Coach Ron McKnabb

Having played for an area basketball team that won a state championship in '79, Burrell Coach Ron McKnabb knows what it takes to make a championship-caliber team, and winning at that level is like. "It's something you can't describe," Ron says.

"It was a culmination of a lot of years of hard work and summer league games and weight lifting and everything like that. We had a lot of talent...we put it all together and were able to win a state championship."

But he says more than talent makes a serious title contender. "…the thing was the chemistry--we had great chemistry. We try to preach that to our team: a lot of team unity, chemistry. We try to get our guys to do a lot of things together off the court…I think that was very important," states McKnabb.

The concept is vital to the Buc program, and makes possible its' results. "We want to play as one...we play as a team. And we stress defense. We probably spend 60 percent of our practice time on defense. And that showed last year," the 14-year head coach says. "We gave up the second fewest amounts of points in the WPIAL… Then we just try to take care of the basketball…[and] limit our turnovers."

That's what led to the Buc success last winter, when they won the section, going undefeated in the section for the first time ever, to close out the regular season with an incredible 14-0 cap. "Our seniors did a great job. They put three years and a lot of hard work in," McKnabb points out.

The loss of the three seniors may leave a gap, but it is not unfillable. "They were great leaders for us… I'm really concerned about that," Ron indicates. "But... we should be a deeper team. We're pretty young still, so for the next couple of years the future's pretty bright for us."

Ron McKnabb tells you about the players who are trying to light up that bright future this year, and who makes up the teams in the new section who are trying to dim Buc hopes for another championship, in the video interview found here.