I never liked the idea of the SCC expanding its basketball tournaments from the start. To me, the real tournament always started when it got to East Haven for the quarterfinals.
Granted, some teams pulled seeded upsets, which makes the decision a good one in that respect. But if 17 teams had ever qualified, only 16 would get in, and that would have been wrong.
But Tuesday's decision by commissioner Al Carbone and his committee (Amity AD Paul Mengold, Sheehan AD VJ Sarullo and Mercy AD/girls coach Tim Kohs)
to reduce the field to 8 is understandable in one respect. Many schools have yet to go back since the blizzard hit and some (North Haven comes to mind) are out until the middle of next week.
So reducing the field to eight does have some merit, especially if teams cannot make up games until next week.
But if the CIAC pushes back the start of the state tournament because of this same reason, then we will look back on this and say, "The SCC pulled the trigger too early." And that would be correct.
And to think Carbone was talked out of having just the four division
winners in each sport rather than eight (the top four wildcard teams).
Unfortunately, this decision is more than just about postponements. It's also about hosting the event at Quinnipiac University.
The TD Bank Sports Center is only available the next two Tuesdays, Feb. 19 and 26, to the SCC. If the league had to postpone for weather, then it goes to a different venue.
But because the league, specifcially Carbone, wants to keep the finals there, the teams on the outside looking in pay the price. That could be up to seven girls teams and nine boys teams as of this post.
Tale the East Haven girls basketball team, the latest Register team of the Week. East Haven has rallied from a 2-7 start to qualify for the state tournament - but no longer the SCC tournament — unless East Haven beats Mercy in its season finale, a very tall order.
So head coach Anthony Russell had to break the news to his girls on Tuesday.
"I preached to them all year, 'You get your eight wins and you make it to the SCC and state tournament.' To have it snatched away from you because they have to make a timetable? What's more important: two teams play at Quinnipiac or 15-16 teams (boys and girls combined) have a chance to play in the tournament?"
We know the answer to that question for at least this year.
Carbone has always been proactive in his decisions. Getting Quinnipiac was one of those decisions. The SCC-FCIAC football merger is another.
But this decision was one of the worst ones. It should not come at the expense of this many teams and kids who were looking forward to the opportunity.
Carbone has always been quick to point out when we wrote teams that qualified for the state tournament also made the league tourney. He no longer has that leg to stand on.
If they go back to 16 (they should just return to 8 to avoid having this happen again), the argument no longer has the merit it once did because obviously, the state tournament means more than the SCC tournament.
The SCC owes those teams that would have qualified an apology.
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