HoopsCoach

Tech is a joke. They are an average football team in a weak NCC. Boys Basketball is going to get busted for undue influence. They can barely field varsity teams in most sports, and their enrollment continues to plummet (2608 in 2018 to 2089 in 2020). Every few years IPS “reorganizes” and tries to push enrollment at Tech back up, but it never lasts. NCC administrators have discussed removing them from the conference on more than one occasion in the last few years. Maybe that opens the door for them to go to the MIC, but they will not be competitive in anything but boys basketball. Once the AAU coach gets canned or moves on they will have a tough time competing in basketball also. I could see Southport joining the MIC. I don’t think Franklin Central would go back but they might if Carmel and Center Grove join the HCC. Avon switching to the MIC might make some sense if the Orioles think they can find more wins by making the jump. Maybe the MIC considers Cathedral and goes with a 7 team league. Cathedral could be open to that with a 6 game conference schedule for football, which leaves open 3 games for Chatard, Roncalli, and a Cincinnati Catholic school (or Center Grove). I would be interested in a 12 team HCC. I mentioned this in a related topic recently: HCC North: Carmel, Fishers, HSE, Noblesville, Westfield, Zionsville HCC South: Avon, Brownsburg, Center Grove, Columbus North, Franklin Central, Southport 5 games against division opponents, and a crossover game in week 9 for 6 conference games total. No need to play more since these teams will likely play in the postseason anyway. That leaves 3 non-conference games just like you would have in a 7 team MIC with Cathedral.

Is that from this year (21-22) or last year? The numbers I shared were from the 20-21 school year.

The WL district is basically landlocked, and without taking students from out of the district, their enrollment growth will be pretty gradual. It was about 650 in the early 2000s and has grown to roughly 750 in 20 years. Over that same period of time, Harrison has gone from 1500 to 2100. The demographics of WL resemble those of Central Catholic and I think they are happy with that.

West Lafayette - 743 Danville - 739 Gibson Southern - 728 Tri-West - 578 In recent years the 3A/4A cutoff has fallen right around 800. If reclassification would have happened for this year, Brebeuf would have been 4A with an enrollment of 816.

You’re right about Franklin County and their enrollment trend. They have lost roughly 200 students at the high school level over the last 10 years. They went from around 950 students in 2010 to 750 in 2020. It has fallen around 20-40 students per year during that time so they could be headed towards 2A three or four alignment cycles from now. Certainly could be sooner if their enrollment drop is greater at the younger levels right now. SD would probably be in a 3A sectional with county rival Lawrenceburg.

Franklin County (732) had more students than South Dearborn (723) in 2020-21. Both would have been in the top 20 largest 3A schools and still about 200 more than the largest 2A.

This is probably true. From the 2020 fall count day, here were the bottom 10 of 6A (with 32 schools) and the top 10 of 5A. The numbers are close enough, especially among the schools that had 2000-2100, that there could be some shuffling if realignment actually happens. 23 Portage 2301 24 Lawrence Central 2268 25 Zionsville 2151 26 Jeffersonville 2134 27 Columbus North 2090 28 Indianapolis Arsenal Tech 2089 29 Chesterton 2081 30 Lafayette Jefferson 2066 31 Warsaw 2059 32 Harrison (West Lafayette) 2050 1 Fort Wayne Northrop 2046 2 Valparaiso 2035 3 Merrillville 2022 4 Whiteland 2007 5 Goshen 1973 6 South Bend Adams 1949 7 Castle 1884 8 Floyd Central 1867 9 New Albany 1859 10 Fort Wayne Snider 1830

The IHSAA already pays mileage for all of the schools that travel to play regional and semi-state games. They pay $6 per mile, round trip. It wouldn’t be much of a difference (or cost much more) to pay both schools mileage to go to a neutral site instead of paying one school mileage to drive all the way to their opponent’s school. Using Mount Vernon/Memorial as an example - they should pay Mount Vernon $2304 (384 miles) to go all the way to Memorial. If they played at Bloomington South for a neutral site game, the IHSAA would pay Mount Vernon $936 (156 miles) and Memorial $1416 (236 miles). That would be an additional $48 in mileage paid by the IHSAA. At $10 per ticket, I think they could sell 5 more tickets to offset that cost. If the IHSAA was really concerned about mileage reimbursement, they would make their alignment committees do a better job aligning the sectionals and which sectionals feed into certain regionals. In boys basketball, it’s possible for a school like South Adams or Adams Central to go to North Judson for regional, meanwhile North Newton, Rensselaer, or Winamac would have to go to all the way to Lapel.

