Tournament basketball begins tonight with preliminary games across the region for high school basketball.

Tournament basketball, you’re asking? That’s correct, dear readers, and it should be viewed as such. In fact, that was just what referee John Plourde told my captains of the last Narraguagus of Harrington team I coached four years ago as we prepared to take on the always-tough Tigers of Peter Murray of Dexter Regional High School.

Maine Principals’ Association officials even put photos of all qualifying postseason teams in their annual tournament programs, giving all participants that special tournament feel.

What those teams don’t get is this: Lower seed tourney entries still have to travel to the gym of the higher seed to have a chance at qualifying for a shot at playing in one of the tourney venues across the state.

From this corner, I don’t like that system.

Placing photos of all postseason participants in the tourney program is a good thing. It really is. It would be better, however, if qualifying for the tourney included a prelim match at the tournament site.

In Maine, there is no greater thrill for players, parents, officials, and fans than to walk into a tourney site such as the Bangor Auditorium. That, in and of itself, is frosting on the cake for participants for a successful hoop season.

An early, first-round, prelim loss makes the season seem short and diminishes accomplishments to a degree that only those involved can understand.

Is all this logistically possible?

Absolutely, it is. A tweak of a building schedule here and there, preparing for such a move, is all that would be required to pull the thing off.

Think of the excitement which would be generated by such an MPA announcement.

Then think next about how such a move would motivate coaches and players to shoot for – no pun intended – such a lofty goal. There is a remarkable difference between reaching a traditional tournament site and traveling on a school bus to play another road game.

Yes, it comes advertised as “tournament basketball,” but a quick exit from the party makes it all seem a little shallow.

I think the MPA can respond to those types of criticisms and up the ante a bit for all those involved.

Critics of such a move would offer up the expanded preliminary system as an example of why the aforementioned plan – prelim basketball – should never have been instituted in the first place.

Even those more conservative than I am would prefer that the system only included the top eight qualifiers in each division, not the current 67 percent rule for each enrollment class. There are days when even I must admit that the old system was a good one.

But, dear readers, we have accepted change, and because of that, we need to stand pat behind an MPA system which works, and simply tweak it a bit.

30-Second Time Out

One final suggestion for post-season basketball involves the postseason game officials.

I have thought for years that due to the complaining from coaches regarding who refs their games and why, that it may be in the interest of all parties to switch officiating regions for the actual tourney game. Occasionally, Maine Basketball Commissioner Pete Webb makes minor geographic moves in ref assignments.

Officials from other geographic areas would not enter the fray with any knowledge of the two teams about to play in their most important games of the season.

In my two years as president of the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches, the complaints by coaches along these lines always centered around officiating of postseason games. There was no single issue that got more attention than that one.

Perhaps now is the time to make a bold referee move. Familiarity does, in fact, often breed contempt.

bdnsports@bangordailynews.net