You don’t have to hop a two-seater and visit the Maine Mall in South Portland and the dormant Millinocket paper mill in one day to gain an appreciation for the gap between the two Maines.

No need to study geography or socioeconomics, either.

Simply take a gander at the Class D boys’ basketball tournaments unfolding this week in Augusta and Bangor.

Actually, we’re getting to the point where there’s no need to buy a ticket to the quarterfinals or tune in to your favorite radio station to keep up with the southern side of things.

It’s becoming as dependable as the lineup of tournament directors, ticket takers, scorekeepers and announcers, many of whom have been at their familiar February post since the current players’ parents were in high school.

When the semifinals rolls around, you can count on the following final four, in no particular order:

1. Valley Memorial High School of Bingham.

2. Hyde School of Bath or Elan School of Poland Spring.

3. North Yarmouth Academy.

4. Some other private or public school of 100 students or less that was blessed with a fortuitous first-round draw and didn’t have to play teams one through three in that game.

Finding any common denominators in that lineup?

If you follow high school sports in Maine with a modicum of interest, you know that Hyde and NYA are college preparatory schools. Elan, while not a qualifier for this year’s quarterfinal round and employing a different curriculum than the other two schools, also is a high-tuition haunt that welcomes student-athletes from well beyond town limits.

That same passing curiosity implies that you also have a vehement opinion, then, for or against their participation in Maine Principals’ Association tournaments.

I’m not here to sway you in either direction. It is fair to point out, however, that we’re talking schools that are drawing students from all over Maine or even the rest of the United States to compete against locals who have learned every basketball skill they know in the same, no-stoplight towns, from cradle to coliseum.

Anthony Amero, athletic administrator at Forest Hills Consolidated School in the border town of Jackman (enrollment: 65) has been one of the most vocal proponents of adding a fifth division, Class E, to the basketball tournament structure.

Once reluctant to mess with the ambience of the Class D tournament, which I long considered a romanticized, real-life version of “Hoosiers,” I’m joining the bandwagon.

Either change the enrollment cutoff numbers or change the system.

Hyde and NYA deserve to compete in MPA playoffs as much as any other school, as long as they abide by all eligibility rules. But the idea of them competing against Islesboro, North Haven, Vinalhaven, Rangeley, et al is preposterous.

The first possible answer is decreasing the lowest enrollment number for participation in Class C (where Hyde reached the regional final last season before returning to D) to 150. The alternative: assign every school under that total to a fifth class.

One major objection to both those proposals is what to do with Valley, a basketball factory 110 students strong. At the risk of making assumptions, the Cavaliers, at least at their current level of competitiveness, possibly would petition the MPA to remain in Class D if a fifth class were created.

It’s hard to penalize Valley for the fact that basketball is a way of life in Bingham. Most kids who suit up for the Cavaliers play pickup basketball of their own volition, year-round. The other Class D communities in the islands and foothills could create that kind of culture if they wanted to.

Speaking of islands, the fourth and only interchangeable piece of this year’s Western Class D boys’ semifinal puzzle will be either Vinalhaven or Pine Tree Academy, a Freeport school affiliated with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. No offense to either one of those schools, but they have as much hope of advancing to the championship game as Howard Dean harbors of winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

This domination by the same cluster of privileged schools once stood in stark contrast to Eastern Maine, where the tournament laurels traditionally fall around the neck of a remote community high school such as Van Buren, Jonesport-Beals, Deer Isle-Stonington, Washburn or Central or Southern Aroostook.

But the times they are a-changin’. This year’s top seed in the East is Calvary Chapel, which went undefeated on the strength of two key transfer students from Bangor Christian.

Bangor Christian, you may recall, is the same team that lost to Valley in the state final in 2002 and 2003.

North and south of the imaginary population center, Class D basketball looks less like “Hoosiers” every day.

Actually, the next time a public school other than Valley wins the boys’ championship, “Miracle” will be a more appropriate title for the highlight film.

Kalle Oakes is sports editor. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]