For those who still want the parochial teams to be in their own tournament, this may be the next best thing.

The CIAC has put into affect for the 2013-14 season a new formula to determine how schools that draw from more than one district. That includes magnet schools, parochial schools, those with project choice and now including vocational technical and vocational schools like Platt Tech and O'Brien Tech.

And it is based just on postseason success, not enrollment.

For example, Trinity Catholic, which draws from more than one town with a Class S enrollment,  has made the state finals, in two different divisions, two of the last three years, and the quarterfinals in another. Trinity maybe moves up to Class LL.
Another example: Career was a state finalist in M two seasons a go, a Class L champion last year and a Class L quarterfinalist this past season. So look for Career to be in Class LL.

On the other hand, if reigning Class S finalists Granby and Weaver return again next season to the final, both, by this change, would remain in Class S for the 2014-15 season.

Joe Palladino of the Waterbury Republican-American and Ned Griffen of the Day of New London wrote articles pertaining how programs in their respective areas would be affected.

My initial thoughts: I think it is best for all parochial and magnet schools to be in the two highest divisions, period. I have always felt that way. With the success Immaculate and Captial Prep have had in Class S in multiple sports, I truly believe they should be moved up. And if teams make at least the quarterfinals for three straight seasons, small schools could move up TWO DIVISIONS.

But what I don't like is teams moving down, parochial, magnet or otherwise. Once you have had a certain amount of postseason success on a semi-regular basis, you should move up and stay there.
We all know which programs are rich in tradition in its respective sports. To see programs request to move down, or just be move down based on being bounced early from the tournament, or having a bad couple of seasons, is that necessarily fair t those teams in the other division?

Credit to the CIAC basketball committee for trying to come up with a fair option. You will never satisfy everyone. Even if the parochials had their own tournament, there would be complaints. Let's see if this new format has some success.

The 52 annual JCC Schoolboy Classic will be held Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center in Bridgeport. The Connecticut Team will face New Jersey.
Tickets are $10 in advance by calling the the JCC at 203-372-6567, Ext 140. Tickets can also be purchased at the door.
The Connecticut team, coached by Vin Laczkoski (Notre Dame-Fairfield) and Levy Gillespie (Capital Prep) is as follows: Khalil Dukes (Capital Prep), Dan Upchurch (Notre Dame-Fairfield), Walter Wright (Wilby), Schadrac Casimir (Trinity Catholic), Cane Broome (St. Thomas More), Dan Garvin (Bethel), Jordan Butler (Glastonbury), Kurt Steidl (Ridgefield), Keith Porter (New London), Sean Obi (Greens Farms Academy), Brandon Kuczenski (Naugatuck) and Phil Moriber (Barlow).

Take a peek at the NH Register All-Area Boys Basketball team, led by Coach of the Year Renard Sutton of Hillhouse (above).

If you missed the Register's All-State team that came out last Sunday, check it out here.

Hillhouse advanced to its third Class LL state championship in four years with a win over Xavier in the semifinals.

The Academics will face fellow SCC team Fairfield Prep for the fourth time this season in the final, likely Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Mike Cardillo of the Connecticut Post has the account of Prep's win over East Hartford.

Both Career and Wilbur Cross won Class L state tournament games against Tuesday night against Hand and Fairfield Ludlowe, respectively.

Hyde lost its opening round Class M game to Notre Dame-Fairfield. Hillhouse opens Class LL tournament play today against Manchester.

Two referees, Steve Kirck and Pat Paulson (above), are completing their final seasons as IAABO Board 10 officials.

Here are 10 story lines to watch for the CIAC state tournament that begins in earnest today.

Plenty of big-time players in the tournament. Here are 5 to watch.

And plenty of bulletin-board material here: some predictions for the next two weeks.

Here is the latest Register Top 10 poll.

It was a defensive struggle - or bad offense, take your pick - Tuesday night at TD Bank.

