[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=22075

MC No Longer A Hoops Town
Adam Parkhouse
Sports Editor, The News-Dispatch

I've made no secret about the fact that I was born and raised right here in Michigan City.

I make it known to anyone that might care because I'm proud of it, even when others think there's no good cause to be. I believe in this town and I love it here.

But, my people, we need to have a little discussion. It's for all our own good.

For as long as I can remember, as a resident of Michigan City in the Hoosier state, I've had basketball beaten into my brain.

Indiana is a basketball state and MC is a basketball town. For my life, I've held these statements as undeniable truths.

For a good time, there was plenty of merit toward labeling Our Fair City as a basketball town. Elston's Red Devils won the state championship in 1966 and we've had three Mr. Basketball winners (Dan Palombizio, Delray Brooks and Charles Macon).

Yes, for a long time there was a basketball-rich tradition to be proud of. In fact, we should still be proud of it.

But comrades, it's 2009. I'm sorry to say it, but we no longer live in a basketball town.

In fact, we haven't in some time now.

Since the consolidation in 1995, the Wolves are just 134-165, but the past eight seasons have been especially awful.

In Bob "Bear" Falls' six seasons as coach (the first six after the consolidation, the Wolves were 81-47 for a winning percentage of .633. Not a bad record, but there were no sectional crowns.

Since then, under three different coaches, the Wolves have posted an abysmal mark of 53-118 for a winning percentage of .310.

So, what in the name of Doug Adams happened here?

It's worth noting that in 2003-04, the Duneland Conference went to this ridiculous double round-robin in the regular season, meaning each team in the eight-squad league plays 14 DAC games.

The DAC is one of the top conferences in the state, so playing 70 percent of your games against those schools is brutal.

What this means is, even when City was having "success" in the six years after the consolidation, there's at least a small asterisk there when comparing those records to the last eight seasons.

For instance, Falls' best season at City from a win-loss standpoint was 2000-01 when the Wolves were 16-5. However, City was a middle-of-the-pack 4-3 in DAC play. Now, City wasn't playing patsies in the nonconference schedule, keeping most games at the Class 4A level, but it's still an extra seven games against non-DAC competition.

So, you might be thinking right now, "Well, just eliminate the double round-robin and Michigan City will be restored as a basketball town! Right?"

Not exactly. What I'm saying is, basketball might have passed us by long before we even realized it.

Let's go back to the early 1990s. Dan Steinke led Elston from 1990 to 1994 on quite a run. In those four seasons, the Red Devils compiled a 77-23 record including a run to the state's final four in 1991-92 with Macon dominating opponents.

For the next two years, there were some residuals from that deep tournament run, where Larry Ashley and Theo Williams, both solid players on the 1992 team, led Elston to another semi-state appearance and a pair of sectional titles.

But in 1994-95, when the consolidation was announced, Elston went a pedestrian 12-13 and just 1-8 in the Northern Indiana Conference. During that same five-year stretch, Rogers was struggling to a 34-76 mark.

Since then? Well, you know. A couple missed opportunities early after the consolidation, and a lot of bad since.

But why? What could have happened around here that suddenly made us irrelevant in the sport we so desperately crave to be respected in?

Well, this is where I run out of answers. Some think that maybe the consolidation wound up having an adverse effect on sports in this town. It's difficult to argue with that theory. Michigan City High School has certainly not had the run of success many throughout the state feared it would when Rogers and Elston became one.

The reasons may be socio-economic or it might have something to do with ineptitude at the lower levels.

Whatever the reasons are, they have stolen this town's basketball identity.

Of course, I'm not implying that without successful basketball the town will cease to exist. We'll be just fine.

The reality is, Michigan City is much, much closer to being a football town these days. The Pop Warner program is thriving and high school coach Craig Buzea has taken great strides with his program, getting heavily involved at lower levels with the kids that will one day don the blue and gray at Ames Field.

These are the things that Bob Buscher was attempting to do with the basketball program before he resigned last week.

Soon, someone will get a crack at turning around Michigan City's basketball fortunes. Personally, with the way things have gone in the past 15 years or so, I'm not entirely sure what kind of candidate you'll get who wants to take on this challenge.

But one thing's for sure: City's new coach will be walking into a once-proud, but broken, basketball town.

The question is: Can it be rebuilt?

Contact Sports Editor Adam Parkhouse at aparkhouse@thenewsdispatch.com or 874-7211, Ext. 461.

[Ang]

Awesome article!

[digger262]

Awesome article!

Good article but IMO he 'softballed' it a bit. It would have been nice to see him compare and contrast schools of similar size cities and how they are doing things from elementary school on up. Want to know why it is no longer a basketball town? Look at some similar successful schools and see what MC is NOT doing.

[Southsider2k12]

One small quibble with the article. City never made it to the final 4 during the Charles Macon era. The closest the came was losing in the Semi-State finals to eventual 1992 state champion runner up Lafayette Jefferson high school. They made it to the equivalent of the elite eight.

[davew]

there is a serious lack of discipline among our athletes or lack of athletes

[CaddyRich]

The change to class basketball also changed the schedules of quite a few teams in the state, not just ours. A lot of the powers who went up against both sides of town aren't as strong as they used to be. The flip side of this is that the smaller schools (the schedule padders in the past) just aren't there anymore to roll over.

[CaddyRich]

Also, the total lack of "buzz" around town about the fact that both basketball programs are presently without head coaches.

[Ang]

Yeah, the only ones talking are the athletes' parents.