High School Basketball - Too Many Classes?

Question

My state is talking about going from two to four classes. Everybody wants to get into the playoffs and they want to hand out more trophies.
I kind of liked it when State Champion meant best in the state not champion of Class 3 schools in Region 4 in the Private School Division etc. Most states used to have the championship on Saturday night at the biggest gym in the state. The excitement is being lost.

Answer 1

To some extent, I agree. Illinois is going to four classes in Basketball in the fall. The tradition that will be lost in going to four classes will be substantial. My senior year, 1986, I had the good fortune of watching Ohio win second place. They had two all-state guards and a group of role players. Their entire school was like 69 kids - literally every kid in the school could play basketball on the varsity or JV. Legends like Hebron, the small school that won a title in the early 50's with the Judson's (who took Illinois to a Big Ten title as well), just will not happen anymore. Some small school will end up in Class A Final Four almost every year - I won't be surprised to see Cresent-Iroquois / Cissna Park's coop in the Final Four for year after year (C-I has less than 60 students, CP about 120). But C-I, CP, and another district are undergoing consolidation discussions - what a loss to those small communities. And with the State pushing for smaller districts to consolidate, multiple state titles will be the least of the lost traditions...

But on the flipside, there are some great teams which get nowhere year after year because their competition is so much bigger and stronger and have so many more bodies to choose from. Peoria Manuel had to petition the IHSA to remain in AA because its enrollment had dropped to 700 students - and I'm rather sure a school that dominates in AA and regularly sends kids to the Big 10 is likely to kill A schools. But I also have watched Kankakee McNamara's girls, after consecutive trips to the A Elite 8, go to the AA Elite 8 after getting whacked with the multiplier. And I've watched Beecher, enrollment 350, win two softball titles in four years - in the years they had the worst regular season records! Great teams have the opportunity to get downstate no matter what. But there is always that Chicago school which knocks the once in a lifetime team out of the playoffs...

What started with a discussion about how to deal with unboundaried and private schools has ended up wrecking tradition. Indiana used to sell out the Hoosierdome for the state finals - now they have so many classes nobody cares. Sadly, Illinois might be headed in the same direction.