They played at the township schools in Marion County (North Central, Warren Central, Lawrence Central, Lawrence North) until the Hoosier Dome opened. It hosted starting in ‘84.

Here is what I posted on the Moving Tournament Game Sites topic. Similar to the sites that you posted. One more time - hypothetical neutral sites for semi-state. 2 games at each site, played on Saturday, November 20th. Games at 1 and 6 (not necessarily in the order listed below), which allows time between games to present trophy, clear locker rooms, fans can tailgate or go grab a meal somewhere, and warmups for game 2. Nobody with a drive more than 2 hours. @Elkhart New Prairie/Northridge Andrean/Eastside @Warsaw Brebeuf/Marian North Judson/Adams Central @Lafayette Jeff Merrillville/Westfield Michigan City/Zionsville @Franklin Central Center Grove/Ben Davis Indy Lutheran/Tri @Bloomington South Mount Vernon/Evansville Memorial Scecina/Mater Dei @Bloomington North Cathedral/New Albany Tri-West/Gibson Southern

One more time - hypothetical neutral sites for semi-state. 2 games at each site, played on Saturday, November 20th. Games at 1 and 6 (not necessarily in the order listed below), which allows time between games to present trophy, clear locker rooms, fans can tailgate or go grab a meal somewhere, and warmups for game 2. Nobody with a drive more than 2 hours. @Elkhart New Prairie/Northridge Andrean/Eastside @Warsaw Brebeuf/Marian North Judson/Adams Central @Lafayette Jeff Merrillville/Westfield Michigan City/Zionsville @Franklin Central Center Grove/Ben Davis Indy Lutheran/Tri @Bloomington South Mount Vernon/Evansville Memorial Scecina/Mater Dei @Bloomington North Cathedral/New Albany Tri-West/Gibson Southern

It says “The Flying Jets are the better team, but South Adams has nothing to lose as the heavy underdog.” I don’t think he’s calling South Adams the favorite, he’s picking an upset.

Good suggestion and one that makes sense. I went with Cascade since it is a little more centrally located for Parke Heritage/Lutheran but it isn’t a significant difference.

Here’s what I posted in the thread on moving tournament game sites yesterday. Hypothetical neutral site games for regional: Merrillville/Penn @ LaPorte Carroll/Westfield @ Marion Brownsburg/Ben Davis @ Avon Lawrence North/Center Grove @ Franklin Central Valpo/Michigan City @ Chesterton Dwenger/Zionsville @ Anderson Cathedral/New Palestine @ Warren Central Bloomington South/New Albany @ Columbus North Lowell/New Prairie @ Hobart Northridge/Mississinewa @ Columbia City Mount Vernon/Roncalli @ Greenfield Central East Central/Evansville Memorial @ Martinsville Hanover Central/Mishawaka Marian @ Portage Norwell/Brebeuf @ Delta Tri-West/Owen Valley @ Mooresville Lawrenceburg/Gibson Southern @ Providence Andrean/LaVille @ SB St. Joe Eastside/Eastbrook @ Homestead Central Catholic/Scecina @ Lebanon Triton Central/Mater Dei @ Bloomington North North Judson/Carroll @ Logansport Adams Central/South Adams @ Bluffton Parke Heritage/Lutheran @ Cascade Tri/North Central @ Decatur Central

I agree, and that’s what I would do for semi-state. 2 games on Saturday at the same site. I think there are enough regional games that feature schools who aren’t that far apart that it would create some “out of the way” travel to pair up 2 neutral site games. Some of these regionals could definitely be paired up and played at the same site on Saturday. Merrillville/Penn and Valpo/Michigan City Carroll/Westfield and Dwenger/Zionsville Some combination of Lawrence North/Center Grove, Cathedral/New Pal, and Roncalli/Mount Vernon

