Bob Seggerson
You can close the book on the 102nd edition of the boy’s state basketball tournament and in the same breath, you can kiss goodbye to the four-division format that has been in existence for the past 36 years. All sports are a chronicle of change, and the post-season tournament is not immune to that dynamic. More on that later.
Best Games: Unfortunately, I thought two of the most exciting games in the tournament this year involved Lima Central Catholic and Ottawa Glandorf, both of whom lost heartbreakers in the closing moments of their Friday games.
Lima Central Catholic-Berlin Highland: This matchup opened the tournament on Friday morning and the Hawks took the game right to the T-Birds with aggressive intensity and torrid 3-point shooting. Down ten points at halftime, LCC finally awoke, and in the 2nd half, they made a spirited comeback, one that their fans had witnessed in earlier tournament games. Led by Carson Parker and Jordan Priddy, the T-Birds narrowly missed opportunities to win the game at the end of regulation and in the first OT. Fittingly, a long 3-point buzzer-beater by their opponent at the end of the 2nd OT sealed their fate. LCC was led this season by an extraordinary group of seniors who provided a textbook in leadership. Carson Parker, Billy Bourk, and Demarr Foster will be difficult to replace, but the cupboard is not bare.
OG-Harvest Prep: These two were familiar opponents at state. The Titans defeated Prep two years ago to advance to the championship game. This year, O-G trailed by double digits for most of the game including an eleven-point deficit beginning the fourth quarter. Enter Colin White. There have been enough superlatives written about White that it really isn’t necessary to pile it on here. Suffice it to say, he put the Titans on his back and brought the house down with an extraordinary effort to close the gap and turn the fourth quarter into a barn burner. His 32 points and 13 rebounds (I had him with 15 boards) were a fitting finish to a career that ended with Colin joining the elite group of legendary athletes who have been selected as Ohio’s Mr. Basketball. Off the court, White is just as impressive. O-G’s domination over the past four seasons (four trips to state) was fueled by more than just Colin’s contributions. Don’t sleep on the Titans.
Basketball changing to 7 divisions next season: The new format creating seven divisions for basketball next season was the topic of discussion for almost every person I talked to at the state tournament this year. A little history: For the first five decades of the tournament (1922-1971) there were only two divisions, although until 1944, 16 teams advanced to state in each division. During WWII, it was reduced to four in each division because of travel restrictions and rationing, and that number remained in effect when divisions were added over the years. In 1971 the OHSAA moved it to three divisions and in the late 80’s it became the current four-division model.
One of the reasons the new format was created was to address the problem of the size discrepancies in Division 1, the schools with the largest enrollment numbers. Schools with an enrollment of 346 male students or more were assigned as Division 1. But many of those schools began to protest the huge discrepancy, especially with the mega-enrollment schools. For example, Bedford High School has 346 males, while Mason High School has 1300, but both are division 1. Therein lies the problem, so the OHSAA decided to address it.
The new model will look something like this. There are going to be 7 divisions. The top 64 enrollment schools in the state will be in division 1. The next 64 schools will be in division 2. Division 3 will be made up of the remaining schools that are currently Division 1 but not as large as the schools in the first two divisions. The next four divisions will be divided among the remaining high schools in the state and the expectation is that divisions 4, 5, 6, and 7 will be made up of approximately 130 schools in each division. The actual numbers and the assignment of divisions will be announced later.
The most dramatic change in all of this is that next year the state will only consist of seven state championship games. No state semi-final games. What passed for semi-final games in the past will now be played in regional tournaments. The betting is that the seven state championship games will be played over two days. Four on one day, three the next, most likely on a Friday and Saturday.
Like many basketball fans, my first reaction to hearing the changes was skepticism and concern over watering down the tournament. But I also understand the challenge facing the OHSAA. Many states are dealing with this issue and their solutions are all over the map. Ohio has the fourth-highest number of athletes competing at the high school level in the country and most of the larger states have multiple divisions to deal with the issue.
One of the biggest hurdles facing the OHSAA will be the issue of travel distance that some schools will have to adjust to at the regional level of play under the new format. For instance, Northwest Ohio only has a small handful of mega-enrollment schools. How far will they have to travel to compete in the tournament?
Lots of questions and details to be ironed out. Give it a chance.
One last note: I received a text recently from a lady in the Columbus area who is opening a basketball training business along with her husband. She knew that I was a retired coach and hoped I would be interested in working with young basketball prodigies. Their target age group is 18 months to 5 years old! No kidding. If you examine the evolution of training basketball youth, this should come as no surprise.
