Two state 5A boys basketball championships in six years (2010 and 2015), with another trip to a title game in 2012 for the Post Falls basketball team, could lead to a debate on which team was the best.

Both of those titles came with different lineups, yet the same head coach in Mike McLean.

WHILE THEY won’t be lining up an alumni game anytime soon, they’ve discussed it a little, that debate has a chance to be settled on the streets of Hoopfest sometime in the near future.

Connor Hill played on the 2010 Post Falls title team, along with Shawn Reid, Marcus Colbert and Malcolm Colbert, all of which continued their playing career in college. Hill played at Idaho, and both Reid and Marcus Colbert were at Montana State, with Reid finishing up at Seattle Pacific. Malcolm Colbert finished his playing career at the University of Puget Sound.

“To be honest, we’ve talked about it,” Hill said. “Marcus just signed a pro contract, and I’m very proud of him for that. He’s not trying to get hurt playing in Hoopfest. One of these years, we’ll throw a Post Falls team together.”

Most recently, the 2015 Post Falls team with Jake Blakney, Dalton Thompson, Zach Hillman and Max McCullough closed out another Hoopfest title, sweeping its way through a bracket title last Sunday in Spokane.

McCullough, who will continue his basketball career at NAIA Eastern Oregon in La Grande next year, said the team might set its sights a little higher in the future. Thompson will play his sophomore year at Walla Walla Community College and Hillman will play football at Whitworth in the fall.

“We’re hoping to get to the Elite Division eventually,” McCullough said. “We want to keep playing with these guys and try to get up to Nike Center Court possibly.”

McCullough added that seeing Hill, who played on a team with members of the Idaho men’s basketball program at Center Court in 2015 was a motivation.

“We’ve talked about playing their team and our team and going (starting) fives, but it hasn’t happened yet,” McCullough said. “It would be fun though. It would be a fun game.”

WITH THE amount of players that have moved on from this area to play at college, in addition to having some state success, seeing more of these teams coming back to chase a Hoopfest title might increase.

For a majority of those players, it could be a first time since grade school that they’re able to play together after sitting out due to AAU or other obligations and not wanting to risk injury.

Others, it could be an excuse to play the game again, albeit for just a couple of days a weekend.

As far as who’d win between that 2010 and 2015 team of Post Falls players, who knows.

Both teams played their own style of basketball that worked out for them in the long run.

If you were to put the best three players for each team on the court at the same time, it most likely will finish with an entertaining ending.

Something that will have to wait, for now.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.