With the weather being as bad as its been this past week, I wrote about what teams near a state tournament berth need to do to get in.
Well, forget about all that.
I forgot that the CIAC still wants 32 teams in each bracket in both the girls and boys tournament. We’re looking avoid first round byes here, which means a lot of teams are still alive for spots.
With that out of the way, here’s where the area teams stand, starting with the girls. The girls have unofficial rankings attached to them, while you still have to count the boys teams to figure their rankings out.
Disclaimer: The dates of some games this week may not hold up due to the winter storm impacting the area today into tonight.
LEAGUES:
CCC – Central Connecticut Conference
CRAL – Capitol Region Athletic League
CSC – Constitution State Conference
ECC – Eastern Connecticut Conference
FIAC – Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference
NCCC – North Central Connecticut Conference
SCC – Southern Connecticut Conference
GIRLS
CLASS LL
No worries in this group. Bristol Eastern (14-5) is firmly in the field of 32. The Lancers are the No. 15 right now and are set up for a first round home game against No. 18 Fairfield Warde (12-6) of the FCIAC.
CLASS L
Holy Cross (17-1) is currently the top seed in this field. If the rankings remain the same, the Crusaders would host No. 32 Maloney (4-14) of the CCC in a first round game. Again, that can change over the final week of the season. Remember, the CIAC first puts in teams with 40% of higher winning percentages, then adds in others to fill the bracket.
Kennedy (12-5) is also firmly in at No. 8. The Eagles are currently pitted against No. 25 Naugatuck (7-11). In their lone NVL matchup this season, Kennedy won by 27 points.
Crosby (5-12) is on the edge at No. 29. The Bulldogs are set up against No. 4 Guilford (14-5) of the SCC. There are a few teams behind Crosby that would win a by lot tiebreaker, so another win wouldn’t hurt the Bulldog cause. Crosby finishes the regular season this week against Sacred Heart, Holy Cross and Waterbury Career Academy.
CLASS M
St. Paul (14-3) and Kaynor Tech (12-5) are locked in for the field of 32. The Falcons are the No. 7 seed and would host No. 26 Ellington (10-9) of the NCCC if things stay the same. The Panthers are the No. 15 seed and would play at home against No. 18 Watertown (12-6) of the NVL.
Wolcott (10-9) is in at No. 24, but needs to win to maintain its position or move up. The Eagles play Naugatuck on Tuesday. Wolcott is currently slated to face No. 9 Waterford (15-4) of the ECC.
WCA (6-11) is on the outside looking in, as of right now. The Spartans are ranked 34th, but can move into the tournament if they take care of business. WCA starts its week with Kennedy, then faces Wilby and Crosby to close out the regular season.
CLASS S
No worries here as Sacred Heart (12-6) is firmly in at No. 14. If that holds, the Hearts would host No. 19 Windham (12-7) of the ECC in the first round.
BOYS
Disclaimer: There are still several games left in the season, so the rankings could certainly change. This is just giving an idea of where the boys teams stand and who they would face if the season was over.
CLASS LL
Kennedy (13-3) is an absolute lock and is currently ranked 10th. That puts the Eagles against No. 23 Southington (8-8) of the CCC in a first round game.
On the other hand, Wilby (6-9) needs to win to firm up or even move up from its No. 32 ranking. The Wildcats are the last team in for Class LL, which currently means a road trip to top-seeded and undefeated Notre Dame-West Haven (17-0) in the first round.
CLASS L
Yup, Sacred Heart (16-0) is in. The Hearts are Class L’s top seed and are matched up against Platt (6-11) of the CCC in the 1-32 game.
Crosby (12-5) is also solidly in at No. 10. That matches the Bulldogs up with No. 23 North Haven (8-9) of the SCC.
Bristol Central (8-9) made its life easier with two wins over the past week. The Rams are the No. 22 seed and are pitted against No. 11 Windsor (12-5) of the CCC.
Bristol Eastern (5-10) is on the outside at No. 33, but that can obviously change. The Lancers have games left against Hall, Platt, Wethersfield, Bristol Central and Berlin.
CLASS M
Holy Cross (12-4) is firmly in the Top 10 of this field of 32 at No. 6. The Crusaders are matched up against No. 27 Grasso Tech (6-9) of the CSC.
Wolcott (5-11) and Kaynor Tech (4-12), back-to-back at 35th and 36th, are outside of the conversation for now. The Eagles and Panthers can put themselves back into the conversation by taking care of business over the next two weeks.
Wolcott plays Woodland, Naugatuck, Wilby and Ansonia. Kaynor Tech has games against Bullard-Havens, Cheney Tech, Kennedy and Woodland.
CLASS S
St. Paul (12-4) is in nice position at No. 6 in this field of 32. The Falcons are up against No. 27 Capital Prep (7-8) of the CSC. Wouldn’t St. Paul love another shot at Capital, which beat them 64-46 in Bristol on Jan. 9?
WCA (9-7) will also be in, though they need a big push to secure a first round home game (seeds 1-16 get that honor). As of now, the No. 19 Spartans have a date with No. 14 Public Safety (10-6) of CRAL.
A lot can change over the next two weeks for the boys, so so these are the rankings as of now. We’ll see what happens.
