(Arnold Gold-New Haven Register) Capital Prep girls celebrate their win over New London in the Class L Championship at the Mohegan Sun Arena on 3/20/2016.
For the fourth straight year, Capital Prep finishes the season as the No. 1 team in the Register Top 10 girls basketball poll.
The Trailblazers (24-3) received 13 of 15 first-place vote and a total of 446 points from the panel of sports writers and coaches.
Unbeaten Class M champion Cromwell (28-0) finished second. The Panthers earned one first-place vote and finished with 408 points.
Class LL champion Stamford (25-2) also received one first-place vote and 396 points and ended up third.
Your Class L state champs Capital Prep Blazers #ctgb pic.twitter.com/9jK0SGaIkj
— Dan Zumpano (@djz1590) March 20, 2016
Capital Prep became the first girls team since Southington from 1986-1989 to win four titles in a row.
“That’s our goal — to be No. 1,” Capital Prep coach Tammy Millsaps said Monday. “It’s such an even more proud moment because we were able to make history and get in the history books by winning four straight state titles.”
Cromwell defeated Notre Dame-Fairfield 43-20 in the Class M championship game. The Panthers were ranked second when the state tournament started.
“However people vote they vote,” Cromwell coach Kelly Maher said. “I’m just happy with how the kids are and how they played all year long.”
| Team | Record | 1st Place | Points | Last | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. CAPITAL PREP |
24-3 | 13 | 446 | 1 | L |
Final result: Def. New London 51-48 to win the Class L state championship.
Bottom line: The Trailblazers finish No. 1 for the fourth straight season. It was the fourth straight title for Capital Prep, including the last three in Class L. The first title – in 2013 – was Class S. The Trailblazers have not lost to an in-state opponent since losing to Coginchaug in the Class S final in 2012.
| Team | Record | 1st Place | Points | Last | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2. CROMWELL | 28-0 | 1 | 408 | 2 | M |
Final result: Def. Notre Dame-Fairfield 43-20 to win the Class M state championship.
Bottom line: The Panthers won their second title in four seasons.
| Team | Record | 1st Place | Points | Last | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3. STAMFORD | 25-2 | 1 | 396 | 5 | LL |
Final result: Def. Greenwich 50-45 to win the Class LL state championship.
Bottom line: The Black Knights captured their first CIAC state title.
| Team | Record | 1st Place | Points | Last | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4. NEW LONDON |
25-2 | 0 | 362 | 6 | L |
Final result: Lost to Capital Prep 51-48 in the Class L final.
Bottom line: The Whalers fell just short of capturing their second title in three seasons.
| Team | Record | 1st Place | Points | Last | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5. GREENWICH | 19-5 | 0 | 334 | NR | LL |
Final result: Lost to Stamford 50-45 in Class LL final.
Bottom line: The Cardinals were making their first trip to a state final.
| Team | Record | 1st Place | Points | Last | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6. NEW FAIRFIELD |
24-2 | 0 | 268 | 7 | L |
Final result: Lost to Capital Prep 67-58 in the Class L semifinals.
Bottom line: The Rebels lost only to Capital Prep and Class M runner-up Notre Dame-Fairfield this season in coach Joe Russo’s final game at the helm. Russo announced his retirement following the loss to Capital Prep.
| Team | Record | 1st Place | Points | Last | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7. E.O. SMITH |
25-3 | 0 | 216 | 9 | LL |
Final result: Lost to Greenwich 69-60 in Class LL semifinals.
Bottom line: The Panthers trailed by 21 points against Greenwich before rallying to take a 1-point lead. The lead was short-lived, and the Cardinals ended E.O. Smith’s bid to play for a state championship.
| Team | Record | 1st Place | Points | Last | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8. MERCY | 23-3 | 0 | 213 | 4 | LL |
Final result: Lost to South Windsor 52-50 in the Class LL quarterfinals.
Bottom line: The Tigers lost on a last-second layup to South Windsor.
| Team | Record | 1st Place | Points | Last | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9. SOUTH WINDSOR |
23-5 | 0 | 204 | NR | LL |
Final result: Lost to Stamford 66-57 in the Class LL semifinals.
Bottom line: The Bobcats fell a game short of advancing to the state championship for the third straight season.
| Team | Record | 1st Place | Points | Last | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10. NORWICH FREE ACADEMY |
23-4 | 0 | 188 | 3 | LL |
Final result: Lost to Stamford 74-60 in the Class LL quarterfinals.
