Chartiers Valley senior T.J. McConnell has a good chance to break the WPIAL basketball record for career 3-pointers, but even if McConnell gets the record, his mark might not last long with the way Micah Mason is shooting.

Mason is a 5-foot-11 sophomore guard at Highlands who is looking like one of the best shooters to come through the WPIAL in recent history.

So far this season, Mason has 50 3-pointers. He has taken 82 shots behind the arc, which means he is shooting 61 percent from 3-point range.

The No. 1 3-point shooter in Division I college basketball (Cal State Fullerton's Aaron Thompson) is shooting 64.9 percent. But no other college player is shooting above 57 percent from 3-point range. Granted, the college 3-point line is 1 foot farther back from the basket than high school. But you get the idea about Mason.

"Basically, my thoughts on Micah are that if the pass is on target in his hands, and he catches it in stride, it's going down," Highlands coach Shawn Bennis said.

Mason had 91 3-pointers as a freshman, which gives him 137 3-pointers in his career. The WPIAL record is 302, set by Chartiers Valley graduate Mike Colbert. McConnell has 267 3-pointers in his career, but Mason is ahead of McConnell's pace.

McConnell had 148 3-pointers after his sophomore year -- 54 as a freshman and 94 as a sophomore. Mason had 91 as a freshman and has 141 for his career. Highlands still has 10 games left in the regular season, plus the playoffs. Mason could have close to 200 3-pointers by the end of this season.

"The kid really works on his shooting," Bennis said. "Besides our practices, his dad really works with him on shooting."

In one game last week, Mason was 12 of 12 from the field, including 8 of 8 from 3-point range. Also, he is shooting 71 percent inside the arc, and 96 percent (27 of 28) from the free-throw line.

"He's a Division I college shooter, I think," Bennis said. "The thing that he's tried to work on is getting to the hole more, and he's really concentrating defensively on being able to guard someone better."

Jerry Cypher is in his ninth season as the Chartiers-Houston boys' basketball coach. But he also wears the hat of "author."

Cypher has written a book entitled "Wisdom & Serenity in the Age of Madness." On the cover of the 226-page paperback book, Cypher is described as an entrepreneur, motivational speaker and coach. The book includes many quotes about sports and life from other people, but also Cypher's thoughts on how to be a success in life and in athletics.

The first Don Graham Tribute Games will take place at North Catholic High School Feb. 13. The games are in honor of Don Graham, a former North Catholic boys' basketball coach who died a year ago. Graham is the winningest coach in Pennsylvania history.

The games are Ellwood City vs. Trinity at 4 p.m,, Trinity Christian vs. Mars at 6, and Seneca Valley vs. North Catholic at 8.

John Miller retired from coaching high school basketball after the 2005 season, but he still puts on his coaching hat at times.

Miller, who won 657 games overall and 583 in 29 seasons at Blackhawk, helped a little with new Butler coach Matt Clement when Clement got the job this summer. Miller still talks with Clement on a regular basis.

Now he is in Tucson, Ariz., for three weeks. His oldest son, Sean, is in his first season as the University of Arizona's coach. Youngest son, Archie, is an Arizona assistant.

John Miller simply "hangs around" some practices and games, offering tips to his sons if they need them.

"They're fine on their own," Miller said with a laugh.

Arizona is only 8-8.

"The people expect you to win here," Miller said. "Sean has 11 freshmen and sophomores on the team, and only one senior and one junior. That's pretty tough to deal with. But I think they're starting to make progress. You can see it."

Penn State must really want to land running back Marcus Lattimore of Byrnes High School in South Carolina, because Joe Paterno actually is going to visit Lattimore sometime in the next two weeks.

Paterno on the road recruiting? What's next, giraffes flying? Paterno rarely recruits on the road. He visited Jeannette two years ago to recruit Terrelle Pryor and that was a shocker.

Lattimore is ranked among the top three running backs in the country by some scouting services. He has visited Penn State and Auburn. His other two finalists are South Carolina and Oregon, but many believe South Carolina is the leader.

The Big 33 all-star football game has announced the roster for its Pennsylvania team, and some of the best players in the state weren't on it.

Over the past few years, the Big 33 game has lost some of its luster and one of the reasons is because top players are skipping the game for various reasons. Some simply don't want to play in the game, some are starting college early or some have other commitments. This year's game (Pennsylvania vs. Ohio) is June 19 in Hershey.

Two years ago, Jeannette's Terrelle Pryor turned down an invitation to play. Last year, star Gateway linebacker Dorian Bell didn't play because he played in two all-star games, the maximum allowed by the NCAA.

This year's Pennsylvania team is missing a handful of top players. Most noticeably absent from the team is Philadelphia Washington defensive lineman Sharrif Floyd, who is widely regarded as the No. 1 prospect in the state. He played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Saturday and made a verbal commitment to Florida. But he won't be in the Big 33 game.

Philadelphia Cardinal O'Hara receiver-running back Corey Brown (Ohio State) also isn't on Pennsylvania's roster. You'd have to think Manheim Central defensive lineman Dakota Royer and Central York defensive lineman Kyle Baublitz would've been picked for the Big 33, as well as maybe Sto-Rox quarterback Paul Jones. But all three graduated early and have enrolled at Penn State for the spring semester.

This is not to downgrade the players who made the team this season. Pennsylvania has talented players. But when the best ones aren't playing, it takes something away from the game.

Beaver Falls football coach Ryan Matsook is one of the finalists for the coaching job at Central Valley.

Central Valley will be the new high school formed for the 2010-11 school year when Center and Monaca merge. Other finalists are Monaca coach Sam Cercone, Freedom coach Mark Lyons and Mike DeChellis, the boys' basketball coach at New Brighton. Center coach Larry Taddeo also applied for the job, but is not one of the finalists.

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