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Saturday, November 1, 2008
One is Done
Central Indiana, IN
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While basketball purists continue to call for the return of a single-class state tournament, the game keeps moving.
Short of greeting a gymnasium floor suffering from a bad case of the warps, a basketball when bounced has built a reputation for consistency. Roundness does that. Unlike its two-pointed pigskin rival, which tends to fall flat on its laces at the most inopportune times, unpredictability never has been a basketball’s calling card.
In Indiana, that changed with the debut of a four-tiered multi-class system in 1997-98, a controversy that has since simmered, though not without a fight. Traditionalists initially screamed bloody murder, though the 11 girls and boys basketball seasons that have ensued, served to gradually muffle some of those screams and eliminate others altogether.
On the contrary, the vast majority of small schools rejoiced, particularly those weary of years of being postseason cannon fodder at the hands of programs hailing from schools with ridiculously larger enrollment figures.
Their voices, their adulation, too, have been lowered by time.
Indiana has now crowned 44 girls state basketball champions in the time it once took to celebrate 11. Same goes for the boys.
That’s 88 collections of ladder-climbing, net-cutting, picture-posing, index-finger-raising ball clubs.
Now the toughie – name five of them?
The Indiana basketball purest points to this avalanche of trophies handed out, and compares it to painted colors bleeding together on a canvas. No color stands above the others, and, frankly, the entire process is borderline grotesque in appearance.
The uniqueness, where did it go? Or, as so many continue to ponder during the frigid winter months, why did it go? How in the name of Bobby Plump’s flattop was an annual March spectacle potent enough to inspire Hollywood and be the envy of 49 other states shoved into a blender and pureed into the product we currently are witnessing?
Initial attempts, while admirable, to back single-class advocates away from the ledge by integrating a Tournament of Champions, accomplished little. Two years in and the TOC was mercifully scrapped, so here we stand.
Where exactly? That depends on who is being asked.
Lapel boys basketball coach Jimmie Howell, who led his Bulldogs to the Class 1A title in 2005, also fared well earlier in his career by leading Mt. Vernon (Fortville) High School to the Hinkle Fieldhouse Semistate in 1987 and ’91.
Howell is unique in that past accomplishments and memories allow him to straddle the fence on this lightning-rod issue.
“For one, when we won the state championship at Lapel, the way it brought the community and school together were unbelievable. There has always been a good relationship between the school and community, but after the championship it escalated,” said Howell, whose program played before unbelievably loud capacity crowds at Frankfort (regional) and Lafayette Jeff (semistate) before defeating Loogootee in the title matchup at Conseco Fieldhouse.
“The positives that came out of the state championship run for our school and for our community have been immeasurable. I wish all schools and communities could experience it. If they were able to, more people would understand the positives that class sports have given this state.
“On the other hand, I have a pretty strong traditionalist side. I can remember where I was when I was told they voted in class sports. I was not happy. Indiana had a great reputation for high school basketball throughout the United States, as well as throughout the world. When class sports started, it was tainted. Many people I knew out of state could not believe what our state had done.”
Many inside state boundaries couldn’t believe it, either. And still can’t.
Even during single-class’ stretch run of the 1990s, IHSAA State Finals crowds that appeared absolutely NCAA Final Four-esque were still testing the turnstiles inside the RCA Dome.
Damon Bailey was leading Bedford North Lawrence to glory in 1990. Glenn Robinson’s Gary Roosevelt cut down the nets the following spring. The epic Valparaiso-South Bend Clay overtime classic happened in 1994. The horn-beating 3-pointer by Jeff Poisel enabled Ben Davis to sink New Albany two years later. Bloomington North in 1997 landed in the history books as the last of the long line of one-class state champions.
Naturally, this begs the question: Did the Indiana High School Athletic Association, namely former commissioner Bob Gardner, present the opportunity for the plug to be pulled too soon?
Still regarded as a culprit in some communities, Gardner in no way could satisfy everyone any more than his successor, current commissioner Blake Ress, can.
Asked what he would do, if positioned in a place of such influence, Doug Mitchell, who led North Central to the second-ever Class 4A championship in 1999 and runner-up status in 2007, didn’t hesitate. On Mitchell’s watch, back to single-class Indiana would quickly go.
“I don’t think (the tournament) is as good as it could be with single-class. It would definitely be better, if it was one class, no doubt about it,” said Mitchell, now in his 16th season with the Panthers.
“I would go back to the way it was and make subtle changes to make the sectionals more competitive. You could pare down the sectionals so the smaller schools had a better chance. One class and it would be Indiana high school basketball again. I just don’t know how you can tell a young man or a young woman what class he or she is.”
For better or worse, that’s what Indiana now does. A far cry from the days when a high-scoring guard named Greg Graham was starring for Warren Central and later Indiana University.
Graham, who officially embarks on his first season as the boys basketball coach at his alma mater when the Warriors host Cathedral on Dec. 5, is, like a high percentage of his colleagues – a traditionalist to the core.
“The only thing I can really say without a doubt is that I miss the old structure of basketball. I would like to see one state champion instead of four. That statement in itself is biased because I also believe in giving the smaller schools a chance to compete,” said Graham.
“But in my opinion, that is with the coaches to build their programs from the ground up, which means embracing your youth and making sure they receive proper coaching on fundamentals and developing their skill sets in basketball, or for any sport as far as I am concerned.”
If there is change to the current postseason blueprint, it will likely be a drop from four classes to three, a concept a growing number of Indiana high school athletic directors seem to favor. As for one class, it’s gone for good. Go ahead and love Elvis music, but the truth of the matter is that Elvis exited the building a long time ago.
“Small schools can compete with bigger schools in many sports during a short period of time. However, over a season or over years, it is very difficult for a small school to sustain that competitiveness,” said Howell.
“More than likely, we will never go back to the one-class system. Many schools and communities have experienced a championship or a run for a championship for their town and school. Very few schools and communities had experienced that before class sports were introduced. Now they have lifelong memories of that one season.” •
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