Class system necessary evil that hurts some schools

Tuesday, March 7, 2017
The crowd was small at the Class 3A Sectional at Greencastle on Tuesday night, which featured only one game.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

The Indiana high school basketball state tournament is in its 20th year under the four-class playoff system, and the previous single-class format is so far removed that today’s players obviously have no idea of what things used to be like.

When the change was made in the late 1990s, old-time basketball enthusiasts were furious. They felt the decision was made mostly by principals, who had never coached or played, and not the coaches or players.

The die-hards churned out numerous survey results to show how unpopular the change would be, but eventually lost the battle.

There could be few examples of what the class system has done to sectional atmosphere better than what happened in Putnam County last week.

Greencastle hosted a Class 3A sectional, and played the only game in the first night on Tuesday. The crowd was sparse, and not particularly vocal for the game against Crawfordsville.

The potential reasons for a low crowd that night are many. Often the stands are most crowded in the middle of a two-game session when the fans from the second game arrive early and some fans from teams playing in the first game hang around to see how the second game goes. That obviously hurt the crowd at the one-game Greencastle session on Tuesday.

The crowds at South Putnam on Friday night were much larger and louder for the Class 2A Sectional, which featured two games involving three county teams.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

South Putnam, meanwhile, hosted a Class 2A sectional featuring the three other local schools and nearby teams Cascade, Monrovia and Southmont. The crowds were great every night and the atmosphere was electric.

I had been pleasantly surprised at the large crowd for the boys’ county tournament played last month at Greencastle, in which the upper section of seating was open and quite full of fans.

Those two nights (which were even on a Thursday and Friday instead of Friday-Saturday) were exciting enough that I don’t think there is a lack of interest in local basketball.

I heard a few comments at Greencastle on Tuesday about how little money the tourney was making that night, and they were completely accurate.

Would it have killed anything if Greencastle (enrollment 571) were in Class 2A in the “local sectional”? Not really. The Tiger Cubs had exactly 14 more students than Southmont (the biggest school in the South Putnam Sectional) at the last count, hardly a big difference.

Greencastle’s team went 2-6 this year against the six teams in the South Putnam Sectional, and those extra 14 students didn’t make a bit of difference.

The problem I see is that the single-class Greencastle Sectional (like others at White River Valley and North Vermillion) were already divided evenly in terms of enrollment. The schools around those host sites were relatively close in size to the biggest schools, and the fields were equitable. Normally the best team won, which should be the goal.

The bigger issue is around cities with one or two schools exponentially bigger than the smaller schools which surrounded them. Places that fall into that category are Kokomo (the all-time leader with 74 sectional titles), Vincennes, Marion, Richmond, Lafayette Jeff, Muncie Central, Connersville, New Castle, Logansport, Anderson, Lebanon, New Albany and Valparaiso.

Each of those schools has won at least 51 titles. (Greencastle, incidentally, must have been more dominant before the local schools consolidated, since the Tiger Cubs are tied for 33rd in all-time sectional titles with 34).

Terre Haute, the city with which I’m most familiar, has two mega-schools in North and South that have each won 20 sectional titles since consolidating in 1972. (Nobody else ever won a Terre Haute Sectional, except when North lost to Staunton one year when both North and South hosted its own sectional in some IHSAA weirdness. The other years both schools easily won.)

To me the class system is necessary because of schools like Riverton Parke, where my wife teaches and I did my student teaching.

The school was formed in 1986 as a consolidation between Montezuma and Rosedale, and during its existence in the single-class system (playing in a Terre Haute sectional) won exactly ZERO games. Not zero sectional titles, but zero games.

On Saturday night, the Panthers played North Vermillion for a chance to win their first sectional in 11 years. They didn’t win, but they were in the game and had a chance to win.

Obviously there are similar schools surrounding Kokomo and the other formerly dominant schools who could make same claims.

I completely reject the common notion that in the class state tournament “everybody gets a trophy” these days. Such nonsense could not be less accurate. There are four champions, only three more than before.

In no way would I claim the system is perfect. The increased number of private schools taints the numbers, and allows schools to participate in a lower class than their talent dictates. In some of the larger classes, particularly 4A, the proximity of the schools is not close enough. East Central is a school in that class over by Cincinnati, and plays in a sectional with the Bloomington schools. Not an easy or quick trip.

Are the crowds hurt because people are unable to travel an hour on a Tuesday night to watch a game that used to be played just a few minutes away? I am sure they are. My stance is that the tourney is played for the kids, and the fans can find a way to get there ONE NIGHT a year in order to watch their teams play.

I maintain that even the name “class basketball” is in error. We do not have “class basketball” — we have a class state tournament. You can play whoever you want during the regular season.

No teams have clamored for the right to “take on the big boys” and played up in a higher enrollment classification, although the IHSAA “success factor” has forced four teams to do so this year. (For the record, Marquette Catholic was the only one to win a sectional. Park Tudor and Guerin Catholic lost their first sectional games, while Barr-Reeve lost in the sectional finals.)

Do I wish Indiana high school basketball was like it was when I was in high school? In most ways, yes. Will we ever go back to the one-class system? Looks unlikely.