Bottom line: The Wildcats have not made a state final since winning Class LL in 2010.
Dropped out: Fairfield Warde (8), Enfield (10).
First-place votes in parentheses and points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis.
Others receiving votes
Notre Dame-Fairfield (21-7), 158; Fairfield Warde (22-4), 154; Enfield (26-1), 119; Canton (21-6), 118; Holy Cross (24-3), 60; Bacon Academy (23-4), 50; Hand (22-5), 39; Thomaston (26-2), 36; Southington (20-5), 22; Morgan (21-5), 15; Trumbull (19-5), 11; RHAM (20-6), 8.
The following voted
Marc Allard, Norwich Bulletin; Dave Danko, Fairfield Warde; Eric DeMarco, Notre Dame-Fairfield; Vickie Fulkerson, The Day of New London; Mike Madera, Elm City Newspapers; Ken Lipshez, Meriden Record-Journal; Scott Nails, Rye CDS; Dave Phillips, Shoreline Newspapers; Mike Pucci, New Haven Register; Lori Riley, Hartford Courant; Mike Suppe, HAN Network; Derek Turner, GameTimeCT; Fred Williams, Northwestern; Richard Zalusky, Willimantic Chronicle; Jimmy Zanor, Middletown Press.
E O Smith only ranked seventh?? Thats crazy talk. Who are they polling? E O Smith was top three for sure.
Great year for E O Smith. Top ten!
Congrats to CT Girls Basketball. Special shout out to Desiree ‘4 for 4’ Elmore (State Titles and All State). #21 is definitely the GOAT. Has this every been done in CT (Boy or Girl)? The best part is how humble you are in doing it. Congrats to the Elmore Family.
Proud of you CPrep Coach TM. God Bless.
Very impressive indeed, talk about luck of the lottery with CT Prep! Getting the two best CT girls basketball players ever (Kiah and Elmore), to end up in the same school! It really was meant to be!
And to think, they even had Gatorade player of the year Shaquanna Edwards on their team and Dejane “Snoop” Edwards!
2012 Roster
http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/capital-prep-trailblazers-(hartford,ct)/girls-basketball-winter-12-13/roster.htm
Just wait til next season when they get Baskerville from Enfield High, assuming she’s able to “win the lottery” – fingers crossed!!!
Wow, that lottery is something else!!! Hard work does pay off!!
Honestly hard work does pay off. But the hate from your words are just sad. So just stop hating, kick rocks with open toe sandals and Call it what it is. They had some of the best teams CT will ever see!!
TRUTH!!
Sorry guys and gals you messed this Final Poll up big time. The Courant has it right. Canton wins the state championship and ND-Fairfield makes it to the Sun, two years in row yet teams 6-10 that lost in the quarters and semi;s make the the 10. Seriously, need to rethink this through for next year.
The poll is supposed to be a judgement of the 10 best teams. It takes into account the whole season. It’s great that those two teams made good runs in the tournament, but that shouldn’t make them jump over other teams that are simply at a higher level or had better seasons overall, in my opinion.
Great Points Suburbia.
Canton couldn’t even win their own conference… they lost to Bolton in their conference tournament who eventually lost to Enfield high by a fair amount, not to mention, Canton couldn’t beat Enfield high when they played them in the regular season, losing by double digits. If anyone is getting snubbed in the top 10, it’s probably Enfield High to be honest with you, and I have no horse in this race.
Enfield went undefeated and lost to Notre-Dame in the semi-finals.
Canton won it’s way through a very easy Class S… Great Season Canton, but the only reason the Courant has them in the top 10 is because Canton buys their paper.
Thought the courant poll was worse. I mean some bizarre low rankings at their poll.
Guy…the Courant poll isn’t really a true poll. It’s the opinion of one person. Ours have a variety of media, or coaches, from around the state to give it more balance.
Oh didnt know that, cheers!
Congratulations on winning, but I believe you should not be competing against public schools, when you have the ability to draw the best athletes in the City of HTFD, due to your status as a “School of Choice”. This is not a knock on coaching or the hard work the kids put in to be successful. It’s just not a level playing field, and that’s where the frustration is coming from.
Seriously? No S teams should be in the top 20. They would all get slaughtered by the top teams in L and LL. Including Canton and Thomaston. (They both did, Thomaston to New London and Canton to New Fairfield).
