When class basketball was introduced 13 years or so ago, part of the intent was to create more chances for smaller schools to compete.
And by looking at this weekend's 1A, 2A and 3A games that is the case.
In the 3A game, using enrollment numbers from the Indiana Department of Education for 2008-2009, Washington and Gary Wallace are less than 100 students apart with 746 and 834 respectively.
In the 2A game, Park Tudor out of Indianapolis and Wheeler (Valparaiso) are at 426 and 524 respectively.
It's a bit more convoluted for the 1A game. Barr Reevee is a junior/senior high school with 384 kids in grades 7-12.
Bowman Academy, a charter school out of Gary, had no seniors in its school last year. Using grades 8-11 from last year's numbers Bowman would have around 473 kids this year in grades 9-12.
Warsaw has around 2,000 students in the high school give or take.
North Central, one of the biggest high schools in the state, has around 3,500.
To put that 1,500 student difference into perspective, you could put Washington and Gary Wallace into WCHS and it'd be about the same size as North Central.
But with all those numbers, the game at Conseco Saturday night will still be 5-on-5 for 32 minutes.
