First-Ever Invitational Tourney
Could Energize 2024-2025 ECT

Get ready for two different types of Essex County Basketball Tournaments this season as the ECT will include its more traditional version, but also perhaps add some fresh energy to the proceedings with the first-ever Essex County Invitational tourney for those teams that are not among the Top 16 teams after preliminary rounds are played to help establish what will be two different 16-team fields.

It's all part of a new-look hoops season of sorts as the Super Essex Conference adds a new division (the National) to increase the number from five to six in the 2024-2025 season.

A new member of the SEC is state power and 2024 Essex County Tournament champion St. Benedict’s Prep, which will be in the top-tier SEC-American Division along with other probable state powers such as Immaculate Conception and Arts High School.

Seton Hall Prep will hope to climb back into the elite stratosphere of the SEC-American under its first-year coach Sterling Gibbs, the former Pirates standout player and ex-collegiate standout at schools including Seton Hall University and the University of Connecticut.

When it comes to the ECT, a new format will be instituted to try and add more zest and interest while following an identical format that has worked for the past few seasons in nearby Bergen County which utilizes a 2-tourney format for its boys basketball teams with the longtime Bergen Jamboree still creating the most attention with its elite-level teams such as Don Bosco Prep and Bergen Catholic, but with the addition of a Bergen County Invitational tourney providing excitement for a whole ‘nother set of schools, including many of the smaller publics.

“We’re hoping that the invitational tourney creates excitement for more schools here in Essex County,” said ECT tourney co-director Dan Romano, the athletic director at Caldwell. “And, if we find it works well in basketball, we may consider also introducing the format for both baseball and soccer county tournaments in the coming years.”

The plan is for 40 schools to be initially entered in the ECT with seeds 1 through 24 in the traditional ECT and seeds 25-40 in the new Invitational field.

Seeds 1-8 in the ECT will receive a bye in the preliminary round games which determine two 16-team fields.

First up will have seeds 25-40 in the invitational field playing to determine eight winners who then advance to match up with seeds 9-16 from the ECT field.

The eight winners from that second preliminary round then move into the ECT first round (or Round of 16), where they will face the teams seeded 1-8 who had received an initial bye.

The eight losing teams from the prelim round in the ECT move into the invitational tourney for its own Round of 16.

All ECT games before the semifinals will be at the higher-seeded team’s home court. The semifinals will once again be at West Orange High School and the championship game back at Essex County College in Newark.

SUPER ESSEX CONFERENCE ALIGNMENT FOR 2024-2025:
(Note: moving from 5 to 6 divisions, adding the National)
AMERICAN DIVISION: St. Benedict’s, Immaculate, Arts, East Orange Campus, Seton Hall Prep, Payne Tech
LIBERTY DIVISION: Central, East Side, West Side, Newark Tech, Columbia, Newark Collegiate
COLONIAL DIVISION: Caldwell, Irvington, North Star Academy, Bloomfield, Millburn, Montclair
INDEPENDENCE DIVISION: Orange, West Essex, Belleville, University, Livingston, Science Park
FREEDOM DIVISION: West Caldwell Tech, Verona, Glen Ridge, West Orange, Shabazz, Barringer, MKA, Newark Academy
NATIONAL DIVISION: Nutley, Weequahic, Eagle Academy, Cedar Grove, Newark Lab, Technology, Golda Och, Bard

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