Great poll but a gun to my head I would have placed New London at #2 and Stamford at #3
Jen, New London beat ND by 6 points while Cromwell crushed them in the state final. ND had 17 turnovers and only 20 points against Cromwell. Stamford was beaten by an okay Ridgefield (17-8) team by 23 points! The real question is Cromwell or C Prep as the number 1. Many people have not seen Cromwell play so its hard for them to imagine a small suburban school competing with the AAU team of C Prep but trust me they most certainly can. The C Prep/New London game was poorly played. C Prep actually started holding the ball with 3 minutes left in the 3rd, and New London let them by staying off the guard and simply letting her hold the ball. C Prep only beat New Fairfield by 9, Farmington by 9, New London by 3, Mercy by 6. Don’t get me wrong, C Prep is an excellent team but nowhere close to what they were last year. I have no doubt that Cromwell would solidly beat C Prep if C Prep played like they did against New London. I also have no doubt that C Prep can play much better. Unfortunately, we will never really know. Maybe its time for some way to crown a true number 1.
Sorry JAT, I have to take the bait. You are absolutely delusional with the “Cromwell is the best team in the state” postings. ND-FFLD played the worst game in girls basketball history against Cromwell. It was horrible.
The best player in the state didn’t play in Stamford’s loss to Ridgefield.
No disrespect to Cromwell intended, they don’t have a player that would play for CPREP , let alone beat them. They might have a kid that would start at the 2 for Stamford. That’s it.
You said the FCIAC was the best conference. That OK Ridgefield team has 2 D1 players with a junior that has the potential. How many losses would Cromwell have in that conference? At least 4 is the correct answer. Where would that place them in the state’s rankings, even with winning class M? They play in the Shoreline Conference!!!!!!! Morgan would struggle to stay in the top 8 of the FCIAC!
You’re very knowledgeable, but, very much a Shoreline homer.
I had no idea that England did not play in the Ridgefield game- she is a difference maker as is Shaq for Weaver (i.e. they lose to Rocky Hill without her). I have always maintained that I do not know the FCIAC as I don’t get to see them play. Given the time of their game in the states I could not make it. As I said, C Prep individually is talented but they did not gell this year as a team. I believe that the ND coach said that his team was overwhelmed- not that they played a horrible game. 17 turnovers suggests far more than just a bad game. I am not a shoreline homer at all. In fact, the past few years they would have no team in the fight, and will not for years to come. This Cromwell team was simply an anomally. Take a look at Enfield in 2 years- they will be right there unless C Prep wins the lottery and takes a few players. Every once in awhile a small school has a team with chemistry that can more than comepete. Don’t forget, Mercy had D1 players and they weren’t that great last year. I used to think a D1 player meant a lot but now I realize that low level D1 players just means that they are tall and can dribble a little bit. The top D1 players are the difference makers. Maybe Stamford would win the whole thing. if they had an open division My main 3 points, in no particular order: (1) New London is not a great team; (2) C Prep is beatable in this state THIS YEAR(3) I did not leave the New Londin/C Prep game thinking ‘wow C Prep is clearly number 1;’; (3) maybe its time for an open division, and 3 remaining classes or the final 4 play. This would allow the Catholic schools and schools of chopice a chance to earn their number 1 ranking (comment meant for SH boys). BTW, you had ND over Cromwell and said theat ND was playing its best ball- and you were way off. You have been way off on Cromwell and the shoreline all year. Your idea that Cromwell would have no shot at C Prep should make everyone realize that it actually helps my point- lol (just joking). Cromwell was never losing in he 4th qtr of any game this year (I’m pretty sure)BTW, Morgan is much better than you realize as they gave Cromwell the best games this year. Cromwell beat them fairly easy 2 of the 4 games. The other 2 Cromwell was in control but Morgan was in the game. Ashton is one of the best guards in the state, and Sulivan does not miss an open shot.
Did you see the C Prep/New London game? If so, did you notice that C Prep started holding the ball just over the midway mark of the 3rd qtr? Did you leave thinking that was a dominant CT team? Sounds like you have the same view as me just that an FCIAC team could beat them. My guess is we are both right. Of course, I am not suggesting every game the FCIAC team or Cromwell would win. I’m simply saying that the team I saw play agains New London, and against Mercy would not beat Cromwell. Again, I don’t think for a second that C Prep played their best games in either of those.
Final thought, when you type ‘homers,’ you sound like others who type ‘haters hate.’ Not an effective argument, and detracts from your real points.
Guilty as charged on the ND-FFLD prediction. Agree on Ashton and I love Sullivan’s game, very underrated player and congrats to both of them on their JCC selection. Quote from Grippo ” We ask Sami to do too much”. Speaks volumes on how they would fare against the top teams.
