that most of us living here reverberate with and understand/live. Probably close to how many feel about the first week of the NCAA. Hoops is life.

Of course Hooisers is meant in the state native ....much as many are Buckeyes but not all are Buckeyes


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Why live in Indiana? A wise old man once mused.
For sure to God there are seasons, where many Hoosiers are abused.

The stifling heat of summer, mosquitoes and damned humidity,
Throw in frozen mornings, a tornado, and no view of the sea.

No Mardi Gras or Broadway stage for us to hold on high.
No Canyons Grand or Space Needles to dot the Hoosier sky.

There’s the smell in Terre Haute and a hum in old Kokomo,
Factory jobs are leaving fast and farms are tougher to make a go’.

Ahhhh, but we good Hoosiers do have - one last saving grace.
One God bless’ed reason to stay upon this forlorn place.

Every March it comes swinging around, the grandest of reasons,
All souls in Indiana know it’s high school tourney season.

Now time has altered our tourney from what our parents once knew,
High school teams travel farther and classes puzzle more than a few.

Still there’re no seeds to argue as ping polls balls still seal fates,
And a bye is a treasured gift on that hallowed drawing date.

Hoosier hardships have come and gone, sparing not a one,
But there’s something all-together special about our one and done.

It’s what draws us all together, a tradition every spring.
Each Hoosier son and daughter takes their shot at the ring.

Why live in Indiana? Tough answer indeed to seek,
Put your Hoosier mind to rest, at last it’s Sectional week!

HickoryHusker.com -- Indiana high school basketball past and present

I always questioned how the seeding was done for the sectional tourneys in Indisna. When I was there in the late '70s -- back when there was just one tourney for the entire state -- the station I worked for covered five schools that were in the six-school Benton Central sectional. I was there for five years, and every year Twin Lakes (from Monticello) drew the host school in the first round. BC was usually the best team and TL was usually second best. I think the ping pong balls were weighted somehow. As I recall, BC won four of the five.

a little more about tournament we can all relate to.....



INDIANA -- Sure there's the Guillotine and some may argue the dentist's chair, but the single elimination basketball tourney is surely one of the cruelest inventions of all time. Few experiences in life compare to the heartsick feeling of a tourney loss...

Obviously the finality of it all is at the core of the despair, but it can come in many forms. Sure every team enters the state tourney with different expectations, but all but one will feel the similar sting of end of year defeat.

Those pre-tourney expectations may affect the flavor of the disappointment, but not the impact. Certainly high powered teams that have experienced a successful regular season find bitterness on the short end of the scoreboard. But, every team sets tourney goals, and for most, those inevitably come up short. Even struggling squads walk off a sectional floor in a funeral procession like manner with heads turned down.

Coaching staffs that have formed bonds and invested countless hours and energy feel an especially cruel bite when that ball rolls off the rim or caroms out of bounds the wrong way late in the game.

Tearful senior players ending their careers with looks of disbelief are an all too common scene. Witnessing someone dealing with the first moments of being an ex-player is a touching hardship indeed. Of course they don't bear that pain themselves. The crushing disappointment of that last game is carried by family, friends, and teammates alike. In some instances an entire community bears the burden of an especially difficult end of season loss.

Fans, too, can fall under the spell. One old school fan described the days following a tourney loss as if he was walking under a dark cloud - Almost a feeling of sickness and honestly not even wanting someone to make it better. Another spoke of it as a feeling similar to a punch in the gut that resulted in a loss of appetite and sullen depression.

I feel it too. Annually.

That's the odd thing that about it. In every other walk of life, folks learn to avoid hurtful situations - once bitten twice shy. No more for me. Yet every member of our basketball community returns each season to love and hope once more. We'll all attach ourselves to a team, live and die with their successes, and for the vast majority of us, end the year with yet another broken heart.

How many days until November when we can do it all again?

I told Tommy about our discussion regarding meeting before the Ox roast. He did not remember the specifics but he did recount memories of that day as I talked to him while headed down to Butler this morning.

We also talked about your comments on fundamentals and instruction at the lower levels. Good to talk to you. HOpe he gets a chance to spend some time and connect with you. He will be home Tuesday to head over to BIG tourney in Indy. Always good to see Coach Fisher. It is good to count a lot of those guys as friends from Charlie and Jerry to Cedric Vanleer and Barry Huckeby and even Coach Hedric. Glad you made your way over last night.