By Michael Letendre
Over the last two scholastic seasons, COVID-19 has played havoc with the winter scholastic schedule – knocking out, not one, but two championship postseason tournaments.
I agreed with the cancellation of the playoffs in 2020 as Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and state officials simply didn’t know the scope of the pandemic.
But the same group has repeated history in 2021, doing away with the state championship round and replacing it with a ‘postseason experience.’
And as you read yesterday in TBE, I am for a playoff tournament of sorts – just not a postseason that invites Huey, Dewey, and Louie to play.
For example, Huey – at 10-2 – is definitely in, but Dewey’s regular season ledger was 5-7, which is above the minimum of .400, and both ducks are playoff bound.
But Louie won just two out of 12 games and won’t be playing in the postseason – as far as I’m concerned.
Before we get too far ahead, let’s flip back to the fall scholastic campaign.
The fall sports scene featured a postseason with two different brackets in the Central Connecticut Conference play.
I was in favor of the top four squads making a postseason appearance – teams that carried records of .400 or better.
But I was less enthused about programs with winless or near-winless ledgers participating in the postseason.
And I’m concerned about the same method being used in both boys and girls basketball this year.
Does a winless squad need to be anywhere near a postseason tournament?
The SCC sports conference sure thinks that and their proposed plan is every team qualifies for the league playoffs.
I’m not in favor of that but that’s not what I’m talking about today.
I’m extremely disappointed that, for the second year in a row, the CIAC won’t be having an actual championship round.
And that’s more important than a ‘postseason experience’ method.
Our top achieving teams in scholastic hoop deserve a championship level opportunity.
And yes, I’m talking about you Bristol Central and that 7-foot, highly skilled big man who – for the second straight year – won’t be able to strut his stuff on a Connecticut championship level.
Frankly, Donovan Clingan could have gone anywherein terms of playing hoop and prepping for his collegiate future.
Yes, he has ability to showcase his talents on the AAU level but scholastically, Clingan decided to stay at Bristol Central for all the right reasons.
That Bristol Central team, if everything clicks, is a state contender in Division II this year and, probably, was last year, too.
If this was 1994, and Hartford Public’s Marcus Camby and Kendrick Moore (who might have been a better player than Camby was in high school) were denied two state title opportunities, do you think that duo would have stayed in Connecticut?
Remember, that duo went 50-1 over two years and won Class LL titles both seasons.
You know they would have ended up somewhere else if state championship opportunities weren’t in the cards.
But how about this year?
How many players are going to be robbed of a tournament championship run that might have led to more exposure for themselves and a possible college scholarship to a higher NCAA level?
And this is not a shot at the CIAC.
Everyone should be thankful for whatever the CIAC will provide scholastic hoops in terms of playoffs but the elite teams deserve better.
And here’s what I would have proposed to the CIAC for its postseason in 2021.
If the CIAC insisted on a ‘postseason experience’ in which every team gets to play, that’s fine.
But keep the classification of all the teams – Division I through V – and have a championship semifinals and title game for all five divisions.
That means the top four teams in all five divisions – boys and girls – earned the right to play for a state championship.
All you would need to do is push the spring scholastic season back seven days and you can have a two-game, championship week for all five divisions of both boys and girls hoop.
Questions would arise from using this method, of course.
Where do you play these games?
Who do you invite to the facility?
Do you open the title contests for fans to attend?
I would see if those games could be contested at the XL Center in Hartford – an excellent venue with plenty of space for social distancing.
Four family members would be allowed per team member but fans would not be invited.
Families could space all over the XL Center and clean up would be fairly quick as different seats would be used each day for the games.
And I think CPTV would be up to televise those boys and girls games (for your pledge of just $84 over the next 99 months, you can receive a Donavan Clingan ‘Jelly of the Month Club’ membership. The first jelly would have an upstate New York, Syracuse type flavor to it…).
The CIAC could probably put together something special and broadcast those contests online as well.
Thinking about the regular season in 2019-20 for boys hoop and taking my championship proposal into account, Bristol Central – at 16-4 – would have been invited to Hartford last season for a possible title game.
In a Division II semifinal showdown, the fourth ranked Rams would have battled No. 1 Prince Tech (20-0).
Central could have advanced to play the winner between No. 2 Naugatuck (19-1) and No. 3 Innovation (17-3) – for a shot at the Division II title (Central already defeated Innovation earlier in the year, by the way).
But let’s be frank here.
Other states are having a championship round in basketball (and have or will be playing football) and so should Connecticut.
The pandemic is a dangerous time in all our lives and scholastic sports have been put on the back burner in some cases as some cities, like Bridgeport, won’t be playing boys or girls hoops.
But I think a program like Bristol Central, who has the talent to go all the way, deserves at least a chance at a state title in 2021.
