The undefeated Staples boys’ basketball team (26-0) and Greenwich girls’ basketball team (23-2) were set for a 6 p.m. tipoffs Monday going into the last eight days of the high school winter sports season in three sports.
They were two of the six combined FCIAC teams in three sports who advanced to the semifinals of their respective basketball and boys ice hockey tournaments to keep their goals of winning a state championship still alive.
Because there are semifinal rounds on either Monday or Tuesday in the sports of girls’ basketball and boys’ basketball, Greenwich’s girls’ basketball team and the Staples boys’ basketball team were the two conference teams with Monday semifinal games.
Both semifinal games in the 2026 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Boys Basketball Division I Tournament along with the two semifinal matchups in the CIAC Girls Basketball Division I Tournament take place Monday at neutral sites.
The Staples girls’ basketball team and New Canaan’s boys’ basketball team have their semifinal games at neutral sites in their respective Division II state tournaments Tuesday.
The four combined FCIAC basketball teams, boys and girls, are in either Division I or Division II.
There are no conference teams in the semifinals of the Division III, Division IV, and Division V basketball tournaments which generally consist of high schools in the state with medium- to smaller-sized student enrollments.
For the boys’ basketball tournaments in all five divisions: both Division I and Division IV semifinal games are on Monday (March 16), the Division II and Division III semifinals are on Tuesday, and in Division V there is one game on Monday and the second semifinal Tuesday.
The top-seeded Staples Wreckers play fifth-seeded Notre Dame Prep (22-3) in Monday’s boys’ basketball Division I semifinals at Fairfield Warde High School at 6 p.m.
The Wreckers improved to 25-0 with their 56-35 quarterfinal victory on their own court Friday (March 13) over No. 8 seed New London.
Second-seeded West Haven (21-4) plays crosstown rival and sixth-seeded Notre Dame-West Haven (22-3) at the University of Hartford in Monday’s other Division I boys’ basketball semifinal at 7:45 p.m. West Haven advanced with a 66-56 quarterfinal victory over seventh-seeded Ridgefield.
New Canaan is seeded No. 12 in the boys’ basketball Division II state tournament and the Rams advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals with their thrilling 74-71 double overtime victory over No. 13 seed Maloney on their home court on March 12.
New Canaan will challenge No. 1 seed Windsor at Wilby High School, with Tuesday’s tipoff scheduled for 5 o’clock.
For the girls’ basketball tournaments in all five divisions: the semifinals for Division I and Division V are on Monday, while there is one game on Monday and the second semifinal Tuesday in Division II, Division III and Division IV.
Greenwich plays No. 10 seed Hamden (13-10) in Monday’s semifinals of the girls’ basketball Division I tournament at Trumbull High School at 6 p.m.
The third-seeded Greenwich Cardinals improved to 23-2 with their 44-41 quarterfinal victory at home over No. 6 seed East Catholic on March 12.
In Tuesday’s semifinals of the girls’ basketball Division II state tourney, No. 3 seed Staples plays No. 10 seed Bristol Central at 6 o’clock at Bethel High School.
In last Friday’s quarterfinals of the Division II girls’ hoop tourney, the Staples Wreckers improved to 23-3 with their 42-35 victory at home over No. 11 South Windsor while Bristol Central (20-5) advanced with a 56-35 victory over No. 2 seed and host Trumbull.
It has been a very good year heretofore for the New Canaan and Darien boys ice hockey teams, the top two ranked teams in the current GametimeCT state poll.
They are in opposite brackets as the top two seeded teams in the 2026 CIAC Boys Ice Hockey Division I Tournament so they are in both ends of Wednesday’s semifinal doubleheader at Quinnipiac University’s M&T Bank Arena.
Top-seeded New Canaan and No. 4 Simsbury face off in the opener at 5:30 p.m., and the second game between defending Division I state champion Darien and No. 3 Fairfield Prep is scheduled for 8 o’clock.
The championship will be played next Monday night (March 23) at a time yet to be determined as of March 16.
Those New Canaan and Darien boys ice hockey teams seeded in the top two spots of the Division I tournament drew first-round byes directly into the quarterfinals which were played Saturday, March 14.
The top-seeded New Canaan Rams defeated No. 8 seed Notre Dame-West Haven, 3-1, and the No. 2 seed Darien Blue Wave advanced to the semifinals with a rather impressive 9-1 victory over No. 7 seed Northwest Catholic.
Darien, seeded No. 2, defeated top-seeded New Canaan, 4-1, in last year’s Division I tournament championship game.