Overtime

St. Joseph's James Jennings

Westhill's Tony Dobbinson

Trinity Catholic's Schadrac Casimir

In a season with few trends so far, one constant has evolved: this is the Year of the Point Guard in FCIAC boys basketball.

Between Danbury’s James Harrington, Bridgeport Central’s Tyler Ancrum, Bassick’s Devin Coleman and Ridgefield’s committee headed by Seth von Kuhn, there seem to be more good playmakers in the conference than at any time in recent memory.

Yet in discussions with league coaches, the consensus is that the top 3 are Westhill’s Tony Dobbinson, St. Joseph’s James Jennings and Trinity Catholic’s Schadrac Casimir. Each offers a different dynamic and playing style. Where the disagreements begin is over which one would you want to build your team around.

So we are going to see what you readers think. Until Sunday at noon, you will be able to vote for one of the three guards, or select the “Other” option and explain which player in the comments selection.

(One note: I control all comments that get posted to the blog. Keep your comments in a positive light. Any comment that is derogatory toward any player will go right in the trash).

This is meant to have a little fun and recognize a lot of good players in the league this season.

Let the voting begin!

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Ten days ago, New Canaan girls tennis coach Gail Overbeck met with Jay Egan, the school’s athletic director, to inform him she was contemplating retirement.

“It came up while we were talking that you know it is time to quit when you start looking at your watch,” Overbeck said. “I don’t look at my watch but I don’t want to start looking at my watch.”

Admitting that maybe she is stepping down a year too early, Overbeck met with her players Wednesday afternoon to inform them they will have a new coach when practice begins in the spring.

“It’s hard,” said Overbeck, who teared up while talking to her players and again during an interview. “I felt I have been doing this a long time. I have eight grandkids who play lacrosse. It’s emotional for me but I think it is time.”

Forgotten by many is that Overbeck was New Canaan’s cheerleading coach before she moved out to the tennis courts in 1996 for what was the beginning of a memorable career. During her 16 seasons, the Rams won four FCIAC titles and have won a state championship every season, except in 2003, since 2000.

New Canaan has run the table the last three seasons.

“I think maybe we expected this, coming off two incredibly strong years,” said Phoebe Wilks, one of the team’s co-captains. “Coach knew we had peaked but were still strong. It’s upsetting because we liked her coaching style.”

Wilks laughed when asked what she will miss most this coming season.

“Seeing her walk around the courts in her parka, with a clipboard, making notes and never knowing what she was writing,” Wilks said.

The Rams have a number of good players returning, one reason Overbeck said she feels good about the timing of her decision.

“Whoever is coming in, I know the team will be strong,” Overbeck said. “The new coach is going to have a really good team.”

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The Staples boys swimming team’s first win over New Canaan in 11 years impressed the voters, who selected the Wreckers the Overtime FCIAC Team of the Week.

The Wreckers will receive T-shirts courtesy of BlueStreak Sports Training, Garden Catering, Karl Chevrolet, Innovative Health & Rehabilitation, Chelsea Piers, New Balance of New Canaan and the Stamford Advocate.

Staples finished with 1,969 votes to hold off a charge by the Trumbull wrestling team (1,573 votes) and defeat the Norwalk girls basketball, Wilton gymnastics, New Canaan girls hockey, Danbury girls basketball and Ridgefield boys basketball teams.

We will pick a new set of finalists for this week’s award, with the vote starting Sunday.

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Kevin Jack of the Danbury wrestling team and Jess Coelho of the Staples girls basketball team are this week’s winners of the BlueStreak-Overtime FCIAC Player of the Week awards.

Jack and Coelho will each receive T-shirts and plaques from BlueStreak Sports Training.

Jack, a sophomore wrestling at 106 pounds, became the first Hatter to ever win an individual title at the prestigious Eastern States Classic Tournament. Jack won in the final, 7-4, and won three previous matches by standard decision and one by a major decision to improve to 22-0 this season.

Coelho, the second member of the Wreckers to win the award this winter, in wins over Bridgeport Central and New Canaan finished with a combined 37 points, 25 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals.

Nominations are open now until Tuesday at 10 a.m. for this week’s winners.

To nominate an athlete, click on this link and email in the name of the person you are nominating.

Please include all of the player’s statistics for the week as well as the team results.

The award will be judged on games/matches/meets played Monday through Saturday of each week. Please wait until an athlete is done competing for the week to submit your nomination.

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Ridgefield's Jeff Racy

It has rolled to an unbeaten start by dominating opponents, getting contributions from a number of different players and employing a stifling defense.

If you think we are talking about the St. Joseph basketball team, that’s a good guess, but the team we have in mind is almost at the exact opposite FCIAC outpost.

A year after finishing 21-4 and advancing to the semifinals of the Class LL Tournament, the Tigers were supposed to take a step back. Most of the preseason talk was of a solid team that would likely get one of the bottom seeds in the conference playoffs.

Instead, coach Carl Charles’ team is currently 8-0 and rolling through the league like a runaway boulder.

What gives?

“Honestly, I really have a great group of guys, a hard-working group of kids,” Charles said. “Every day we go to practice I get tremendous effort.”

The Tigers were supposed to be lost with the graduation of point guard Bryan Galvin, but Seth von Kuhn has moved over to handle the responsibilities along with a number of younger players, like Chip McClelland.

“We’ve been doing it by committee,” Charles said.

Opposing defenses have had a hard time preparing for the Tigers, who have a number of outstanding shooters and a starting lineup where each player is capable of scoring in double figures. Jeff Racy and Kurt Steidl have taken turns carrying the offense, while Jack Heller and freshman Patrick Racy are also dangerous weapons.

