ACIT makes the right call in thinking outside the box
MIKE BURKE
Allegany Radio Corporation Sports
St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School, an independent Episcopal coed college preparatory school in Alexandria, Va., was most happy to accept the invitation to participate in the 60th Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament, March 12-14, at Frostburg State University.
What’s that? Go back, you say? Did you read that correctly?
Yes, you read that correctly. This year’s ACIT will be the 60th, as it is the second-longest running high school basketball tournament in the country behind only the fabled Indiana state tournament.
Oh, not that? The other thing? What other thing?
Oh … the E word. Gotcha.
Yes, St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes, besides having a split personality (that’s a joke) is an Episcopal school. Yes, you read that correctly. The ACIT has taken to inviting non-Catholic schools to compete in the Catholic basketball tournament for the first time, and given this year’s will be the 60th ACIT, that’s a long time.
“This remains and will always remain a Catholic tournament,” ACIT general chairman Joe Carter said on Tuesday. “We just feel we got as much out of (the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and the Baltimore Catholic League) as we could get.”
Now by that, Carter doesn’t mean the ACIT is through with the WCAC and BCL. Far from it, in fact, as those two leagues have remained loyal and true to the ACIT and have carried the bulk of the success load for this tournament for decades. It’s just they are the only ones left who have been permitted to carry the load.
The Philadelphia Catholic League schools, for instance, for decades the soul of the spirit of the ACIT, was forced to join the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and can no longer take part in the ACIT because of the Pennsylvania state tournament. New York and Chicago had to stop coming to the ACIT long ago due to various restrictions put into effect by their respective states.
Thus, Carter and the good folks of Wamba Caravan No. 89 want to get somebody else for Baltimore and Washington to play with, and they do so with the full support and blessing (see what I did there?) of Baltimore and Washington.
Last year, if you recall, the ACIT, at the request of the Baltimore and Washington schools, rearranged the Day 3 schedule as it had set itself up the previous two nights, because the teams had already played against one another so many times during the season. That makes for uninspired basketball from the teams and, in turn, uninspired basketball for the fans. So Carter and the ACIT obliged.
There are just so many fresh combinations you can come up with, after all, when there are only two conferences competing.
Ideally, Carter would like to see each year’s ACIT field consist of five teams ranked in national top 25 polls, and he’d like three teams in the field to be from the WCAC (which contracts with the ACIT for two), one from the BCL, Bishop Walsh and then three at-large teams, be they from Catholic schools or otherwise.
Thus, the ACIT, in an attempt to add some new blood, some new interest and even more compelling attractions, will aim to invite three at-large teams each year.
Carter said the ACIT has its eye on a team from South Carolina and a team from New York to possibly complete this year’s field, although, as fate would have it, the tournament may find itself in the same position it found itself in last year — and this would be a good thing — because, according to the latest ESPN top 25, five teams from the WCAC and the BCL are ranked and meet the ACIT’s first goal for the field.
DeMatha, St. John’s College, Gonzaga and Paul VI are all nationally ranked from the WCAC, while St. Frances, of the BCL, is in the top 25 as well.
So, you see, even though it’s always fun to see fresh faces and different uniforms from time to time, the ACIT has been in great hands in the past decade thanks to the WCAC, widely regarded to be the best high school basketball conference in the country, and to Baltimore, long the home of legendary high school basketball.
Matter of fact, the talent level at the ACIT has never been higher or better than it’s been in the past 10 to 15 years. Sure, we fondly remember the days of Adrian Dantley, Sam Puckett, Rodney Monroe, and name a million more, but the truth is basketball talent has never been better or deeper around the world, or at the ACIT, than it is now, because with each day, the game of basketball becomes more global and ever expanding.
Did you happen to see what Markelle Fultz, the former DeMatha great, did to the Los Angeles Lakers the other night? Watch any college or NBA game on any given night, and it’s a near certainty you’ll see ACIT alumni playing in it.
It’s a nice problem for the ACIT to have. Still, you have to like the proactive measures tournament directors are taking to remain vital and strong, and to hold its standing as one of the very best high school basketball events in the world.
Of course, there are quite a few of us who remain true to the way the ACIT has always done things because the ACIT has done so many wonderful things for so many people. Yet the ACIT has always done things the right way and with the best of intentions.
It will always be a Catholic tournament; that will never change. But the world around us is forever changing and, for the long-term health of one of the truly wonderful community events this area has to offer and enjoy, measures of self-preservation are sometimes required to ensure traditions we love stay in place and grow even stronger.
Mike Burke writes about sports for Allegany Radio and Pikewood Digital. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s County Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984. He was the sports editor of the Times-News for nearly 30 years. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter @MikeBurkeMDT