By Michael Letendre
The Central Connecticut Conference has recently released information on its postseason tournament for boys and girls basketball.
And while the CIAC isn’t holding its usual playoff format, the CCC has come up with a plan that will involve all thirty-two teams in a program that has been dubbed the “CCC Winter 2021 Tournament Experience.”
The tournament is cleared and defined, breaking the CCC into four separate divisions for both boys ands girls basketball.
The top eight teams in the CCC will make up the top bracket.
From there, teams seeded nine through 16 will play in the next playoff bracket, then the next eight and finally the last eight squads will all be seeded accordingly in the bottom tier.
The highest seed hosts each game and, according to the CCC website, the home program determines if spectators will be invited to watch the games.
Teams will be ranked by winning percentage, then by head-to-head play and then by lot (if necessary).
The winner of the top bracket tournament, with seeds 1-8, will be declared the CCC Tournament champion.
But it’s not going to be a one-and-done format for those squads who lose its first round game.
A consolation bracket will be instituted with every team getting a chance to play at least two postseason games.
The squad who makes it undefeated into Friday gets to play a third and final game.
The CCC recommends that the games commence on Monday, March 22, Wednesday (March 24) and Friday (March 26) which would be championship day for the top bracket.
Saturday, March 27 could be used as a make-up date in case of weather postponements.
Another date could be thrown into the mix as well – all determined by cancellations and the like.
So, if tournament play started today, where would the Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern boys teams fall in terms of rankings?
One school has an easy ranking while the other is a bit more complex at this time.
The CCC has four undefeated squads: Northwest Catholic, East Catholic, Maloney, and your home-standing Rams from Central high school.
That group would be joined by Windsor (6-1), Middletown (6-1), Simsbury (5-2), and – right now – Glastonbury.
Glastonbury, at 3-1, has games to make-up as does Bristol Eastern (2-4) due to COVID-19 protocols.
That top-eight could shift in terms of lowest seeds but expect Central to be in that top tier – playing for the right to be crowned CCC Tournament Champion.
If Eastern can make-up a game or two, and win those, the Lancers might make a run for the third grouping of teams.
It’s truly that fluid right now for every program in the CCC.
In girls action, Newington (6-0) and Glastonbury (5-0) are the only two undefeated squads in the CCC – making up the first two teams of the top tier.
Three squads at 7-1 would follow (Simsbury, Windsor, and Southington) while East Hartford (6-1), and Middletown (5-1) are all one-loss programs.
That would leave four teams at 6-2 fighting for that eighth and final spot in the top bracket.
Those squads include Conard of West Hartford and three programs in Region B play – Eastern, Farmington, and Plainville.
Central (1-7) looks poised to be in that bottom bracket but the Rams have been playing much better as of late.
It’s possible the girls from the school on the hill can make a run in that lowest tier if Central ends up playing there.
A lot can happen over the next two weeks and it should be fun to see where our local favorites end up before the CCC Tournament commences.
