The CIAC state playoff pairings and rankings have been released. We have very little time to spare, Amity is playing Wilbur Cross in the SCC final in just a few hours, so…. let’s get right to it.
A class by class breakdown of the entire state tournament, complete with thoughts from yours truly and including thoughts from a very special guest.
CLASS LL
Printable Bracket/Rankings can be found here
FIRST ROUND (March 4)
Upper Bracket
No. 32 Amity (8-12) at No. 1 Windsor (20-0)
No. 17 Masuk (14-6) at No. 16 Newtown (15-5)
No. 25 New Britain (9-11) at No. 8 Glastonbury (16-4)
No. 24 Southington (11-9) at No. 9 St. Joseph (16-4)
No. 29 Stamford (9-11) at No. 4 Notre Dame-West Haven (18-2)
No. 20 Central (12-8) at No. 13 Holy Cross (16-4)
No. 28 McMahon (9-11) at No. 5 Trinity Catholic (17-3)
No. 21 East Hartford (11-9) at No. 12 Torrington (16-4)
Lower Bracket
No. 31 Staples (8-12) at No. 2 Norwich Free Academy (19-1)
No. 18 Simsbury (13-7) at No. 15 Harding (15-5)
No. 26 South Windsor (9-11) at No. 7 Xavier (16-4)
No. 23 Westhill (11-9) at No. 10 Bassick (16-4)
No. 30 West Haven (8-12) at No. 3 Crosby (19-1)
No. 19 Danbury (12-8) at No. 14 Greenwich (15-5)
No. 27 Cheshire (9-11) at No. 6 East Catholic (17-3), 7:30;
No. 22 Fairfield Prep (11-9) at No. 11 Hillhouse (16-4)
SECOND ROUND (March 6)
QUARTERFINALS (March 10)
SEMIFINALS (March 12)
FINALS at Gampel Pavilion – UConn; March 15, 6:15 or 8:15 p.m.
Couple of things:
1. Amity coach Jeff Nielsen is going to be the most sought-after coach in this tournament. After playing Wilbur Cross in tonight’s SCC final, his boys get second-ranked and top LL seed Windsor in the first round.
2. Lots and lots of conference rematches out there, and that drives me absolutely nuts. You play the same teams over and over and your reward in the state tournament is the same team. The loser of Newtown-Masuk, McMahon-Trinity Catholic, Danbury-Greenwich has to live with the thought that their playoff season ended in what amounted to a regular-season conference game. What fun is that? The playoff are supposed to be about playing somebody new.
(Again, I chalk this partially up to the CIAC’s insistence on more basketball divisions. We have four when this state should only have three.)
The only conference playoff game that doesn’t have a rematch problem, ironically, is the SCC. Fairfield Prep didn’t play Hillhouse in the regular season.
3. The Finals are at Gampel again this year. A big, hip, hip, hooray! Somebody alert Hoops Morelli.
4. Prep’s got a tough opener, sure, but at least they know what they’re up against. Given all the factors, Central’s got the toughest opener for a team that finished over .500. They get a road game at Holy Cross, which was arguably the second-best team in the NVL. But if Central can somehow pull the upset get by Ed Generali‘s team, I like their chances against Greg Mangano and Notre Dame-WH or Southington in the second round.
That’s a big if, though. The NVL was the state’s best league by far.
5. Harding’s road is laid out perfectly for a poetic run at Charlie Bentley‘s 10th state title. They get Simsbury in the opener, a questionably tough NFA team (led by R.J. Evans) in the second round. Probably Bassick–which would be itching to right the wrongs of that FCIAC quarterfinal loss, or potentially Xavier in the quarterfinals.
Look out world, here come the Presidents.
6. St. Joseph, which would have been the fourth or fifth seed had it beaten Central on the final day of the regular season like it did the FCIAC quarterfinals, gets the No. 9 and is plopped into Windsor’s bracket.
“Mark my words,” St. Joseph coach Vito Montelli said. “They’re the best team in the state.”
Glastonbury is deceptively good, so it’s not a gimme that the Cadets would get a shot at Ken Smith’s unbeaten team in the quarters.
