Living in the Past: Class Basketball in the Hoosier State

In the late 90’s, 1997 that is, the state of Indiana sent a shockwave through high school basketball. The Crossroads state was at a crossroads, and decided to take the right fork in the road. Single-class basketball was over, and the state ushered in a new class of basketball, venturing away from single-class basketball, where it’s everyone for themselves.

As we know it today, in the 21st century, there are now four “State Champions;” 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A. Give or take, there’s roughly 100 schools in each class system. To be a state champion, a school has to be the best out of 100. Indiana has been known for its basketball, rivaled only by the streets of New York City in fervor and bragging rights. Ball control, defense, crisp clean shooting. Those are the keys to basketball in the Hoosier state. James Naismith, the inventor of the sport, even said in 1925, that Indiana was the center of the sport. Going way back (to 1954, to be exact), the state had the ultimate David vs. Goliath, in Milan vs. Muncie Central. If you’re familiar with anything regarding basketball in the Hoosier state, then you already know the outcome. But, for those of you unfamiliar with it, Milan came away with a 32-30 victory over the state juggernaut, Muncie Central Bearcats. It was a great moment for single class basketball. The little guy, Milan, with its 161 students enrolled, came away with a Hollywood fairytale. Later to be documented by Gene Hackman in “Hoosiers.”

Awesome.

Yay...

Congrats! It was 1954.

It was a moment that many high school basketball fans still hearken to. Days long gone, when flat-tops and varsity sweaters ruled the local ice cream shops and sock hops. Days. Long. Gone. Days when high school sizes weren’t clipping the 3,000 student mark. When a star player in a 200 student high school, could carry you to a Sectional or Regional victory. When teams went 0-Cubs in the Sectionals, never making it out of the first round. Following that 1954 victory, no team in the single-class system with an enrollment under 500, won a state championship – which is the upper class 2A and higher.

With consolidation, rural schools lost their enrollment to larger city schools. With a bigger school, there’s more talent to draw from. Carmel and Warren Central can pick their top 10 basketball players out of thousands of students, whereas Whiting has roughly 100 boys to pick from on any given year – and that’s only if they all go out for the team. It’s ridiculous, right, to use a rare 1954 state championship team as the precedent to judge how 21st century basketball should be played across the state?

Just a few years ago, Northwest Indiana sent Bowman (1A), Wheeler (2A), and Gary Wallace (4A) to the state championships – the 100th anniversary of “Hoosier Hysteria.” The next season, Bishop Noll went, then the following season, Bowman went back again – this time in 2A. Out of those 5 teams how many would have made it to the single-class state championship? 1? Wallace or Bowman (1A)? Maybe… But, to have the opportunity to sent 3 schools in 1 season to the state championships was unheard of 20 years ago! That would have never happened if the supporters of single class basketball, still living in the past, would have their way. They, the ones rekindling their romance of yester-year, not the ones watching their children play in the games, are the first to tell you that the system is watered down, that it’s cheap and not like it was in their day.

In their day, winning a sectional or regional was as big of a deal as winning anything else. Last time I checked, sectionals and regionals weren’t state championships. And for those of you who say that the current system isn’t a “real” state championship, either, then go into each room of every state champion of the last decade plus, and take away their medals and trophies and tell them that they’re not a real state champion. Look into their eyes and say that them playing their hearts out, laying it all on the floor wasn’t good enough, because you think that the route they took to the championship wasn’t good enough.

Currently, the state government is looking into whether Indiana principles should reclassify basketball. Going back to a single-class. The principles are the ones who decide whether to go back to single-class basketball, or keep the current format – not me, not you, not the writers of your local papers, not the players on the court, and certainly not those living in the past.

Back in the 90’s, state championship basketball attendance was slowly dwindling down – albeit, it’s tough to stay at the 40,000 mark of the 1990 state championship game – the highest attendance for a state championship game in Indiana history. Attendance levels have dropped dramatically though, since the inception of the current class system. However, Indiana still has one of the highest state tournament attendances in the nation.

In single-class basketball, it’s every man for themselves; which would pit Valparaiso, one of the largest 4A schools in Northwest Indiana, up against LaCrosse, a 1A school. LaCrosse hasn’t had a winning season since ’03-’04. Valpo had one losing season in the last 16. The old-timers, who support single-class basketball because it’s what they grew-up with, would say there’s nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with the bloodbath of a potential 40-50 point blowout every single year. Nothing wrong with clinging to the hope that one day there might be another David vs. Goliath. Nothing wrong with telling three other teams every year, that they’re not state champions.