Hillhouse took the title 53-47 in overtime over Fairfield Prep. It was the sixth title for the Academics, tying them with Wilbur Cross.

The Academics trailed the entire fourth quarter until Andre Anderson's driving layup tied the game at 39-39.

Then Hillhouse really turned up the defense...blocking two shots on Prep's final possession to force overtime.

In the four-minute extra session, Hillhouse forced seven turnovers (26 overall). Raiquan Clark was the star, scoring 15 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Hillhouse held 7-foot center Paschal Chukwu without a field goal. Chukwu finished with eight points,20 rebounds, and 10 blocks. He will be a force in the Class LL state tournament.

What will get lost in the title will be Hilllhouse's own subpar offense: 27 percent overall (17 of 63), including just 2 of 20 from 3-point range. Similar shooting numbers three years ago led North Haven to a stunning upset over the Academics.

So the offense will have to be better than that if Hillhouse wants to return to the Mohegan Sun next month for the Class LL championship final. The only way Hillhouse could see Prep for a fourth time would be at the Sun in the final.

It would be surprising if neither of these teams got there.

Here we go:

SCC tournament final - at Quinnipiac University

No. 1 Hillhouse vs. No. 2 Fairfield Prep, 7 p.m.: The matchup everyone hoped for and the one both teams predicted would happen again. Both teams are fearless and both teams should be amped up for this matchup. We know the strengths of each team. We know both teams have few weaknesses, if any.

I've gone back and forth all day on this one. I think the difference should be Hillhouse's motivation to avenge their only loss. Prep already did. And the Academics have been here before: Hillhouse in the final seconds.

Shoreline tournament semifinals - at site of higher seed

No. 4 Hyde at No. 1 Valley Regional, 7 p.m.: No one has beaten Valley yet in the league and there's no reason to think anything will change here.
No. 3 Cromwell at No. 2 Old Lyme: Either way, it's a rematch of one of the last two Shoreline Conference tournament finals against Valley. I will go with: Cromwell.

SWC tournament semifinals - at Newtown

No. 2 Bethel vs. No. 3 Notre Dame-Fairfield, 6 p.m.: Bethel beat ND in OT during the regular season. But this is Notre Dame's time of the year normally: Notre Dame.
No. 1 Bunnell vs. No. 4 Kolbe Cathedral, 8 p.m.: Bunnell only won by one last time out. Expect another tight one, and the same result: Bunnell.

FCIAC Tournament semifinals - at Fairfield Warde

No. 6 Wilton vs. No. 2 Trinity Catholic: Wilton i the only team to beat St. Joseph this season and eliminated Westhill in the quarterfinals. But Trinity is simply better: Trinity Catholic.
No. 1 St. Joseph vs. No. 4 Bridgeport Central: This was a tremendous game the first time around. St. Joseph has been arguably the best team in the state over the past three seasons, but hasn't won this tournament. Upset special: Central

