Overtime

The FCIAC Girls Basketball Tournament begins with four quarterfinal games tomorrow night and one strong favorite. Top-seeded Fairfield Warde is 20-0 and will attempt to become the fourth straight school to go through league play unbeaten, following the path of three-time defending champion Trinity Catholic.

And while it will be a shock if the Mustangs fail to win the title next Thursday night, it would not be surprising if they had to defeat the Crusaders in the final.

While Warde is not a great but very good team, led by the dominating one-two punch of Daphne Elliott and Sabrina Siciliano, the rest of the league is mediocre. The feeling is almost unanimous that this is the weakest year for girls basketball in recent memory, and there is not a lot separating the second through eighth seeds. It would not be an absolute shock if all of the top four seeds, except for Warde, were knocked off.

Which is why right now the most fortunate schools are Trinity, Stamford, New Canaan and Trumbull. They have avoided the Mustangs’ side of the draw and cannot face them until the final.

Stamford has been the most consistent team of the quartet and will get a chance to avenge a season-opening loss to Trumbull. Trinity has already defeated New Canaan during the regular season.

Basically any game not involving Warde is up for grabs. So the other four teams will do battle and try to get to the final, and the chance to pull off what would be one of the biggest upsets in years.

Surprisingly, in all my years at The Advocate, today was the first time I ever covered an FAA basketball game. After watching King hold off St. Luke’s, 42-40, I am not going to make any comparisons in terms of caliber of play between the private school league and the FCIAC, which is apples and oranges.

I was surprised to discover that the FAA uses a shot clock and plays 16-minute halves instead of 8-minute quarters, like CIAC schools do.

I think I like the shot clock, but there is no doubt that the FAA has it right by playing halves instead of quarters. There is greater flow to the game and not having the timeout between quarters is a big plus. It more closely resembles college basketball.

The CIAC, which is too busy trying to figure out how it can get every school in Connecticut to qualify for the state football playoffs, should look into this.

Most people think sportswriters have a dream job because, well, we get to go to games all the time. And most of the time they are right. But we are not just sitting back drinking soda and eating peanuts, and you watch a game differently when you are working than when you are just watching.

Besides enjoying writing and reporting, we enter the profession because we started out as fans. That means making a lot of compromises when you become a journalist.

So it is fun during the occasional time we get to return to the simple joys of being a fan. That was the case for me tonight. I just returned a couple hours ago from Hartford, where I watched Pittsburgh knock off No. 1-ranked UConn, 76-68.

Actually, I was spoiled tonight. Through a mutual friend, I ended up sitting next to former Congressman Christopher Shays, in the second row of the arena at center court. Shays was pretty passionate cheering on the Huskies and, while admittedly not a college basketball expert, he asked a lot of good questions during the game and provided a lot of stimulating conversation on the ride to and from Hartford.

My main reason for going to to the game was the chance to watch former Trinity Catholic star Craig Austrie play in person at least once more before he graduates.

My seats came with an all-access pass that let me go basically anywhere I wanted. That provided me the opportunity to have a 10-second conversation with Austrie an hour before tipoff, and to visit with Austrie’s family and fiance, Heather Coombs, who some may remember is one of the Coombs triplets — the others are sisters Lauren and Ashley — who helped lead the Trumbull girls basketball team to the FCIAC title four years ago.

Saturday I went up to St. John’s and watched former Trinity star Da’Shena Stevens play against Syracuse.

I recently did a story on Stevens and will be writing a feature on Austrie in a few weeks.

But sometimes it is just fun to sit back and relax and enjoy a game — especially when you know the people playing.

The Stamford High School girls basketball team will face a key test tonight when it hosts Fairfield Warde. And whether the Black Knights pass or not will be less dependent on the outcome than their performance.

At 16-0, the Mustangs have pretty much clinched the top seed for next week’s FCIAC Tournament and will be an overwhelming favorite to win the title. They would have to lose to Stamford and Norwalk and the Black Knights would have to win their final two games for the teams to switch their current positions. It is hardly unlikely Warde will lose both games.

Stamford has already clinched the No. 2 seed for the playoffs.

Obviously a win tonight would be a big boost for the Black Knights as they head into the playoffs. The perception around the league right now — and there has been little evidence to dispute this — is that Warde is on one level and there is not a lot to distinguish between the teams that will be seeded second through eighth.

Right now you want to get into the tournament and try to avoid Warde’s half of the draw to enhance your chances to reach the final.

Tonight would be a victory for Stamford if it is competitive against the Mustangs and proves it has a chance to win if the teams should meet again.

If that happens, it would actually be a victory for the entire league.