I did see the stall tactics from CPREP. It was puzzling at the time, but effective.
I do think CPREP could have been beaten, but, not by Cromwell.
Homer might be too strong of description, you have to admit that you favor the Shoreline.
Last and certainly least, Hoop fan, I’m still waiting for your assessment of Stamford from 6 weeks ago. Let me think, was it, “I’ll take EO Smith or Glastonbury against Stamford any day.”
Spot on as usual. You’re undefeated with your after the fact statements and playing hero to Cromwell when I say there are better teams.
I took the bait to! Congratulation Cromwell – until someone beats you on the court, not with their mouths you are entitled to claim the number 1 spot. I’ve watched you guys play the last few years and you have an outstanding coach and hard working players. Great season!!
Shaq Edwards from Weaver and the CCC Central was voted the Gator Aid player of the year (best player in the state) I’ve seen all the others play and IMO (as well as the commitee that selected her) she is the best in the state. Congrat Shaq, I watched you play for the last 3 years and you’re the best all around player I’ve seen!!
You can’t lose four games unless you play them, the “played the worst game” and “got them on a bad night” is getting old!
Would love to see Bad Rug coaching a team next year!
Anyone know why she left Capital Prep to join weaver? Makes you wonder what’s going on at Capital… can’t be entirely legit
Gotta love shoreline fans…..
partial, New London is not that good. They lost to Waterford who was smoked by Morgan. This discussion has nothing to do with the Shoreline other than Cromwell happens to be in that conference. Did you see the C Prep/New London game? If so, did you really think it was well played? Did you think it was odd that C Prep was pulling the ball out just past the midway mark of the 3rd quarter? C Prep plays about 2-4 good teams a year in CT (including state tourney) because their conference is the worst in the state, and they choose to play a tough out of state conference game as opposed to the top teams in the state- I have no issues with that at all- it gets their girls great exposure and that is the goal of their program. However, C Prep is the only team that is good in their conference- literally. Last year’s C Prep was lights out, head and shoulders the best. They had KG who has proved to be one of the Greatest of All Time in CT. They are simply a very good basketball team this year- beatable by another good team just like every other team in this state. Individually they were very talented but for whatever reason as a team they did not live up to the expectations that I had for them. I expected them to be dominant but I just didn’t happen. IMO there is no dominant team in the state this year and that was proven on the court. Why not a final four with the state winners, or an open division that you opt to play in. Imagine that scenario in the Boys side- HH, East Catholic, SH and Immac? That would be great to see. I would expect SH to win but at least we could end this hiding in a lower division nonsense that sometimes happens.
I agree with most of this completely except for the New London was not that good comment. They did not look good in the final, but they were a very good team.
First, I certainly understand people voting Capital Prep #1. They are a team with outstanding players on it. They did not lose to any team in CT. I believe they must be considered #1. That said, I was not impressed with them in the final game. I thought New London’s defense was slow, and was surprised Capital Prep did not take more advantage of it.
I do agree though that because Cromwell is a small suburban school from the Shoreline Conference, some people dismiss them as inferior. They dominated the Class M tournament. The only reason that the Holy Cross game was even within 12 points was that Siders shot about 80% on three pointers.
Cromwell’s team defense was really impressive all year. They are truly the case where the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts, a true team. I read that the four seniors have played togehter for 8 years, it shows.
Last year and the year before, Capital Prep was on another level than the other CT teams. Last year, Capital Prep would have beaten Cromwell by 30 or more. This year is another story. Cromwell could have beaten them. If they played 5 times, I would say one team would win 3 and the other would win 2.
Capital Prep has earned their number 1 ranking. Elmore gets all the ink, but their other starters are very good. Glad to see they are no longer completely dominant, it’s better for the sport. It’s a shame that they don’t play more games in the regular season against top teams in CT.
I agree with the thought of an open tourney. It could be the following weekend or even mid season. I also agree on the girls side no team was dominant and couldn’t be beat. But that’s a good thing. Nothing against Cromwell but not like they play any harder of a schedule than anyone else.
Been watching this for years, here is what (I think) it comes down to:
Team beats superstar any day
D1 players are not always dominant Highschool players
Dominate highschool players are not always D1 players
Key to success – reward unselfish play – must have best interest of team first in everyones mind – coaches need to reward this and tolerate nothing else
final thought
All great points. Here is some backup, the Heisman trophy rarely guarantees NFL success. Look at the mcd’s womens all American selections the last bunch of years, who gets the most, nd, Stanford, ucla, sc and others,who always wins?
