Zee last year for the state title. Averill Park has won their section for like nine years running. True—they graduated a lot, including 6’2” Amelia Wood, who is a rotation player for Sacred Heart University and about to play in the NCAA tournament. But Averill Park is still a tough team, very well coached. You can be confident that their coach is scouring the Internet for any footage of Panas to dissect.
The Tappan Zee coach, Riley Chevrier, is the hinge. She knows both teams well. Has coached against both of them the last two years. (One wonders if both the Panas coach and Averill Park coach are reaching out, trying to get any kind of nugget of insight.)
Averill Park has an interesting defensive scheme. The defensive scheme is the inverse of a box and one. They play tough man-to-man on four players. and then they keep Taylor Holohan, #14 the 6’ big in the paint. Theoretically she’s covering the fifth player man. But they do their homework and they put her on the player least likely to light her up. This puts a lot of pressure on that fifth player, who suddenly is now in a position to score.
Averill Park employed this scheme against Tappan Zee last year in the title game with positive results. That means if an offensive player gets by her defender, she’s not facing just help defense. She’s facing a 6 foot big just waiting in the paint. And it’s not help defense, so she doesn’t necessarily have someone to do dish it off to.
Panas fans will obviously hope the big gets into foul trouble. But this is a disciplined big with long arms. Also, Averill Park has several bigs on the bench, (although none with the same level of skill on offense as Holohan, who dropped thirty points in the regional final game.
The key to this game will be pace. Can Walter Panas control the tempo and make Averill Park play a fast pace game? Panas was able to establish the tempo versus Wallkill, and that had a big impact on the game. By the fourth quarter the very talented Wallkill team seemed to be wearing down a little.
On the surface, we could look at the Panas press and think: well, it didn’t actually cause that many turnovers against wallkill. And that’s true. But the thing is the press changes the way the other team plays; it turns up the pace. Suddenly, the team is getting looks in places that are different than they’re used to. So the primary goal of the press is to create turnovers, but the secondary goal of the press is to change the overall pace and rhythm of the game. The question is: can the Averill Park guards handle the fast-paced pressure of Panas?
On the flipside, if Averill Park is able to get into their half court set, will Panas be able to slow down the six-footer, who is basically unstoppable in man-to-man. The good news for Panas is they have played against a team with legitimate bigs earlier in the season: Albertus Magnus. has not one but two talented six-footers.
If Averill Park can get the ball upcourt and turn this into a half court contest, then they should have an advantage. If Panas can keep the pace fast and disrupt the flow of Averill Park, then anything could happen.
The other question: how much will the half court offense of Panas be challenged with that six footer in the paint. Panis got excellent production from their very active and physical bigs against Wallkill. But that is going to be hard to replicate against Averill Park with a six-footer lurking near the rim, playing goalie. Drives to the basket will also be more challenging. But if Panas creates steals and scores in transition, things may open up in the half court game as well.
Should be a fantastic game.