New London and St. Bernard boys and New London girls invited to first Hoophall Invitational in January

27 September 2024 17:15 • Last Update: 27 September 2024 17:27

Connecticut will be well represented at the Hoophall Invitational next January.

Seven men’s basketball teams and three girls’ basketball teams will participate in the first event, which will be held in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday, January 18 and Sunday, January 19, 2025. This is an event with 64 teams participating; 48 boys’ teams and 16 girls’ teams.

“It started right away. We marketed such a wide net that we thought we’d get some positive reactions,” said Greg Procino, the Hall of Fame’s vice president of external events and partnerships. “The first year, I thought we would get into the 30-40 team range. We instantly reached 64 likes, we could easily continue.”

The seven men’s teams are: St. Louis, which reached the CIAC Division I championship game last season. Bernard-Uncasville, Division II finalist West Haven, Division II semifinalist Stamford, New London, New Britain, Weaver-Hartford and Newington. . The three girls teams are New London, Glastonbury and Masuk-Monroe.

Six different sites are expected to be used, including the Putnam Academy of Science, the only site not located in Springfield. The Springfield Cathedral (Mass.) High is also used.

This event will be held concurrently with the Hoophall Classic, which will be held January 16-20 at Springfield College Blake Arena in Springfield, Massachusetts. Notre Dame-West Haven is the reigning Division I champion, East Catholic-Manchester and Ridgefield are boys teams competing in the Hoophall Classic, and both girls teams were last season’s state finalists: Sacred Heart Academy-Hamdan (LL) and Holy Cross- Waterbury ( L).

In addition to Connecticut, seven other states will be represented at the Invitational: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maine and Vermont. Matches are expected to be announced in late October.

“This creates new games against new teams that teams may not be able to play outside of a tournament environment.” said Procino.

Procino said there will be 16 groups of four teams, with each team guaranteed two games. Championship and consolation matches will be played on January 19.

Procino said the field was completed in early July. Procino said that with an event like this, additional staff, venues and officials are needed, so the Hall of Fame “will need to provide some additional funding to help run the tournament.” “We are working with the Western Mass Sports Commission to help provide some of the additional resources we would need in terms of staffing to add this type of event.”

Ticket prices and how to purchase them will be announced at a later date, but Procino said that invitation tickets will be valid for all venues that day. A ticket for the Classic will be a separate purchase.

“The basis of this is to create more of a basketball festival around the weekend of Hoophall because it’s a popular destination,” Procino said. “Hopefully this (Invitation) will create more excitement than we already have.”