Geno picks under the radar unselfish players, team first and nothing else is tolerated.
Bad Rug, where you get it wrong is trying to count up the D1 players and rate teams accordingly. Basketball is a TEAM game. The best TEAM wins, not the team with the best players. Not the team from the best conference either. Capital Prep plays in the worst conference in the state, but people don’t hold that against them.
I believe I made 1 example using D1 players in Ridgefield. I’ve also described them as overrated because they don’t play the team game. They needed 2 or 3 balls on the offensive end, ultimate downfall.
My description of CPREP in the other forum listing the players was in response to someone claiming no one besides Elmore was getting college looks.
CPREP has been the real deal for years. Conference affiliation isn’t in question because of just that.
This really isn’t difficult to understand. If you put Cromwell in the FCIAC, or, to appease ciacfan, in the vaunted CCC North (seriously), how many losses would they have this year? I won’t give my opinion, please answer this question.
CCC Central
Well, you already gave your opinion earlier, but here’s mine. I think Cromwell is the second best team in the state. I don’t think there is much of a difference between 1-5. The top teams in the FCIAC had 1-3 losses in the league. So I think Cromwell would have had 1-3 losses in that league. Most likely 1 or 2 because I think they are just a hair better than the top teams.
I think Stamford would beat Cromwell, and they’d (Cromwell) would probably lose 1 more of these: Warde, Ridgefield, Greenwich, Trumbull, but they’d be the favorite in the rest and would probably finish 2 or 3 in the conference.
In the CCC Central: they’d probably lose 2 of these games: Weaver, Glastonbury, Conard, Farmington, NWC; EO & SW would be a toss up, but would be a favorite anywhere else and like the FCIAC would probably finish top 3.
CCC Central is the most overrated conference in the state this year. The only quality win that I see from them out of conference is Avon over Ridgefield; otherwise, every big game they lose. They beat each other and everyone is in awe. To me, it just shows that they all rely on a few key players, and if they are not playing well then they lose. Weaver cannot even beat Rocky Hill without Shaq- no chance against Cromwell. Where are the quality wins outside of conference from any of the too many CCC teams? S.W. over Mercy. No doubt that Cromwell would win any CCC conference, and more than likely they go unbeaten. Again, many of these teams have played Cromwell just not in official high school games. Morgan would be in the top 3 of any of the CCC conferences, including the CCC overrated Central- no doubt in my mind.
Bad Rug, I’ll take the bait. You do realize that Cromwell plays in a girls basketball league with the CCC teams in grades 5-8. I know, I know that is a long time ago but guess who usually won while playing against teams such as West Hartford that only had one team in the league. Granted, a long time ago. Let’s look at a more recent look- Summer league in 2015 guess who dominated. I know kids missed games for AAU and difference coach’s but guess what- Cromwell has kids that play AAU and different coach’s. Lets go to fall ball with many of the CCC teams- guess who won. Cromwell- I know that ‘s different and not the same. Let’s go to scrimmages during the season- guess who won? Cromwell. I know, that’s different because you play all the kids- as does Cromwell. I’m not going to get into all of this because it was beaten to death early in the year by other’s with more knowledge. Remember, you have been bashing Cromwell since week 1. Cromwell would have -0- or maybe 1 loss in CCC central. Morgan is far better than you realize and would be a top 2-3 team in the CCC central.
As far as the FCIAC- I can’t comment because I don’t know those teams well enough. This year they’e the best conference because their bottom teams are much better than the bottom teams of other conferences. With that said, I’m starting to wonder how good the FCIAC truly is. Your bias in favor of any team from the southern part of the state puts into doubt the superlatives you use to describe players and teams down there. You comment after the ND-Cromwell game- “they played the worst game in the history of state finals.” You do not give any credit to Cromwell. I understand a bad shooting night as it happens but ND struggled to get a decent shot off for the entire game. Ridgefield has 8 losses, and Stamford was soundly beaten missing just one player (albeit a great player). If Stamford is so great that should not happen.
