Why the Big Difference between Football & Basketball Playoff Success?

[OldSchoolLion]

Teams that traditionally dominate in the football playoffs have not dominated of late in basketball.  It seems odd that with all those football athletes at one school, they could not field a very competitive basketball team.  Why?  

Observations:

• In the upper classifications, Bolles, Deerfield Beach, Edgewater and University School were the only schools to appear in both a football and basketball region final in calendar year 2018.
• Booker T Washington, Lincoln, Pensacola Catholic, Tampa Catholic made it to the second round of the football playoffs this past season.  So, only 20% of teams on the list below(8 of 40 teams) made it past the first round of the football playoffs this past season. 
• Some of the schools below have notoriously weak football programs.
• The private schools of south Florida do not dominate in basketball like they do in football.  In Broward County, Deerfield Beach, Ely, McArthur, Miramar, Northeast and Stranahan all appeared in a region basketball final, while University School was the only private school in Classes 5A-9A to make a region final.

Teams in Classes 5A-9A that appeared in a region basketball final in 2018 

Bolles

Booker

Booker T Washington(Miami)

Cape Coral

Choctawhatchee

Creekside

Deerfield Beach

Doral Academy

Edgewater

Ely

Hillsborough

Gainesville

Leesburg

Lehigh

Lincoln 

Mainland

Mariner

McArthur

Melbourne Central Catholic

Miramar

Northeast(Ft Lauderdale)

Oak Ridge

Osceola

Oxbridge Academy

Palatka

Pensacola Catholic

Ribault

Rickards

Ridgewood

Riverdale

St Petersburg

Seminole

South Miami

Stranahan

Tampa Catholic

Trinity Catholic

University School(Ft Lauderdale)

Wellington

West Orange

Winter Haven

[gatorman-uf]

I think the days of a multi sport star from large schools are ending. too much specialization needed, coaches want kids on the field or on the court 7 days a week. Eventually, even really good athletes give up one. 

I would suspect that schools with numerous good athletes would have a leg up in small schools. In other words, if your school succeeds in football, I would expect success in basketball as well. While small schools specialize as well, they dont have the numbers to do it.

[OldSchoolLion]

...8 of the better football programs in the state, and all of them are "fair," at best, in basketball.  Some of the following are downright terrible in basketball over the past couple of years.  

Armwood

Carol City

Cocoa

Columbus

Mandarin

Miami Central

Northwestern

South Dade

[DarterBlue2]

14 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

...8 of the better football programs in the state, and all of them are "fair," at best, in basketball.  Some of the following are downright terrible in basketball over the past couple of years.  

Armwood

Carol City

Cocoa

Columbus

Mandarin

Miami Central

Northwestern

South Dade

It could be the culture at the school, or the coaching. For years Apopka was a football/baseball school, but was mediocre at best in basketball. This year, for the first time since 1963 or 64, they have a basketball team that may make a deep run. The program started to turnaround when they got a coach who knew how to be successful. The talent was always there, it just did not manifest itself on the court. 

[OldSchoolLion]

In the upper classes, it has been extremely rare for a team to win both a state basketball and football title in the same year.  Cocoa did it in 2009 and American Heritage Plantation did it in 2014.  That's it going all the way back to the 1960's.  Bradenton Southeast came close between 1993-1995.

[OldSchoolLion]

18 hours ago, gatorman-uf said:

I think the days of a multi sport star from large schools are ending. too much specialization needed, coaches want kids on the field or on the court 7 days a week. Eventually, even really good athletes give up one. 

I would suspect that schools with numerous good athletes would have a leg up in small schools. In other words, if your school succeeds in football, I would expect success in basketball as well. While small schools specialize as well, they dont have the numbers to do it.

That appears to be the case.  It's sad, because I believe that certain sports can help players at certain positions.  For instance, I have seen some lineman really improve their endurance and footwork by wrestling.  The hand/eye coordination of baseball seems to have helped some wr's I have seen.