ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL STAR INFLUENCED BY “HOOSIER HIGH SCHOOL HYSTERIA”

The Purdue Boilermakers’ basketball program announced this morning that a 6′9″ Croatian  born player by the way of Laporte Lalumare(SP) will play at Purdue.  “Big Deal” you say?   The fact that his playing at Lalumare was influenced by the rich reputation of Hoosier Basketball in Croatia speaks volumes!  He was quoted as saying he wanted to be involved with an Indiana basketball program in his quest for a National Championship.(SORRY IU!) Just another example of how the state has achieved a world-wide reputation for its excellance in basketball!  Stay tuned for updates about the Purdue basketball program & its quest for a national NCAA championship.  His high school coach, a former” Mr. Basketball”, certainly helped in his decision to attend Purdue.   As has been shown with other international high school players, the package they bring to a “high profile” program is a package that includes toughness( physical & mental), skills (shooting  from all areas of the gym), selflessness & many other factors not hyped in their home countries.   Not  having the same experiences & expectations as most Indiana High School players, the “foreign players” are a “refreshing” addition to any program.  Even an AAU team may have some players from outside the U.S.   The days  of U.S.  kids visualising  foreign players wearing dark socks and generally not appearing like U.S. kids in their basketball “unies” is no longer a factor in any international basketball experience.  It is an amazing fact  that even basketball has gone “international”.  When visiting a “McDonald’s” restaurant in France a few years ago, a poster of an NBA player appeared.  Not knowing who this NBA player was, I inquired. and found that this famous player in France was Tony Parker of  the SanAntonio Spurs who had grown up in France.  This was another exmple of how “international” the sport of basketball had become.   Just watch any NBA game & the influence of Indiana basketball can be seen!

CONCLUSIONS OF HIGH SCHOOL & COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASONS ARE REALLY A “FRESH START” FOR SOME

Each year, at this time, the high school & college basketball programs are looking in their rear view mirrors to improve themselves for next season.  As we all know, hindsight is usually 20-20 and makes us all feel like champions had we done something different.  Whether scheduling,  improper choosing of players, improper offensive or defensive schemes or just plain ‘ol bad luck has always been the picture seen in the mirror.  Unfortunately, according to the  critical &  hardcore basketball fan at any level,  the poor coach is always to blame for the losses & the players are credited for the wins.  This occurance  happens at all levels.  Having been a coach, parent & player, I have experienced many of the scenarios carried out at all levels.  As a Sr. basketball letterman, I, along with another Sr. friend, was  unceremoniously “cut” from the team after 3 games in favor of a smaller sophomore who ended up as a “JR. High Whizz & High School Fizz”.  But to show support for us, people in the cheerblock would yell out “at least Tom & Randy filled out the uniform”!  This was not the type of support we really needed.  As the season moved ahead, it became more obvious that the team was very average, which is the highest compliment this team probably deserved!   Alas, our “fresh start” was as members of a talented track & field team that won our conferance and sectional championships!!  Had it not been for our experience of having our basketball life taken away, we probably would not have desired to be so successful as members of our track & field team.  Once again, basketball played an important role in the successful experience of ‘WANNABE  BASKETBALL  STARS”.  That  experience of being”cut” from a team was a valuable lesson that I have been able to use as a parent & coach through many years.  I learned that “erring on the side of the student” was a philosophy that helped everyone!

Always basketball mentioned when recruiting for FB

It  seems to be the “norm” for football recruits to also be  talented as basketball players too.   Basketball ability has become a popular guage of a football recruit’s athletic ability and athletic temperment.   Football stars such as Bob Griese from Evansville even were able to also play college basketball.  However, it would be very unlikely to have a FB star join their college’s basketball program in today’s  demanding athletic  environment.   Very few, if any, college basketball coaches would “welcome” a  prospect from a school’s other “big time” program.  It would be ”next to impossible”  for any athlete to make time for studies and be able to successfully meet his/her obligations to a 2nd athletic team.  That is why Purdue has an outstanding Co-Rec facility.   I’m sure many a high school basketball star is able to ”relive” past glories that only he/she can truly appreciate.

girls’ basketball in Indiana is very respectable

As the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament wraps up with UConn capping a 37-0 season with another championship, Indiana girls’ basketball once again shows that it is 2nd to none in its quality of play.  Even though the Indiana high school girls are not yet college age, the exposure of seeing  the quality of basketball by the outstanding college women’s teams is an immeasurable  teaching aid in showing  what quality women’s basketball can be.  Nobody would have ever imagined the impact on women’s sports brought about by the “Title  9″ ruling some 30 years ago.  As a young teacher/coach back  in 1969, I never imagined what positive gains women’s sports at all levels could make.   What a shame that the many outstanding female athletes missed out on their experience of playing school sponsored sports.   It is not unusual for participating athletes(boys or girls) to have moms who participated in school sponsored sports.   I believe coaches have learned to accept this as a positive thing  to their sport.My sister was one of those girls who would have thrived as a female athlete.  Her GAA(GIRLS’ ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION) BASKETBALL TEAM WAS UNDEFEATED in at least 20 games!!  Her high school, Warsaw, just happened to be the 1st IHSAA girls’ basketball state champion in 1976.  This was several years after her class was graduated.  The GAA rules stipulated that only designated girls were allowed to cross mid court.  Even my mother, playing as ‘running center”, was allowed to cross mid court!  It has often been stated”that good things take time”.   Girls being able to participate in intra-schoolsports is definitely a good thing.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM NORTH CAROLINA PLAYERS

