All for one

By and large, there are too many divisions of high school sports in Rhode Island. With fewer than 50 schools, there should be no more than two divisions in each sport. With all these divisions, just about every team, every season, can compete for a “state championship.”

Boys basketball, though, has taken a step in the right direction with the announcement that a single state tournament will decide a single state champion for the 2010-11 season.

It’s about time.

The format — in which the top eight Division I teams, the top five Division II teams and the top three teams in Division III will be included in the tournament field — needs some tweaking. It places too much emphasis on the regular season and doesn’t reward a team that heats up in the postseason.

Overall, though, the idea is a good one and it’ll make for an entertaining basketball season. The idea of Division II and III teams having the opportunity to write their own NCAA-style Cinderella story is intriguing.

As Rogers coach Jim Psaras told me Wednesday night, maybe a Division I team would beat a Division II or III team nine times out of 10, but in a single-elimination tournament, there’s always a chance of that one loss being the end to a season.

The NCAA tournament is the best basketball model there is, and the more in common Rhode Island’s high school tourney has with the Big Dance, the better. Who wouldn’t love to see a team like Middletown knock off a Bishop Hendricken?

What is the difference between the three divisions? This winter, we get to find out.