Teams that win PIAA basketball championships get gold medals, just like they do for winning a WPIAL title.

Teams that win PIAA titles also get a big trophy, just like they get for winning the WPIAL.

While the awards are the same for the PIAA and WPIAL, it has long been a matter of debate of whether the championships have the same meaning. The answer seems to depend on a team's history.

Teams that haven't won a WPIAL title in a while hold the district championship in high regard. To those teams, the PIAA (state) playoffs are simply gravy on a terrific season.

But to those who have tasted success on the WPIAL level in recent years, or come close to a state (PIAA) title, there is a great desire to win more than the WPIAL.

The first round of the PIAA playoffs is tonight and Saturday. Championship games are March 26-27 at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center.

The Sewickley Academy boys are a good example of how a team's recent history goes a long way in how the players and coaches feel about WPIAL and state titles.

In August the past two years, Sewickley Academy star Tom Droney has invited team members to his family's cottage near Seven Springs for a weekend. The players came up with team goals for the season and wrote them down. Sewickley Academy has won two WPIAL Class A titles in a row, but last year lost in the PIAA quarterfinals.

"Last year, we wanted to possibly win the WPIAL, but we were a little unsure we could do that because we didn't have Pete Schramm yet," Droney said of the 6-foot-7 center who transferred from Knoch. "Our main thing was to just win the WPIAL, and our other goal was we just wanted to win two state [playoff] games. We did that."

And this year?

"Honestly, winning the WPIAL title this year was a little more exciting than last year," Droney said. "This year was cool, but it's kind of like, 'been there, done that.' Not to take anything away from winning the WPIAL, but we really want to win the state this year. We want to be the first team in Sewickley to win the WPIAL and the state in the same year."

Recent success also has helped shape the Mt. Lebanon girls' view on WPIAL and PIAA titles. Coach Dori Oldaker remembers how big it was for herself and her team to make the WPIAL championship game four years ago. The Blue Devils lost to Oakland Catholic, but considered the season a huge success just because they got to the WPIAL final.

But Mt. Lebanon won WPIAL and PIAA titles last year with a perfect record. Now, the Blue Devils could become the first WPIAL team to win back-to-back PIAA titles in Class AAAA.

"This subject [WPIAL vs. PIAA title] is an interesting question that my staff and I were just talking about," Oldaker said. "There is so much emphasis placed on winning the WPIAL here that sometimes it's an afterthought with the state tournament. Don't get me wrong. Winning the WPIAL is great, but, when you go to college, grow up and have kids, and you can tell them you won a state championship, that's really something.

"If you say you won a WPIAL [title] to people in Minnesota, they don't know what that is. But they know what a state championship is. I don't think everyone understands the magnitude of what it's like to win the state unless you've been there and had a taste of it. Now that we've tasted it, we want it again."

Jeannette won a WPIAL girls' title for the first time in school history. Coach Janine Vertacnik said her team's goals have changed along the way.

"Our first goal was to win the section, and we did that for the first time in 26 years," Vertacnik said. "Our other was to get to Palumbo [for the WPIAL championship]. We never got as far as talking about states. But now that we're in that third season, we're talking about winning it."

The Gateway boys got to a WPIAL final for the first time in school history before losing to Mt. Lebanon.

"To me, my kids and my staff, we feel like the WPIAL and state are equally important," said Gateway coach Mitch Adams. "I coached football when Gateway won a WPIAL title in the 1980s. There were no state championships for football then, and I remember [Gateway coach] Pete Antimarino saying how important it was just to win the WPIAL. I don't know, I think they're equally important now. ... I think you have to shoot for the gold, no matter what you're doing."

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