In watching & listening to the telecasters of the 2009 NCAA basketball tournament, the decision to successfully finish their college  basketball goal of winning the NCAA basketball tournament was a reacurring  theme throughout the final game telecast.   The players & their coach, Roy Williams, are to be congratulated, not only for winning the NCAA tournasment, but for setting a positive example for all young “up & coming”(boys & girls) basketball players in our country as well as throughout the world!  Now that basketball is a world wide sport, the positive impact of the North Carolina players to stay together  to achieve the team championship is an even more important message to all young “up & coming” players.  As adults, this example of proper priorities should be a lesson for us too.  This is another example of how the sport of basketball can create life lessons for us all.  Yes, it is hoped that this life lesson of  the importance “team over the indivdual” will not be lost as young people pursue goals outside of baskrtball. The telecasters also made several comments about the importance of the “high profile” players at Carolina keeping their focus on the team rather than the pro scouts.  It was obvious that their coach, Roy Williams,  understood this dilema, by the way his team played.  They played & won with much class!  Hopefully, the young “up & comers” will be able learn an invaluable life lesson from this championship team.  Playing for the team is alwys more rewarding than just playing for yourself.!

LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO PLAY

As I have been reading about the search for a site for the 2010 girls’ state tourney(yes ,I said 2010).  It causes me to reflect back over the years when I witnessed the Indiana State Tourney(yes, I said “tourney”) at the former sites before the current plethora of basketball “palaces” in our state were constructed.  Having grown up in the era of Butler Fielhouse, I could never imagine a state tourney being  held at any other venue.  Accomodating close to 15,000 hoosier high school fans. the thought of other  venues being the site of our historical tourney seemed very improbable!  However, only unforseen factors such as heavy scheduling of Indianapolis’s many “world class” basketball facilities would cause our great girls’tourney to be held outside of the “circle city”.   Purdue, IU, and Ball State have been mentioned as possible sites for the Girl’s State Championship weekend.  Living in Lafayette, close to Purdue & Mackey Arena,  I am rooting for the IHSAA to opt for Purdue to be the site.  Of course, this could be a “recruiting bonanza” for the Boiler Women’s Basketball program!  Just another reason for Mackey Arena to be the site for the 2010  Indiana Girls’ State Tourney.  Having witnessed the Girls’ State Finals play at Butler, Market  Square  Arena,  Conseco Fielshouse and Lucas Oil Stadium, the switch to Mackey, Ball State, or even IU’s  Assembley Hall would undoubtedly be a stimulus to the state’s girls’ basketball programs, both high school & college!   We have certainly come along way from the first Indian girls’ tourney held at Butler Fieldhouse in 1976 when Warsaw defeated E.C. Roosevelt to be the 1st state champions in girls’  basketball!   I doubt if our president envissioned this type of stimulus, but this rourney time in Indiana!

 

 

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A WEEKEND FULL OF BASKETBALL

Here we go with another “marriage tester”.  Yes, the diehard “ basketball junkies “of Indiana once again must balance their weekend with their happy marriage and important basketball games!    Even the  strongest marriages are tested by a Hoosier tradition that we knew about long before mariage entered our lives.  So, I guess, this basketball weekend will withstand another challenge by the institution of marriage.  Of course. with the advent of women being “allowed” to play basketball at all levels now just as males, we males have it “ much easier” to justify the “hogging” of the TV just to watch the important games that ”just happen to be on” during an important time of the marriage day. ie:  reading, taking a walk, walking the dog, planning for company, washing dishes, washing clothes, cleaning in front of the TV, talking on the phone about the kids, or other “mundane marriage duties “that might cause conflict in an otherwise harmonious marriage.  Even the best of intentions by the “basketball junkie” in a marriage cannot withstand this conflict.    That is one  reason that sports bars are now so popular.   They tend to act as the “official demilitarized zone” for these conflicts between basketball & marriage.  It would be  an interesting fact to figure just how many marriages have been saved by the sports bar or how many marriages have been dissolved because of the impact of the sports bar during tourney time in Indiana or the United States.  Even our President  figured out how to adress this mariage dilema by marrying the sister of a major college basketball coach.  So, the first lady is definitley in tune with the importance of this marriage conflict!  She should definitly be able to handle the responsibilities of her first lady duties since she undoubtedly can understand the marriage/basketball conflicts.  Now, if only she can help this diehard Hoosier basketball state solve the class basketball dilema.