I went down to St. John’s yesterday to see Da’Shena Stevens play in person, three days after she had the Stamford basketball community buzzing. The Trinity Catholic High School graduate had put on a show, scoring 27 points in a loss to UConn, the nation’s No. 1-ranked team. It was the most any player had scored on the Huskies this season.

Yesterday was evidence that though Stevens is having an outstanding freshman season, she is not exempt from the type of struggles that affect first-year players.

Stevens was just 1 for 6 from the field and 1 for 9 from the foul line, finishing with three points in a 79-78 loss to Syracuse. Stevens had 5 rebounds and 3 assists, but she played just 23 minutes after getting a seat on the bench for most of the second half.

As anyone who knows Stevens can attest, her performance yesterday was not the residual of a swelled head after the UConn game, but the mounting frustration as her shots missed the mark, especially from the foul line.

Stevens, as those who watched her high school career are well aware, is the ultimate competitor. As she greeted us afterward, you got the sense she could not wait to get on the plane fast enough for the trip to Louisville, where the Red Storm play Tuesday night.

Stevens is second in scoring (11.3 points) and first in rebounds (6.7) for a Red Storm team that is 15-9 overall and 3-8 in the Big East.

Stevens is a strong candidate for the conference’s Rookie of the Year award.

Despite her off day yesterday, expect a big rebound from Stevens Tuesday night and for the rest of the year.

Has there been a No. 1-ranked team in the state in recent memory that has created less buzz than the Trinity Catholic High School boys basketball team? It escaped its first loss last night after a 46-45 win over Ridgefield, which came on two free throws by Eric Jean-Guillaume with 1.8 seconds left, ironically enough, after Zac Messenger, who transferred from Trinity, was hit with a technical foul for arguing a call after he stepped out of bounds with a rebound.

A correlation can be made between the Crusaders and the New York Giants of this past season, which went through most of the regular season with just one loss and seemed headed toward a possible second straight championship.

The Giants pretty much went on a steady roll, occasionally playing to the level of the competition. Ditto the Crusaders.

The Giants were often overshadowed by the team they shared the city with, as the Jets, due largely to the arrival of Brett Favre, dominated the back pages. The Crusaders have been eclipsed by their neighbors down the road at Stamford High School, who have surprised many by their emergence as a legitimate contender with just one loss.

Trinity has also been a victim of its long-term success. People expect the team to do well and the news is dog bites man when it does not.

The schedule is favorable to preparing the Crusaders for the postseason. They finish with Greenwich, Staples and St. Joseph — all good but not spectacular teams — before ending the regular season with Bridgeport Central, the only other FCIAC school undefeated in league play.

As for Stamford, it has rebounded nicely from its loss to Trinity Catholic last week in what has seemed like an endless array of big games. The Black Knights defeated St. Joseph, then had little trouble in an intracity battle last night with Westhill. On Friday they face Central on the road, which should provide another indication just how strong their candidacy as a championship contender really is.

Finally, last night’s win by Westhill over Stamford in girls basketball was indicative of the current state of the sport. After Fairfield Warde, there is tremendous parity in the league. The Black Knights had done well in winning 13 straight games since a season-opening loss, but their talent level is not significantly greater than that of many other schools. Much of their success has been due to hard work and gritty defense.

Westhill, which has been all over the map, used tenacity to win the city championship and, at 7-10, pretty much wrapped up a state tournament berth.

Expect the girls playoffs to be wide open between the second and seventh seeds (the No. 8 team will likely fall victim to Warde). Right now the most important goal may not be to get the highest seed, but avoid Warde’s side of the bracket.

Marcus Dixon, Stamford High School’s outstanding running back and linebacker, will realize a lifelong dream tomorrow morning when he signs his National Letter of Intent to play at Army.

Dixon, who led the Black Knights with 977 rushing yards, gave a verbal commitment last June.

“I always wanted to play Division I football,” said Dixon, who is 5-foot-11 and weighs 195 pounds. “I wanted a top-line school academically, an Ivy League type. Army is like getting both of them together.”

Stamford won the city title and finished 6-5 last season.

Dixon, who said he grew up watching the annual Army-Navy game every year, said he is relieved the entire recruiting process has reached its conclusion.

“It really has been a lot of pressure,” said Dixon, who has a 3.1 grade point average. “It takes so much time. I didn’t know if my grades would be good enough to get in. I’m really excited.”

The boys and girls basketball games between Trinity Catholic and Stamford High School have been postponed because of tonight’s anticipated snow. They will now be played tomorrow at the same times, with the girls meeting at 5:30 at Trinity and the boys playing at 7 at Stamford.