Feb 17, 2003 By Mike Ciarochi 3 min read

Ken Misiak has been coaching boys’ basketball for 43 years, so he knows a little bit about what it takes to win in the playoffs. He’s won 664 games along the way, all for the same team and many of them in the playoffs, so he knows a balanced bracket when he sees one.

And through all those games over all those years, Misiak knows it takes more than talent to win in the playoffs.

“A lot of people talk about seedings and records, but in the playoffs, it’s who comes in ready to play that’s going to move on, so who’s to tell,” Misiak said.

“Class A is about as balanced as I’ve ever seen it, one through 13. Carmichaels is a 13 and they’re a pretty good ball club.

“I told the kids, the playoffs are like the icing on the cake. It’s who wants it the most. No team in Class A is head-and-shoulders above the rest, so anything goes. You just have to control the things you can control and give it your best shot.”

That’s what his Geibel Catholic team will do beginning at 8 p.m. Tuesday, when the 14-8 Gators take on 9-15 Duquesne in a WPIAL first-round playoff game at Monessen High School.

This match-up is identical to last season’s first-round match-up, right down to the site, but Misiak likes his chances a lot better this time around.

“For one thing, Duquesne was a lot stronger last season than they are this season,” Misiak said.

“They are still very athletic and from scouting them, we know they are very quick and are a good rebounding team. We have to try to compensate by being strong on the boards and playing at our pace rather than theirs.

“Last year, our team was mainly underclassmen. We started four juniors and when we hit Duquesne, our kids got a little bit overcome by the whole thing. We got behind early and never got back into the game.”

There is no mystery in that last year’s juniors become this year’s seniors and Misiak hopes to find out right away how much difference a year’s seasoning can make.

“Now, we start four seniors, plus we have more experience coming off the bench,” he said. “I just think we’re a better ball club this time around.”

The Gators battled the flu bug all of last week and didn’t hold a full-strength practice until Friday, but Misiak doesn’t expect that to be a problem come Tuesday night. Also, sophomore Rob Ramsey is expected to be OK after suffering an ankle injury in the Section 2 finale against California.

“We’re a decent shooting team and both of our guards average in double figures,” Misiak said of Ramsey and Jordan White. “Our inside guys aren’t far below double figures, so we’re pretty strong there, too. For us to win, we need both our inside and outside game to be clicking.”

The Gators have had peaks and valleys this season, but Misiak likes where the team can go.

“I like this team,” he said. “We’ve run into gaps as the season moved along, but we have to overlook those and bounce back. From now on, it’s anybody’s game. We just have to take them one at a time.”