By Michael Letendre 

Last week, the original slate of games for the Bristol Central boys basketball was reviewed in this publication.

And that schedule had all the heavy-hitters that the Central Connecticut Conference could offer.

But what wasn’t shown at the time was a four-pack of non-conference games which would have seen the Rams take on a few of the state’s marquee programs.

That list of games included a trip outside the state but due to the pandemic, the schedule was dropped and eventually changed.  

“We were invited to play in the Hoophall Classic,” said Central coach Tim Barrette. “We were supposed to play in Springfield in January versus an out-of-state team. I elected to play in out-of-state competition. I told [the tournament schedulers] I did not care where [the opponent] came from. If it was California, we’d play a team from California. I didn’t care.” 

But wait, there’s more on the Rams’ original schedule.

The Central team, in the past, played in a classic or two every season which included the Doc Hurley Tournament in Hartford.

But also along the way, as a shoreline foe or two were lined-up by Central. 

“We were scheduled to play in the Doc Hurley Tournament this year versus Weaver,” said Barrette. “We also picked up an out of conference game against Bassick out of Bridgeport.”  

Kolbe Cathedral was also on the slate, another non-conference powerhouse in a showdown that would have gotten the state’s attention. 

Once that Springfield Hoophall Classic game was in the works, Central had to cancel its game with Bassick but the competition from the contest in Massachusetts would have been epic in nature. 

Plus, once again, Clingan would have gotten additional deserved attention from outside of the state – and against some collegiate level talent. 

“We had four non-conference games in all that were not given to us,” said Barrette.  

Central wasn’t looking for an undefeated season playing all those squads but Barrette and company wanted the strongest regular season possible to build for tournament time.

And yes, Central was, and is, a team built for postseason play. 

“You talk about competition,” said Barrette about the complete pre-pandemic schedule. “Listen, we weren’t going to go 20-0 with that line-up but even if we went 15-5 or 14-6, and got into the CIAC Division II state playoffs, I think we would be very battle tested if this pandemic had not been present.” 

At 17-5 last season, Central was built for a long playoff run and knew exactly what it was getting into in terms of opponents for the 2020 postseason that never was.

And the Rams were prepared to make a trip all the way to Uncasville at Mohegan Sun Arena for the state tournament championship if everything had worked out.

Then, the pandemic made that journey impossible as the CIAC cancelled the postseason. 

“I want to give my coaches [Joe DeFillippi and Kyle Phelan] a lot of credit along the way here because we had leg work in” for tournament preparation in 2020 said Barrette. “We had seen every single team in the Division II playoffs we could have drawn. And we put the miles in and we put the work in because we did have an honest shot to get to Mohegan.” 

Naugatuck, Prince Tech, Xavier, Bunnell were all possible opponents and Central had that group well scouted.

While it wouldn’t have been a picnic to get to the Finals, the path was there and the locals were prepared for the challenge. 

“We would have had a tough road,” said Barrette about the tournament. “We definitely still could have had an opportunity to play but it got taken away from these kids. But right now, my kids haven’t been that frustrated with not having a state tournament because they have something rather than nothing.” 

That’s where the Central boys team finds itself – playing in the middle of a pandemic – but with the glorious ability to compete on the hardwood once again.

And the squad is back together, preparing to make the best run possible over the twelve game slate. 

“It’s been very positive at practice because they are like ‘wow, at least we’re together with our friends,’” said Barrette. “I haven’t seen anyone in ten months…”