In a year where there is a definite new wrinkle to the 78th Essex County Tournament - what with a first-ever Essex Invitational tourney also included to help arouse interest in the proceedings over the next three weeks - one traditional staple is at the top of the field as 19-time champion Seton Hall Prep was accorded the No. 1 position in a 40-team field during Monday night’s ECT seeding meeting held at James Caldwell High School.
The Pirates have bounced back with gusto after a sub-par year in which they did reach the ECT semifinals; however, finished the season under .500 (11-14).
SHP (13-3 overall, 6-0 in the Super Essex Conference-American Division) is back in the upper echelon of Essex County hoops once again under the guidance of first-year head coach Sterling Gibbs, the former standout Pirates player.
“The Essex Count Tournament provides great challenges with so many terrific programs,” said Gibbs, who is the second-leading scorer in SHP history behind his younger brother TJ. “Every game in the ECT is a showcase event, and we’re honored to be the top seed; however, we also know it still comes down to executing at a high level for four straight games in order to achieve our goal of winning the championship.”
SHP last won the ECT title in 2023 defeating Arts, which is the No. 2 seed in this year’s field.
The top 8 seeds, which also include 3-Payne Tech, 4-St. Benedict’s, which is the defending ECT champs; 5-Immaculate Conception, 6-East Orange Campus, 7-Newark Collegiate and 8-Newark Tech, all receive a bye in the preliminary round which will be played on Thursday (Jan. 30), and those ‘elite 8’ teams open their ECT action in this Saturday’s (Feb. 1) Round of 16 first round.
Looking at the new format for this year, seeds 1 through 24 begin action in the traditional ECT with seeds 25-40 in the new Invitational (EIT) field.
First up for the ECT will have seeds 9-24 playing on Thursday to determine the eight winners who advance into Saturday’s Round of 16 vs. the top eight seeds.
Seeds 25-40 in the EIT field play on Thursday to determine eight winners who then advance to match up with the eight losing teams from the ECT preliminary round games involving seeds 9-24 as the EIT moves into its first round, also set for this Saturday.
The eight losing teams in the EIT will play each other in a consolation game before then exiting the tourney.
In ECT preliminary round action on Thursday it will be 17 Orange at 16-Columbia, 24-Shabazz at 9-Caldwell, 21-American History at 12-Bloomfield; 20-West Essex at 13-East Side, 19-Glen Ridge at 14-Livingston, 22-Central at 11-Irvington; 23-West Side at 10-Montclair and 18-Verona at 15-Millburn.
In the EIT preliminary round it is 33-University at 32-Barringer, 40-Newark Lab at 25-North Star Academy, 37-Eagle Academy at 28-Nutley, 36-Technolgy at 29-Weequahic, 35-Montclair Kimberley Academy at 30-West Caldwell Tech, 38-Newark Global Studies at 27-Cedar Grove, 39-Bard at 26-West Orange and 34-Bellevile at 31-Newark Academy.
All ECT games before the semifinals will be at the higher-seeded team’s home court through the Feb. 8 quarterfinals. The Final 4 on Feb. 15 will once again be played at West Orange High School and the Feb. 22 championship game is once again at Essex County College in Newark.
All EIT games will be played at the home court of the higher seed.
