Ridgefield is in first place and in solid position to grab the No. 1 seed in the upcoming 2025 FCIAC Boys Basketball Tournament, while Staples still has a shot at that top seed and is joined by Fairfield Warde and Fairfield Ludlowe as teams positioned well to grab a higher seed.
And then there are about seven more teams in the mix in a close race to grab one of the four remaining conference playoff berths.
That’s the scenario of how the conference playoff race is lined up for that finishing push going into the final three games of the regular season for most teams.
It could be that last Feb. 19 night of the regular season in which there is a potential showdown for the No. 1 seed. Ridgefield is undefeated in FCIAC games at 12-0 and with a two-game lead over second-place Staples (10-2).
Those two have their final game of the regular season against each other at Ridgefield High School at 7 p.m.
For the Staples Wreckers to have a chance to snatch the No. 1 seed, they would first need some help from another team beating Ridgefield prior to that last game of the regular season and then the Wreckers will need to win that game at Ridgefield.
Ridgefield and Staples both improved to 14-3 overall with victories this past Monday night (Feb. 10).
Ridgefield won its seventh consecutive game with a 64-57 victory at Trumbull. That was the second straight game in which Trumbull had a home game against the top two teams in the FCIAC.
Trumbull nipped Staples, 46-45, on Feb. 7 to hand the Staples Wreckers their second conference loss before the Wreckers bounced back with a 42-34 victory on Feb. 10 at Danbury.
Fairfield Warde and Fairfield Ludlowe are both 13-4 overall and 9-3 in the FCIAC, with Warde’s Mustangs owning the advantage in a potential tiebreaker via their 54-52 home victory over their crosstown rivals on Jan. 31.
New Canaan was 11-5 and Greenwich was 8-8 overall, and they were both officially tied for fifth place with 7-5 records in the FCIAC standings updated with the games played through Feb. 11. New Canan won at Greenwich, 58-48, on Jan. 17.
Defending FCIAC champion Trumbull, Brien McMahon, Stamford and Wilton are all in a four-way tie for seventh place with 6-6 conference records. Trumbull is 10-7 overall, McMahon is 9-8, while Stamford and Wilton are both 8-9.
Westhill hosted Bridgeport Central on Feb. 11 in what was akin to a playoff game in that both teams were going for the win to keep their hopes alive for grabbing one of those last conference playoff berths. Both teams were tied for 11th place with 4-7 FCIAC records going into the game.
Westhill’s Vikings improved to 5-7 in the FCIAC with their 55-47 victory to put themselves one game behind those four 6-6 teams tied for seventh place. The resilient Vikings lost their first eight games in January and have since won four of their last five games to improve to 8-9 overall. Bridgeport Central dropped to 4-8 in the FCIAC and 7-9 overall.
St. Joseph is 6-11 overall and tied with Bridgeport Central for 12th place in the FCIAC at 4-8. Danbury is 3-9 in the conference and 5-12 overall. Darien is 5-12 and Norwalk is 3-14 overall, and they both are 1-11 in the FCIAC.
In two other pivotal Feb. 11 games which contributed to creating the logjam of seven teams in the middle of the FCIAC standings, Stamford got a very big 65-63 road victory at Fairfield Warde and the host Wilton Warriors created that four-way tie for seventh place with an 83-78 victory over McMahon.
Brien McMahon (a 6-6 FCIAC record) was scheduled to host Fairfield Warde (9-3), and New Canaan (7-5) was set to host Trumbull (6-6) in two Feb. 13 conference games with implications relating to the FCIAC playoff race. Both Thursday night games were scheduled for 7 p.m.
There are 11 more consequential games remaining which are showdowns of the top 11 teams in the FCIAC playing against each other on either this Friday night (Feb. 14), or in next week’s last week of the regular season which involves the last two games for all teams.
In Friday’s two such games, with FCIAC records in parenthesis: Wilton (6-6) plays at Fairfield Ludlowe (9-3), and Westhill (5-7) has a short road trip to Greenwich (7-5).
In next week’s nine other games which are showdowns involving the conference’s top 11 teams, all of them with 7 o’clock tipoffs: New Canaan plays at Ridgefield (12-0), Westhill visits Staples (10-2); Fairfield Warde travels down to Greenwich, Trumbull plays at Fairfield Ludlowe, and Wilton visits Stamford (6-6) on the Monday night of Feb. 17; and in the games on that Feb. 19 final night of the regular season in addition to that Staples at Ridgefield matchup, Fairfield Warde plays at Wilton, Greenwich travels to Brien McMahon, and Westhill plays at Trumbull.
Notre Dame-West Haven reclaimed the No. 1 ranking in the current GametimeCT Top 10 Boys Basketball Poll which was released Feb. 10. The Green Knights, who opened the season with a 76-59 victory at Ridgefield and improved to 16-2 with a 93-58 home victory Feb. 11 against Daniel Hand, moved up one spot after being No. 2 in the previous poll.
The other nine teams in the Top 10, with their records at the time the voting took place in parenthesis, were Notre Dame Prep (15-3), Manchester (17-1), previous No. 1 St. Bernard (13-3), which dropped down three spots after its 69-55 loss at New London on Feb. 4, fifth-ranked Northwest Catholic (16-2), Hillhouse (14-3), East Catholic (13-5), No. 8 Windsor (12-4), Bloomfield (15-01), and No. 10 New London (14-3).
There is no FCIAC team in the Top 10 primarily because of Trumbull’s 46-45 home victory on Feb. 7 over Staples, which was ranked No. 9 in the previous poll and the recipient of the 11th most polling points in this current poll. Ridgefield received the 13th most polling points and Fairfield Warde got the 15th most.
Last year Trumbull’s second-seeded Eagles won a 70-67 overtime thriller over fourth-seeded Staples in the championship game of the 2024 FCIAC Boys Basketball Tournament to give their longtime veteran coach Buddy Bray his first FCIAC title. Ryan Johnston fired in 29 points and was selected the game’s MVP while helping lead Trumbull to its first conference crown since 1983.
Trumbull advanced to the championship game with a 47-41 victory over defending champion Danbury while Staples defeated top-seeded Ridgefield, 73-57, in the other semifinal game.
Trumbull opened conference tourney play with a 57-38 victory over Fairfield Warde. Staples defeated Wilton, 60-43; Danbury beat Stamford, 50-46; and Ridgefield defeated Fairfield Ludlowe, 55-37, in last year’s other three quarterfinal games.
This year’s 2025 FCIAC Boys Basketball Tournament commences at noon on the Saturday of Feb. 22 with the first of four quarterfinal games at Fairfield Warde High School.
The Feb. 24 semifinal doubleheader games at Wilton High School’s Nick Zeoli Fieldhouse have tipoff times of 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The championship game is 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 26 at Fairfield University’s Leo D. Mahoney Arena on campus.