Why no CCC Tournament?

[Unregistered]

Wow! That is probably the most well written, thoughtful post I have ever seen on TS. Thank you.

I have just two comments 1) Gbury is not the biggest school in the CCC. I believe Southington and New Britain are bigger, and think Middletown and Enfield may be as well.
2) Since 1980, 7 CCC schools have made finals appearances. No where near half the conference, but more than one school!

On 2)...

Was that CCC total ONLY the largest school division? Or all divisions?

You can add 23 more appearances and two more schools to the FCIAC tally if we look at all school divisions.

[Unregistered]

So besides Glastonbury, what other school in the ccc has been strong the last four years?

Crickets!

I believe the argument was made for Middletown in the op.

[Unregistered]

I believe the argument was made for Middletown in the op.

No, I believe the op said people think of Middletown number 2 in ccc, but the fact that they do nothing in the state tournament shows they are a far number 2 from Glastonbury, and not even a semi finalist in the fciac tournament. St joes, staples, Ridgefield and fill in the blank (Wilton, warde, Darien have all been solid the past few years). Heck, Ridgefield and st joes have been state finalists for three straight years. That 1,2 punch is impressive. I will be the first to say that the three year dominance of Glastonbury in LL was impressive as well. Let’s see if they can rebound after last year.

[Unregistered]

On 2)...

Was that CCC total ONLY the largest school division? Or all divisions?

You can add 23 more appearances and two more schools to the FCIAC tally if we look at all school divisions.

CCC total is for finals appearances in largest school division. 7 schools made 32 appearances.

[Unregistered]

Here’s another take on the rationale, using 4 teams from the past 4 years as examples:

Glastonbury - Suffield - Middletown- Ridgefield

Let’s dispense with Gbury right at the start. They are easily the best team in CT over the last 4 years, without question. Not just their incredible overall record, but their 3 straight LL titles (beating FFWarde, and Ridgefield twice) and a semifinals appearance in the 4th year (a pk loss to Ridgefield). During all 4 of those years, they easily won the CCC title facing scant real threat from a league where they are the largest school and one of only a few LL schools.

Suffield is the ugly twin to Gbury. I’m not comparing their quality to Gbury, just their league situation. In the NCCC, they are nearly as dominant as Gbury is in the CCC. The past 4 seasons has seen them suffer just 2 draws (in 2014) as their only league blemishes - the past 3 have been perfect records entering the state tournaments and therefore a high seed and easy path to late rounds. However, in the tourney, Suffield lost in the M Semis, lost to STJ in the L finals, lost to Ridgefield in the LL Semis, and lost to Darien in the LL qtrs. In all of the last 3, they were the higher ranked-undefeated team when they lost.

Now back to the CCC and arguably the second best team in that league over the past 4 seasons, Middletown. They were right near the top of the CCC in 3 of those years (2015 was the bad outlier). In 14, they finished the league with just 1 loss and 1 draw and a 2-seed in the tourney (they did NOT have to play Gbury during the league.) They hosted and lost to Ridgefield the #10 seed 3-0 in the qtrs. In 16, they finished the league with 2 losses and 1 tie (one loss was an 8-0 beating from Gbury) and they entered the tourney as a 11 seed. The lost to S Windsor in the 2nd round, 2-0, who lost to Ridgefield in the next round 6-1. And finally last year, Middletown finished the league with 4 losses and a draw with Gbury and again got the 11 seed. Gbury got revenge in the 2nd round of states with a 3-0 win in a rare case of CCC-on-CCC elimination.

Which leaves us with Ridgefield. Over those 4 years, they only won the FCIAC title twice, and had losses in the semis the other two. Still that counts as the most titles in the past 4 years. Over those 4 years, they had a combined 9 losses and 9 ties in league play and were seeded 10, 6, 3 & 7 in the tourney. In the states, they appeared in one semi (losing to FFWarde 1-0) and 3 finals (two Gbury losses) and won one title. In a league nearly completely comprised of LL teams, no FCIAC team has entered the state tourney with a perfect record since Trumbull in 2001 - 16 years!

It is not just the toll that FCIAC league play takes on your state seeding, but more importantly the toll it takes on the health of your players as you grind out wins against LL team after LL team.

No one is taking anything away from Glastonbury over that period, they are easily the best team. But there is no 100+ game win streak if they had to play 16 games a year against FCIAC teams.

The FCIAC is hands down the toughest league in the state - since 1980, 30 FCIAC teams have made finals appearances in the largest school division. And those 30 appearances cover 9 different schools, more than half of the league.

Take a look at New Canaan and you get even more flavor to how tough FCIAC is.

NC is one of the smallest schools in FCIAC. Despite that, they have a storied Athletic Dept heritage for success in many sports, including Girls Soccer.

During their 16 game FCIAC season, they play 14 schools that are bigger than them. Of the two schools that are smaller, one is STJ. Despite this size handicap, NC is known throughout the FCIAC as a tough game. They rarely finish at the top of the standings, and generally don't even make the FCIAC tourney. Their reg season record usually hovers at just above the .500 mark.

This "mediocre" record usually lands them a 20-ish seed in the L tourney. They rarely get to play any home games in states because of it. Last year they were a 25. They got to travel to Weathersfield where they "upset" the 8 seed. The next game they traveled to ND-Ffld and "upset" the #9 team. They lost in the next round to #1 RHAM.

I bet if you looked back in the last 4/5 years worth of brackets, NC would have more "upsets" than any team in the state.

For those that bemoan how many "bottom feeders" make it to the state tourney with the bar set at .400, keep NC in mind. They've been in a finals (L or M) 9 times and won 7 of those. They've NEVER won the FCIAC outright, they've been co-champs 3x in 34 years.

[Unregistered]

Take a look at New Canaan and you get even more flavor to how tough FCIAC is.

NC is one of the smallest schools in FCIAC. Despite that, they have a storied Athletic Dept heritage for success in many sports, including Girls Soccer.

During their 16 game FCIAC season, they play 14 schools that are bigger than them. Of the two schools that are smaller, one is STJ. Despite this size handicap, NC is known throughout the FCIAC as a tough game. They rarely finish at the top of the standings, and generally don't even make the FCIAC tourney. Their reg season record usually hovers at just above the .500 mark.

This "mediocre" record usually lands them a 20-ish seed in the L tourney. They rarely get to play any home games in states because of it. Last year they were a 25. They got to travel to Weathersfield where they "upset" the 8 seed. The next game they traveled to ND-Ffld and "upset" the #9 team. They lost in the next round to #1 RHAM.

I bet if you looked back in the last 4/5 years worth of brackets, NC would have more "upsets" than any team in the state.

For those that bemoan how many "bottom feeders" make it to the state tourney with the bar set at .400, keep NC in mind. They've been in a finals (L or M) 9 times and won 7 of those. They've NEVER won the FCIAC outright, they've been co-champs 3x in 34 years.

fciac groupies taking their braggadocio on the road! Visiting a CCC thread to deliver annual message of fciac best conference, best coaches, yada, yada, yada.

Cant stop em, but would be nice for all others if they would keep their dominance rhetoric on their own thread

[Unregistered]

fciac groupies taking their braggadocio on the road! Visiting a CCC thread to deliver annual message of fciac best conference, best coaches, yada, yada, yada.

Cant stop em, but would be nice for all others if they would keep their dominance rhetoric on their own thread

Does it really matter what thread the input is made on. My kid plays in the SWC and it's interesting to hear others perspectives. I wasn't aware of how New Canaan has done in the playoffs. Just like I didn't know Glastonbury wasn't the largest school in CCC or the Middletown was in the next tier.