end of the road

Like Liberty Christian & Marquette Catholic, Hammond Bishop Noll and Frankton, the basketball trail has led us to Lafayette. With Jefferson High School playing host to the 1A and 2A northern Semi-States we find ourselves inside a packed, hot, late sixties gym whose personality is fully revealed on days like this.  The spectacle that unfolds in front of our lenses reveals what we have already begun to sense this season - 1A and 2A basketball (girls & boys) delivers. Larger, more passionate fan bases willing to travel many miles through all kinds of weather, that's small school ball. There, I've said it - class basketball has saved the sport in Indiana.  Consolidation brought about the demise of the small school and tipped the balance of power once & for all in favor of larger educational facilities.  To offset this, the IHSAA in a forward thinking moment created class basketball - and all the tradition bound thinkers cried "foul."  If you don't believe that class basketball has been important for communities, ask Barr-Reeve or Jac-Cen-Del. How about Forest Park and Milan? And don't forget Frankton - on their way to Indianapolis with a fan base larger than their city. But, as with Christian and Noll, our 2014-15 season ends here, at the home of the Bronchos, but our journey continues during the quieter times of spring, summer and early fall to the sound of a single ball bouncing on an old maple floor. CGS.