IHSAA: No change to basketball tourney

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - After weeks of meetings around the state and polls that showed more than half of respondents in support of a return to single-class basketball, the IHSAA has opted not to change the current multi-class tournament.

The IHSAA agreed to put on the series of meetings in exchange for Sen. Mike Delph dropping a proposal in the state Legislature to force the return to a single-class tournament.

Over the course of a series of meetings, straw polls showed 68 percent of the 514 respondents favored a return to single-class, while 32 percent supported the multi-class format.

The IHSAA also electronically surveyed principals, athletic administrators, boys’ and girls’ basketball coaches, as well as boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball players at IHSAA member schools. Each of those groups showed strong support for the multiple class tournaments with a majority of principals (76.82 percent), athletic directors (79.29 percent), basketball coaches (54.97 percent) and student-athletes (72.16 percent) voting in favor, the IHSAA said in a news release Friday.

The call was ultimately up to the members of the IHSAA. And Friday, the organization announced it would not be making any changes, though it noted it would still consider proposals by member schools and coaches.