High School Basketball State Tournament Case Study

After the Milan High School victory, eight teams have made it to the Final Four. These teams are Springs Valley High School in 1958, Tell City High School in 1961, Cloverdale High School in 1966, Loogootee High School in 1970 and 1975, Argos High School in 1979, Shenandoah High School in 1981, Southridge High School in 1985, and Whitko High School in 1991 (“One-Class…”). Loogootee’s 1975 team made it to championship game; but, no small, current A or 2A, school won the championship after Milan High School (Johnson). Just as state champions change each year, so does tournament attendance. In 1960, the total series attendance was 1,497,674. By 1997, the tournament attendance dropped to 786,024 (Whitko).

Long after the first Indiana boys’ basketball

Because of this referendum, the IHSAA member principals got the chance to vote for multiple-class high school basketball tournaments. If the majority had voted against multiple-class basketball, the original vote would have been overturned (“IHSAA Boys Basketball State Tournament…”). The original vote was not overturned; however, as the principals voted to uphold multiple class basketball tournaments 220-157 in September of 1996 (Nye; “IHSAA Boys Basketball State

The multiple-class format consisted of 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A schools (“IHSAA Boys Basketball State Tournament…”). These classes distinguished enrollments of schools, with 1A having the lowest enrollment numbers, and 4A having the largest enrollment numbers (Likas). This format, though new to Indiana, was not new to most U.S. schools. Most U.S. schools used the multiple-class format in 1997, with Kentucky, Delaware, and Hawaii being the only states to remain with the single-class basketball system (Hutton).

This first year of multiple-class basketball tournaments in Indiana was a historic one. History was made because for the first time in IHSAA history, there were four basketball state champions (“IHSAA Boys Basketball State Tournament…”). Those champions were Pike High School for class 4A, Indianapolis Cathedral High School for 3A, Alexandria High School for 2A, and Lafayette Central Catholic High School for A (“IHSAA Boys Basketball State Champions”).

After this first year of multiple-class basketball in Indiana, the IHSAA board of directors reviewed the class system again. This vote took place on May 3, 1999, as the return to single-class was rejected 13-5 (Nye). Consequently, Indiana has played multiple-class basketball tournaments ever