Division 1 boys' basketball just got a whole lot easier to win.

The 2019-20 Mansfield Hornets following their D1-South title-game victory.

I happened upon this little tidbit of information yesterday, that the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association has approved a lot of future alignments for several sports as part of the top-to-bottom reorganizing planned for the next two years. And one of the most significant results of this effort is that when the statewide tournament begins in two years, Division 1 boys' basketball teams can let out a big sigh of relief … because one of the best programs in the state will be dropped to Division 2 because of enrollment.

My alma mater, Mansfield High School, has won one Division 1 state title and appeared in another title game in this decade, and has been a consistent sectional finalist since being bumped up to D1 in 2010. But when the tournament goes to five statewide divisions based upon enrollment in 2021-22, Mansfield's relatively small enrollment will drop it to Division 2, where it will be the third largest school. A full list of the boys' basketball alignments can be found here.

This was not unexpected, although it is a little bit on the poignant side, given how those of us that have lived in Mansfield for any length of time remember the days when the school was the smallest in the Hockomock League and went 50 years between boys' basketball league championships. Indeed, the top-to-bottom athletic Renaissance of the high school in the 21st century has been a source of intense pride in the community because, in a large part, it has been accomplished in a home-grown manner.

Yes, Mansfield did undergo remarkable growth in the nearly half-century since I graduated from MHS. But the school does not recruit athletes from anywhere else and does not, as far as I know, participate in "school choice." It took a willingness to lead by example from coaches that may have moved here from elsewhere, as did long-time football coach Mike Redding and former field hockey coach Leda Levine, but put down roots in Mansfield and proved to others that success could be achieved here by making athletes want to be part of a successful and caring program.

Mansfield coach Michael Vaughan

Even more impressive is the fact that the boys' basketball team is home-grown from its very roots. Head coach Mike Vaughan moved here as a youngster and wore the Green and White as the Hornets' point guard. In 16 seasons, Vaughan has amassed 297 victories (average of 18.6 per year) and has a streak going of 12 straight winning seasons and eight straight of 20 or more wins.

That's pretty impressive -- even more so considering some of the huge schools Mansfield has had to vanquish on the way to that success (Brockton, Lowell, Newton North, Lynn English) or those with the benefit of being able to draw talent from multiple municipalities (BC High, Central Catholic of Lawrence, Catholic Memorial, Xaverian).

One thing you may notice once you peruse the alignments is that the five divisions are practically equal in size -- two of them with 69 schools apiece and three with 70. There are multipliers involved for parochial schools, so that is what is bumping CM, Bishop Feehan, Central Catholic and Xaverian up to D1 in the statewide system and pushing Mansfield down to D2. And in the new alignment, Hockomock League members Taunton, Attleboro, Franklin, Milford and King Philip (by fewer than 20 students) will remain in D1.

And there's still the possibility of appeals -- but we'll cross those bumpy bridges when we get to them.

For those of you from my old readership that are wondering how the other area schools fall in the alignments, the rest of the Hockomock League (Mansfield, Sharon, North Attleboro, Oliver Ames, Stoughton, Canton, Foxboro) will all be in D2. Dighton-Rehoboth, Norton, Seekonk and Southeastern Regional will all be in D3, Tri-County gets a bump up to D4 and there are no "locals" in D5, although local students attending Bristol Aggie and Norfolk Aggie will compete there.

Things are a little different in girls' basketball, however -- and you can see those alignments here.

Mansfield High coach Heather McPherson, who by that time will be entering her second year at the helm, will still be bringing her Hornets into D1 competition as the 65th-ranked team out of 69, enrollment-wise. Fellow Hockomock members Attleboro, Taunton, Franklin, King Philip and Milford will join the Hornets in D1 along with Bishop Feehan (the last school to make the D1 cut). In D2, Dighton-Rehoboth gets a bump up along with the rest of the Hockomock (Sharon, North Attleboro, Oliver Ames, Stoughton, Foxboro, Canton). Norton, Seekonk and Southeastern will compete in D3, Tri-County in D4, and the two aforementioned agricultural schools in D5.

The MIAA also made a decision last week about another thorny part of the redefinition of the high school tournaments, the use of MaxPreps to conduct seedings -- basically, to put the entire issue on hold for at least a year, rather than implementing it this fall as planned.

I'll have a lot more to say about that in a future post, which I'll probably start writing a little later today if I can get my knee to stop throbbing for a while.