In this culture where “everyone gets a trophy,” the Ohio High School Athletic Association is doing its part to promote that concept. The recent decision to expand the high school basketball tournament from four to seven divisions shows that for the OHSAA, participation is more important than true competition and recognizing athletic excellence.
Previously the tournament has been played under two-, three- and four-division alignments. With these various formats, the state basketball tournament has been the showcase event for high school sports in the Buckeye State. Iconic players such as Jerry Lucas, Clark Kellog, Jimmy Jackson and LeBron James have all been part of the state tournament history book. Thousands of fans, most of whom were not affiliated with any participating school, would travel to Columbus to take in all the action.
With the seven-division arrangement beginning next school year, the opportunity to see all the state tournament games at one venue over a single weekend will be impossible. The seven state semifinal games will be held at sites scattered across the state. The title games will be played over one weekend, presently at the University of Dayton.
Two things will result from this new setup. Attendance at tournament games will decrease dramatically. The crowds at most of the games leading up to state will come only from the participating schools. Some of these schools have very small fan bases. The quality of play will suffer. Too many pretenders will sneak through the brackets because of the watered-down competition.
But there will be more trophies!
Mike Schepp
Lima
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