With classes B,C and D stepping aside to prepare for their climatic finales coming up next weekend, Class A takes center stage this week with the start of what could be another memorable basketball tournament.

Top-seeded Oxford Hills and second-seeded Brunswick, both 17-1, earned byes to the Bangor Auditorium by virtue of finishing 1-2 in the final Heal Point standings. While those two teams are the consensus favorites this year, the rest of the playoff pool is difficult to sort out.

“It’s a very balanced field,” Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam, whose team beat Brunswick during the regular season but lost to them in the KVAC championship Saturday. “I think after (Saturday’s) game that Brunswick has to be the favorite, but there are some team’s playing really well right now.”

“Brunswick and Oxford Hills look to be the class of the field,” said Jim Bessey, coach of the 10th-seeded Mt. Blue Cougars. “Once you go beyond one and two, I think it pretty much levels off.”

If indeed not much separates the seeds from three to 14, Wednesday’s preliminaries should get the tournament off to a rollicking start. Five out of the six matchups pit KVAC teams against representatives from the Big East. The two conferences played crossover games this season, but only one preliminary will be a rematch from earlier this season.

Among the KVAC/Big East matchups, No. 9 John Bapst meets No. 8 Lawrence, No. 13 Morse travels to No. 4 Bangor, No. 11 Hampden meets No. 6 Cony, and No. 5 Old Town hosts No. 12 Mt. Ararat. No. 14 Waterville faces No. 3 Messalonskee in the only all-KVAC battle.

As a sequel, though, the tilt between No. 10 Mt. Blue and No. 7 Brewer holds a lot of promise.

The two teams, both of whom finished the regular season at 12-6, met in Farmington back on Jan. 30, with Mt. Blue emerging victorious by the slimmest of margins, 40-39.

Brewer is coached by Mark Reed, son of legendary Bangor coach Roger Reed. The Witches are led by senior Andy Frost (14 ppg), a strong, athletic 5-11 point guard, and sophomore Chris Wilson, a dangerous 3-point shooter.

“They run a halfcourt, motion offense. They’re very patient,” Bessey said. “They play very similar to Bangor, which isn’t a surprise.”

“The difference (in the first game) was our interior play,” he added. “They’re a perimeter, jump-shooting team and our offense comes from the inside.”

Mt. Blue’s inside tandem of 6-5 center Ted Neil and 6-4 forward Brian Wells, a first-team KVAC selection, give the Cougars a marked edge in the paint. The game could come down to how Cougar guards Pete Tinguely and Steve Wells match up with Brewer’s backcourt.

“I think we’re a very good defensive team. We’re hard to score against,” Bessey said. “If we get some perimeter play, I think we’re very tough to beat.”