CSC tournament semifinals - at Floyd Little Athletic Center, New Haven

Top two seeds move on: No. 1 Capital Prep and No. 2 Kaynor Tech

So Fairfield Prep coach Leo Redgate did something I've never seen happen: play his substitutes in a tournament semifinal game for nearly a quarter. It almost cost the Jesuits.
Prep was down 15-0 before Paschal Chukwu, Ryan Murphy and Tom Nolan re-entered the game with 1:23 left in the first quarter; Prep was down to Wilbur Cross 17-1 at the end of the quarter.
Then Prep made its slow climb to what ended up being a 68-59 win and a spot in tonight's SCC championship game against Hillhouse featuring the best two teams in the league all year long and the top two teams in the Register Top 10 poll.
So did Leo Redgate do the right thing? He did by those seniors who obviously mean a lot to him to play them in such a big spot. He would've been second-guessed by everyone from now until the end of time - not that he cares - if Prep lost.
"Even if we lost the game, I don;t think it would have been the most horrible thing to happen to the Fairfield Prep basketball program," he said. "I would go to the mat with any of these guys and if we lost because of it, then so be it. If they are going to fire me, they can fire me."
And since he said he wasn't trying to discipline the trio of starters - he said as much after the game - then I guess we have to take him at his word. But he indirectly took a shot at the SCC tournament.
Because by pulling off this stunt, he basically is using the league tournament as a practice for the state tournament. Most coaches would tell you the same thing, that the state tournament carries more weight than the league tournament, and they would all be correct.
Would Redgate do this in the Class LL tournament? I doubt it. He knows that loss would be his last for the season. By doing it in this tournament, he still has the bigger one ahead of him.
So, in my opinion, doing what he did not only was a nice thing to do for those seniors, it also belittled the importance of the SCC tournament. You can make the argument he made a mockery of it.
I wonder what others are thinking today about it. Let me hear from you (jmorelli@nhregister.com, @nhrJoeMorelli on Twitter).

But this reflects even worse on Cross. The Jesuits outplayed the Governors, but those who were there will not only remember Redgate starting his subs for almost seven minutes, but also how Cross couldn't make Prep pay for it.
Josh Fleming did all he could to get Cross over the top - he finished with a game-high 33 points. But no one else had more than 11. And the Governors failed to impose their collective will on what is a much better basketball team than Cross is.
Yes the game was called tightly by the veteran group of officials Pat Paulson, Mike Gambardella and Mike Scanlon. And it's clear Cross coach Kevin Walton was frustrated with how it was officiated.
“I think our kids made enough plays to win this game, and that is where the game should be decided, with the kids," Walton said afterwards.
But the officials didn't shoot 10 of 22 from the line - Cross did. And the refs didn't let Nolan and Murphy cut down the lane for multiple baskets in the second half, either.

This was one of the more bizarre games - and exciting for a lot of reasons - I have ever seen in 20 years of covering high school sports. I wonder what the SCC championship game will bring.

Monday's action should be pretty good. We will see if the predictions are just as good:

SCC tournament semifinals - at East Haven

No. 2 Fairfield Prep vs. No. 3 Wilbur Cross, 6 p.m.: First matchup of the season between these two teams. Cross will try to be very physical with the Jesuits. Will be interesting to see how many shots Paschal Chukwu can block - and if he picks up fouls in the process. This game will be close, but Prep has more answers on offense: Prep by single digits.
No. 1 Hillhouse vs. No. 4 Notre Dame-West Haven, 7:45 p.m.: Notre Dame has had a couple of terrific comebacks the last two days - rallying to beat Amity in overtime in the quarterfinals Saturday (pictured above), falling short to Stratford in a makeup game Sunday. How much do the Green Knights have left? An upset under normal circumstances would be asking a lot - Hillhouse.

NVL tournament semifinals - at Wilby

No. 6 Watertown vs. No. 2 Wilby, 5 p.m.: Jon Mitchell and Ed Hill are two great players, but this is a tough spot for the defending champs against Walter Wright and Co. - Wilby.
No. 4 Wolcott vs. No. 1 Crosby, 7 p.m.: Wolcott's Mike Bozzuto vs. Crosby's Tyshon Rogers is your matchup of stars. But before Watertown won it last yera, Crosby owned this tournament: Crosby.

CCC tournament quarterfinals

#4 New Britain vs #5 Hartford Public at Bulkeley, 5 p.m.: New Britain in a close game
#1 Simsbury vs #8 Glastonbury at Bulkeley, 7 p.m.: It's been an impressive season for Simsbury, earning the top seed ahead of plenty of very solid programs. One of those is Glastonbury and Jordan Butler and Company move on by a whisker: Glastonbury.
#3 East Hartford vs #6 Bloomfield at Maloney, 5 p.m.: East Hartford loses Cane Broome to prep school and still is among the best programs in the CCC: East Hartford.
#2 Windsor vs #10 Newington at Maloney, 7 p.m.: Windsor is healthy now: Look out: Windsor.

