Pickens' Perspective: Danko outcoaches himself in Warde's must-win game

In honor of awards season, I'll offer a few of my own for basketball coaching.

Brian Silvestro wins for best coaching week for his tour-de-force performance, taking Ludlowe boys from the brink of a lost season to the inside track for the FCIAC playoffs. Silvestro motivated his club to stun both Ridgefield and Danbury in their home gyms in the last two weeks.

Sarah Huntington wins best newcomer. The Ludlowe girls coach-- in just her second season-- has taken the Falcons' program from an excitable, energetic club to a state tournament qualifier. Ludlowe upset the FCIAC tournament's No. 4 seed, Wilton, and 12-win Staples to make the Class LL tournament.

Eric DeMarco wins best comeback performance for his handling of the ND girls. The Lancers are the SWC's No. 4 seed, having won 12 games and will play their first conference tournament game against Masuk Saturday at 5 p.m.

Conspicuously absent from this award listing is Warde girls coach Dave Danko. The longtime Mustangs benchleader took his club from 1-4 to the verge of the FCIAC playoffs on Wednesday night.

But Danko lost any chance for comeback accolades after the Mustangs' 49-39 loss to Stamford that cost them a trip to the conference tournament.

I spoke with Danko on Tuesday, the day before the game, and he told me he didn't yet know what his game plan would be to slow the Black Knights. He knew Kelsey Cognetta was an all-state player. He knew Lauren Schapiro was dynamite from outside, he knew Kelsey Santagata would burn his club inside.

"We had to pick our poison," Danko said. "We knew everything they were going to do."

And yet, when Schapiro started 3-3 from 3-point land, giving Stamford a 9-2 lead, it was almost too late. Warde got the game tied, and hung around for most of the second half, but didn't make enough plays to ever take the lead.

That's because girls like Santagata or Jasmin Barrett grabbed rebound after rebound to give the Black Knights possessions. Danko never adjusted for that.

The only time sophomore 6-0 forward Kaitlin McKenna left the bench was to read the pregame senior night sendoff. McKenna was one of Danko's heavily publicized preseason players and showed toughness up front all season. Perhaps she could've slowed Barrett?

"We got pushed around," Danko said. "That's not a good matchup for us."

Sophomore Kenzie Burns was Warde's leading scorer through four games, but became an afterthought. She didn't enter Wednesday's game 2:20 was left and the Mustangs were down 10. Maybe if Burns had been in the flow of the game she could've contributed?

It seems to me, having seen Danko coach in big games, he's almost too prepared for them. If you believe that every conference regular season game is of tantamount importance, then a coach should act that way as well. Yet, one Warde administrator told me on Wednesday night "he coached this game completely different than he did the whole season."

I know Danko is reading this, and he'll probably call to chastise me for it. But this isn't the first time it's happened. He's lost in the state championship game three times, and has had the better team, at least twice, including 2009.

I don't want people to think that I think Danko's a bad coach. He's a terrific coach, who develops players and finds talent and works his brains off to get that talent to play its best.

But he just sometimes gets carried away in big games, and did again on Wednesday.

Warde's not done yet, and maybe he'll find a way to pull out some magic in Class LL tournament. I think he and the Mustangs can, as long as they don't let the moment get bigger than them.

ppickens@bcnnew.com; 203-522-8387; twitter.com/pickensfcsports