Hypothetical neutral site games for regional: Merrillville/Penn @ LaPorte Carroll/Westfield @ Marion Brownsburg/Ben Davis @ Avon Lawrence North/Center Grove @ Franklin Central Valpo/Michigan City @ Chesterton Dwenger/Zionsville @ Anderson Cathedral/New Palestine @ Warren Central Bloomington South/New Albany @ Columbus North Lowell/New Prairie @ Hobart Northridge/Mississinewa @ Columbia City Mount Vernon/Roncalli @ Greenfield Central East Central/Evansville Memorial @ Martinsville Hanover Central/Mishawaka Marian @ Portage Norwell/Brebeuf @ Delta Tri-West/Owen Valley @ Mooresville Lawrenceburg/Gibson Southern @ Providence Andrean/LaVille @ SB St. Joe Eastside/Eastbrook @ Homestead Central Catholic/Scecina @ Lebanon Triton Central/Mater Dei @ Bloomington North North Judson/Carroll @ Logansport Adams Central/South Adams @ Bluffton Parke Heritage/Lutheran @ Cascade Tri/North Central @ Decatur Central

I’ll say it again - it can be done. The IHSAA and it’s member schools choose not to. Other states seem to manage those obstacles you identified. I can buy the idea that schools want to host their sectional to have a home court/field advantage. I don’t think that reason is as common for events after sectional. Greenfield-Central, Martinsville, and Frankfort all host 1A or 2A regionals in boys basketball. All 3 are in different classes and are only guaranteed to NOT have a home court advantage. Their team could also be playing elsewhere the same day/night. It’s been a while since a boys basketball team played in a semi-state they hosted. Many schools enjoy hosting tournament events, very few of which choose to because of a belief that they will have a home court/field advantage. Seymour, Huntington North, Lafayette Jeff, Washington, Southport, Logansport, Elkhart…not a criticism of their athletic teams, but not many are making deep tournament runs and playing at home. I do think the IHSAA needs to create a greater incentive for schools to host regional and semi-state events. If a fully neutral site hurts attendance from the IHSAA’s perspective, why do they play the state finals at Lucas Oil instead of letting schools play at home? They played the championship games at home sites from 1973-1976. Football is one of the few IHSAA tournaments that do not play regional and semi-state rounds at neutral sites. I would like to see that change now that more adequate facilities are available.

The solution I would recommend is to play the 6A regional game (if it’s Carmel/BD) at North Central or Pike. Semi-state could then be held on Nov. 20th at Avon with 2 games. The 5A game potentially between Cathedral and Bloomington North/South at 1 followed by the 6A game potentially between Center Grove and Carmel/BD at 5 or 6. Time between games allows for the clearing of locker rooms and facility after the afternoon game and warm ups before the evening game.

I think the error was FW Carroll. Up until this year, they had natural grass. They built a new stadium that opened this year, which has turf.

It can be done. Took me about an hour to identify neutral sites with turf for every (likely) regional game. They could also select regional sites for each matchup prior to the start of the tournament, which would give host sites more time to plan ahead. There are enough schools now with turf that it could be done. Semi-state games at neutral sites are long overdue in my opinion. Do it like basketball and volleyball - 2 games on Saturday using 6 sites (3 north, 3 south).

Charlestown has a new turf field that would be a decent location to host that game. 1 hr 45 for East Central, 2 hrs for Mater Dei.

I think Monroe Central used 4 timeouts in the 2nd half. Then the officials completely botched the game time and play clock after the 4th timeout was granted.

It would eliminate a success factor point for winning a sectional. Doesn’t matter for 6A, but it could for a 5A team playing up in 6A. With the current format, a team like Snider (just for example, when they were playing up in 6A) could win 2 sectionals and no regionals, and stay in 6A. Without sectionals, they could win 0 regionals and go back to 5A.

Segregation might have been a related trend Alabama took a significant role in leading.

The nickname for Adams Central is the Jets. The Starfires are South Adams. SA played in the 1A state finals this year. AC won it in 2000 and has historically been more consistent than SA.