Maybe the Kevin Ollie Approach works best here. One of the erstwhile UConn coach's go-to lines, when issuing constructive criticism: "First you bring the sugar, then you bring the hot sauce."

Not necessarily a strength of the guy typing this.

But after screaming about inequity in the state high school boys' basketball tournament (and all Connecticut high school sports) for years now — and dousing the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference in Frank's RedHot — we come today with a sack of Domino.

I'm done screaming. Now we'll try a more rational rationale.

And so we begin with the premise that the CIAC's boys' basketball committee needs to tweak its tournament format again for next season. Cromwell and Wamogo, for example, entered the state tournament undefeated and both exited early because divisional inequity forced them to play schools with either grossly higher enrollments or mechanisms to attract kids from multiple towns that resulted in competitive disadvantage.

The CIAC's method of assigning divisions is flawed. Its use of a contrived mathematical formula to rank all 183 schools betrays the rhythms of high school athletics, which are bound by the vagaries of enrollment, league affiliation, geography and the granddaddy of them all: graduation.

This is what the CIAC boys' basketball committee must acknowledge: Past performance does not dictate future success in high school sports because graduation necessitates change. Kids come. Kids go. Hence, assigning divisions to all 183 schools must be fluid, subject to annual input from a variety of sources and certainly not bound by a one-size-fits-all formula.

Much of the consternation comes from schools of choice, which the CIAC defines as those that enroll "more than 25 gender-specific students from out of district." The CIAC has at least tacitly acknowledged that schools of choice have competitive advantages over public schools, whose enrollments remain confined to town borders.

Remember: It's the mechanism behind the way enrollments are formed, not the numbers themselves. A public high school and school of choice might have 300 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.

Still, not all schools of choice are the same. Wamogo's Agri-Science program attracts kids from out of district. Except that it's a modest-sized district in northwestern Connecticut that still limits its total boys' enrollment to 183. Fairfield Prep, meanwhile, draws from 51 different towns and has 826 boys. Two schools of choice, sure. But hardly the same.

Moreover, Wamogo's "past success" came against similar-sized Berkshire League schools. The CIAC, because of its "past success" formula and restrictive school of choice designation, sent Wamogo from Division V (the state's smallest division) to Division III this year. Wamogo lost to Shelton (795 boys) in the tournament.

That's unfair and absurd.

The Division IV (comprised mostly of smallish public schools) semifinal features New Canaan (679 boys) and St. Joseph (school of choice drawing from 36 towns). New Canaan and St. Joe's dropped to Div. IV this year because of "past success" or lack thereof.

Problem: They play mostly Class L and LL schools all year in the FCIAC. Dropping them to Div. IV allows them to suddenly benefit in the state tournament from playing small public high schools who play mostly small public high schools throughout the regular season.

Again: Not equitable.

Think about Friday night's quarterfinal: Why are Stonington (373 boys from one town) and St. Joe's playing for the same trophy?

So how do you fix this?

The 2019 divisions were formed last April using a one-size-fits-all formula. It's just not acceptable. Striving for equity requires time, organization and effort.

Divisional alignments should be fluid and tweaked yearly. Sport committee chairpersons — in every sport — should appoint sport-specific representatives from each conference who understand the rhythms of their league's programs. They would discuss which programs return the most talent, those hit hardest by graduation and injury, notable transfers, coaching changes, etc.

In addition to conference representatives, the CIAC should reach out to media members who watch games every night. In the case of boys' basketball, Dave Ruden, Joe Palladino and Joe Morelli (for starters) would be most helpful, not to mention superfans Frank and Sheila Beneski of Suffield who see more games than anybody else.

Once research is done, divisional alignments would follow, based on dialogue, communication and common sense.

Again: This is about effort, organization and time.

Here's hoping the CIAC is willing to accommodate new evidence and changing circumstances for the sake of equity within the games our kids play.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro