Indiana Basketball

            There isn’t much more that Hoosiers love than the sport of basketball. We have produced legends like Larry Bird, Oscar Robertson, and John Wooden. Current players in the NBA from Indiana include Mike Conley, Eric Gordon, George Hill, Jeff Teague, and Gordon Hayward. Indiana University has won five national championships. Purdue has been to the Final Four twice. Butler played in consecutive national championship games in 2010 and 2011. The Indiana Pacers won three championships in the 1970’s when they played in the ABA. We may not have the long list of accomplishments that California, Texas, Ohio, or North Carolina does, but we also don’t have the population they do. That is what makes basketball special here.  

            In 1954, the tiny high school of Milan, Indiana sent their boys basketball team to compete for the Indiana State Basketball Championship. They were a school of less than 200 going up against a basketball power house of the time, Muncie Central. The Milan Indians shocked the Hoosier State by winning the game 32-30. The next day, tens of thousands of people converged to Milan to celebrate the team’s state championship.

            So why I am I telling you this story? Well, for one, it’s a great story; the one that inspired the movie “Hoosiers”. Second, it is the biggest voice of reason behind the calls for change in the way the Indiana High School Boys State Tournament works. Since 1997, there have been four “classes” in boys’ basketball. These classes divide schools into equal sections based on their enrollment. Class 4A is for schools with the biggest populations and 1A is for schools with very small populations. Seems like a good way of doing things, right?

            
            Thousands of Hoosiers believe the “class system” is the unholiest act that could happen to Indiana basketball. One of the many upset is Indiana State Senator Mike Delph. He is trying to persuade other State Congress Members and the Indiana High School Athletic Association that the people of Indiana want to return to the single-class format. The commissioner of the IHSAA and Delph will hold townhouse meetings throughout the state during April and May to find out how people truly feel. 
          I’ve gone through several Facebook posts made by local news stations about this issue and I have found that there are only two reasons people want to get rid of the class system. They say it dilutes each class champion and that the single class system is more exciting. They also look at college sports and point out how small schools like Oral Roberts, Butler, Lehigh, and George Mason are able to win games in the NCAA March Madness Tournament. If those aren’t valid points, I don’t know what are.
          
            I am not in favor of single-class sports. I don’t care how long you wait; you will NEVER see another Milan-type team a state championship.  The money spent on athletics these days is astronomically higher than money spent on sports in the 50’s and 60’s. Based solely on money alone, small schools that play in 1A or 2A will never win a state basketball title. Schools like Carmel, Ben Davis, Pike, and Warren Central have weight rooms, coaches, trainers, home and away uniforms, practice uniforms, the best equipment, practice gyms, and playing gyms. Milan had one gym and one set of uniforms. The high school I went to (2A Broad Ripple) had a practice gym, playing gym, small weight room, and a handful of coaches. There are schools today that are just as small as Milan but don’t even have half the athletic budgets that bigger schools do. (I can’t find any exact numbers, of course, but I did find an article that said Carmel’s budget for freshman and junior varsity sports is $134, 894. I would estimate the varsity budget being around $150,000)

            I don’t believe the current multi-class system should be changed. However, I do believe that something has to be done about private schools. In Indianapolis, that would include establishments such as Bishop Chatard, Park Tudor, Cathedral, Guerin Catholic, Brebauf, and Covenant Christian. Chatard, Park Tudor, and Cathedral, in particular, really dominate their classes. Since they allow such a limited amount of students into their school, they can compete in lower-tier classes. Those schools are located within 5 miles from the center of Indianapolis, which is a city of 750,000+ people. They are able to scout the entire city and offer the best athletes scholarships to play for their school.

            In the current class system, the 1A and 2A should be for the true small schools, the ones that are located in the hundreds of small towns that make up the backbone of Indiana. However, the private schools dominate nearly every sport in those classes. That is especially true in football and baseball, when money is even more vital to success. If it was up to me, I would make each private school play in the class above the one they should be in. For instance, Park Tudor (located on the north side of Indianapolis), is currently a 2A school for the 2011-2012 year. For 2012-2013, I would make them compete in the 3A class for all sports.

          One of the solutions that I have seen thrown around is to go from four classes to two classes. I could live with that, but I don’t believe that’s the best answer. If you’re going to lower the number to two, you might as well make it just one. I’ve also seen some people say there should be a class for public schools and a class for private and charter schools. That is definitely not the right answer. Classes split like that would truly dilute the champions. There will always be the question of “Could School A beat School B if they would have played”?

           

It will be interesting to see what happens after the IHSAA conducts their spring meetings. When they make an announcement on the future of Indiana High School Basketball you will definitely be able to read about it here.