St. Joseph boys’ basketball coach Vito Montelli was named the National Coach of the Year by the ESPNHS boys’ basketball section.


Montelli, 79, just finished his 50th season. The Cadets won their second straight Class LL state championship to finish 25-1 and the unanimous top choice in the final Register Top 10 poll. He has a state-record 878 career wins.

Here is Connecticut's roster for the JCC Schoolboy Classic on April 21 in Bridgeport.

Lucas Hausman of Hopkins, James Jennings from St. Joseph, Zach Lewis from Northwest Catholic, Nolan Long from Waterford, Billy McDonald from North Haven, John Papale from Choate, Darren Payen from Hamden Hall, Trachone Preston from Enfield, Terry Tarpey from Fairfield Prep, Demetrius Thomas from Bassick and Chris Walters from Westhill.

The team will be coached by Vito Montelli, who just completed his 50th season at St. Joseph.

We took the weekend off from hoops to rest, take in some NCAA hoop games and the selection show, and now it's time to reconvene for the final week of the season.

The biggest game on Monday's quarterfinal-round schedule is the Class LL tilt between No. 5 New London and No. 4 Windsor. The game has been moved to CCSU to accommodate fans to see what is like a final. For those who cannot get there, CPTV Sports will be broadcasting the game live. That can be seen on Comcast cable channels 185, 187 and 744 and on the Cox Communications cable system channel 144.

The next biggest game on the docket is Ridgefield vs. St. Joseph, a matchup of FCIAC foes that became even more heated when the CIAC moved this game as well to Fairfield Warde from St. Joes. As you can imagine, the St. Joes contingent was unhappy to say the least and there has been some sniping back and forth in the media between the coaches (Vito Montelli and Carl Charles) who don't like each other much to begin with.
So the sideline antics may be fun to watch to, but these are two good teams in a game that should go down to the final minutes.

I will be at the Floyd Little Athletic Center for Hillhouse hosting Manchester at 6 p.m. Don't be so fast to put this one in the win column for Hillhouse. Manchester advanced to the CCC tournament final, beating previously-undefeated Hartford Public along the way.

The other LL game is New Britain, which upset Public on Thursday, at Fairfield Prep, trying to make another run to the Class LL state finals.

In Class M, top-seeded Enfield, the NCCC champ, hosts Ledyard, the ECC runner-up, Watertown, the NVL champion, hosts Brookfield, Waterford hosts Valley Regional, last year's Class S champ, and Kaynor Tech, the CSC champion, hosts Notre Dame-Fairfield, the SWC tournament runner-up.

Two Class LL quarterfinal-round games Monday have been moved from home to neutral sites.


The first, No. 5 seed New London at No. 4 Windsor, Is now at Central Connecticut State University. That decision was made by the CIAC prior to the second-round games being played. The reason? CCSU is obviously a much bigger venue and fans would get shut out of Windsor, which holds less than 1,000 people.

According to Bob Cecchini, the CIAC tournament director, Windsor initiated the process because the school was concerned about an overflow crowd.

The CIAC decided on Friday to move the matchup of FCIAC teams, No. 9 Ridgefield at No. 1 St. Joseph, to Fairfield Warde High.

Granted, Warde is a bigger venue (920 capacity for St. Joseph, 1,661 for Warde) but this is a little more puzzling. If you want to move it, why not go to a college facility? I’m sure Sacred Heart University could be made available.

Naturally, St. Joseph coach Vito Montelli is up in arms about it. Not only did six seniors play their final home game Thursday against Cheshire, but now they lose their home-court advantage over someone they played already. The Cadets has every right to be upset. They had no say in the matter.

But although Ridgefield coach Carl Charles called Cecchini Thursday night to make the same plea about crowd concerns, Cecchini insisted that he already had thought about moving that game if need be before Thursday. The CIAC tournament packet states that Cecchini has the right to move quarterfinal-round home games if need be.

“I talked to a couple of people on the basketball committee and we decided to move the game,” Cecchini said. I’ve spoken with Vito and (St. Joseph athletic director) Jim Olayos. I talked to several parents. They are all upset with me but I felt we had to do it. I don’t want people to get locked out. Fairfield Warde has a great reputation (for hosting big games) so that was a natural. I know I’m the bad guy but for the best interest of high school basketball in the state of Connecticut I made the right decision.”

Look, I’m all for bigger venues so fans don’t get shut out. The CIAC executive hasn’t forgotten what happened at Sheehan back in 2005, when near-riots erupted outside Sheehan High because fans with paid tickets got shut out of the Crosby-Xavier Division I semifinal. That is why the Class LL and L semifinals are now held at CCSU and the Floyd Little Athletic Center, respectively.

That’s what makes the move to quarterfinal-round home sites two years ago very puzzling. It was done because there are not enough sites to go around. Cecchini said the committee will revisit this and maybe go back to neutral sites.

They should. If need be, spend the money for venues like Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, since new management there has expressed interest in getting back involved with high school athletics.

It’s easy for me to say because it is not my money. But it’s also not right to have to have some games at home, others at neutral sites. You have to be consistent. And in this case, the CIAC was not.

In addition to No. 2 St. Joseph, a 50-44 loser to Ridgefield, two other undefeated teams ranked in the top 10 lost.
No. 8 McMahon lost to Staples 67-54 and No. 10 Glastonbury fell to Manchester 67-51.

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