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But he is intrigued by the possible matchups that could arise from the LMC/Northwest Conference Challenge which tips off next season.

Stealing from ESPN, which has pitted the ACC against the Big Ten for several years now in a men's basketball showcase event to keep its television ratings soaring, the two conferences have entered into a two-year contract for this one of a kind high school series.

Girls games are scheduled for Dec. 6, with the boys squaring off on Dec. 13. The Northwest Conference teams will host the girls games, while the boys will play on the LMC courts.

The matchups are based on where the teams finished in their respective conferences, which means LMC champion Charlevoix plays Northwest title holder Kingsley in the marquee girls game.

By virtue of their second place finish in the LMC this season, the Blazers will be matched against Glen Lake in a relatively short road trip. Frankfort, which shared the Northwest Conference title with the Stags and Benzie Central, hosts Traverse City St. Francis.

"It's going to be a fun thing," Dalton said. "Our conference has been outstanding for a long time. There could be a little bit of a dropoff next season.

"Kingsley has been a notch above everyone else, in either conference. But other than that our league has been a little stronger, I think."

But, there are some transition on the horizon for the LMC with East Jordan, which won 15 of its final 17 games including an 11-game winning streak, losing four starters and Boyne City graduating two or three.

The Blazers themselves will have a different look with all-time leading rebounder and 1,000-point scorer Katie Krause and second leading rebounder and scorer Marissa Taylor both graduating.

Kalkaska will have point guard Kara Ponstein, another All-Conference selection, coming back along with freshman guard Chelsea Matley.

Matley missed a couple of games with a twisted ankle, but showed remarkable poise and confidence despite her tender years.

Dalton believes the Challenge will be good for fans, generating more interest in the sport by providing a little extra spice to the regular season.

"What will be fun is playing different teams," Dalton said. "You play your conference teams twice each year. For us, it's really nice because geographically we're a little closer to the Northwest teams than a lot of other teams in our league.

"The other thing for us is we do a lot of different things, and this will give us an indication of what is working -and what is not -early on, before we start our league schedule.

"Playing teams that don't know what you're going to do exactly will be exciting."

Meanwhile, on the boys side Kalkaska will host the Mesick Bulldogs on Dec. 13.

Kalkaska finished in the second division of the LMC this season. Defensive problems were the Blazers' Achilles' heel all season.

Despite their troubles this year, boys head coach David Manchester is excited about participating in the Challenge over the next two years.

"It's kind of cool to do something like that," he said. "Actually, I wanted to do a Big North/LMC tipoff. Of course, you look at the Big North (which has primarily Class A teams in its fold) want to play smaller schools?

"But, I feel the LMC is one of the most competitive conferences. We're excited already. You can always learn something from another player, and another team.

"The guys are pretty excited about it."

Kalkaska loses only three seniors -Jake Heller, Alex Krause and Jeff Wellman -next year and will have their two best 3-point shooters, Travis Schuba and John Kasza back.

Jake Royston is another starter returning, and he'll just be a junior. Andrew Higgins came on strong at the end of the season and could figure in the mix.

Manchester pulled the Blazers out of the Petoskey tournament for next year.

He didn't relish playing Charlevoix a possible three times during the regular season, twice in the LMC and once in the tournament.

"And it just gave the other schools a chance to scout us," Manchester said. "We never seemed to do well up there. It always seemed to start the season on a bad note.

"We're starting off the season playing a very, very good Forest Area team right off the bat. We'll find out if we're fast enough to keep up with them." Ê Ê