Tournament Begins Tomorrow

BANGOR - Three months of waiting, three months of constant practice, and three months of preparation will finally be presented upon the Bangor Auditorium floor.

The final Eastern Maine basketball tournament will commence at 5:00 PM tomorrow night with Nokomis and Belfast girls matching up in the first quarterfinal matchup.

This is considered the greatest time of the year to many natives of Bangor. The excitement and atmosphere the auditorium provides will be heard and experienced for one last time, and patrons will cherish it to the fullest.

I'll be there all day tomorrow, and all next week doing 32 out of the 43 games that will be played.  It's a big commitment that will more than likely leave me sick of basketball and not wanting to watch a single game for about two months after this.

I'm looking forward to it though, it should be a great experience.  I was first a fan, then a player, and now I will experience the tournament as a member of the media.

All tournament games will be streamed on WZON Radio (AM 620) or online at www.wzonthepulse.com

Eastern Maine Boys Preliminary Predictions

BANGOR - The regular season is officially over for high school basketball, and now teams will begin preparing for the final tournament at the Bangor Auditorium.

However, with certain teams receiving byes to the tournament, certain teams will have to get ready for the preliminary round.  If you're not familiar with the MPA system, this is similar to the NCAA play-in game where two teams matchup to see who gets into the tournament.  It varies from class to class between how many teams receive a bye and how many teams needs to play a preliminary game.  I'm now going to go through and give my predictions on who will win these preliminary matchups.

Class B
Byes - #1 Medomak Valley, #2 Presque Isle, #3 Mount Desert Island

#4 Oceanside vs. #13 Foxcroft Academy - KVAC vs. Big East in this one and you have to give the advantage to Oceanside.  However, Foxcroft is a talented team with some offensive talent and Oceanside can be sloppy at times.  But, Meklin will be too much.  Oceanside by 12.

#5 Caribou vs. #12 Hermon - Savage vs. Thayer should be a doozy.  Both were close games during the season but I expect Caribou to come out on top by 8.

#6 Winslow vs. #11 Washington Academy - Winslow has some impressive wins this season, and some ugly losses to lesser teams.  WA has talent with Feeney, Varney, and others and are scrappy defensively.  I'm predicting an upset in this one, WA by 5.

#7 Waterville vs. #10 Old Town - Old Town relies so heavily on Garrett Libby that it can become detrimental to their team as a whole.  Waterville can compete with anyone when their shooters are locked in from long range, and I expect that to be the case for them in this one, Waterville by 11.

#8 Camden Hills vs. #9 Nokomis - Camden Hills is always in the thick of things, they went 4 OT's with #1 Medomak.  Although they ended up losing, they have the best coach in Class B and will come out on top in this one, Windjammers by 9.

Class C
Byes - #1 Houlton, #2 Penquis Valley, #3 Lee Academy, #4 Sumner Memorial, #5 Calais

#6 Dexter vs. #11 PCHS - Dexter has more talent, shouldn't be much of a contest.  Dexter by 21.

#7 Stearns vs. #10 George Stevens Academy - Should be an incredibly close game, basically a toss up so I'll go Stearns by 4.

#8 Bucksport vs. #9 Fort Kent - FK by 7.

Class D
Byes - #1 Jonesport-Beals

#2 Washburn vs. #15 Ashland/Van Buren - So much talent on Washburn with Worcester, the Bragg brothers, Olson, and Caron.  Should be a steamroll, Washburn by 32.

#3 Central Aroostook vs. #14 Schenck - CA has struggled as of late but Coach Brewer is always at his best this time of year and I expect the Panthers to claw their way to victory by 7.

#4 Deer Isle-Stonington vs. #13 Woodland - The return of Grindle has done wonders for the Mariners.  He is so valuable to that team offensively and defensively, he's the leader.  Mariners by 20.

#5 Hodgdon vs. #12 LCS/MSSM - Hodgdon defeated Limestone by 31 during the regular season, just a couple weeks ago actually, and I expect a similar outcome.  Hodgdon also had two close games with Houlton, who go into the tournament at the Class C rankings 17-1  Hawks by 27.

#6 Machias vs. #11 Katahdin - Machias has lots of size, they will utilize that.  Machias by 12.

#7 Bangor Christian vs. #10 Fort Fairfield - The Tigers landed Washburn's its only loss of the season.  BC struggles against size and Lewis will be a handful.  FF by 9.

#8 Easton vs. Southern Aroostook - 20-year-old Dillon Kingsbury has done a tremendous job in only his 2nd year of coaching building a solid program in Aroostook County.  Look for Turner to have a big outing, Easton by 8.

I'll update Thursday to update the outcomes of the games, and how right or wrong I was.

Nemo Impacting Regular Season Finale

BANGOR - With the impending death storm, Nemo slowly approaching Southern and Central Maine, the final day of the high school basketball regular season could be put on hold.

Numerous games were pushed up to Thursday night in hopes of avoiding the storm and ending their season early to hold up safety measures.  Many teams ended up playing back-to-back games without any preparation.

Hermon/John Bapst was the only matchup to not be pushed up to Thursday due to the Auditorium being used by the Bangor/Brewer contingency.  It was the final Class A matchup at the Mecca of Maine Basketball.  This was poor decision making on the part of these two schools.

The potential safety hazards that come with a giant storm like Nemo are immaculate and need to be taken very seriously.  If need be, they shouldn't be opposed to moving the game back to Sunday, since the storm should last through most of Saturday after dumping 12-20 inches on our heads.

Hopefully everyone attending the game, including myself since I am being called upon to broadcast it, will drive safely and take the roads slow.

Final Class A Game at The Mecca

BANGOR - With only two days remaining the 2012-2013 High School basketball regular season.  The final meeting between two Class A schools will go down Thursday night at the historic Bangor Auditorium.

The Twin Cities Basketball Classic is what they are calling it, between the Bangor Rams and the Brewer Witches.  This game is important for both teams in their hopes to make it to the Augusta Civic Center.

Bangor currently sits 5th and seems to be locked into a quarterfinal matchup with Lewiston who are scorching at the moment.  They are hoping to enter the tournament with some momentum after dropping their last game to their rival, the Lawrence Bulldogs.  I expect Alex Campbell and Conner Adams to play a huge role in this matchup, with their inside/outside prowess, it could be too much for Brewer to handle.

The Brewer Witches sit at 8-9 and one spot outside the playoff picture in Class A.  They finish the regular season on Thursday Night and will look to pick up a big victory in terms of heal points to earn themselves a spot in the play-in game against Mt. Ararat or Cony.  Coach Ben Goodwin's club has had difficulty stringing together an entire 32 minutes of intelligent basketball.  Look for them to come out fired up in hopes of pulling off the upset.

I will be broadcasting the game tonight for WZON Radio (AM620) or at www.wzonthepulse.com.  I'm looking forward to a highly competitive, feisty, and close basketball game with big plays made by both teams playing for one common goal - a gold ball.