7. At first glance, I can’t see any first-round upsets… except maybe Cheshire over East Catholic. East is the kind of team that, given its style of play, could reach the final or get knocked off in the first round.
East, led by SHU-bound center Nick Greenbacker, who helped this team upset Harding as a sophomore two years ago, won’t lose this game however and will finally avenge their previous two championship game losses to Hillhouse in the second round.
Any lower seed beating another conference opponent really isn’t an upset. …With the exception of a McMahon win over Trinity. That would shock me.
8. Overall, not the NCAA-caliber bracket we were all expecting. I still hate that teams have their records modified by past performance just to push a few of the Catholics up here. That’s just dumb. But I’ll live with it for now.
9. Class LL champion: Crosby (led by B.J. Montiero, who recently committed verbally to Duquesne) over MIGHTY Windsor.
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CLASS L
Printable Bracket/Rankings can be found here
FIRST ROUND (March 3)
Upper Bracket
No. 1 Wilbur Cross – Bye
No. 17 Wethersfield (13-7) at No. 16 Wilby (13-7)
No. 25 Kennedy (11-9) at No. 8 Lyman Hall (15-5)
No. 24 Platt Tech (11-9) at No. 9 Avon (15-5)
No. 29 Hand (9-11) at No. 4 Notre Dame-Fairfield (16-4)
No. 20 Woodstock Academy (12-8) at No. 13 Bunnell (13-7)
No. 28 Rockville (10-10) at No. 5 Northwest Catholic (16-4)
No. 21 Pomperaug (12-8) at No. 12 E.O. Smith (13-7), 3/3
Lower Bracket
No. 2 New London – Bye.
No. 18 New Milford (12-8) at No. 15 Middletown (13-7)
No. 26 Bristol Central (10-10) at No. 7 Branford (15-5)
No. 23 Enfield (11-9) at No. 10 Bulkeley (14-6)
No. 30 East Lyme (8-12) at No. 3 New Canaan (17-3)
No. 19 Farmington (12-8) at No. 14 Bristol Eastern (13-7)
No. 27 Fairfield Ludlowe (10-10) at No. 6 Maloney (15-5)
No. 11 Career Magnet (13-7) vs. No. 22 Berlin (11-9) at Wilbur Cross
SECOND ROUND (March 5)
Upper bracket
Wethersfield/Wilby winner at No. 1 Wilbur Cross (20-0)
New Milford/Middletown winner at No. 2 New London (19-1)
QUARTERFINALS (March 7)
SEMIFINALS (March 11)
FINALS at Gampel Pavilion – UConn (March 15) at 6:15 or 8:15.
A couple of things:
1. It appears that Hillhouse coach Kermit Carolina, who bashed Wilbur Cross’ placement in this division in the New Haven Register (during the first of two meetings), was slightly misinformed.
The Class L bracket, while not as strong as LL, isn’t exactly the little sisters of the poor, either (See: Class M).
This is a very balanced and very good bracket. It’s got New London at 2, New Canaan at 3. Strong teams like Maloney, Kennedy, Wilby, Notre Dame-Fairfield and even Bulkeley and the Bristols.
OK, so we’re not getting first-round matchups like Central vs. Holy Cross, but it’s strong.
The only gripe I have are the modifiers that kept this from being a legitimately strong bracket. Let’s get rid of that past performance modifier, CIAC people. A lot that solved, huh? Kolbe Cathedral, which hasn’t reached the semifinals since 2004, remains an S school.
Look, you can’t keep adding modifiers just to get the result you want. Are we doing this by class or are we doing this by power rankings?
I understand the catholics and magnets don’t want to be treated differently, but they are different. But we don’t have to treat them different with size modifiers, and then pretend we’re not treating them different (past performance).
Here’s a simple solution: split the Catholics/Magnets into “Large” and “Small” and then give the largest among them a LL designation, and then the smaller among them a Class L designation.
You could also do the same for the Tech Schools, but place the large of the Techs in Class M and the smaller Techs in Class S.
So that would give us a nice formula to deal with the “schools of choice,” without stacking Class LL’s bracket unfairly. It would also bring Kolbe Cathedral into the Class L bracket, where it really belongs.
