Scrutiny of ‘open tourney’ expected Basketball committee likely to discuss plan

Now that the open tournament has been in effect for almost two school years, one Maine Principals’ Association basketball committee member said the new tourney setup, and the regional realignment that was introduced this school year, will likely be discussed at the next basketball committee meeting and next month’s MPA meeting.

“We’ll talk about it, I’m sure, at the full committee meeting and get the impression of how everyone saw it in their tournament,” said Frank Keenan, the Easton Elementary School principal and Eastern Class A basketball committee member.

Keenan said the MPA recently sent a survey to member schools to gauge reaction on how the open tournament system has functioned.

The open tournament concept, under which all schools that participate in a sport are invited to compete in the postseason tourney, was voted in by the MPA in November 1999 and went into effect for the 2000-2001 school year.

In April 2001 the membership voted for regional realignments, which separated the state into four regions.

Keenan said the open tournament was to be in place for two years, after which time the system would be re-evaluated. With just two basketball games and the spring season left in those two years, and with the MPA set to meet April 25-26 in Rockport, that time is here.

“I know that if there are real strong feelings one way or the other, they will drive the direction [the MPA] will go in the next year or two,” Keenan said. “And I’m sure if there’s a strong feeling one way or the other and it would lead to a change it will be brought up in the spring meeting. I think they’re trying to get on the front end of this so if there are things out there that need to be changed they can do it now before next year.”

The basketball committee, which consists of 25 school administrators and athletic directors from Eastern and Western Maine, as well as two liaison members, will meet after the two Class A state championship games Saturday and before the general meeting.

Keenan is not a proponent of the open tourney, but said it has progressed “as well as it could.”

“But I don’t know how you could ever set it up where everyone was 100 percent pleased and you wouldn’t have some quirks in it,” he added.

Cony girls Web site

Ever wanted to know what Cony point guard Lindsay Frye eats for breakfast? Do you want to know how the Rams of Augusta fared in the preseason? Or are you just interested in the score of the team’s latest game?

For the answer to these and other questions about the newly crowned Eastern Maine champs, check out www.conygirls.com, the Web site run by Brian Callahan, who has been a Cony assistant coach for the past 19 years.

“We were really surprised how rapidly the word of the site got around,” Callahan said. “I missed the last two regular-season games because I was working at the Western Maine [B-C-D] tournament so I didn’t put the scores up. I got e-mails, [asking] why didn’t you put the score up? Did they win? This is Lindsay Frye’s aunt, I’m in New Hampshire and I don’t get the [Augusta-based] Kennebec Journal … So it’s been a pleasant surprise.”

Callahan, who was an e-mail administrator for Central Maine Power for 17 years, started the site a few years ago simply as a place to post the season schedule and results. Eventually Callahan picked up a digital camera to post team and senior photos.

There’s even more information on the site now. Callahan posts practice times, which allows the girls on the team to know about last-minute schedule changes. The freshman and junior varsity rosters, and results for the current and previous seasons, are available, as is information about coach Paul Vachon’s summer basketball camps.

“Kids who graduated love it,” Callahan said before Saturday’s EM game. “They go away and they can follow what we’re doing on-line.”

Most entertaining are the senior profiles. The tidbits of information come from questionnaires issued by the Cony winter sports boosters for game programs.

By the way, Frye likes coffee and a strawberry Pop Tart. The Rams were undefeated in the preseason. And their latest score is 48-39 – from Saturday’s win in the EM title game.

Jessica Bloch’s High School Report is published Tuesdays. She can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.