Where the Game Matters Most: A Last Championship Season in Indiana High School Basketball Tag: In..

From 1911 to 1997, every high school in Indiana participated in the state basketball championship; those who have seen the movie Hoop Dreams are familiar with the story of Milan High, with 161 students, which won the title in 1954. But the state athletic association decreed that the system was to change starting in 1998: there would be four classes, based on school size, and thus four champions. How that decree affected the last ""real"" season is the focus of this account by the author of When the Colts Belonged to Baltimore. Besides offering memorable portraits of coaches, athletes and the important games they played, Gildea conveys what one senses is the essence of a state that is still a collection of small towns whose residents claim that their priorities are family, church and basketball. The book concludes with a brief discussion of the politics of Indiana basketball and the compromise worked out to preserve this change that, according to the author, seems to please no one. Photos not seen by PW. (Dec.)