Just a bunch of general thoughts while thinking “this is just barely enough snow to really screw things up.” Did Southridge High School’s Lady Raiders basketball team screw up the IHSAA’s nefarious plan? It’s suspicious that Heritage Christian, the second ranked team in Class 3A at the end of the regular season, was moved to the northern half of the postseason bracket. We’d never get such a confession from the IHSAA decision makers, but it’s easy to make a case they wanted an Indianapolis-area school in the state final to take on a Jackie Young-led Princeton squad. Now, to be fair, the Lady Eagles are the two-time defending state champions in Class 2A, and three years ago they were a semistate team. One could make the argument they were “penalized” for their success; the boys team remains in 2A. And Heritage Christian is playing in what is likely the toughest regional in the state, regardless of class. The bracket was set up for a regional where the Lady Eagles will take on fifth-ranked Norwell in the first game. Get past that and it’s possible to play No. 4 Tippecanoe Valley for the regional championship. By the way, it’ll be a three-hour drive from the Heritage Christian campus to Columbia City for the regional. I imagine they’ve got a block of rooms set aside, and a practice set for Friday at the high school there. The winner of the Columbia City Regional is likely to get third-ranked South Bend St. Joseph in the semistate. The winner of that will NOT face Young and Princeton, the top-ranked team in 3A, thanks to Southridge’s 34-33 win over the Lady Tigers at the Princeton Sectional. Southridge then fell to the Vincennes Lincoln Alices in the sectional championship. Anyway, if anyone has a right to a conspiracy theory, it’s probably Heritage Christian. They moved up a class, and have a stacked deck through the northern half of the state. But then again, it’s 10 minutes from campus to Banker’s Life Fieldhouse for the state championship game. They can change from street clothes to game uniforms in their home locker room. By the way, the Columbia City girls basketball regional should be a sellout; the competition will be that good. Norwell, Heritage Christian and Tippecanoe Valley come in to the tournament with a combined record of 69-7 this season, and 141-20 over the last two seasons (Norwell was 19-8 last year). Changing the subject just a little, John Glenn High School in Walkerton announced last week a four-year, $60,000 deal to name the basketball arena there “TCU Gym.” Now, before one goes off on “selling our schools out to corporate interests,” consider this: the sponsorship deal includes money for a senior recognition dinner, fun fairs, band, athletics and computers. It’s not like schools haven’t been looking for money for these things for years and years, and any local business person or entrepreneur can easily lose count of the number of donation requests received by a gaggle of worthy causes. What are the alternatives for the schools? Odds are if there were better ideas for raising additional cash, they’ve been explored by now. In an ever-changing tech-based world, can we prepare kids for the future on the computer equivalent of an abacus? Sponsorship ideas like this have been around for decades. It’s how the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics were, in large part, paid for. It’s hard to watch a professional sport on television not broadcast from a sponsored venue. Even the IHSAA basketball tournaments have corporate sponsors. Corporate sponsorships are going to continue to grow, and it’s coming to our communities sooner rather than later. Whether its right or not is in the eye of the beholder, but the money’s got to come from someplace.
