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New Castle basketball coach Ralph Blundo congratulates Malik Hooker after undefeated New Castle beat La Salle in the PIAA championship game in 2014.
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Mike White's Xtra Points: When Malik Hooker wowed Urban Meyer ... in basketball

John Heller/Post-Gazette

Mike White's Xtra Points: When Malik Hooker wowed Urban Meyer ... in basketball

Malik Hooker is all the rage with the Ohio State football team, already being called one of the country’s premier defensive backs in only his first year as a starter.

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has commented how he and his staff have always believed Hooker was a special athlete. But what convinced Meyer was, of all things, a basketball game when Hooker played for New Castle High School.

People in New Castle love to talk about Hooker’s wonderful athletic ability, the kind that has made him a veritable legend already in the town. And on that frigid winter night of Jan. 21, 2014, when the temperature was barely above zero, Meyer left New Castle’s gym positively warmed by the thoughts of Hooker’s future. It’s a story of a football player proving himself in basketball.

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In recent weeks, Meyer has talked with the media about that night. Hooker was already verbally committed to Ohio State, but was the unknown commodity type. He had played only two years of high school football. But Meyer and assistant coach Luke Fickell watched Hooker torch Pine-Richland for 36 points and 10 rebounds. He made 14 of 16 shots from the field. As was customary with the 6-foot-2 Hooker, he played everything from point guard to post player.

The Penn Hills freshman football team — one of just 18 remaining in the WPIAL — waits for the start of a game earlier this month against Mars at Mars.
Mike White
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It was the first time Meyer saw Hooker in basketball.

“Besides everything he did that night, we’re up probably 30 and he’s diving on the floor still for loose balls,” said New Castle basketball coach Ralph Blundo. “I think that night really sold [Meyer] on Malik. I think he found out more about Malik that night than ever before. I remember he came into the locker room after the game and I remember telling him that all Malik had done his whole life in sports was win. I remember his reaction when I told him that. I think he knew he was getting a great athlete and a winner.”

When Hooker was at New Castle, two of his dunks in games made ESPN SportsCenter’s top 10 plays of the night. Blundo believes Hooker is a great example of how an excellent football player can still benefit greatly from basketball. There are numerous college coaches who like to watch how football recruits play basketball. For example, Upper St. Clair’s Gabe Houy is a lineman already committed to Pitt. He said Pitt’s football coaches have encouraged him to play basketball again this season.

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With his body build, his bow legs, his rounded shoulders, his football-basketball talent, Hooker always reminded me of Darrelle Revis when he was at Aliquippa. Heck, Hooker even wears No. 24 now at Ohio State, the same number as Revis with the New York jets.

“I think you can find a great football player sometimes on the basketball floor and see athletic ability you don’t always see on the football field,” said Blundo. “A lot of people didn’t know the type of athlete Malik was until they saw him on the basketball floor. … With Ohio State, I think the key was if they could get Malik to fall in love with football the way he was with basketball, they would have a special player because he has gifts that others don’t have.”

Notre Dame’s impact

Notre Dame has landed four recruits in the WPIAL class of 2017 and one in 2018. The most recent to choose Notre Dame was Beaver Falls’ Donovan Jeter this week. A look at past recruiting classes really puts Notre Dame’s Western Pa. recruiting success in perspective.

Consider that no WPIAL player has signed with Notre Dame since Montour defensive back E.J. Banks in 2009. In the previous 25 recruiting classes, Notre Dame signed only 11 WPIAL players and one from the City League. The previous time Notre Dame signed more than one player from the WPIAL-City was 1991, when the Fighting Irish landed North Allegheny quarterback Paul Failla, North Allegheny linebacker Justin Goheen and Oliver running back Ray Zellars.

More interest in Carmody

Robby Carmody, a junior basketball player at Mars, already has a number of scholarship offers from major colleges. But now Arizona and Kentucky are interested.

Arizona assistant Mark Phelps came to watch Carmody work out Monday night. Kentucky also has expressed interest in Carmody. Michigan coach John Beilein was at Mars to watch Carmody in an early-morning workout Monday. Coaches from Penn State and Stanford were there Wednesday.

With Arizona and Kentucky now showing interest, maybe people will understand a little more the talent of the 6-foot-4 Carmody. Pitt, Duquesne, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Xavier, Purdue, Louisville and Penn State are among the schools that already have offered.

Only one golfer, please

West Allegheny has three excellent girls golfers who could possibly make some noise in the WPIAL girls individual tournament. But only one is allowed to participate.

That’s because West Allegheny does not have a girls team. Under WPIAL and PIAA rules, a school that doesn’t have a team can only enter one individual in the individual tournaments. So, only Haley Kozel represented West Allegheny in the WPIAL Section 4 tournament at West Allegheny.

Kozel, senior Mya Konieczny and junior Paige Collechie played some on the West Allegheny boys team this season. The three girls had a playoff last week to decide who would play in the girls sectional. Kozel won.

But Konieczny and Collechie were allowed to play in the boys sectional tournament Monday at Blackhawk. They played at 85 percent of the boys yardages and came close to qualifying for the semifinals. Golfers had to shoot a 79 to move on. Konieczny shot 81 and Collechie 83.

West Allegheny would’ve liked to see all three girls in the girls sectional tournament, but there is no way the WPIAL will bend that rule. And the league shouldn’t. The league has been through situations like this before and can’t change a rule just to appease a school or two. The bottom line is the WPIAL would like to see more schools have teams. All that’s needed to have a girls team is four players. Here’s to hoping that West Allegheny gets just a few more girls to play next year and has a girls team.

Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh.

First Published: September 23, 2016, 4:00 a.m.

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New Castle basketball coach Ralph Blundo congratulates Malik Hooker after undefeated New Castle beat La Salle in the PIAA championship game in 2014.  (John Heller/Post-Gazette)
John Heller/Post-Gazette
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