Dell’s column- Nov 2024

Written by: Dell Jackson on November 14, 2024

LLhoops 25th Season!
LLhoops is entering its 25th or 26th year of covering Lancaster-Lebanon (LL) boys’ basketball. The site’s first year of coverage was the 1999-2000 season. Originally, we focused on Section 1 but later expanded to cover all sections. Jerry Shenk contributed District 3 and PIAA rankings (ex 2010), and later, David Porter created some creative banners (see 2006 below) for the site. We started with just one follower and have since grown to average over 100,000 unique hits on our website.

2000

2006

2015

2020

We entered the live-streaming world about five years ago (in 2000), with Bruce Badgley producing our games.
We also have a strong presence on social media platforms like X(@llhoops), Facebook, and Instagram. LLhoops Youtube

Photo galleries have been posted by Mark22 and Hosh Posh.

Staff Highlights:
Andy Herr(@AndyBrackets) joined the staff 11 years ago and has made it a priority to cover all LL teams at least once during the season.

We worked on a historical book, “50 Years of Lancaster-Lebanon Boys Basketball,” co-authored by Dell Jackson and Mike Gross, with chapters contributed by Andy Herr and Gordie Jones.

Throughout the years, we’ve made several website updates, re-designs, and server upgrades due to our growth. Our most recent design was provided by Ed Weaver at Circle W Sports. Thanks to Circle W Sports, we now have easy access to team pages, scores, and standings at the click of a mouse.

Web design- LLhoops customer

Our archive section features scores for LL teams from 1973 to 2024. We also have a dedicated section for our rankings of all-decade players, as well as LLhoops player selections.

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors:
We couldn’t cover LL basketball without the financial support of local businesses. A special shout out to H&L Sports (Olivier Pelletier) and Spotts Insurance (Steve Lewis — originally the Millersville branch of Nationwide), who have been with us from the very beginning.

As we celebrate our 25th season of coverage, we’ll be using our 25th anniversary logo (shout out to Dessie Jackson) and providing 25th anniversary t-shirts to the “Players of the Game” (shout out to Spooky Nook Sports).

Season Preview:
Enjoy our coverage this season! We’ll continue to offer various ways to follow our work, including the LLhoops app, a stronger video presence on Instagram and the website, live-streamed games, and coverage of District 3 and PIAA playoffs. We’re also introducing a new show this year: “LLhoops Shoot Around,” a bi-weekly show recapping events in LL basketball (special thanks to Grosh Law, MyJersey, and H&L for their sponsorship).

Roster Updates:
The first practice is on November 15th. Coaches and fans, please send us rosters as soon as possible. We’d like to have all team rosters posted on the site before the official games begin.

Staff for 2024-2025:
Most of our staff returns for the 2024-25 season, including:
Andy Herr (Andy’s Take)
Dell Jackson (Columns and coverage)
David Bray Jr. (Mid Penn coverage – Keystone Chronicles)
Bruce Badgley (Live stream production)
John Graham and Warren Golding (Announcers for live-stream games)
David Keller (District 1 and Philly recaps)
JonK (Coverage of the Northeast, both boys’ and girls’ basketball)

Store Update:
We have 25th anniversary black t-shirts available for sale, and we’ll also have LLhoops socks for sale this season.

LNP Media Day:
LLhoops will have taped interviews available for viewing after November 24th.

Schedules:
We’ve posted most of the schedules. Please let us know if there are any changes or additions. Tournaments can be tricky, but we’ll do our best to stay up to date.

Box Scores:
Teams, if you could send your box scores to our media email at webmaster@llhoops.com, it would be greatly appreciated.

Enjoy the season!
~Dell Jackson

Follow LLhoops on Twitter @LLhoops