Grasso Tech boys basketball coach Tim Strong said he was surprised to see his team get moved up to Division II from Division III this year.
Strong had another thought upon seeing the five divisions released in October.
So he had an idea.
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“If we are in (Division) 2, we might as well play in 1,” Strong said.
After Strong spoke with his players, his coaching staff and his athletic director, Grasso Tech elected to play in Division I this year. The Eagles are one of two boys basketball teams to move to the top division this season. Hillhouse is the other.
Hamden is the lone girls basketball team to decide to move up to Division I.
Grasso Tech will be the first team from the CTC to participate in the Division I tournament since this format started with the 2017-18 season.
Three seasons ago, Grasso Tech finished 6-14 and didn’t qualify for the CIAC Division V tournament. The Eagles reached the Division V second round in 2024 and advanced to the semifinals in 2025. Then they were moved up to Division III – Grasso Tech is considered a school of choice, and tournament success points factor into the CIAC’s placement formula.
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The Eagles reached the Division III quarterfinals last season, losing to eventual finalist Stratford. The team finished 21-5, also losing in the CTC tournament final at the buzzer to Abbott Tech.
“I talked to the staff during the summer about the possibility of moving up again,” Strong said.
When it did happen, Strong said they “had some serious conversations. That’s the reason we elected to go (Division) 1. You definitely have the cream of the crop in 1, but there are less teams and you get a bye. (Division) 2 is more of a gauntlet.”
Division I is a 16-team field and you only need to win four games to win a CIAC championship. Division II is a 37-team field.
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Hillhouse has often opted up to either Class LL or Division I, whatever the tournament format was, except for the last two seasons when the Academics stayed in Division II.
“The Hillhouse coaching staff wanted to move to Division I. We feel like they have a competitive team,” New Haven citywide athletic director Erik Patchkofsky said.
The Academics are now being coached by Andre Sutton on an interim basis. His father, Renard, who coached the team for 16 seasons, resigned in September and is now an assistant coach at Division II Livingstone College, where his other son, Avery, is a sophomore.
The Hamden girls won the Class LL championship in both 2023 and 2024. The Green Dragons reached the Class LL semifinals last season as a No. 10 seed.
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With teams moving up, non-schools of choice can elect to move down to Division II. New Britain and Southington moved down. Ridgefield had the option to do so, but chose to stay in Division I, where it has played every season since this tournament format started.
“This is the first year that I have ever considered moving down,” Ridgefield coach Andrew McClellan said in a text message. “I have so many issues with the way that Division I tournament is set up and run. I have several ideas on what I think would make the Division I tournament better and more attractive. But at the end of the day, the way that we coach and compete in our program, it didn’t feel right to move down. Our coaches and players want to compete against the best competition possible and that’s Division I in Connecticut.”
On the girls’ side, Rocky Hill opted to move down to Division II.
Boys Division I
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East Catholic
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East Hartford
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Glastonbury
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Grasso Tech
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New London
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Northwest Catholic
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Notre Dame Prep
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Notre Dame-West Haven
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Ridgefield
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St. Bernard
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West Haven
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Girls Division I
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Bristol Central
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East Catholic
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New Britain
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Northwest Catholic
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Notre Dame Prep
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Sacred Heart Academy
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Southington
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West Haven
This article originally published at Grasso Tech, Hillhouse boys, Hamden girls elect to play in CIAC Division I basketball tournaments.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
