For the first time in 20 years, Northwest Catholic boys basketball coach John Mirabello will start the season without one of his sons either on his bench or, going back in time, helping out as a ballboy.
Gianni Mirabello graduated from last year’s Lions team that went to the Division I quarterfinals, where it lost to Ridgefield, and is now at Eastern Connecticut. John’s two older sons, Luca and Dante, also played at Northwest Catholic.
Mirabello, in his 38th season at Northwest Catholic, called it “a different feeling.”
Boys basketball season opens Tuesday in Connecticut and Northwest is one of the teams expected to do well in the always-competitive Central Connecticut Conference. East Catholic lost some key players but has a high-level transfer from New York and Division II champion Windsor lost three all-conference players to graduation, including Anthony Williams.
The Lions have three starters back – Ryan Tolliver and Anthony Thompson were all-CCC players – and Sean Akey returns as well.
“They got a lot of experience last year and the year before that,” Mirabello said. “We’re counting on them quite a bit.”
The Lions open with Division III runner-up Lewis Mills Tuesday at home.
Windsor and East Catholic didn’t have to play each other until mid-February last season and then the two CCC rivals played each other twice in two weeks, with Windsor winning the regular season game, 77-73 and the CCC championship, 63-61.
This year, East Catholic travels to Windsor Tuesday night for the season opener.
Neither coach was happy about the scheduling.
“That’s never happened in 36 years,” Windsor coach Ken Smith said.
“It’s probably better to get a game or two under your belt (before playing a team like Windsor),” East Catholic coach Luke Reilly said. “Usually the best thing you can say about the first game is that it’s over, because it’s never a masterpiece. It would be better to have a softer start but it’s the way it is. We’ll find out where we are.”
Windsor had some key losses to graduation and brings back eight players from last year but only a few with experience. One is sophomore guard Missoni Brown, who had 14 points, including four in overtime, and eight rebounds in the 59-57 Div. II championship game victory over West Haven. Brown was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player. Senior guard Sean Evans is back, as are junior forward Jeremiah Levitan and Adam Afolabi and sophomore guard Ji Gary. Windsor also moves up to Division I this year.
“We’re hoping somebody steps up,” Smith said.
East Catholic lost four starters from the team that lost 50-49 in the Div. I quarterfinals to Notre Dame-Fairfield but brings back football star and guard Joey Montalvo and has a transfer from New York, junior guard Sincere Folk, who will make an immediate impact. The Eagles, who won state titles from 2019-2023, only have one senior, Omar Oquendo. Reilly’s son Samson, who helped lead the team last year, is at Quinnipiac.
“In ‘22, we didn’t know how good we were at the beginning and we ended up being pretty good at the end,” Reilly said. “It feels a little like that with a lot of learning going on at the gym.”
Manchester, the top seed in Division II last year which lost to Stamford in the quarterfinals, returns most of its team, including senior guard Derrick Sheets, who led the team in scoring (19.2 ppg). Senior guards Will Oden-Tann (12 ppg) and Chance Clark (11.7 ppg) also return.
Another football player, senior wide receiver Joe Mugovero, is a key returning player for the basketball team.
The players were devastated by the season-ending loss last year.
“Stamford was good and it wasn’t our best game,” Manchester coach John Reiser said. “That’s what’s disappointing. We just didn’t play like we were capable of.
“Hopefully that fuels us. You remember those things.”
Manchester will open Tuesday at Conard, which lost its all-time leading scorer Riley Fox to graduation and Yale, but the Red Wolves return Fox’s younger brother Aidan, a 6-6 sophomore forward.
Old Lyme can’t sneak up on anybody this season
Brady Sheffield, in his first year as a head coach at age 21, guided his Old Lyme team to the program’s first state title, with a 55-42 win over Coventry in Division V last year.
Old Lyme brings back two starters – Eddie Fiske, Jr. a sophomore who had 14 points and seven rebounds in the championship game, and junior point guard Coleman Curtiss-Reardon.
“We’ve got a lot of guys coming in who are young,” Sheffield said. “No seniors. It’s going to be interesting.”
Last year was a surprise for Sheffield, whose team finished 20-6.
“We didn’t really have super high expectations, certainly not to go win a state championship,” Sheffield said. “It was more like laying the foundation of our culture – that was the goal for me.
“They were 6-14 the year before. We thought, ‘Let’s get in there and get things moving in the right direction and whatever happens, happens,’ but that probably shifted five games in, we saw we were 5-0, we had a solid group and now we’re looking to compete for something.”
Another Shoreline team, Cromwell, lost Victor Payne, the school’s second all-time leading scorer, to graduation (and St. Francis (Pa.)) from a team that advanced to the second round of the Div. IV tournament last year after winning the title two years ago. Victor’s brother Vaughn Payne returns for the Panthers.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Cromwell coach John Pinone said. “We can’t just throw (the ball) out there and say, ‘OK, Victor, go do your thing.’ It’s a chance for other players to step in. It’ll be good for next year. We’ll see how they do this year.”