AUGUSTA – I come not to bury the Mountain Valley Conference but to praise it.

The MVC is an excellent basketball conference. In fact, it’s my favorite basketball conference. Several schools – Winthrop, Boothbay and Jay come to mind first – can compare their resumes with the best programs in the state. The league regularly produces Class C state champions and schools such as Wiscasset and Lisbon have bounced back and forth between classes B and C over the years and been fairly competitive at both levels.

But the level of competition is simply not on a par with the Western Maine Conference. Ten years ago, you might have been able to make an argument, but as the southern Maine schools have grown over the last decade, so has the gap between the two leagues.

If you’ve followed Western Class B basketball for any length of time, you know why I’m comparing a Class C league with a Class B league. It may be an unfair comparison, but it is one that comes up about this time of year annually because of Mountain Valley, the lone Class B school in the MVC.

Every year, it seems, the Falcons enter the Western B tournament with somewhere between zero and two losses. Every year, they’re put in the unfair position of having to not only defend their record and seeding but also their conference’s honor, and almost every year, it proves to be too big psychological hurdle for the Falcons to overcome.

“The first night down here for Mountain Valley is tough because we hear all year about how we play a Class C schedule and it doesn’t prepare us (for tournament competition),” Mountain Valley coach Ryan Casey said. “You do your best to make sure that the kids don’t believe that, because they play against great competition and work really hard. But still, it’s inevitable that it’s going to be in their head.”

Whether it was in their head during yesterday’s loss to Greely is debatable. There’s no debating Greely’s mindset, though.

The Rangers were a very confident team yesterday, despite being a No. 6 seed going up against a No. 3 seed with a lot more tournament experience. A big reason why was that they looked at their schedule, then looked at Mountain Valley’s, and concluded that the Falcons were nothing special.

“We’ve had some games this year that I don’t think they’ve had,” Greely coach Ken Marks said. “We’ve played (No. 2 seed) Gorham twice. We’ve played (top seed) Falmouth twice.”

Whether Greely knew it or not, the Falcons have had the talent to go deep into the tournament virtually every year, including this year. And with Casey, they have the coaching to get the job done.

All they seem to be lacking is the resume.

Maybe its time for Mountain Valley to consider parting company with the MVC. Yes, the school has strong ties to the conference, and a lot of history and rivalries would be lost if it left for, say, the WMC.

Next year, Gorham is moving to the Southern Maine Activities Association in conjunction with its move up to Class A. In doing so, the Rams will be sacrificing games against traditional rivals such as Greely and Cape Elizabeth and leaving a storied history behind. In some ways, the move will change their identity, but there’s no looking back.

“Everything about it makes sense,” said Gorham coach Kevin Jenkins. “It’s a lot better schedule for us.”

It’s a lot better schedule for them because it will put Gorham in the best position to compete in Class A. Things may seem a little strange next year, but two or three years from now, they’ll take the Cumberland County Civic Center floor without any doubts about whether they’re prepared for the competition.

Those doubts, whether they’re justified or not, are real at Mountain Valley.