With the conclusion of the high school basketball season it’s time to express some thoughts and make some observations after almost four months of hoop action. Let’s begin with the month of March and the tournament trail leading to the State Finals in Dayton this past weekend.
When you see the quality of the teams participating in the Final Fours in boys and girls play, you once again realize how difficult it is to make it to that final weekend of competition. This is reinforced by flipping through the OHSAA State Tournament Program (an excellent annual publication) and looking at the lists of all-time state tournament participants beginning back in 1923. Many schools have only reached the state level one or two times, while others have stretches of multiple visits. Many schools have never advanced that far in tourney action, something that is the ultimate wish of every player, coach, and fan of prep roundball.
This year’s championship games at UD Arena saw attendance vary from only 2,813 at the D-V contest between two private schools (Columbus Academy and Cleveland Heights Lutheran East) to 7,408 for the D-VII match involving Delphos St. John’s and Kalida, two schools located only 15 or so miles apart. You have to love the enthusiasm and followings of those types of small communities!
I always enjoy watching pre-game warmups and the various drills teams use in getting ready for the games. You can tell well-coached teams by their sense of purpose, discipline, and attention to detail even before the games start.
Competitive Balance has been an ongoing attempt by the OHSAA to level the playing field between private and public schools over the years due to enrollment of out-of-district students. This year of the 56 schools in total, both boys and girls, that advanced to Dayton 15 were private or parochial, including three of the four finalists in boys D-V. It seems that competitive balance has had a bigger impact on public schools than private as the latter can self-regulate their enrollment numbers.
The officiating at the state level consists of 63 officials working the 21 tournament games for both boys and girls. Four categories are used to compile a composite score for each official from around the state, including rankings, years of experience, and other factors. Only the best make it to the Final Fours, something that fans somehow overlook!!
The most noticeable change I’ve seen over the years, both during the regular season and the tournament, has been in the physical play that is now seemingly allowed. Sometimes there is a very thin line between physical contact and a foul being called. But the best officials are consistent in their calls, much to the dismay and angst of fans of the participating teams at times!
In my opinion, for what it’s worth, the past two years of going to seven divisions has somewhat taken a little luster from the games. I like the format for D-I which consists of the 64 largest schools in the state, something that alleviates the huge discrepancies in enrollments at that level, but would like to have seen the remainder of schools sorted into four equal divisions, resulting in D-I through D-V action. The odds of that happening are the same as me winning the PowerBall!!
Here are some special shoutouts to folks who love the sport:
—Gaylen Blosser and Dale Barger, who cover more games and are more knowledgeable of hoop action here in Darke County and surrounding areas than any others.
—Ric Crider, a 1967 Greenville High School classmate of mine, who resides in Celina and, often accompanied by his cousin Jim Ward, attended all 23 Greenville boys’ games. In addition, he saw five Franklin-Monroe contests, multiple pre-middle-school games, and an amazing 30 tournament games involving 39 different schools over the past three weeks. Talk about dedication in addition to time and mileage; also, I’d hate to see his gas bill!!
—The many coaches, players, and fans who make the games interesting.
—The cheerleaders, students, and pep bands (Granville High School, where my grandsons are on the basketball teams, has the best with almost 100 musicians and an endless repertoire of great music, making halftime a show in itself!).
—And the Administrators, Athletics Directors, volunteers, booster clubs, and game personnel who make it all work for everyone’s enjoyment!
Finally, how important are free throws in determining the outcome of a game? I’ve always thought that a boys varsity team should make around 65% from the foul line, the better teams even higher. As I mentioned in my last article, Marion Local made only 10 of 25 from the charity stripe, including only 2 of the last 12, in their 54-51 D-VI title game loss to Berlin Hiland. As another example from a regular-season game, Eaton connected on only 10 of 32 in a three-point home loss to Greenville as the Eagles shot only 45.2% for the year. Mechanics, concentration, and confidence that comes with repetition are definitely in order in Preble County and other gyms around the area!
It was a great season and has fans already counting the days to the first tip-off of the ‘26-‘27 campaign. Lots of hard work for both boys and girls over the summer!!