So many games to choose, so much bulletin-board material to provide. Here goes:

SCC — at Branford

No. 1 Hillhouse vs. No. 8 Cheshire, 11 a.m.: Hillhouse could have some trouble with the early start, but should pull away late
No. 4 Notre Dame-West Haven vs. No. 5 Amity, 12:45 p.m.: No way the Green Knights go out without at least one win for outgoing head coach Gary Palladino.
No. 2 Fairfield Prep vs. No. 7 Career, 2:30 p.m.: Prep wins this matchup for the third time.
No. 3 Wilbur Cross vs. No. 6 Xavier, 4:15 p.m.: Cross plays everyone well except Hillhouse. So the Govs move on.

Shoreline — at site of higher seed

No. 8 Morgan at No. 1 Valley Regional, 2 p.m.: Valley is on a mission to win the title, pure and simple.
No. 7 Haddam-Killingworth at No. 2 Old Lyme, 7 p.m.: Old Lyme
No. 6 East Hampton at No. 3 Cromwell, 2 p.m.: Cromwell
No. 5 Westbrook at No. 4 Hyde, 1 p.m.: Westbrook in a mini-upset.

FCIAC — at Fairfield Ludlowe

No. 3 Westhill vs. No. 6 Wilton, noon: Westhill rebounds from two losses to end the regular season.
No. 2 Trinity Catholic vs. No. 7 Norwalk, 2 p.m.: This was a pretty good matchup back in December. Will be again, but result stays the same: Trinity moves on.
No. 4 Bridgeport Central vs. No. 5 Ridgefield, 5 p.m.: Ridgefield
No. 1 St. Joseph vs. No. 8 Greenwich, 7 p.m.: St. Joseph

SWC — at Masuk

No. 3 Notre Dame-Fairfield vs. No. 6 Masuk, 11:30 a.m.: Notre Dame gets the road game here, but the Lancers are up to the task.
No. 2 Bethel vs. No. 7 Weston, 1:15 p.m.: Bethel
No. 4 Kolbe Cathedral vs. No. 5 Stratford, 3 p.m.: Stratford
No. 1 Bunnell vs. No. 8 Newtown, 4:45 p.m.: Bunnell

 NVL — at Wilby

No. 3 Kennedy vs. No. 6 Watertown, noon: Watertown in an mild upset
No. 2 Wilby vs. No. 7 St. Paul, 1:45 p.m.: Wilby
No. 4 Wolcott vs. No. 5 Woodland, 3:30 p.m.: Woodland
No. 1 Crosby vs. No. 8 Naugatuck, 5:15 p.m.: The Greyhounds are probably the last team Crosby wants to see in the opening round. Crosby wins in single digits.

CCC — at site of higher seed

No. 16 NWC at No. 1 Simsbury, 1 p.m.: NWC with the upset
No. 15 Wethersfield at No. 2 Windsor, 12:30 p.m.: Windsor
No. 14 Berlin at No. 3 East Hartford, 1 p.m.: East Hartford
No. 13 Bristol Central at No. 4 New Britain, 1 p.m.: New Britain
No. 12 RHAM at No. 5 Hartford Public, 1 p.m.: Public
No. 11 EO Smith at No. 6 Bloomfield, 1 p.m.: EO Smith
No. 10 Newington at No. 7 Maloney, 1 p.m.: Maloney
No. 9 Manchester at No. 8 Glastonbury, noon: A great first-round matchup. Manchester at the buzzer

ECC — at St. Bernard

No. 9 Waterford vs. No. 1 Ledyard, noon: Ledyard
No. 7 Stonington vs. No. 2 Woodstock Academy, 2 p.m.: Woodstock
No. 6 Bacon Academy vs. No. 3 New London, 4 p.m.: Bacon Academy
No. 5 NFA vs. No. 4 Windham, 6 p.m.: Windham

No. 1 Hillhouse hosts No. 2 Fairfield Prep tonight at 6 at the Floyd Little Athletic Center.

