UConn coach Kevin Ollie (pictured above, center) was there from the start to finish to witness No. 4 Fairfield Prep beating Notre Dame-West Haven 74-57.
College coaches are not permitted to talk about potential recruits, but one can surmise who Ollie was there to seet Friday night: 7-foot center Paschal Chuwku from Prep. A transfer from Trinity Catholic, Chuwku had nine points and 11 rebounds. He struggles some on the offensive end, but teams are simply not going to get much in the lane against him and Tim Butala (career-high 23 points, 11 rebounds).

Prep was able to handle Notre Dame-West Haven and will move up in the polls this week with St. Joseph losing to Wilton (and getting outscored 20-2 in the fourth quarter - BY WILTON???).

Prep went to the Class LL state tournament semifinals last year - and with everyone back, along with Chuwku and freshman Ryan Murphy (18 points), this team is already better than last year's squad.

But now there will be no complaints about Prep's non-SCC Quinnipiac Division schedule: The Jesuits play both Career and Hillhouse twice. So there will be no debate which team is best in the SCC when the postseason rolls around.

And maybe, just maybe, that team may not come from the Elm City. Long way to go.

Two showdowns in West Haven that will impact the Southern Connecticut Conference Quinnipiac Division standings:

No. 4 and unbeaten Fairfield Prep at Notre Dame-West Haven with head coach Gary Palladino coming off his 400th victory at the school last week against Berlin. Follow me along on Twitter @nhrJoeMorelli for updates this evening.

Also, Xavier makes the trek down from Middletown to face West Haven.

Other intriguing SCC games on tonight's schedule includes: Sheehan at Cheshire, Hamden at Hand and Amity at Banford.

in case you missed it celebrating the New Year, the latest boys' basketball top 10 poll is out.


Valley Regional is the favorite to win the Shoreline Conference, but there might be another team or two with a chance. Which ones? Check out one of them here.