The undefeated Staples boys’ basketball team and the girls’ basketball teams from Greenwich, Trumbull and Staples are the FCIAC teams ranked among the Top 10 in their respective GametimeCT state polls as the last games of regular season and first-round games in both conference tournaments had to be rescheduled twice.
The Blizzard of 2026, which landed serious snow bombs throughout the state, forced the postponement of all the Monday games of Feb. 23 which were supposed to be the final games of the regular season.
Those games were first rescheduled for Wednesday evening (Feb. 25) for the revised end of the regular season, and the opening quarterfinal games of both FCIAC tournaments were originally rescheduled for Friday, Feb. 27.
But another snowstorm which continued through Wednesday morning forced several more postponements and that necessitated a second round of rescheduling.
Most of the regular season finales in girls’ basketball and boys’ basketball did occur on Wednesday but several other games had to be postponed again and moved back one more day to Thursday, Feb. 26.
And the first round of quarterfinal games in both FCIAC tournaments were rescheduled for Saturday, Feb. 28.
The four quarterfinal games in each tournament will be played at the home courts of the top four seeded teams, with the sites and times of those games still to be determined.
Five boys’ basketball games got played Wednesday night and the results of those games confirmed the eight teams in the field for the 2025-26 FCIAC Boys Basketball Tournament.
The Staples Wreckers sealed the deal on an unbeaten regular season and the No. 1 seed when they improved to 20-0 overall and finished 15-0 in the FCIAC with their 67-49 victory at home over Ridgefield.
Three more boys’ basketball games were scheduled for Thursday night to officially conclude the regular season.
The other seven boys’ teams in the conference tournament, with their conference and overall records through Wednesday’s results, are Trumbull (13-2 FCIAC, 18-2 overall), Ridgefield (12-3, 15-5), Fairfield Ludlowe (11-4, 15-5), Fairfield Warde (10-5, 12-8), New Canaan (9-5, 13-6), Stamford (7-7, 10-9), and Westhill (7-8, 12-8).
Stamford hosting St. Joseph (5-9, 8-11) and New Canaan visiting Danbury (1-13, 3-16) were two of the three Thursday games in the latest rescheduling to officially end the regular season and consequently determine the exact seedings of the FCIAC boys’ tourney.
In potential tiebreaking scenarios which pertain to teams which might end up with identical records, New Canaan has beaten Fairfield Warde and Stamford defeated its city rival Westhill in the regular season.
The Staples Wreckers, 19-0 at the time the voting for the state poll took place, were the lone FCIAC team among the top 10.
The Wreckers were ranked No. 2 behind in Notre Dame-West Haven (17-3) in the GametimeCT Top 10 Boys Basketball Poll which was released Feb. 23.
Notre Dame Prep (17-3) was ranked third and followed by Windsor (19-1), No. 5 East Catholic (17-3), West Haven (17-3), Woodland (21-0), No. 8 Northwest Catholic (17-3), East Hartford (17-3), and Ellington (19-1).
Trumbull received the 12th most polling points and Ridgefield got the 17th most as the two FCIAC teams among the 11 total statewide in the “Others Receiving Votes” category.
In the GametimeCT Top 10 Girls Basketball Poll which was also released Feb. 23, FCIAC teams Greenwich, Trumbull and Staples were ranked 5-through-7. They all had identical 17-2 overall records when the voting took place and finished the regular season at 18-2 with their victories Wednesday.
Northwest Catholic (19-1) was ranked No. 1 and followed by Sacred Heart Academy (15-2), Mercy (18-2), and No. 4 Rocky Hill (19-1).
After that FCIAC trio of Greenwich, Trumbull, and Staples; the final three top 10 teams were East Catholic (17-3), New Britain (18-2), and Coventry (18-2).
The field of eight teams and where they will be seeded in the 2025-26 FCIAC Girls Basketball Tournament was already set going into Thursday’s games to conclude the regular season.
In the FCIAC girls’ basketball standings for the eight teams in the conference tournament and updated through Wednesday’s games, the Greenwich Cardinals (14-1, 18-2) secured the No. 1 seed with their 57-25 victory over Brien McMahon, and they were followed by Staples (13-2, 18-2), Trumbull (13-2, 18-2), Danbury (10-4, 13-6), St. Joseph (10-4, 13-5), Fairfield Warde (10-5, 14-6), Ridgefield (10-5, 12-8), and Stamford (9-5, 14-5).
The semifinals of both conference basketball tournaments are scheduled for Monday, March 2.
The venue for Monday’s semifinal doubleheader for the boys’ tournament is Wilton High School’s Nick Zeoli Fieldhouse. The tipoff for the opening game is set for 5 p.m., with the second game scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
The girls’ semifinals at Fairfield Ludlowe High School are scheduled to have the same tip off times of 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock.
The schedule, date and site remain the same as originally set for girls/boys’ conference championship doubleheader on Wednesday, March 4, at Fairfield University’s Leo D. Mahoney Arena.
Action begins with the championship game of the 2025-26 FCIAC Girls Basketball Tournament at 5:30 p.m. The boys’ championship is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.
-30-