Here is a brief preview of tonight's action.

The latest Top 10 poll came out on Monday.

How did the first game turn out? Hillhouse won 59-44 at Alumni Hall.

Things pretty much went as expected Tuesday night in the SCC.

The game of the night was in New Haven: Wilbur Cross, behind Josh Fleming's career-high 33 points, beat Xavier 71-63 in overtime. The Govs are off to a 7-1 start behind first-year coach Kevin Walton.

The other game in New Haven was more decisive than expected: Fairfield Prep won 73-57 in a game that wasn't that close — Prep led 42-10 at halftime.Prep is still undefeated and headed for Tuesday's showdown with Hillhouse at home.

Branford coach Jake Palluzzi earned win No. 299 in the Hornets' 51-44 win over Hamden. The first attempt at No. 300 will be Friday at Career.

Notre Dame-West Haven has already won FOUR MORE GAMES than last season, now at 5-2 after beating East Haven57-47. Shelton also moved to 5-2 after beating Guilford 46-41.

North Haven took home win No. 2 of the season against West Haven, 55-44. And Amity edged Hand 61-59 as Zac Campbell went for 29 points for the Spartans (6-2). Hillhouse and Sheehan also won over Lyman Hall and Law, respectively.

The Foran at Cheshire game was postponed due to roof repair in the gym. The makeup date is Jan. 19 at 6 p.m.

Gary Palladino notched his 400th career victory as the Notre Dame-West Haven boys’ basketball coach Friday night as the Green Knights beat Berlin 66-60 in non-conference action at Alumni Hall in West Haven.

This is Palladino’s 31st and final season as head coach of the Green Knights. He announced this would be his final season earlier this month.

"I’m so happy for the kids who came back after going through a very difficult season last year," Palladino said about last year’s 1-19 campaign. The kids who returned did not want the same thing to happen this year."

Joe Bongiorni led the way with 18 points, including 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Tahj Eaddy and Kevin Walton Jr. had 14 and 13 points, respectively for the Green Knights (3-1). Berlin (1-3) rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit to tie the game in the fourth quarter, but never led.
PHOTOS: Palladino wins 400th game at ND

Palladino is also up for vote as the NH Register's Star of the Day poll. Please vote until 9 p.m. tonight.

For more on Friday's boys hoop action, check it out here

Notre Dame's game at Stratford tonight has been postponed. Check out other games from Saturday that have been postponed.

Gary Palladino is going for career win No. 400 at Notre Dame-West Haven tonight against Berlin at 7 p.m. at newly-named Alumni Hall.

Palladino has almost 500 career wins that includes several other high school stops and a stint at the University of Hartford. This is his 31st, and final, season at NDWH. He announced this would be his last year earlier this month.

With 30 seasons to think about, there are plenty of great players you can think of who came through Palladino's program. Who are some of those stars?

I'd like to hear from you. Send along your thoughts on some of his best players and why. Fell free to include as many names as possible and where they went onto play. At some point later this seasons, if I get enough responses, I will list the most popular ones here.

How can you reach me?

comment to this blog.

email me at jmorelli@nhregister.com

send me a direct message on twitter @nhrJoeMorelli

I look forward to your responses. Happy New Year!

Tonight will be the Class M state finals rematch from a year ago, Career vs. Trinity Catholic, this time in the Class L quarterfinals at Wilbur Cross High at 6.

Trinity was able to dominate in the fourth quarter behind center Pascal Chidiebere Chukwu, guard Schradac Casimir and the rest of the Crusaders. Check out our story from last year's final at the Mohegan Sun.


Trinity has added transfer Jason Boswell from St. Patrick's. But the Crusaders have had some mysterious losses (Greenwich comes to mind) and were beaten by Bassick in the FCIAC tournament final.

