Will single-class basketball return?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The case has been made for a return to a single-class high school basketball tournament in Indiana, and the matter is now in the hands of the Indiana High School Athletic Association.

The single-class Indiana basketball tournament may have been the source of legends, but it has been gone now for 15 years. Those who hope to bring it back turned out in numbers at 11 town hall meetings around the state conducted by IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox and state Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel. The final one was held Thursday night.

Delph wants to shelve the four-class tournament that now concludes the high school season.

"And it's my ultimate hope," he said, "that the IHSAA on it's own makes a decision to take another look at our basketball tournament."

He believes the case was made in straw polls conducted at the town halls, where 68 percent called for a single class. A scientific survey recently found that 52 percent of Indiana basketball fans agree, while just 31 percent are opposed.

But it will be the members of the IHSAA who decide.

"And the membership has been highly supportive of the current format that we're using," said Cox. "Right now, our numbers are running over 80 percent of our principles and athletic directors that are in favor of the format that we're using."

IHSAA bylaws prevent a change in the four-class tournament before 2014, while Delph continues to press his case. The IHSAA board will, however, consider changes in the basketball tournament when it meets next month.

Board members who represent smaller schools that benefit from the multi-class tournament are expected to prevail.

Delph hopes to address the board in the fall, but he remains the underdog in this game.