Diehards have tried to suggest alternative formats — including a three-class system (instead of four) and a situation where the sectional level was played according to enrollment and the regionals would then be grouped by geography. Both of those have some merit, but neither has ever appeared to come close to happening.

Others favor a format used by Kentucky, in which both a single-class tournament and a multi-class tournament is played (one during the season and one at the end).

I attended the boys’ state finals last year for the first time in a long time, while covering Bloomfield for the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. I chose to stay all day long, wanting to take in the entire experience and see what it was like these days.

It was great. From the post-game reactions, none of the winning teams would trade its “class” title for a one-class title. New Albany won the 4A title. Could Marion, Lapel or Liberty Christian have beaten them? I would guess not. The final four teams in Class 4A were Southport, New Albany, McCutcheon and Warsaw. That may very well have been the final four in a one-class system. Would it have been better basketball than the four games in the class tourrnament? Possibly.

For me, the goods outweigh the bads and the class tournament needs to stay in place. The South Putnam Sectional was a great example that the format of the tourney had no impact on its excitement for both players and fans.

• An upcoming column will talk about travel teams and their impact (good and bad) upon high school athletics.

For now, I want to pass along that the Three-D boys’ basketball program based in the Wabash Valley and run by Northview girls’ coach Zack Keyes will be having tryouts on Sunday from 3-5 p.m. at South Vermillion.

Teams will be formed for players currently in grades 9-11. Keyes may be contacted at @CoachKeyes43 on Twitter for more information.

Indiana high school tourney tidbits

• Two of last year’s state champions have already been eliminated. Class 4A New Albany and Class A Liberty Christian are still alive, while Marion (3A) and Lapel (2A) were knocked off in the sectional round.

• Lafayette Central Catholic won its 16th straight boys’ basketball sectional title over the weekend, the longest current streak.

Both Greensburg and Liberty Christian increased their sectional title streaks to six. Franklin Central and Linton-Stockton both had four-year streaks broken, while teams winning their fourth straight title were Homestead, Marquette Catholic, New Albany, Northeastern (Cloverdale’s regional opponent), Seton Catholic, Tri-West and Twin Lakes.

Teams who had three-year title streaks snapped were Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian, Hammond Bishop Noll, NorthWood, Park Tudor and Silver Creek.

Besides Cloverdale, other schools now on a three-year winning streak are Carmel, McCutcheon, Bloomington South, Indianapolis Tindley and Wood Memorial.

• Monrovia was trying to win its first boys’ basketball sectional since 2000 against Cloverdale on Saturday.

Shoals has the longest current sectional title drought in boys’ basketball, not winning since 1913.

The Jug Rox advanced to the championship game of the North Daviess sectional before losing 39-26 to Loogootee. Shoals had four sophomore starters this year, and could break that spell in the next year or two.

Churubusco won its first-ever boys’ basketball sectional title on Saturday, Other long droughts still in play are West Noble (no wins since 1968) and Clinton Prairie (1982).

• Cloverdale had a 52-point turnaround against Southmont in the sectional, going from an 83-69 regular-season loss to a 100-62 sectional victory. That turnaround was the largest in the state.

One of the best turnarounds in state history had to come in Vigo County in the late 1980s, when Terre Haute North beat West Vigo by 50 points in the regular season and lost to the Vikings in the sectional.

• Northview is the only other Western Indiana Conference team besides Cloverdale to win a sectional title. They will meet Indianapolis Crispus Attucks in the first game of the Greencastle Regional on Saturday.

Crispus Attucks and Northview also met at the girls’ basketball regional, with Attucks winning 62-50.

Danville and Tri-West, both members of the Sagamore Conference, meet in the second game. Both teams defeated Greencastle in the regular season, and Danville also beat Cloverdale.

Danville is one of only four schools to win sectionals during this school year in football, boys’ basketball and girls’ basketball. The others are Homestead, Carmel and Indianapolis Lutheran. The title was the 16th in school history and sixth in the last 12 years.

• Danville is the only team to play both Cloverdale and Northeastern this year, and won both games.

The Warriors won 79-76 at Cloverdale on Feb. 4, and defeated Northeastern in the Jeffersonville Holiday Tourney 60-56 on Dec. 28.

• Other opponents of Putnam County teams still alive are North Vermillion (lost to both North Putnam and South Putnam), Covington (defeated North Putnam) and Shakamak (lost to Cloverdale).

• Northeastern star Tyler Smith, ranks eighth in the state in scoring at 24.8 points per game. When the Knights meet Cloverdale on Saturday, three of the state’s top eight scorers will be playing in the game as both Cooper Neese and Jalen Moore are among the four leading scorers.

Smith has signed to play collegiately for Florida Southern University. Ironically, the athletic director at FSU is Greencastle native Pete Meyer, whose brother Tony is Cloverdale’s head coach for football and baseball.

• Cloverdale graduate Brian McCammon coached Delphi to the championship game of Class 2A Sectional 34 at Winamac, with the Oracles losing 71-35 to Marquette Catholic in the championship game.

Delphi had a 10-12 record in the regular season before defeating Hebron 70-63 in overtime and North Judson by a 50-31 score.

The Oracles finished with a 12-13 record.

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