But I digress…
2. Back to more immediate concerns, Wilbur Cross wins it all. Class L is a strong bracket and Wilbur Cross, with both Wilby and Kennedy likely awaiting it in the second round and quarterfinals, has a tough road. But the bracket is not strong enough to undo the balance of Markus Wright and Co.
I obviously have no faith in the ECC schools, even No. 2 New London and Florida-bound forward Allan Chaney. IMHO, the ECC was slightly ahead of the CSC as far as conference strength. But what do I know?
3. Thankfully, in this bracket we don’t get the conference clashes rife in the LL draw. Notre Dame and Bunnell could clash in the second round. For a chance at the quarterfinals, this would be an awesome game.
4. Fairfield Ludlowe was looking like the most dangerous team in the FCIAC as the season drew to a close. And that’s thanks to a guy named Drew, as in Billington, who has been picking up the slack with Brian Tharp slightly hobbled by an injury. They take on Johrone Bunch and Maloney, last year’s L finalist, in the first round. Could be an upset special…. maybe not.
5. Looking at it again, this is an extremely tough bracket to call. Expect the unexpected, I guess. As much as we’re likely see a 20-something seed advance to the final four, I say Wilbur Cross over New London.
6. [this space intentionally left blank]
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CLASS M
Get Printable Bracket/Rankings here
FIRST ROUND (March 4)
Upper Bracket
No. 1 Killingly – Bye
No. 17 Bethel (11-9) at No. 16 Wilcox Tech (12-8)
No. 25 Montville (9-11) at No. 8 Abbott Tech (14-6)
No. 24 Ledyard (9-11) at No. 9 Lewis Mills (14-6),
No. 4 Bullard Havens Tech – Bye;
No. 20 New Fairfield (10-10) at No. 13 Sheehan (12-8)
No. 28 Brookfield (8-12) at No. 5 Stratford (14-6)
No. 21 Waterford (10-10) at No. 12 Plainfield (13-7)
Lower Bracket
No. 2 Hartford Public – Bye
No. 15 Cheney Tech (12-8) vs. No. 18 Bacon Academy (11-9) at East Catholic, 5:30;
No. 26 East Haven (8-12) at No. 7 Sacred Heart (14-6 – forfeited game vs. Woodland)
No. 23 Ellis Tech (10-10) at No. 10 Granby Memorial (13-7)
No. 3 Windham – Bye
No. 19 North Branford (11-9) at No. 14 Kaynor Tech (12-8)
No. 27 Foran (8-12) at No. 6 Stonington (14-6)
No. 11 Northwestern (13-7) vs. No. 22 Ellington (10-10) at Gilbert
SECOND ROUND (March 6)
Bethel/Wilcox Tech winner at No. 1 Killingly (17-3)
New Fairfield/Sheehan winner at No. 4 Bullard Havens Tech (16-4)
Bacon Academy/Cheney Tech winner at No. 2 Hartford Public (16-4)
North Branford/Kaynor Tech winner at No. 3 Windham (16-4)
QUARTERFINALS (March 10)
SEMIFINALS (March 12)
FINALS at CCSU – New Britain (March 15), 2 p.m.
Thoughts:
1. First and foremost, Ben Talbott of Birdseye Sports reported today that Sacred Heart, which finished the season 15-5, forfeited one of its games against Woodland for playing an ineligible player. Talbott, who has his pulse on what’s what, says Sacred Heart played a freshman toward the end of the game, then discovered that he had played in a rec league during the season — which is against CIAC rules — and immediately reported it.
This docked the Hearts from a 15-5 record to 14-6, dropping them two spots from a projected No. 5 seed to No. 7. This effects Stratford, which has now gone from 6 to 5. Stonington goes from 7 to 6.
Stratford’s draw just got a tad easier. Instead of a draw that would have included No. 2 Hartford Public and a host of unknown teams, the Red Devils get Brookfield, a team they’ve already beaten, in the first round. Awaiting Stratford in the second round would be ECC foes Waterford or Plainfield. Waterford went to last year’s M final, but clearly isn’t the same team at 10-10.
A win there, and Stratford will get one of these three opponents in the quarterfinals: Sheehan (OK, a very dangerous team capable of winning this entire bracket), Bullard Havens, or New Fairfield.
