You look at the 63-game win streak Calais takes into its Class C boys' basketball state final with Winthrop tonight and wonder: If Calais wins, could the Blue Devils also beat Maranacook, Cape Elizabeth or Camden Hills?

How would Maranacook, the Class B champ, do against Cheverus? Would the Deering girls, riding the momentum of their overtime win over Oxford Hills, beat Waterville?

You ask because you're a basketball fan, someone more interested in seeing how the best match up against the best, high school enrollments aside. Someone who feels the isolation of Maine this time of year, envying the March Madness that grips states with at least one entry in the 65-team NCAA Division I tournament.

And knowing that filling out the tournament brackets for the office pool doesn't quite cut it. You want a seat with a good view of the court and a bigger stake in the game.

For better or worse, high school basketball is Maine's state spectator sport and you're not ready to see it end.

The parade of winter storms actually has been a blessing in disguise, prolonging the season. Yes, weeknight games disrupt the lives of working men and women traveling hours up and down I-95 to the arenas. But without a Super Saturday this year, you didn't worry about being in two places at once.

You want one more round, maybe two, to the postseason. You want an open tournament of champions, with bragging rights for an entire year.

You want too much.

The idea of an open tournament gets kicked around every few years, and with good reason. Matching up Valley High's fast-break offense with, say, Skowhegan, the Class A champion of some 10 years ago, was a nice idea, especially after you watched "Hoosiers" for the 12th time. Imagining the best of the Dirigo girls' teams trying to beat Sarah Marshall's McAuley teams could fuel an argument.

It was tried, very briefly, more than 30 years ago. Rumford High with Doug Roberts played Lake Region with Gary Speed. Class A vs. Class B. It was not a good experiment, probably because that Rumford team would be included on most fans' lists of the top 10 teams of all time.

A great Rumford team beat a very good Lake Region, and the state shrugged. Afterward, it was difficult to explain why the game was played.

At about the same time, Maine dropped out of the New England tournament, following Massachusetts and Connecticut. A Cony team led by Gary Towle, Ray Felt and Steve Busque beat Bob Brown-coached South Portland in 1978 for the chance to play Rhode Island's champ in the semifinals.

Cony upset Providence Central on a last-second shot and beat Windsor, Vt., easily in the championship game.

A year later, before the 3-point line was painted on courts, South Portland beat Presque Isle 102-58 to end the basketball season. Most coaches and many players didn't complain. Winning the state championship was so important, any game that followed was a letdown.

Maine has the McDonald's All-Star games. They are showcases for high school seniors, one more chance to applaud individual talent. No one remembers if East beat West.

In 2001, fans wanted Valley to play Deering. Even casual fans couldn't resist the idea of a team from one of smallest schools from rural Maine taking on a big-city school.

"I've heard the talk about whether or not Valley could compete with Deering," said the late Dick Tyler, then director of the Maine Principals' Association. "Valley is very good, but there's such a difference between Class A and Class D.

"I would rather have the Valley players hold a reunion in 50 years and talk about how they could have whipped Deering if they had played."

Cheverus and Maranacook? Some things are best left to the imagination.

Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at: ssolloway@pressherald.com