Indiana Basketball (JS)

[BamaMike]

JS Dont know where your allegiances lie regarding Indiana basketball but thought something this year was really ironic. Indiana which is a bball hotbed started two transfers from Auburn (Basketball wasteland), another i think starter (DJ White) was from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and head coach Mike Davis played at the University of Alabama. I believe one of the ass. coaches was Whites coach in HS.
Noone has ever accused Alabama of being anything but a football state.
Of course Coach Davis is no longer at IU.
Just kinda ironic
Mike

[JSPhoto]

LOL, yeah, I know, and I find it funny too. I hear it everyday, especially when the kids start signing to go to school as I run one of the high school basketball forums as well. It's pretty sad that very few of the kids in Indiana go to college here.
Look at this years number one player in the nation, Greg Oden and teammate Mike Conley who go to Lawrence North High school about 8 minutes from me, both will be going to Ohio State.
The fact is, Indiana is slowly going from a basketball state to football as the number one sport. This downfall began with the downfall of the auto industry, then added to when the IHSAA went to "class" basketball where everyone gets a chance instead of earning their way in.
Take recent state champ New Castle as an example. The auto industry put New Castle on the map and the town was booming. Chrysler built the gym for the school, the worlds largest at over 10,000 seats and the place was packed for every game. Today New Castle high school is losing students as their parents have to move to find work. In the next class realignment New Castle will probably drop to class 3A. New Castle was always a powerhouse in basketball, but since the decline of the auto industry this year was their first good season since the early 90's, and first championship since class basketball was introduced.
Football meanwhile is growing by leaps and bounds. More kids are getting recruited to D1 colleges for football each year than basketball in Indiana now. The states top football coach Kevin Wright of Warren Central was just lured away to Union High School in Tulsa, Ok. to lead their team. Kevin left as he saw it a step closer to coaching college ball, and is another factor in the steps tha shows Indiana football is growing. Also each year there are more schools starting football programs. Soon we will have some 320 high schools playing football and a few years ago there were just 285. There are close too 400 schools with basketball, and within 10-15 years the numbers will be equal at present growth.

JS

[JSPhoto]

Bama gets Mike Davis and Robert Vaden from IU.....more leaving Indiana...but as far as I'm concerned I won't miss Mike Davis. He has got to be the MOST boring coach to interview or to be coached by. I can't stand his voice and he really doesn't say anything except the same thing over and over.
I will miss Vaden though, he's also an excellent football player and won a state championship in 04 with Warren Central. His brother played for WC this year and also won a championship in football.

JS