NCAA & IHSAA TOURNAMENTS, WHERE LEGENDS ARE MADE

At this time of year, the diehard basketball fan in Indiana is at the pinnacle of the basketball spectrum in which many other “normal” people just can’t relate.  In my many years of serving the roles of parent, teacher/coach, fan, friend, booster, school employee & others that I have  just plain forgotten, this time of year has always been a source of renewal for my spirits.  To be able to connect with “like minded” people is always a pleasure!  Even though I have served in many capacities professionally, the sport of basketball has always remained a constant in my life.  Memories are a true posession that any person can be the proud owner.  Basketball contributes many memories in which fans can enjoy.  Afterall, those memories we all own just keep getting better.   I own many of those baketball related memories.  To describe them all would be very boring to many others.  Of course any memories one holds should not be forced upon others with the purpose of agreement.  I have many basketball memories, but for the reason stated in the previous sentence, I will not write of them.  But, of course, I can’t  go further without relating just one memory related to basketball in Indiana.  In Lafayette, Indiana, I was a young “know it all”, still unmarried with nobody really depending on me to be the “breadwinner”.  I  had taken a job selling insurance to college students at Purdue University.  My boss was a hoosier high school legend by the name of Bobby Plump of Milan fame.   One would have never equated his fame as a Hoosier Basketball heroe by the way he presented himself.  He was & probably still is a  hard & honest worker.  Living in Indianapolis, he would often sleep on my couch so he could conduct his business without having to drive back & forth from Indy to Lafayette.   He always will remember a name which is probably due to his upbringing.  Even though his fame was developed as a star player for the state champion Milan Indians, he really was raised in the small town of Pierceville near Milan.  I often think back to those days when I often played host to a Hoosier basketball legend who was as normal as anyone would want to be!!

YOU SAY “TORENAMENT”, HOOSIERS SAY “TERNAMENT”

 

In watching both the IHSAA basketball tournament & the NCAA tournament, it is an interesting observation to note the different pronounciation of the word “tournament” by Hoosiers and the eastern populations of the U.S.  We Hoosiers will say “ternament and the eastern population says “tornament”.  Hoosiers certainly pronounce the word correctly.  After all what “basketball officionato” would dare mispronounce such an important word, especially, at this time of year.  This disrespect of a Hoosier tradition borders on blasphamy!   A  Hoosier hearing  this blasphemous attack on our Hoosier basketball vocabulary might recommend that the Hoosier State remove itself from the union.  Even characters such as John Dillenger of Crown Point fame or the infamous Al Capone (he vacationed at Bass Lake in Indiana) would surely pronounce tournament correctly as any self respecting Hoosier High School basketball fan would proudly do.  Maybe this defamation in pronounciation of our state’s time honored tradition is not noticed by many, but any self respecting Hoosier High School basketball fan will always cringe upon hearing our word “tournament” butchered by a  non-hoosier.  After all, it is “terney” time in Indiana and we should all  not be so sensative to the mispronounciations of people outside of our great state.

BASKETBALL: A LEADER IN RACE RELATIONS

Who would have th0ught  years go that a sport could be a “lightening rod” for race relations not only only in Indiana, but, throughout the world!  Yes, the sport of basketball solidifies all personal relationships no matter who, what or where the sport  involves.  As the history of the sport has evolved,we can see how basketball and race relations have grown positively side by side.  Teams no longer must split their players by race to accomadate the customs of a community, state or country.   What is taken for granted by our younger people is very much appreciatd by the generations who experienced the racial wrong doings of past years.  In Indiana, Crispus Attucks High School was known as an “all black” school that was terrific in their basketball teams.  The majority of “white folks” didn’t even know who Crispus Attucks  was or what he did for the  Afro-American race.  As the basketball history in Indiana was being established, little did we realize that basketball was uniting races.   Growing up in northern Indiana, I watched the state champion South Bend Central Bears with the Coleman brothers and Herbie Lee come from South Bend to play my Warsaw Tigers.   Being quite naive and unapreciative  of  people who I perceived as being different than me, the positive implications of experiencing differances among people with the same interests as me was pretty “heavy” for me to digest.  Warsaw finally went to Fort Wayne(38 miles east) and found that Afro-Americans such as T.C. Williams, J.C. Lapsley of the then F.W. Central Tigers and Willie Long of F.W. Southside were excellent players.  F.W Central would also go on to be Indiana State Champs in the early 60’s!  Although I have never had the opportunity to meet the great Oscar Robertson of Crispus Attucks fame, he will always be known as an ndiana basketball legend who helped race relations in Indiana, the nation and world.  Afro-Americans who solidified race relations through basketball are undoubtedy heroes of our time!!