If the Red Devils can luck out and not get Sheehan (unlikely) they’ll skip, hop and jump into the semifinals where Shane Gibson and Killingly may away. If not Killingly then the Red Devils should be in the championship. If they get Sheehan, it figures to be one heck of a game.
3. With Sacred Heart’s forfeit, Foran got Stonington in the first round. Looking at the rest of the draw, I wouldn’t put an unlikely run past Mike Sweeney and the Lions. With the shackles of the SCC off, this team might do some damage.
4. … um, I think we’ve just about covered everything this bracket is worth.
5. Class M championship: Sacred Heart over Hartford Public in the quarterfinals, Windham in the semis and then over Stratford in the championship.
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CLASS S
Get Printable Bracket/Rankings here
FIRST ROUND (March 3)
No. 32 Wamogo (8-12) at No. 1 Coventry (20-0)
No. 17 Putnam (11-9) at No. 16 Coginchaug (11-9)
No. 25 Westbrook (10-10) at No. 8 Classical Magnet (15-5)
No. 9 Capital Prep (14-6) vs. No. 24 Nonnewaug (10-10) at Bellizzi MS
No. 29 O’Brien Tech (9-11) at No. 4 Old Saybrook (17-3)
No. 20 St. Paul Catholic (10-10) at No. 13 Bolton (12-8)
No. 5 Hyde Leadership (16-4) vs. No. 28 Wheeler (9-11) at Fair Haven Middle School
No. 21 Bloomfield (10-10) at No. 12 Prince Tech (13-7)
Lower Bracket
No. 31 Rocky Hill (8-12) at No. 2 Gilbert (18-2)
No. 18 Windham Tech (11-9) at No. 15 Whitney Tech (12-8)
No. 26 Sport and Med. Sci. Ac. (9-11) at No. 7 Kolbe Cathedral (15-5)
No. 23 East Granby (10-10) at No. 10 Canton (14-6)
No. 30 Ansonia (9-11) at No. 3 Litchfield (18-2)
No. 19 Haddam-Killingworth (11-9) at No. 14 Stafford (12-8)
No. 27 East Hampton (9-11) at No. 6 Cromwell (16-4)
No. 22 Windsor Locks (10-10) at No. 11 Terryville (14-6), 3/3, 7:00
SECOND ROUND (March 5)
QUARTERFINALS (March 7)
SEMIFINALS (March 11)
FINALS at CCSU – New Britain (March 15), 11 a.m.
Thoughts:
I defer comment on this bracket to an old buddy of mine.
…
Didja guess? Didja?
“You soooo smart!”
SPB I formally challenge you to an all bracket battle royal! This is my favorite time of year and I wanna battle a pro. What do ya think? Also I will be heading to the Amity game hoping for the spartans which easily made the run of the year! But i saw Windsor beat Maloney by about 40 last night and they are on another level! If they win their next two games they should be crowned #1 no matter what happens. I know you’ll be biast to that!
Hey SPB, long time no posts.
Is the Class S review some kind of inside joke, because I don’t get it. Either way, some real doozies in there.
When you are reading the teams in a bracket, and you actually have to stop at points and wonder if that is a real school or not, you know something is a little off.
I know this is the wrong place, but I was just reading the SCC expanded conference tourney posting. Wow. Yea, let’s have 15 teams make a high school conference tourney. People really need to get slapped when they come up with ideas like this.
At the very most, a hs conference tourney should have 7 teams, with the top seed getting a bye.
And really that is even too many. If you finished 7th or lower in the regular season, what right do you have to win the conference title? None in my opinion.
The SCC should have the top two teams from each division make the conf tourney. Div winners are seeded 1 to 3, and the remaining are seeded 4 to 6. Top two seeds get byes, and away you go.
When will Bpt Central get rid of McCleod?!?!?! The last time this school did anything worth noting was winning a championship in 2003 before the Class structure in playoffs. Bassick and Harding have rebuilding seasons every year and each season go on a romp. Not the case for Central. Central with a much larger talent pool than these two teams combined are always coined as “less talented” or “least talented”. Baloney.. Mc Cleod must go.
Oh, Thanks! Really funny. Big ups!