I'm a traditionalists on a lot of things, but KY should have went to a class basketball system a long time ago.

 

The Sweet 16 isn't what makes KY High School basketball. The kids are what makes KY high school basketball.

What would be the point of having an all over champ? The smaller schools would still lose, based on most of these post. Leave things alone.

Having been in both situations - winning the 10th Region and playing (and winning in Rupp) and winning the "A" State this year, we (Brossart) are obviously in an ideal situation.

 

I wouldn't trade my Rupp/10th Champs experience for anything nor would I trade my "A" State Champs experience for anything. They were both awesome experiences that I will cherish forever.

 

Classifying basketball in Kentucky will still bring no salvation to the smaller "A" schools. Augusta, Deming, St. Pats, Bellevue, Dayton, Ludlow, Silver Grove and etc still will have no chance, because of the wide division of parity even among the "A"s.

 

St. Henry, NCC, Brossart, Holy Cross who occasionally have chances to go win a region and go to Rupp will be the teams winning the local "A" divisions. So what do we accomplish there???

 

Until somehow a true "Division III" tournament is devised or until the aforementioned smaller "A" schools develop programs to become competitive with the more accomplished "A" schools, nothing much is going to change. I'm sure that this scenerio is repeated over and over again throughout the state.

 

 

 

You make a great arguement for the private small A schools, but as far as the public schools, we struggle to play with the elite of the elite. Is it fair, no, but neither is life.

 

One of the team's that I pull for is Williamsburg and they play in a district where they compete against 2 4A schools and a 2A school, realistically what chances do they have to win the district or even a chance to get to the region.

 

Another team the I pull for is Cumberland where I teach, we took South Laural to the final 30 seconds in the region semi's, still a single a school playing against a much bigger school, again is that fair, maybe if I could bring in kids from all over the county and recruit but I can not, so the answer is still the same it is not fair, the entire system needs to be overhauled. Why is it that 48 other states have done the exact same thing.

Our system is special. It should never be changed. Having a small school like Elliott County make it to Rupp is what small town dreams are made of. Don't dilute that. If you went to classes in the 16th A and AA would be packed with teams. AAA and AAAA, if there are any, would be an automatic trip for some schools every year.

Do it and watch basketball die in this state...

Might as well quit playing basketball in this state if that happens.

 

These are a little too much extreme. You might see a SURGE in the A and AA public school programs who now have a true opportunity to compete for a state title instead of the dog and pony show that goes on now and yet makes adults feel all warm inside.

Why don't we just let everyone play at Rupp. Heck, we can even hand out the trophies on the first day. Make sure everyone gets one and they're all the same size.

No matter how much complaining is done, the KHSAA is not going to make this change. It is financial reasons and the tradition of the tournament that will keep this from ever happening.

 

Keep it the way it is right now. It has been very successful for a long time and no need to change it.

What other state program has been about 80 years in existence and still an effective program without having been changed?

A class system for basketball is the only fair thing to do.

 

I hate to single out certain teams, but since Scribe already mentioned Caldwell and Henderson, I'm going to use those two teams as an example.

 

Henderson has over 2,000 students. Caldwell has less than 700. Exactly how, in any way, shape or form, is Caldwell supposed to compete with Henderson on a level playing field (which is what the KHSAA should be endorsing).

 

In other words, if you were Caldwell and I was Henderson and we were picking teams on the playground, I would get three picks for every one you got. Gee, which one of us is going to have the loaded team?

 

However, by having just one class, the KHSAA is endorsing an incredibly uneven playing field. I can't believe there's not more outrage.

 

There is a reason 48 states have different classes for basketball. Because it's the only fair thing to do.

 

Perhaps, if a few more schools actually went into the season with something more than a snowball's chance of competing for a regional or state championship, the amount of interest in Kentucky high school hoops might just increase, not decrease.

 

As it stands now, you can pick out the 3-4 larger schools in most regions and they will be the ones competing for championships.

