All stats including records, rankings, and players were found on Maxpreps
This year’s Allderdice boy’s basketball season ended last month after a hard fought loss to McDowell in the state playoffs. This year’s team had a lot of talent and gave us many exciting games, including a buzzer beater against Fox Chapel and a defensive battle in the City Championship vs. Obama. Knowing of Dice’s past success, I wanted to see how this year’s team compared by ranking the last ten years of Dice basketball. This ranking factored in the team’s record (overall and non-conference), state rank, success in the state playoffs, and finally, the quality of their senior class. City League success was not heavily factored as Allderdice has claimed that title in nine out of the ten years, only losing in the 2019/20 season.
N/A. 2020/21
The list will start off with the 2020/21 season in last place. This year was overshadowed by Covid-19 and only 14 games were played, just 5 out of conference. In a year with such a small sample size, I felt that it would be inappropriate to compare this team to others. While this was not an incredible season, Dice still went 10-4 and claimed a city league title. Their 1-4 non conference record dropped their state rank to 180, the worst of the ten years. One bright part of this year was the senior class which sent Malik Robinson and Cam Butcher to Slippery Rock in DII, and Allegheny in DIII, respectively. The state playoffs were cut due to Covid and PPS did not send a team.
9. 2019/20
In ninth is the 2019/20 season which was the only season Allderdice failed to win the City League. For most of the season this looked to be a promising year, but a late season collapse where Dice lost four of their last six games ultimately led to a relatively disappointing season. They finished 114th in the state. This season ended in an 18 point loss in the first round of the state playoffs to Upper Saint Clair. Much like the 2020/21 season, this year’s redeeming quality was the seniors. Star guard Tony Henderson went to Mercyhurst and played DII while Blake Haber went to Ithaca in DIII. While this wasn’t a bad team, its lackluster state ranking and state playoff performance leave the 2019/20 year at ninth.
8. 2016/17
The 2016/17 year was a rebuilding year for Allderdice after they lost the core of the successful teams from the past two years. Still, they managed a respectable 18-10 record, going 8-8 out of conference and earning a state ranking of 85. The young team was able to cap off the season with a win in the state playoffs, upsetting North Hills in a twenty point victory before falling to eventual runners-up Pine Richland in the second round. This team relied on underclassmen who built confidence for future seasons. Dice did not send any seniors to play college basketball.
7. 2021/22
2021/22 was similar to 2016/17 in that it was mostly a rebuilding year after losing most of their best players in the two years prior. Dice went 20-8 with a 10-8 non-conference record. This team had the best state rank yet, finishing 71st in Pennsylvania, with a dramatic win against top 25 ranked rivals Central Catholic in overtime in the state playoffs. That would be their final victory of the season as Dice would lose in the second round to Fox Chapel. This year’s senior class had a few decent players like Michael Quigley, Avery Ruben, and Holden Eagle that did not pursue college basketball.
6. 2023/24
In sixth is this year’s Dice basketball team. The 2023/24 season saw the Dragons go 20-5 and 8-5 out of conference. This year’s state ranking went as high as 18 but injuries derailed an incredible season, eventually finishing 84th. Without one of the star players, Major Rainey, Dice was short handed in their state playoff game vs McDowell. After being down 18 at half, they brought it within 3 points in the fourth, but McDowell proved too much as Dice lost by 8. This season was far from a failure though. Senior Logan Golle was top 25 in Pennsylvania in both points and assists and both him and Rainey have committed to play DIII for Laroche University.
5. 2022/23
Last year saw a very similar Allderdice team, and season. In 2022/23 Dice finished one game better at 21-4 with an 11-4 non-conference record. This led them to a rank of 69th in Pennsylvania, the best since 2018. They again lost in the first round of states, this time against Erie. The team was led by seniors Sam Kelly and Ethan Anish as well as juniors Rainey and Golle. Anish, the lone college player of this class, is one of a select few Dice players to go D1, as he currently plays for Duquesne.
4. 2018/19
The 2018/19 season represents a big jump in the quality of the teams ranked here. Dice went 22-6 with a 12-6 record outside the city league. This year saw the Dragons win three games against top 50 schools in the state, including a top 20 win against Butler. This impressive resume led Dice to earn the 25th rank in the state. The pitfall of this season ended up being the state playoffs. In a senior class that included Jackson Blaufeld (who is currently playing Division I basketball for Dartmouth), and Bobby Clifford (playing DII for Slippery Rock), expectations were high. These expectations were not met, however, as Dice fell to 4th ranked Mount Lebanon for the second time that season. While it was clearly not a bad season for Dice, they were expected to improve from a great 2017/18 campaign, but they instead showed some regression.
3. 2017/18
The first team to make their mark in the state is from 2017/18, and this is the first truly elite year on the list. Allderdice went 26-3 this season with a 15-3 non-conference record. Some marquee wins came against top 20 ranked teams like Mars, Penn Hills, and twice against Mount Lebanon, leading the Dragons to an outstanding Pennsylvania ranking of 10th. This season also marks the first real run in the state playoffs as Dice went to the quarterfinals before losing by just two to Pine Richland. Even with a slightly disappointing close to the season, 2017/18 was a massive success as a team mostly built around juniors managed to put together six top 50 victories. Because most of the stars were juniors, the senior class didn’t send any players to play in college.
2. 2014/15
The first year of an incredible two year stretch was 2014/15. Dice again went 26-3 with an incredible 18-3 non-conference record. The only true weakness to this team was an iffy resume where Dice only had four top 50 wins and none in the top twenty. Still, this led them to the 17th rank in the state because of their consistent wins over WPIAL teams. The strength of this team was their playoff performance. The Dragons went all the way to the semi finals winning against Fox Chapel, Mount Lebanon, and Harrisburg before finally falling to Runners up Martin Luther King. This season also had a strong class, including Keon Diggs who played DIII at Penn State Altoona, and Alex Bell who played for Penn State New Kensington in the USCAA. Kenny Robinson was another star of this team and he pursued college baseball before sadly passing in 2020.
1. 2015/16
Closing out the list is the 2015/16 season. This year Dice had their best record of the 10 seasons, going 29-2 with an impressive 19-2 in non conference play. The Dragons had an outstanding resume with eight top 30 wins, five top 20 wins, and a top 5 victory against Imhotep Charter. The team’s only losses came against top 10 Kennedy Catholic, as well as Roman Catholic who finished 1st in the state and 12th in the nation. The incredible winsheet that Dice put up earned them their best ranking at 6th in the state and they even cracked the top 80 nationally. It didn’t stop there as Allderdice would go on to beat Penn Hills, Pine Richland, Carlisle, and finally 11th ranked Reading before falling to top seed Roman Catholic in the state championship. This team also had a decent senior class, sending Ramon Creighton to a successful career at the University of California Pennsylvania in Division II, and Jordan Rawls to a 1700 point career at DIII school Allegheny. It is worth noting that Tim and James Jackson were unable to play college basketball due to their commitment to football and eligibility issues.
