New London -- A member of New London High School's undefeated, 2005 state championship basketball team was watching his alma mater Tuesday night at Conway Gym and made the following observation:

"We'd have killed this team," he said, referring to the 2011-12 Whalers, the state's defending Class L champion and No. 1 team.

"Thirty-eight points?" he said. "We didn't let teams get that in a whole game."

He was alluding to Fitch's point total at halftime.

Fitch was leading 38-37. Chad Graham, a Fitch senior, had 24 points at the time. Fitch was playing better, harder.

That was all the former Whaler needed to see, especially after New London (gulp) had the audacity to lose to Hillhouse the other day.

We'd have killed this team, he said.

"He's absolutely right," senior Kris Dunn said, even after he finished with 40 points and 17 rebounds. "It starts with defense."

It didn't seem to matter much that the Whalers ended up winning 93-64. Nobody was very happy. Not the players, not coach Craig Parker and clearly not the alumni.

It makes you wonder if Geno Auriemma was ahead of his time when he said about the smartest thing in the history of sports once: "If people think losing is hard, they should have to deal with winning."

Especially here. This is what you get in New London. Legacy, lineage, expectations, style points and the general feeling that nothing is ever good enough. Even when you win a state title, you get compared to other championship teams. It's like the Yankees, only high school.

"If you blow someone out, you're supposed to," senior Khaleed Fields said. "If it's close, you're overrated. There's nothing you can do about it."

The defending champs have provided plenty of fodder for us nitpickers. This has not been a great start. NFA scored north of 70 points. Hillhouse beat them. And Fitch played with more passion for longer stretches Tuesday night.

"I told them at halftime that maybe we're not that good," Parker said. "Two and a half games, the Norwich game was close, we lost to Hillhouse and we're down to Fitch. Maybe I overscheduled us."

Parker's message, whether he intended to be serious or sarcastic, was effective. For a night. And surely, there are plenty of coaches throughout the league — state, too — who would love the "problem" of a 29-point victory.

Funny, too, how Parker and Fields both mentioned forward Keith Porter's return as a quick remedy. Porter was one of the glue guys last year, doing many of the little things that haven't been getting done thus far. Porter is a quiet kid whose contributions are suddenly louder than Dick Vitale now that they've been missing because of his hand injury.

"Maybe he's the piece we've been missing," Parker said.

New London plays Killingly on Friday before — and this is no exaggeration — one of the biggest weeks in the history of the program. The Whalers play six-time state champion Trinity Catholic of Stamford on Tuesday in Bridgeport in the Northeast Christmas Basketball Classic at Webster Bank Arena. They play 10-time state champion St. Joseph of Trumbull there the next night. And Friday at Conway Gym, it's seven-time state champion Weaver.

The previous paragraph should suggest that some urgency, especially on defense, is required. At least more urgency than was on display Tuesday night.

Sorry, guys. Bad enough your alumni are killing you and your coach says he overscheduled. Now you have to read it in the paper, too. Look at it this way: A 3-0 record next week just might shut us all up.

Or may be not. This is New London, after all.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.