New IHSA 4-Class Basketball

[amckillip]

Born and raised in Indiana, and still living there I know that Indiana high school basketball is part of what makes the state great. What football is to Texas, basketball is to Indiana. I know that the finals still pack Conseco, and that the playoff are still exciting. However, it has been shown that attendance has dropped statewide since the class system began. I am just not a fan of the class basketball system. What's so wrong about only having one state champion a year? If it works in other sports, why should it change for basketball and football?

Only advocates of no class basketball will tel; you attendance has dropped. If the people making those statementsa understood how to analyze the numbers they'd see those statements were false - they compare 16 teams left in the old system with 16 teams left in each class(sectional finals). What they should do instead is compare the old Sweet Sixteen to the new Final Four, you'll see very quickly that the stat stated above is a product of people who want you to believe something.

 

[tornado]

Here is a story on the PLUMMETTING attendance at the Indiana-Kentucky High School All Star game in Indianapolis,
despite so many great players who are headed to instate schools.
They cite the reasons but the main one they name is:
"The sagging attendance parallels the decline seen in Indiana postseason high school basketball since the introduction of a four-class playoff system"
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/SPORTS0203/706230515/-1/LOCAL17

 

[DUBulldog]

Re: New IHSA 4-Class Basketball

In Class 2A will be Knoxville, Havana, Midwest Central, Maroa-Forsyth, Ottawa Marquette, Fieldcrest, Pleasant Plains, St.Bede, Farmington, Hall, Bureau Valley, Peoria Christian (because of the multiplier), Eureka, Kewanee, Olympia, IVC (enrollment 677), Macomb, Bloomington Central Catholic.)

Peoria Manual, because of an enrollment that has shrunk to 635, is also 2A. (so is Chicago Westinghouse at 640)

Just as an FYI....Westinghouse High School no longer exists. Westinghouse, Austin and one other Chicago high school were closed at the end of the just completed school year. Mark Aguirre, Eddie Johnson and Hersey Hawkins are just a few of the stars who've played at Westinghouse over the years.

 

[amckillip]

Here is a story on the PLUMMETTING attendance at the Indiana-Kentucky High School All Star game in Indianapolis,
despite so many great players who are headed to instate schools.
They cite the reasons but the main one they name is:
"The sagging attendance parallels the decline seen in Indiana postseason high school basketball since the introduction of a four-class playoff system"
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/SPORTS0203/706230515/-1/LOCAL17

Once again, this is where your 'Drive by Media' comes in. Surely T, you of all people understand that lots of journalists have agendas, many nostalgic for the 'good 'ol days' like when their opinions were relevant. Ask anyone of the class A or AA players that got the chance to lace up on Conseco, instead of being sent packing by the schools 5-8 times their size, if the class playoffs are good.