The Maine high school basketball season is already upon us. At least technically speaking.
Yes, the fall sports season is still wrapping up with two more weeks of football action. And yes, the first countable basketball games are still weeks away.
But this is the first week of basketball practice in the new Class S for small schools with fewer than 100 students. So that means another year of Maine high school basketball has arrived. Class A, B, C and D teams can begin official practices next Monday, Nov. 17.
Coaches and teams across the state are excited to get back in the gym to conduct tryouts, finalize rosters and get ready for another action-packed season. And while high school athletics thrill communities throughout the school year, there is little doubt that basketball reigns supreme here in the Pine Tree State.
“I think basketball in the state of Maine is huge,” said Kyle Corrigan, coach of Caribou boys team that won the Class B state title a year ago. “Our winters are long, our days are short. We don’t have a lot of sunlight. It gives people something to look forward to, to be able to do in the evenings. And even if they don’t go to the games, they have something to watch on TV.”
And as Corrigan and other coaches emphasized this week, that hoops affinity only gets stronger when the high school basketball tournament rolls around in February.
“So to kick off the season every year, I think there’s a lot of excitement in the communities that are basketball rich,” Hampden Academy coach Russ Bartlett said Thursday as his Broncos program gets set for another season. “And I feel like everyone wants to go watch their home team play and, hopefully, watch right through the season.”
One of those basketball-rich communities has certainly been Howland, where the Penobscot Valley Howlers won the Class C girls title last year.
“Maine just loves their basketball,” Penobscot Valley girls coach Nate Case said, noting that it doesn’t hurt to have a bunch of Maine girls going on to play Division I ball in college and Cooper Flagg rising from Newport to the NBA.
It also doesn’t hurt to have a track record of winning. Just look at Caribou, where both the boys and girls teams won state titles last year, and where Corrigan already has over 40 kids signed up for his program so far this season.
“I believe we’ve seen a spike in our youth program, too, and the interest there,” Corrigan said. “It’s exciting to see how many kids want to play basketball. And I do think that state championship definitely drew a lot more interest.”
Caribou, along with Penobscot Valley, will be in interesting positions this season amid a statewide basketball reclassification that has gotten rid of the old Class AA and moved Class A to top, reshuffled some teams within Classes A-D and created the new Class S for the smallest schools.
The Vikings and the Howlers will both be playing down a class on the heels of a state championship. But neither Corrigan nor Case is taking anything for granted amid that change.
“Nothing’s easy in Class C,” Corrigan said. “I’ve looked up and down and there are some deep teams, there are some really good teams. Class C is gonna be wicked — very competitive.”
He expects some really good battles in Class C North, crediting other teams like Orono that are also dropping from B to C with Caribou.
“Nothing got easier by us moving down,” Corrigan said. “This is going to be a competitive class.”
Case expects the Howlers to face solid competition in Class D from teams like Machias and Bangor Christian.
“I kind of just approach it like our schedule is what it is. Our class is what it is,” Case said. “But I just want the girls to be the best version of themselves.”
Case noted that the Howlers will still have tough Class C opponents like Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln and Dexter on their schedule.
“So we’ll have some very competitive games still on our schedule, and we just show up each day and get to work,” Case said.
On the other end of the reclassification are teams like Hampden and Brewer, which will stay in Class A but jump up to play the largest schools in the state that are getting shifted from Class AA.
Brewer will have the smallest student enrollment of any Class A North school, and Witches boys coach Carl Parker doesn’t like the schedule — but not for the reason you might think.
Parker is frustrated that despite longtime rivals like Bangor, Brewer and Hampden now all being back in the same class, the Witches are only playing one regular season game against each of those nearby opponents rather than trading home and away contests.
“The schedule stinks in my opinion, but that’s something I can’t control, so have to live with that,” Parker said. “I’m old school, so I like to play home and away.”
As for the challenge of playing up with the largest schools in the state, Parker is less concerned.
“You talk to my assistants, they say that it’s a disadvantage, If you talk to me it’s — you know, we don’t have control of that,” Parker said. “You buckle down and go.”
Brewer was the No. 3 team in Class A North a year ago and fell to No. 2 Hampden in the regional semifinals during last year’s tournament. Now both of those teams will essentially be playing up a class in the reimagined Class A.
“We’ll play the teams that we’ve been dealt,” said Bartlett, the Hampden boys coach. “But I have no problem with the divisions. I think they’re well broke up.”
As a new season gets underway with new classifications for some teams, even returning champions aren’t taking anything for granted.
“I think one of the things that we do is we kind of erase what happened last year,” Corrigan said about his Caribou squad. “Last year was last year. We’re a totally different team.”
That new team, like many teams across Maine, will start practicing on Monday.
“We were able to celebrate last year, but when Monday hits, we’re no longer the defending champs in my opinion,” Corrigan said.