New IHSA 4-Class Basketball

[corilon]

Having grown up in the 60s and 70s in Illinois I was quite familiar with the 2 class system. Then I moved to Texas. Wow! And recently it has gotten crazier. 6 classifications for football here and that doesn't count 6 man football and the ultra small private schools. Now for the good part. Each classification now gets divided again for the playoffs. You get the top three from each district making the playoffs then you sort by enrollment and the largest goes into the 6A div I and the other two into the 6A div II tournaments. That way you get 12 state champs in football each and every year. So conceivably <doubt it ever has happened> a team could finish 3rd in their 6 team district/conference then because they happened to have a higher enrollment than the 1st and 2nd teams in the same district they get placed in a different tournament and lo and behold because all the really good teams are not the biggest schools they end up with a state championship without playing anyone. Still seems a bit screwy to me.

corilon

[ph]

On a College b-ball related note.
Will this change affect college recruiting?
Might 2-a athletes get noticed more?, or is most D1 recruiting still going to be 3-a+?

[Da Coach]

Good question. In other states with 4 or more classes,like Indiana, it hasn't made much difference. In the remote past it might have kept some kids from getting noticed, but now recruiting is so extensive, and kids get exposure in many ways (AAU, summer camps, team-tournaments, recruiting services, etc) that I doubt now it will have an effect on recruiting now.

[That Guy]

Indiana used to have only one single class for basketball. This made for some great stories (example, Milan High School, the movie Hoosiers was written about them) and also some great rivalries. Indiana moved to a class basketball tourney about a decade ago because some of the smaller school complained that they weren't given a chance to win. Since the inception of class basketball, the state tourney that was "Hoosier Hysteria" has lost some of it's muster. Some natural rivalries were dissolved come tournament time as teams were forced to travel farther in order to play similar sized schools. Also post-season attendance has dropped considerably since the class system was instituted. What once was a standing room only affair has given way to half-filled gymnasiums. This is sad because although I know you all don't want to admit it, NOBODY loves high school basketball as much as Indiana...

Sorry, Your wrong. Indiana HS State tournaments still pack arenas, its still nuts, and its still a huge deal. It simply is unfair to have Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Eric Gorden, Armon Basset, and Josh McRoberts(BTW, all those kids are just from one conference in Indiana) playing against kids from no wheres-ville Indiana. Growing up in Indiana I can tell you class playoffs are a great thing because it gives small schools a chance. I don't care how lucky or how well, let's say, Brown County plays as a team Greg Oden would have eaten them alive.

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?

[chitownBUB]

Most Chicago area schools are 3A and 4A and most are declining slowly in attendance.
Those that are 2A, if they align themselves in the future with other 2A schools in their scheduling, then most certainly they will drop off the lists of many college recruiters.
Very few D-I players seem to come from those smaller schools, and I will guess it's that way all over the state.
The biggest 2A schools like Chicago Latin, Richards, Dyett just never are known for basketball.
Two exceptions, Hales and North Lawndale, will still retain their prominence because of their scheduling.
My guess is that schools like Manual and possibly some day Central, that drop to 2A, will stay prominent because of the conference they are in and the teams they schedule, but Manual's decline has been very rapid. How long before the Peoria schools re-organize?

Note that Manual's enrollment was 1600 in the 1970's, 1200 in 1988, 1100 in 1995, 1000 in 1997, 986 in 1998, 973 in 1999, and it was nearly 800 two years ago, and is 635 now.
Central was over 2000 twenty years ago, and is 989 now.
By contrast, Quincy HS is almost exactly where it's been for 30 years, a little over 2000.

[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.dl...515/-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.