When Bridgeport Central was forced to forfeit an opening-night win over Staples for using an ineligible player, the focus was on whether the Hilltoppers’ No. 1 ranking in the state would be affected (it wasn’t).
Little did anyone realize that turn of events will now have a profound impact on the final night of the regular season.
In a year in which few teams have distinguished themselves, we go into tomorrow night with five teams battling for the final three playoff spots in the FCIAC Tournament. One of them is Staples.
Right now the top three seeds — Central, St. Joseph and Harding — are set. Bassick and Trumbull have secured spots.
Then comes the wild race for the sixth through eighth seeds. Interestingly, each school controls its own fate and four of the schools involved play each other. Trinity Catholic, which currently sits in the sixth spot, plays the Wreckers, who are right now on the outside looking in but, with the help of tiebreakers, would clinch a spot. They have defeated three of the other four schools and, in a multi-team tiebreaker, would be holding the biggest card: a win over the highest seeded team, Central.
Ridgefield, which is in the seventh spot, gets in with a win over Greenwich. Stamford and Brien McMahon are tied for eighth place, so the winner is in.
In terms of tiebreakers, Trinity, Ridgefield and Staples are in the best shape, Stamford and McMahon the worst.
While the five teams are just hoping to qualify at this point, positioning is also important in terms of advancing past the first round. The seventh and eighth seeds would have to play, respectively, St. Joseph and Central, widely considered the two best teams in the league.
The sixth seed would face a Harding team that is talented but mercurial.
All of which means there will be a lot of scoreboard watching tomorrow.
And a forfeit that once seemed insignificant now looks large.
There should NOT be forfiets in Scholastic Sports. Let the teams play again without the ineligible player. That is a bogus win for Staples and taints their playoff eligibility. Why should another team benefit from another team’s mistake OFF THE COURT ?
FCIAC – the way to solve this is make Staples play Central again without the ineligible player. Don’t reward a team a W for losing a game. Or better yet give Central a LOSS and make Staples play them again without the player. If they lose then both teams would get a loss.
Comment by Full Disclosure — February 23rd, 2010 @ 10:16 am
Full….You have a great point here, but the CIAC has rules. They apply to all high school sports in CT. Central should have been more on top of the player that came over from Harding. If they were, Central would be 19-0. That is why schools have AD? The AD’s have to stay on top of things like this. Just think if their were not high school rules and regulations? On the other note. Last night I went up to see Stratford play Abbott Tech. What a great game? I saw Tom Bajda. He is a sophmore and plays with Stratford. He transfer from ND-Fairfield (I think in Jan) I thought his season was over because he got hurt. He is 6’4″ and is rated in the top 10 of his class (2012) in the New England Recruiting Report. This kid is a real good player. I saw him when he was at ND. I see why they are rated #2 in the State. They have the best inside, outside combo I have seen this year. B Sherrod is 6’5″ who had 19 rebounds, with 10 pts and 7 block shots. R. Payton who is 6’1″ can shoot the lights out. He had 21pts. He is the floor general and he is in control at all times. I give Abbott Tech credit. They were down 16 and came back to within 4 pts, but they just didn’t have time left. I see Stratford in the SWC’S finals and they have a good chance of going deep into the States, if not win it all.
Comment by Donald C — February 23rd, 2010 @ 9:09 pm
Well then the CIAC should change their rules to reflect my point in my first blog on this subject.
Comment by Full Disclosure — February 24th, 2010 @ 10:51 am