Central's #15 Jerome Parkins sends up the ball for two as Hillhouse's #1 Freddie Wilson tries to block, during Class L state championship action at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. on Saturday Mar. 20, 2010.
Oh, you thought the Central boys basketball season ended with the Class LL championship and the No. 1 ranking in Connecticut?
Well, guess what: there’s still more basketball to play.
The state championship and No. 1 ranking has earned the Hilltoppers a spot in MaxPreps.com‘s national high school championship tournament, appropriately dubbed “MaxMadness.”
It’s an NCAA bracket-style playdown to the No. 1 high school team in the country. The tournament begins tomorrow, April 1, and continues until the national champion is crowned on April 22.
The MaxPreps.com selection committee awarded Central a No. 13 seed in the West. The Hillhoppers will play No. 4 seeded Milton (Alpharetta, Ga.); the 32-2 AAAAA state champions from Georgia.
Milton, which defeated Westlake, Ga. for the title, features a starting five of all underclassmen, all of whom are listed as NCAA Division I-caliber recruits. This includes Ohio State commit Shannon Scott. Also included are juniors Julian Royal, Dai-Jon Parker, and sophomore Evan Nolte.
Here’s a video of the Hilltoppers’ opponent via MaxPreps against Westchester, Calif. in the 2009-10 City of Palms Classic Basketball tournament on Christmas Day, 2009.
Quite impressive.
Central clearly has its work cut out. Winner advances to face the winner of the No. 5 Detroit County Day (Beverly Hills, Mich.)/No. 12 Arrowhead (Hartland, Wis.) winner in the second round.
CLICK HERE FOR THE TOURNAMENT BRACKET
…OK, early April Fool’s joke. This tournament is entirely fictional. But you can get involved by voting for Central (and its senior-laden squad) to pull the upset over the heavily-favored Eagles.
The voting for the first round begins tomorrow and continues until Sunday. Here’s how it worked and where to vote.
So get your vote out, and see if the Hilltoppers can ride a Cinderella wave to the national championship!
SPB
That was so cruel. I follow hs sports and never heard of this tourney and as i read more i got more excited that this was really going to happen! Brought back down to earth….That would be awesome to have a tourney like that with only the champ of the largest (maybe this would sway some small catholic schools to move up)division going.
Nice job