Career has had just a pair of 1-point losses to Hillhouse. The Panthers avenged those losses in the SCC tournament final and then rallied from an 18-point, third-quarter deficit to beat Elm City rival Wilbur Cross in the second round. If the Panthers fall that far behind against Trinity, they won't come back this time.

But last year should provide ample motivation for Treyvon Moore, Kenny Armstead and the rest of the team. The Panthers are a very good defensive team in full-court pressure and their active matchup zone.
When you move up in division, as both these teams did and should have, these are the great matchups you get at this point of the tournament. And it should go down to the wire.

Get to Cross early, folks.

The SCC division races are virtually over with. Career (Oronoque), Hillhouse (Hammonasset) and Cheshire (Housatonic) have already clinched. Fairfield Prep is one win away from tying for the Quinnipiac Division title. Xavier is the only team still with a shot after splitting with Prep during the regular season.

Amazingly, 18 teams still have a chance to qualify for both the state and SCC tournaments. That won't turn out to be the case in the end but it should still make for an interesting February in the SCC.

The Southern Connecticut Conference division races won't be determined Friday but in essence, some of them will be if certain results happen.

Start with the SCC Quinnipiac. Fairfield Prep takes its five-game winning streak to Middletown for a rematch with Xavier, which dealt Prep its last loss. Xavier is fighting for a state tournament berth after a slow start. If Xavier wins, it goes a game up over Prep with two left, but in essence, Xavier would have to lose both games to not be the recognized division champ and the higher seed in the league tournament even if the teams finish in a dead heat.

In the SCC Housatonic, Cheshire puts its unbeaten division record on the line at Sheehan. A win and Cheshire clinches a tie and would clinch it outright with a win Monday over Lyman Hall. So the Housy teams are rooting hard for Sheehan.

A win over Branford at home and Career would maintain a two-game lead in the SCC Oronoque with three road games left. That would leave it to North Haven, which trails by two in the loss column, to beat Career Monday. Career won by 24 last time out.

Then there's the Hammonasset where Hillhouse hasn't lost a game since 2005. That won't change.

Next week some SCC teams play as many as three games with a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule. Then division races will start to become official

After a Tuesday bye week for most SCC teams, the league returns with a full schedule this evening.
The biggest game is No. 7 Career vs. Wilbur Cross at 6 p.m. at the New Haven Athletic Center. Something has to give between these Oronoque Division foes: Career has won eight straight since a season-opening loss to Hillhouse while Cross has won four straight.
The top two teams play in the Hammonasset (3-0 Hillhouse at 3-0 Hand) and two of the top teams (West Haven at Fairfield Prep) play in the Quinnipiac.The first installment of the battle of Wallingford is tonight as a desperate 2-7 Lyman Hall team plays at Sheehan at 6 - part of a boys-girls doubleheader.
One big game in the Shoreline Conference is 9-1 Cromwell visiting 8-1 Coginchaug at 7:30 p.m.
In other action, Stratford travels to Notre Dame-Fairfield (SWC), Danbury tried to avoid losing its third straight in the FCIAC when it plays at unbeaten Ridgefield and Holy Cross tries to hand Watertown it second straight loss (NVL).

It appears all games scheduled for Tuesday night are on after Monday night's inclement weather.

But there aren't many games due to it being midterm week for most schools. Just two games on the SCC interdivision schedule: Cheshire tries to extend its winning streak to eight against Hamden (6:45 start at Cheshire), while Notre Dame-West Haven tries to win its first game of the season at Sheehan.

Top-ranked St. Joseph visits one-loss Danbury in the FCIAC. In Shoeline Conference play, Cromwell tries to rebound from its first loss against Old Saybrook (5 p.m. start) and Valley Regional hosts Hyde. In the NVL, Ansonia tries to snap a six-game losing streak at home against Torrington.