We are heading down the path where every team will be in some sort of post season tournament. I'm old enough to be from an era where you had to finish in first place to qualify for any sort of post season, whether it be CYO basketball or sandlot baseball. I remember playing in a CYO basketball tournamant and we made it to the championship game and lost. Only the champion received a team trophy and player trophy. I looked at those trophies and I wanted one! Maybe that's what motivated us to be better. But in the era of getting a gold star for just showing up, I guess 100 teams playing in the post season isn't enough. We had 30 games to show what we had and didn't cut the mustard. I'm sorry but I'm not real excited about it.
From my side of the Universe we hear almost daily the demise of Indiana basketball was when every school did not go into the tourney. It is a hoosier thing that everyone get to play on even ground big or small because that is the way real life comes at you.
OTOH I never have been to a CYO or sandlot tourney where all the participants did not get inthe post season. You are never going to accept that when you played the % of teams that got in was siognificantly higher than now . That is all anyone who wants 96 teams in the tourney wants is that the % of teams in is commensurate with the numbeer that start out. If that number was nearly a third then the same now would be nice. Think about qualifying for any other venue of sport how many get in the initial rounds of World Cup, NBA, NHL, NFL, Yachting or any other sport.
They made a movie about Milan HS that beat the giant Muncie Central in 1954. That movie Hossiers has probably sold a few copies in it's time.
Now all the principals at the small schools said ..."we can't compete" so they set up four classes and four communities get trophies in four sepreate finals.each year, but the allure of how great Indiana basketball used to be is still felt in gyms that used to be totally fillled every friday night.
I dont disagree with the one set of trophies and none for the losers. At Muncie Central Tommy lost 2 state titles to odenand Conley and the 05 and 06 kids joined the ranks of the 54 and 55 teams that lost to Milan and Oscar Robertson. You can see where the banners of those kids hang because we dont hang banners for sectionals, league....there is only one banner hung at MC
At the same time while the Big 6 conferences hold all the cards and the playing feild in the NCAA is not exactly level there is a place for the tourneys. Besides ...everyone knows you just dont agree with much and I for one have always been a bit embarrassed that you aere a former player with some kind of axe to grind.
When the big 6 srtart to play games in the Convo and dont hold the cards and when the expansion of the Big Boy tourney gives a littel parity to leagues that are really getting banged up in conference beating each other up then I will tend to agree more with you ....till then I will long for the day when every team in Indiana had a fighting chance to be Cinderella and everyonce in a while Goliath got kicked to the curb,.
Last Edited: 3/14/2011 4:43:48 PM by bornacatfan