Greater Middlesex Conference announces basketball divisions for 2024-25 with a big change on the boys’ side

A major realignment is coming to the Greater Middlesex Conference boys’ basketball league next year, after a two-year pilot program in the GMC Red Division was not renewed.

The league will add an extra division in 2024-25 for boys’ basketball, with the Silver Division joining the Gold, Blue, White and Red. It’s a template that addresses competitive imbalance, and already exists in baseball and boys’ soccer, according to GMC President Mike Pede.

The girls’ side will remain with the traditional four divisions, and both alignments are only for one year, Pede said.

Pede says the main goal is to give everyone competitive schedules, but also to make sure teams have games. That became an issue with a pilot program started in 2022-23 where teams in the GMC Red only had to play each other once, though some did twice. Second meetings didn’t count toward the standings or division champs. Some public schools wanted more competitive games than those against St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Joseph-Metuchen, but those schools had problems finding opponents.

That two-year pilot was not brought back by the GMC, which ultimately decided to spread teams apart using five divisions.

Under the new alignment on the boys’ side, East Brunswick and South Brunswick move from the Red Division to the White, while the rest of the Red remains in tact, with six teams. The White will have seven teams, with Edison, North Plainfield and New Brunswick departing for the Blue. JP Stevens also drops down two divisions to the Blue.

The Gold Division is essentially this past season’s GMC Blue. While Carteret and Timothy Christian will remain in the Blue, JFK, Spotswood, Metuchen, South River and Middlesex join the Gold, along with Calvary Christian, which was in the Gold this past season.

The Silver will include all the Gold Division teams from 2023-24, plus Wardlaw-Hartridge, which drops down two spots to the Gold.

Here are the GMC Boys’ Basketball Divisions for 2024-25:

• GMC Red: Colonia, Monroe, Old Bridge, Piscataway, St. Joseph-Metuchen, St. Thomas Aquinas
• GMC White: East Brunswick, North Brunswick, Perth Amboy, Sayreville, South Brunswick, South Plainfield, Woodbridge
• GMC Blue: Carteret, Edison, JP Stevens, New Brunswick, North Plainfield, Timothy Christian
• GMC Gold: Calvary Christian, JFK, Metuchen, Middlesex, South River, Spotswood
• GMC Silver: Dunellen, East Brunswick Magnet, Highland Park, Perth Amboy Magnet, Piscataway Magnet, Somerset Tech, South Amboy, Wardlaw-Hartridge

With the girls’ side staying at four divisions, there was a lot less movement. North Plainfield moves up from the White to the Red, while North Brunswick moves down into the White from the Red and Spotswood moves up to the White from the Blue.

Sayreville and JFK move into the Blue from the White, while Dunellen and Timothy Christian move up from the Gold to the Blue. New Brunswick and Somerset Tech come down from the Blue to take their place.

Here are the GMC Girls’ Basketball Divisions for 2024-25:

• GMC Red: Colonia, East Brunswick, Monroe, North Plainfield, Old Bridge, Piscataway, St. Thomas Aquinas, South Brunswick
• GMC White: Edison, JP Stevens, Middlesex, North Brunswick, Perth Amboy, South Plainfield, Spotswood, Woodbridge
• GMC Blue: Carteret, Dunellen, Highland Park, JFK, Metuchen, Sayreville, South River, Timothy Christian
• GMC Gold: Calvary Christian, East Brunswick Magnet, Mother Seton, New Brunswick, Perth Amboy Magnet, Piscataway Magnet, Somerset Tech, South Amboy, Woodbridge Academy Magnet, Wardlaw-Hartridge