You say that I am pro shoreline- I’ve only mentioned Cromwell and Morgan. I stand by my comment earlier in the year- those two teams can easily play with any conference. As far as Cromwell, I’m reminded of the Milan Indians of 1954. I’m sure the Munci Central Bearcats from a powerhouse program, and a much larger school were convinced that they would win. But they didn’t. You see, the height of the hoop is the same whether you play for a city school or a small town. With only five players on the court at once, every once in awhile a small town shows that they are the best even against the large cities. Don’t fret Bad Rug, Cromwell is losing 4 starters so they will not be a dominant team in the state next year. You can relax, and find another team to pick on. May I suggest Enfield. A relatively small public school, plays in a poor conference but has a very talented core group that is young. If you choose them, you can pick on them for 2 years as most of them will only be juniors next year. I look forward to your reasoning as to why they couldn’t compete in the FCIAC, and yes I know you will always say that they are and will always be the best conference. Enfield will be playing teams who had a bad day, a player was missing, or maybe even both…. Good day
Let’s try to stay civil here JAT. I’m not picking on Cromwell, I’ve been saying this from day one. They are a good team, not the best. I have understimated them in calling them a top 10, not a top 5 team. I will put them at around the 5 spot.
It was just a matter of time for the Hoosiers angle to be brought in. Forgive me for not knowing his real name, but, I believe “Jimmy Chitwood” could have easily been considered the best player on the court every time he played? At least that’s how I perceived his ability.
I forgot to mention the class M champions St. Joseph of 2015, yes, coming out of the FCIAC with 6 losses. Those losses were to Ridgefield, Warde, Greenwich, Stamford, Trumbull and Wilton. 5 out of those 6 teams had basically everyone coming back making them the prohibitive choice for the state’s best conference. Maybe we can draw some conclusions from this. They beat Cromwell in the finals and the FCIAC in 2016 is considered even stronger than they were in 2015.
Suburbia, let’s say Cromwell has 2 FCIAC losses for argument’s sake. That’s also assuming they win the FCIAC tournament. (We saw New London drop after the Waterford loss)
They’re now class M state champs at 26-2. Where are they in the rankings? I guess it depends on who beat them and when they lost. Very similar to what happened to these FCIAC teams throughout the year.
Bad Rug, Cromwell was not ranked highly all year just because they were undefeated. Look at Enfield. They were also undefeated, but never ranked very high. That’s because they didn’t have the past success of Cromwell, and didn’t pass the eye test like Cromwell did. Enfield was yet another team that had a top player more highly recruited than anyone on Cromwell, but the TEAM was not as good as Cromwell’s TEAM.
I have no problem with you thinking that Cromwell is only maybe the 5th best team. I don’t agree with it, but as I said, those top 5 or however many are very close. We all have our different opinions. The only issue I had was the dismissal of them because of their conference. Anyway, the back and forth has been fun this season, if everyone had the same opinions, there would be no discussion.
Can’t wait to see what teams rise up next season into the discussions. Enfield should be an interesting watch as their youngsters improve, and they move to a better conference. I would think Fermi might have at least one player to help them. We’ll see if Mercy can gel next year. I think the lack of dominance by Cap Prep made things much more interesting this year.
One final thing also. I actually don’t like the idea of the winner of the four classes playing each other for an ultimate champion. I think that would diminish the significance of the existing state championships.
Bad Rug, I was just having some fun with a little creative writing. Nice catch on the Hoosiers stuff- Plump was his real name. The St Joe game last year was a travesty. St Joe shot 44 free throws in a 32 minute game. Cromwell I think shot 17 for the game. St Joe scored only 1 basket the entire second half, and the rest of the points were on free throws. The refs (1 in particular) called a foul if anybody went near a St Joe player. Both teams played man to man defense picking up at half court so its not like St. joe sat in a zone so they had less fouls. Normally, I would not bring up the free throws but since you brought up that game… It was the worst officiated game I have ever seen at a high school level. Go watch the game again. The entire St Joe team wore knee pads (have you ever seen that before?), every time a person was near them they would jump to the ground., and a foul would be called. It was like watching a soccer game. Cromwell is much better than a year ago. Bench is much deeper and the kids that came back are much stronger. Its okay to admit it. Say it out loud “Cromwell can beat any team in the state this year.” Doesn’t that feel better. lol
OK, Cromwell is better this year. My point exactly with the FCIAC.
You guys absolutely tear me to shreds for anything resembling an excuse. Can’t have it both ways. Fact is St Joe’s came out of the FCIAC with 6 losses in 2015 to what are essentially the conference’s top 5 teams (minus Wilton) this year.
As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think they would come out of the CCC Central unscathed.
Anyways, I have my opinion and from the looks of it, not too much backup.
Class M Playoffs Round Three 3 of the 8 were shoreline teams.
Cromwell 28-0 Class M champs Ranked #2
Just the facts ma’am