Overtime: High school athletics in Connecticut

Sean Wilkinson of the Ridgefield High School boys hockey team and Katharine Macomber of the Darien girls hockey team are this week’s winners of the BlueStreak-Overtime FCIAC Player of the Week award.

Wilkinson and Macomber will each receive plaques and T-shirts from BlueStreak.

Wilkinson, who is usually noted for his intangible contributions, according to his coach, Shaun Gallagher, though he leads the team in scoring, had the winning goal on a penalty shot and an assist in a 3-2 win over Greenwich in the semifinals of the FCIAC Tournament. He also assisted on the Tigers’ lone goal in a 6-1 loss to New Canaan in the title game.

Macomber, the Blue Wave’s goaltender, stopped 24 shots in a state quarterfinal win over Hamden and made 29 saves in a 2-0 shutout of Simsbury, stopping six breakaways and a penalty shot. In the championship game, Macomber was working on another shutout before New Canaan scored a late goal on a penalty shot for a 1-0 victory. Macomber made 20 saves.

Nominations for next week’s award will be accepted starting at noon today and run until noon next Tuesday.

Here again are the instructions for nominating an athlete.

Jim Nantz has become — make that has been — the face of CBS Sports for quite some time. That will again be evident over the next few weeks, when the veteran broadcaster, who called the Super Bowl last month, completes a remarkable two-month span by working the Final Four and The Masters.

No broadcaster has called all three events: Nantz is about to do it for the second time in three years.

Nantz is the midst of what his NCAA Tournament partner, Clark Kellogg, called “A Hall of Fame career.” On May 3, Nantz will be honored as the National Sportscaster of the Year for the third straight year and fifth time overall.

Nantz has not worked a college basketball game since last year’s championship between North Carolina and Michigan State, but he said he has been busy prepping for his return during this weekend’s Big Ten semifinal and final games.

CBS Sports held its annual NCAA Tournament media day this afternoon, and I caught up with the New Canaan resident afterward to discuss his busy schedule and to get some hints for those of you about to enter office pools.

You never know who you might run into when you go to the gym. I walked into the locker room today to see Khairi Fortt standing in front of me.

The former Stamford High School linebacker, home for spring break, is two months into his college career at Penn State, getting used to the demands of workouts for one of the country’s most storied programs, as well as the mid-year transition to taking college courses.

I hope to have a column in The Advocate in the next few days.

Until then, here is a video I shot today with Fortt, who discusses his new life since graduating from Stamford.

In the aftermath of UConn’s 75-68 loss to South Florida in yesterday’s final regular season game, the pundits still have the Huskies sitting on what is one of the weakest bubbles in recent NCAA Tournament history.

Based on the body of work, it is almost impossible to see how UConn can receive a bid without winning the Big East Tournament.

And that is not going to happen.

The Huskies are in free-fall, with three straight losses, as well as disarray. Coach Jim Calhoun removed starters Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edwards with 16 minutes remaining yesterday and said the three will not start the team’s Big East Tournament opener Tuesday against St. John’s.

UConn is 17-14 overall and 7-11 in conference play. For the second straight time they lost to a team also sitting on the bubble that played with a greater sense of urgency and did a better job of executing down the stretch.

Calhoun is trying to send a message to his team, which is understandable given the way his veterans have played, but this is the kind of move one usually expects at midseason, not with an NCAA Tournament berth on the line.

This has been a weird season for the program. It was burdened by excessive expectations by a preseason Top 25 ranking, even though the team didn’t have Top 25 talent. At the same time, it should not be playing as poorly as it has.

During the recent stretch, the Huskies have been totally reliant on the play of point guard Kemba Walker, whose improvement coincided with the team’s surge prior to the current losing streak.

The Huskies will likely remain in the bubble talk during the next few days, due largely to a few big wins and, more so, its tradition.

Right now it is easier to see UConn losing to St. John’s than winning the Big East. With 15 losses, the Huskies’ best hope will be trying to make a return to Madison Square Garden: to win the NIT.

With the winter sports season in its final two weeks, we are pleased to announce that building on our new award, we are going to be naming BlueStreak-Overtime Male and Female Winter Athletes of the Year.

And readers will be able to get involved.

Nominations are open now and will be until a few days after the boys basketball and hockey state tournaments conclude.

While coaches and athletic directors have been doing the majority of the nominating, fans and readers can do so as well. Just wait until an athlete’s season is over, then click on the BlueStreak-Overtime T-Shirt on the right side to send in your selection. Please make sure to include all the relevant statistics and any other pertinent information.

When the nominating process is done, we will pick five male and five female finalists and you will be able to vote for the winner.

The final prize will be announced shortly — we are trying to verify with NCAA compliance rules that it is permissible for BlueStreak to give our gift certificates.

So start sending in your nominations and get ready to vote for the FCIAC’s best male and female athletes this winter.

Chris Evans, who led the Stamford High School boys basketball team to the FCIAC championship and the semifinal round of the Class LL Tournament last season, has had an outstanding post-graduate year at Taft.

Evans, who will be returning to the area next year to play at Sacred Heart University, was named the Most Valuable Player of the Western New England Conference last weekend. Evans has averaged 22.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists to lead Taft to an 18-7 record and the top seed in the Western New England Tournament.

Evans helped lead Taft to a 71-51 quarterfinal win tonight over Salisbury.

Taft will face Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Friday’s semifinals.

Sam Stevenson with Richmond coach Stephy Samaras before a recent game.

Darien High School graduate and Advocate blogger Sam Stevenson finally got her first college win today. Stevenson scored a goal to help lead Richmond to a 12-10 win over American.

Stevenson has scored four goals for Richmond (1-4), which lost its first four games to ACC powers Maryland, North Carolina, Duke and Virginia.

Stevenson, who is notoriously hard on herself, wrote in a text message on the ride home, “Not a very good game. I had a goal but felt like I didn’t do that much else.” She later admitted her self-analysis may have been overly critical.

Stevenson has been writing a blog since August about her first year as a college student-athlete. Her next post will come in the next day or two.

To follow “Stickin’ With Same,” click on this link.

As we continue through the final week of regular season play, there are a number of games on tap tonight with major implications for berths and seeding in the NCAA Tournament:

— UConn at Notre Dame: Both teams are riding this year’s weak bubble. The Huskies lost some margin for error with Sunday’s loss to Louisville and need a strong finish to avoid being relegated to the NIT. The Irish have been playing their best ball without leading scorer Luke Harangody, who now could be out for the remainder of the season. A critical game for both teams.

— Duke at Maryland: The Blue Devils are looking to wrap up the ACC title and position themselves for a possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Duke is more a product of a weak conference than a strong team, and depending on the draw have to be viewed as a potential early upset victim. Maryland is one of the hardest teams to get a read on. It has been surging of late, but again that may have more to do with the league. Are the Terps an NCAA sleeper? I still can’t figure them out.

— Kansas State at Kansas: Barring a collapse, the Jayhawks will be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Kansas State has been one of the surprise teams in the country and is in the hunt for a No. 1 seed as well. It will be helped immensely with a win tonight. This is one of the top games of the week.

— There are several other important contests, including two with teams from the Mountain West Conference that I think could make deep runs in the NCAA Tournament. New Mexico, one of the best teams people know little about, host TCU, while BYU, a team with Elite Eight potential, travel to Utah.

A few people have asked me about the Pac-10 and whether this is a one-team conference this season. I would have said yes a week ago, but I think California has already played itself in.