Every year around high school basketball tournament time, the issue of the private schools playing in the Maine Principals' Association tournament is brought up. There are some who feel the private schools should have their own tournament, arguing that since they're able to recruit, these schools have an unfair advantage.

Once again, that argument doesn't hold up.

Let's look at the field. Eighteen teams representing a private school made at least the prelim round of either the boys or girls tournament. For the sake of this argument, we won't call schools that draw much of their student body from the local community, for example, Erskine Academy or Lee Academy, private.

As of Wednesday morning, do you know how many of those 18 private schools are still in the tourney?

Four.

In the Western A boys field, Cheverus is the only boys team still alive, while St. Dom's and Waynflete are still in the Western C girls bracket. In Eastern B, the John Bapst girls are still playing.

If these schools have an unfair recruiting advantage, they need to do a better job of it.