Windsor — This was a few months ago now when yours truly and Day Director of Multimedia/resident genius Peter Huoppi batted around ideas for this winter's GameDay basketball schedule.

Peter said this:

"How about taking a shot at East Catholic against Windsor?"

It was here Peter perhaps saw the first human being ever in his line of sight actually begin to salivate.

What an idea. What a challenge. The two best teams in Connecticut, the best current rivalry ... but would GameDay's appeal resonate in another region of the state? Would Windsor and East Catholic people open their schools and gyms to us? After all, Billy Joel was right. It's a matter of trust. Would they deem us trustworthy? We were bound to get the question, "who are you guys again?"

And then came Tuesday night. Among the most memorable professional experiences in almost 30 years here now at AMUD (America's Most Underrated Daily). GameDay streamed No. 1 vs. No. 2 inside a hot, sweaty passion pit 60 miles away. Come along for the experience ...

• It begins here: Enduring kudos to all the folks at Windsor High for their cooperation and hospitality. Remember: We were strangers when this idea was hatched. Friends now. They were endlessly accommodating to us inside a cramped gym. Our broadcast perch, a table shoehorned at the front of the bleachers in the balcony, left little room for those of us who can pinch more than an inch. And yet it fit perfectly, given the tenor of the night.

• Windsor's principal is Uyi Osunde, the former UConn football great, who was a guidance counselor and assistant football coach at New London High back when Jeff Larson was coaching. Osunde and staff ooze professionalism, all dotted with a sense of humor. Example: when the Windsor students wanted to rush the floor after the game, security kept them in the bleachers, as if somehow rendering a tidal wave nothing more than a roadside puddle. I asked a member of the security team, physical education teacher La'Tosha Woodard, how she kept the kids in the stands.

"Fear," she said.

Beautiful.

• How tough a ticket was this? Doors were closed 90 minutes before tipoff. Hundreds of potential peeved patrons were left outside. Among the gallery: GameDay play-by-play voice Casey O'Neill, who had his day job as a Juvenile Probation Supervisor for the state of Connecticut, to worry about before arriving at the gym.

O'Neill had to flash his work badge through the window to get security folks inside to even acknowledge him.

"I had a guy offer me 150 bucks to get him inside," O'Neill said.

• The game was great. And a childhood flashback for yours truly. As a high school kid at Xavier, there's no school we despised more than South Catholic of Hartford, coached by Joe Reilly.

We despised them because we hardly ever beat them.

That's because — for my $.02 anyway — Reilly was the best coach in Connecticut history. His son, Luke, is the coach at East Catholic. Luke is his father's son, clearly. East plays with the same discipline the South teams always did, all the way to freezing the ball in late-game situations, the result of which was usually a layup. I always envied (hated?) how South never made any mistakes. East is the same way.

In those days, by the way, our league (the All-Connecticut Conference) featured St. Joe's (Vito Montelli), Aquinas (Bill Cardarelli), St. Bernard (Rich Pagliuca), Notre Dame (Gary Palladino) and South (Joe Reilly). The greatest league with some of the greatest coaches in state history.

• Most of the night drove us to perspiration. But there were other waterworks, too: Like pregame tears. Wonderful gesture from Windsor officials before the game, leaving the numbers "8" and "24" on the scoreboard to honor Kobe Bryant's memory. The entire gym, more than 1,000 excited people moments before tipoff, stood silently for a minute in tribute. Chills.

• Windsor coach Ken Smith: in the concession stand before the game making cheeseburgers. Legend.

• There's a reason "Hoosiers" and "Friday Night Lights" are commonly referenced all these years later. There are no greater pieces of sports Americana — still — than high school football on Friday night and basketball warming up a winter night in the packed gym.

A sold-out downtown arena has its place, sure. But even with a considerable buzz, it's a bit impersonal, given that the folks in the rafters are detached. The high school gym? You see everyone's face. You know everybody. They know you. This was Windsor on Tuesday night. The beauty of community.

It reminded me of the night they stopped selling tickets at Conway Gym when the ECC title game between New London (with Allan Chaney) and NFA (with R.J. Evans) was a must watch. And the Waterford/East Lyme ECC championship game two years ago at the "X," when the din prohibited the GameDay crew from hearing each other, even wearing headsets.

• A wonderful night, Tuesday. Proud to say GameDay is hearing kudos across Connecticut from fans, kids, coaches and even other members of the media.

It's here I always refer to a line from the late, great Dan Jenkins about sportswriting: "You need to complain a lot. Otherwise, all people will think you're doing is having fun."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro