The Maine boys and girls high school basketball tournaments tip off once again this week.
Preliminary games are already underway in school gyms around the state, and there are action-packed schedules lined up for the three main tournament sites in Bangor, Augusta and Portland.
For anyone who can’t enjoy the action in person at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Augusta Civic Center or Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, there are still ways to follow nearly every play. Livestreaming from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Network, WHOU and Maine Public will once again provide viewers a chance to follow the state’s top basketball teams as they battle it out along the road to five different class championships.
Like last year, NFHS will carry the quarterfinal round games in four of the five classes: A, B, C and D.
NFHS coverage is focused on the three major venues, and since Class AA is the only group that doesn’t play its quarterfinals at one of those venues, NFHS won’t be broadcasting those games.
WHOU will stream the semifinal and regional championship games in all five classes.
WHOU will also stream some of the Class AA quarterfinals, which are held at the home courts of higher seeded teams. This includes the Bangor girls game Friday night against Windham. That quarterfinal matchup will be held at 5:30 p.m. at Bangor High School.
Maine Public will televise the 10 state championship games on either Maine Public Television or Maine Public’s World Channel. The games broadcast by Maine Public will also be available online and on the Bangor Daily News website.
Maine Public will rebroadcast each of the championship games the day after the tournament ends, and those games can be rewatched online as well.
The Maine Principals’ Association organizes the tournament each year. MPA Executive Director Mike Burnham said viewers can generally expect the same viewing experience and options as last year.
“I’m excited, I think we’ve got some potential for some great matchups,” Burnham said Monday, noting how people “really love to watch all of these teams” involved in the basketball tournament.
“Whether they can make it to the game or they watch it on the stream, it’s a wonderful event for our entire state,” Burnham said.
It is free to watch the championship games on Maine Public. NFHS and WHOU both require a subscription. An NFHS monthly pass costs $11.99 and an annual pass is $79.99. A WHOU subscription can be purchased for $10 per month or $85 per year.
The cost of a monthly subscription is roughly the same as a single ticket to see one of the tournament games in person, Burnham pointed out. Those single-game tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for seniors and students.
Additionally, WHOU is already streaming some of the preliminary basketball playoff games, which take place before the eight-team tournament quarterfinals begin. These games feature the teams that don’t finish high enough in the Heal Points standings to receive preliminary round byes.
The brackets for each regional tournament were released over the weekend, and the preliminary games this week will finalize the quarterfinal matchups.
Those brackets have teams ranked based on the Heal Points standings for each region within each class. There are two regions, North and South, in each of the five classes. Those classes are AA, A, B, C, and D.
There are no preliminary round games in AA because the two girls and two boys divisions (North and South) don’t have more than eight teams.
The regional tournaments at the three primary venues run from Feb. 14 to Feb. 22.
The Cross Insurance Center will host the North B, C and D tourneys in Bangor. The C and D state finals will also be played in Bangor.
The Augusta Civic Center will host the North A, South C and South D tourneys, along with the Class A state final.
The Cross Insurance Arena in Portland will host the entire AA tournament after the quarterfinal round, along with the Class A and B South regionals and the Class B state final.
The Class A state finals will be in Augusta on Friday, Feb. 28. The Class C and D state finals in Bangor will take place on Saturday, March 1. The Class B and Class AA state finals in Portland will also be on March 1.
