tournament turmoil

Well, so far it's been a wacky set of girls basketball tournaments. Most interesting trend of the first two rounds, all three number-one seeds that had byes to the second round lost their opening game.
Wethersfield suffered a heartbreaking loss in a game it controlled most of the way to a very physical East Lyme team. I won't say the reffing was bad, but some of the Eagles have bruises on their arms from non-calls. Still, Wethersfield was sloppy, and the team that deserved to win has a game Friday night.
On the same night, Shepaug Valley lost to Coventry. I have to admit I had this one predicted, but it has to be a shock to a team to get the top seed and be ousted so quickly.
And then yesterday, in another commonly predicted game, Berlin outlasted East Hampton in overtime. Suffice it to say, the Shoreline Conference just wasn't that good. Old Lyme and East Hampton, two of the better teams (with the Bellringers undefeated on the year) in the league lost their only playoff games. Expect Morgan to be next.
Just to prove a point and settle an argument with one of my colleagues, who foolishly and ignorantly tells me I can't call the Shoreline Conference weak, the conference placed eight teams in the state tournament this year in girls basketball. After two rounds, only two of them remain, Cromwell in Class S and Morgan in Class M.
If you discount the game in which Cromwell and Coginchaug faced off against each other, the conference is sporting a not-so-fabulous record of 4-5 in the tournament. Look further and three of the wins came against teams from the Constitution State Conference, otherwise known as the tech league. Simply put, the CSC is a joke, and its teams never hold up against teams from other conferences. They are simply playing at a far lower level. The fourth win for the Shoreline was Morgan's 71-51 victory over Northwestern Regional, a team that advanced to the second round with a win over, you guessed it, a tech school, and has a losing overall record. That gives the Shoreline Conference exactly 0, read it again, 0 impressive wins in this tournament so far, and six losses. The numbers don't lie.

Back to the trend of top seeds losing. This says a couple things. First off, the seeds don't matter come tournament time. Matchups do. Secondly, there is something to be said for NOT getting a bye in the first round. All three of those teams had byes. Had they played somebody, it would have been a 32nd or 33rd seed that barely qualified for the tournament. In other words, it would have been a team any of them easily could have defeated.
But the significance is that they could have gotten the playoff jitters out against a weak opponent, rather than jump right in against a solid team like East Lyme, Coventry, or Berlin, which had already played one playoff game. Most of these teams had at least a week off between their conference tournaments and first state game. That's a lot of time to get rusty, and it showed.

Who can say what the quarterfinals and beyond will hold? Don't look to me. You should see the 'X' marks on my brackets. But at least I'm still clinging to a lead in the office pool.

tourney time

Basketball tournament time is always exciting, and I've always particularly enjoyed the girls tournament. I can't explain completely why I enjoy the high school girls game more than the boys. I believe it's largely because the girls tend to play more team-oriented basketball. I can't say for sure, but I suspect it is because the girls players tend to have less of an ego than the boys. Even at this level, a lot of male players think they are better than they are, and the game for some teams is much more of a one-on-one endeavor.
But that's a tangent for another time. The point is that I am excited about the girls tournaments and have been following the results vigilantly. Sadly, the Herald lost one of its playoff teams tonight when Newington fell to NFA on the road. Nonetheless, I cannot underestimate how impressed I was with the job Al Ford and the Indians did this year. I had no expectations for them at the start of the year, and they certainly proved me, and many others, wrong.
For the record, I'll say that the sports staff has a tradition of doing a girls tournament pool (don't worry, no money on the line). It's been hotly contested the past two years, and invariably seems to come down to championship Saturday to decide it.
While I can't share everybody's picks, I'll say that my picks for the finals are as follows:
Class LL: New Britain over Bulkeley
Class L: Kolbe Cathedral over Wethersfield
Class M: Avon over Plainville
Class S: St. Paul over Bolton
That would be a very successful tournament for local teams, who I'll be rooting for heavily. I believe five locals will reach the semifinals of their tournament, with three in the finals. Maybe I'm a "homer". I hope it hasn't clouded my judgement.

The Class LL bracket as expected is stacked. Consider potential quarterfinals of Career Magnet vs. Trinity Catholic, Holy Cross vs. Southington, Mercy vs. Bulkeley. Even a second round Windsor vs. Holy Cross matchup is pretty epic, with the Warriors far better than their record shows. Seriously, anybody of about 10 teams could win this tournament, and others like East Catholic are sure to cause problems in the next round for some powers.
Class L isn't bad either. Wethersfield, Notre Dame-Fairfield, Northwest Catholic, Kolbe, Stonington. That's a pretty solid list.
On the other hand, I expect upsets by the seedings in the early rounds for M. I'm not convinced in the least of the strength of the top Shoreline Conference teams like East Hampton and Morgan, and I expect both to be gone early. But it is the one class where I'd say there is a clear favorite, and that's Avon.
As always, I know the least about Class S, other than that CSC teams (that's the former tech school conference that now includes SMSA, Capital Prep, Classical Magnet and others) cannot hang with others. Capital's win in the first round says a lot about them. They are a step above the rest in that league and can be competitive outside the conference.
But I expect St. Paul's experience against much larger schools to pay off. While the Falcons were the fifth best team in the Northwest this year, I picked them to run all the way through Class S. Another team that I think could make a good run is Bloomfield, which had injuries at times during the year and is healthy now, and more battle-tested than most in the bracket.

Well, I'll be at a lot of games this week and next. If I could go to two in a day, I'd do it.