 

Last season, Dawson Springs had a special group come through their basketball program, much like Caldwell County this year. Dawson Springs made the regional tourney for the 1st time in years and played Henderson County in the region 2 first round. Henderson had over 10x the number of kids to choose from to fill 15 spots. Dawson's enrollment was under 200...Henderson County's enrollment 2000+. Talk about a miss match. End result, Henderson won by 45 points and crushed a small public school after the small school slipped by Hopkins County Central (1000+) and lost by 15 to Madisonville-North Hopkins over (1000+).

 

In the class "A" region Dawson Springs was beaten by UHA by 15 points. Region 2 class A public schools have a hard time competing with UHA, a private school of under 200 but most of us know about this monster. So what special tourney do you have to get the "private" basketball factory schools out of the class "A" class system?

 

Reguardless of what you do there are going to be some issues that don't bode well with everyone. I love basketball, I love to win and I love the state of Kentucky. With that being said, are we more concerned with offering more championships to give more student athletes a chance to enjoy the elation that comes from competing or are we more concerned with getting a true champion of the state?

Looks like it all depends on which way will fill the pockets of those that are in charge of them all to me! And I thought it would be all about the kids.

Why don't we just let everyone play at Rupp. Heck, we can even hand out the trophies on the first day. Make sure everyone gets one and they're all the same size.

Going from one trophy for one team out of 276 high schools to giving 4 trophies out of 276 high schools, is DEFINITELY NOT the same to what you are implying.

 

With 15 players per team, that is approximately 4140 players. With the present system LESS THAN 1% (.4%) of the KY HS varsity basketball players receive a state championship KHSAA trophy.

 

With 4 classes, that percentage would rise to a whopping 1.4%. Not sure that is the same to making sure everyone gets a trophy.

I'll be the first to admit that, for many years, I was whole heartedly with the traditionalists.

 

However, after covering high school sports for 20 years, I've seen far too many times the inequities in the current system, be it basketball, baseball, softball or whatever. And I'll agree, there's no perfect solution.

 

There was a time when the Dawson Springses of the world could compete with almost all other schools. Dawson won the 2nd Region title four straight years back in the 1940s. But that time has come and gone.

 

If I had my way, we'd have four classes for the public schools and a fifth class for private schools. I hardly think Kentucky high school basketball would become extinct under that scenario.

 

However, look around at many schools. I've been to games in recent years where I could have a conversation with someone on the other side of the court while the game's going on without raising my voice. Interest is down in many schools, especially the smaller ones. That includes players and fans. No one wants to put in all the time and effort basketball or any other sport requires to just get embarrassed by the bigger schools when it comes tournament time.

 

Contrary to some beliefs, the kids at larger schools don't necessarily work harder than those at smaller schools. Their coaches don't put in more hours. I'm not saying those involved at larger schools have less dedication. But all things being equal, the larger schools have a numbers advantage that simply can't be overcome on a realistic basis.

 

If the KHSAA came out with a rule that gave smaller schools a 20-point head start when they play larger schools, you can bet the larger schools would howl about unfair that was. But the larger schools have that much of a head start on smaller schools, maybe more, but the KHSAA sits back and does nothing.

 

The KHSAA should be all about being fair to as many kids as possible. It should bend over backward to make things as fair as possible. In this, the KHSAA comes up woefully short.

I think another part of the equation that is getting overlooked is consolidation. Districts that used to have 7-8 teams are down to 4 or 5 and sometimes three. While the number of smaller schools has decreased in recent years, the number of larger schools has increased because of consolidation. The KHSAA has taken the necessary steps to remedy this in basketball with realignment and reclassification. They have addressed this in basketball with realignment only.

I think another part of the equation that is getting overlooked is consolidation. Districts that used to have 7-8 teams are down to 4 or 5 and sometimes three. While the number of smaller schools has decreased in recent years, the number of larger schools has increased because of consolidation. The KHSAA has taken the necessary steps to remedy this in basketball with realignment and reclassification. They have addressed this in basketball with realignment only.

I would guess if you have classes, you would need to do away with districts and start with regional play in postseason.

Why don't we just let everyone play at Rupp. Heck, we can even hand out the trophies on the first day. Make sure everyone gets one and they're all the same size.

Then we should declassify football, track, and cross country also. Make those sports have a single champion also.

I would guess if you have classes, you would need to do away with districts and start with regional play in postseason.

You would have eight regions in each class. The eight region champions move on to the state tournament.