Mohegan

We begin with this premise: Reasonable people can discuss reasonable issues and draw reasonable conclusions.

It is in this spirit that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, the state's governing body for high school athletics, should revisit the concept of dividing its state basketball tournaments into Public School and School Of Choice divisions.

This topic was once more polarizing, a delicate discussion that danced around a potential rift between parochial schools and public schools. No longer. Circumstances have changed in Connecticut with the evolution of magnet schools and charter schools, providing parents and their children more options than ever. One CIAC official said at the weekend's basketball championships at Mohegan Sun that Connecticut used to have 168 high schools under CIAC auspices. That number has swelled to 188.

The state tournament should be the last bastion of equity. The CIAC uses enrollment numbers to determine its fairest baseline. Enrollment numbers, however, aren't nearly as telling as how they are established.

Example: A public high school and school of choice might have 500 boys apiece. But if the public high school's pool of potential players comes from one town and the school of choice draws from multiple towns, the school of choice has a competitive advantage. Perpetually.

There's no reason all schools couldn't remain under the CIAC umbrella. The state finals would still play at Mohegan Sun. All profits divided the same. But the games would have a "choice" or "public" distinction.

A rough outline: Divide choice schools into Small and Large Divisions in boys' and girls' basketball and play four championship games. Divide public schools into Small, Medium and Large and play six championship games. It means adding one game each day to the Saturday/Sunday schedules at Mohegan.

Saturday: 9:30, 11:30, 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30. Sunday: noon, 2, 4, 6, 8.

I have no issues whatsoever with public schools playing schools of choice during the regular season. Conference designations, largely by geography, dictate that schools of varying sizes and makeups are near each other.

Moreover, public schools would likely benefit from playing schools of choice during the season, if for no other reason than good preparation for the state tournament.

I just don't believe that similar enrollment numbers necessarily determine equity in the state tournament. It's important to note the difference between equity - fairness - and equality, where everybody is the same and has an equal amount of achievement. It's not possible. The CIAC's job is to create a fair baseline. And if School A's pool is one town and School B's pool is 15 towns, that's not equity, even if they have 500 boys apiece.

I asked some coaches their opinions:

From Ledyard's Dave Cornish, who coaches at a school of choice now because of the Agri-Science program: "I wouldn't have a problem with dividing the state tournament. But I think there's a difference among schools of choice. Some of them have kids from a huge number of towns (Xavier, for example, draws from more than 60) that are far away. Our Agri-Science program draws from 12 towns and only from this area."

Ledyard, with its 434 boys, would likely compete in the Small division for choice schools, perhaps avoiding the conflict to which Cornish alludes.

Valley Regional's Kevin Woods, whose team played Class S monolith/school of choice Sacred Heart of Waterbury in Sunday's state final: "I think it is definitely worth looking into in terms of readjusting the playoff system. But I personally do not mind playing a team like Sacred Heart because our mentality is that if we are going to be the best we must beat the best."

Waterford's Greg Gwudz, who coached his last game 10 days ago in the Class M quarterfinals: "It needs to be looked at. Coaching at a public school, you get the kids you get. And it's not impossible to win at all. But schools that can attract kids from several different towns operate under a different scenario."

Then Gwudz offered this: "I would like to see the CIAC adopt a new policy for students who elect to attend magnet or vo-ag schools. The defense of recruiting is always that the student chose to attend the particular school for the academic program. That's fine. But I'd like to see the CIAC mandate that those players have to go back to their hometown to compete in athletics. If students still want to go to the New London magnet or Ledyard vo-ag for their academic programs, that's fine. But again, they have to go home to play for their hometown. That's what happens with the Marine Science program at Fitch. I wonder then how many student-athletes would still choose to attend the vo-ag program then."

Gwudz's suggestion, while it may tweak a few school-of-choice souls, is not unfair.

And frankly, neither is mine.

Surely, there is room for discussion.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius