Commentary

Today, the tradition continues as the Eastern Maine high school basketball tournament gets under way on the home court of the John Bapst High School Crusaders.

Such a statement can only mean a few things: stale popcorn, flat Cokes, and complaints about John Bapst’s recent tournament success being related to the fact the Crusaders get to play their postseason games on their home court – the historic Bangor Auditorium.

Is it true?

Is it a home-court advantage for the Crusaders?

Or is it, as John Bapst Coach Bob Cimbollek says, “sour grapes” on the part of the teams whose seasons end a few points shy of garnering any awards to add to their school’s trophy case?

As we take a look-see, we will find the answer is a little bit of both.

“Bapst has played at the Auditorium for 38 seasons and they’ve won one girls title and three boys titles in that time,” Cimbollek says. “If you were winning every other year, there might be something to it. I think it’s overrated. What happens is, other teams worry about it and that’s when it becomes an advantage.”

Former Bapst players seemed to agree that while the Crusaders had the advantage of not being psyched out by playing at the Auditorium, the entire postseason atmosphere severely diluted any type of true home-court advantage the team might have enjoyed.

For example, during its regular-season games, Bapst draws crowds numbering a few hundred and coaches can easily communicate with players through words. In the tournament, however, a couple of thousand screaming fans who have suddenly come out of the woodwork to root for their teams fill the seats. Teams like Bapst then have to rely more on signals or signs to get things done.

These fans also root for their own teams, not the “home” team.

“You have to look at it two ways,” said Chris Quinn, a member of Bapst’s 1982 Class D state championship team. “There is no advantage as far as the fans go because the fans are going to come out and support their team. But, with the floor and the shooting background…. well, you always knew where the dead spots were on the floor.”

“It’s tough to say, but I guess you’ve got to say there is some kind of advantage because you play there all the time,” said Brett Soucy, who was a member of Class C state title teams with the Crusaders during the 1989 and ’90 seasons. “But the atmosphere seemed a lot different. I remember walking out from the hall and just smiling. It was such a rush.”

Plus, the plain and simple fact that it is the tournament gives players for both teams the jitters. These butterflies have been known to affect shots and decisions, especially early on in the tournament.

But, in the end, the focus of the teams turns to what is happening on the court and away from the court’s surroundings.

Quinn said, “As far as the intimidation factor, you get caught up with it at first, but once you hit the court, your focus is there.”

Proof positive that the Bangor Auditorium is not all that mu Proof positive that the Bangor Auditorium is not all that much of a home-court advantage lies within Coach Cimbollek.

“When I was at Bangor High, we played there and never won it,” said Cimbollek, who took eight Bangor High teams – including three top-seeded squads – into the postseason and came up with zero Eastern Maine titles. “For every so-called advantage, there is a disadvantage.”

But is there an edge that Bapst has over other teams during that weeklong basketball extravaganza known as The Tournament?

My opinion: Yes, John Bapst has a slight home-court advantage playing at the Bangor Auditorium.

But, it is certainly not enough of an edge to change any of the results from past Bapst championships and it certainly will not make a difference for this year’s Bapst team, which is both figuratively and literally head and shoulders above the rest of the Class B competition.

In the end, the focus of opponents should be on how to stop Bapst, not how to overcome its “home-court advantage.”

After all, it is the players who win the championships, not the court on which they play.