“We have several players who can really stick it from the outside, which is scary,” Charles said.

Most impressive has been Ridgefield’s defense, which opened eyes by holding Greenwich in the third game of the season to 16 points. Bassick scored 47 points against the Tigers on Friday night — the most they have allowed this year — in a 26-point loss. That followed a 20-point Ridgefield win over a good Norwalk team.

“Championships are won with great defense,” Charles said. “The best teams in the FCIAC have to defend. No one has cracked 50 on us. We are really proud of that. We want to be known as one of the best defensive teams in the state of Connecticut.”

Better right now, the Tigers are simply one of the best teams in Connecticut.

Zone Busted

While Ridgefield has controlled play on the defensive end, its border neighbor, Danbury, jumped out to an undefeated start by dictating tempo with what might be the league’s quickest team.

The Hatters got a lesson on Friday night when an opponent was able to control the pace. Trinity Catholic played a packed in 2-3 zone and rallied in the second half for a 65-55 win. Danbury coach Casey Bock admitted his players were tentative on the attack.

It will be interesting to see how opponents play Danbury in the future. The team is in the most difficult stretch of the season, and this week has the last two undefeated teams in the league: St. Joseph on Tuesday and Ridgefield on Friday.

By Saturday we should have an idea of just how good the Hatters are.

The Starting 5

1. ST. JOSEPH (9-0): Unfortunately we must wait until Feb. 20 for the Cadets’ game against Ridgefield. Let’s see if Danbury provides a test Tuesday night.

2. RIDGEFIELD (8-0): After Tuesday’s game with New Canaan, the Tigers face Danbury, Trinity Catholic and Bridgeport Central — all at home.

3. GREENWICH (8-1): The Cardinals have a murderous second half of the schedule. Will they hold up?

4. TRINITY CATHOLIC (6-3): Really like how guard Schadrac Casimir stepped up against Danbury. The Crusaders will need more of that.

5. DANBURY (7-1): The smart money says a good part of practices the past two days were spent on attacking tight zones.

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Danbury's Casey Smith

Ridgefield's Seth von Kuhn

This week we put together one of our strongest fields ever, with three repeat finalists and four newcomers in search of becoming the Overtime FCIAC Team of the Week.

Your choices: the Staples boys swimming, Wilton gymnastics, Norwalk girls basketball, Danbury girls basketball, Ridgefield boys basketball, New Canaan girls hockey and Trumbull wrestling teams.

The winner will get T-shirts with our logo courtesy of BlueStreak Sports Training, Garden Catering, the Stamford Advocate, Karl Chevrolet, Innovative Health and Rehabilitation, Chelsea Piers and New Balance of New Canaan.

Wilton's Chelsea LeVander

The Wreckers defeated New Canaan for the first time in 11 years, 98-88.

The Warriors, a finalist last week, scored 138.25 points in a victory over Trumbull.

The Bears ran their winning streak to seven games by defeating Bassick and Fairfield Ludlowe.

The Hatters remained unbeaten by defeating Harding and beating Trinity Catholic on the road.

The Tigers, a finalist earlier this season, stayed unbeaten by toppling Norwalk and Bassick by a combined 46 points.

The Rams, another repeat finalist, remained undefeated, following a key 3-1 non-league win over Simsbury with a rout of Greenwich.

The Eagles improved to 18-1 with a 7-0 week, which included capturing the Art Powers Duals and victories over Staples and Brien McMahon.

The voting is open until noon on Wednesday. So vote below and check back to find out who is this week’s Overtime FCIAC Team of the Week.

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Norwalk's Rasheen Thompson

I’ve had discussions the last two days with a few FCIAC boys basketball coaches about the state of the league.

The top and the bottom teams have started to separate themselves from the middle class.

So I decided to have a little fun. After all, the pundits on ESPN have already started making their projections for the NCAA Tournament field.

So why not us?

Assuming the five schools that I have in yesterday’s Starting 5 — St. Joseph, Ridgefield, Danbury, Greenwich and Trinity Catholic — are all going to qualify for the eight-team field, and the five teams currently with zero or one win have no chance, which of the remaining nine schools are going to fill the final three seeds for the FCIAC Tournament?

You can vote for three schools and have until noon on Monday to make your picks.

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The Westhill High School boys basketball team learned Thursday afternoon that it must forfeit last Friday’s win over Bassick because of the use of an ineligible player.

School officials self-reported the incident Thursday morning after their own internal investigation.

Mike King, the athletic director at Westhill, refused to comment on the situation. King only said that the violation involved the so-called “fifth year rule,” in which players have eight consecutive semesters to participate before using up their eligibility.

What I do know is the player involved is Taevan Simpson, who recently transferred to the school from Crosby. Simpson is also the cousin of Westhill point guard Tony Dobbinson.

An unconfirmed rumor is that Simpson may have provided Westhill incomplete transcript information.

Westhill and Bassick have met twice this season. Last Friday’s game, which the Vikings won, 72-62, counted in the league standings. It was the only one Simpson appeared in. He was scoreless.

Matt Fischer, the CIAC’s director of information services, said no one in the organization can comment on the situation because it has not yet received any paperwork from Westhill, which as of now has officially just voluntarily forfeited the game.

Bassick defeated Westhill in a non-league, holiday tournament contest on Dec. 27, 71-45.

Efforts to reach Dobbinson or Westhill coach Howard White have thus far been unsuccessful. (We will update this post with any additional comments).

The Vikings are now currently 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the FCIAC. Bassick is now 7-1, 5-1.

The situation at Westhill comes just four months after the school’s boys soccer team had to forfeit three wins for using an ineligible player who had participated in an unsanctioned adult league game.

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