In October 2014, I began my query of Indiana’s ?basketball identity.
Was it still applicable, given the last national championship, college or professional, produced by the state was in 1987?
The response to my column was skeptical, defensive and no less than I would have expected from Hoosiers — their passion for basketball, regardless of success, is one of our greatest strengths.
That being said, there’s only so much depth that can be achieved in a 500-word column.
So this time, I’m taking a closer look at the source of our state’s basketball mojo: its high school talent.
Indiana is unparalleled in its production of upper-echelon talent. It leads all other states with seven All-Americans per million residents and 26 NBA players.
Two of the top five cities in NBA players per capita also belong to the Hoosier state with Muncie at No. 1 and Terre Haute at No. 5.
So where, then, is the disconnect? With a wealth of former All-American and future NBA talent in the backyard, why hasn’t that talent come to fruition for state teams?
The answer: Indiana also ranks in the top five worst states in terms of its All-American capture rate.
In a way, this makes sense.
If you’re the breadbasket of the nation, there’s bound to be more seats, in the form of college recruiters, at ?the table.
In-state capture rate, as a whole, is at 30 percent. That’s down from 45 percent in the ‘70s.
The catch: 50 percent of players still stay in region, down only 10 percent from almost a half-century ago.
So where do Indiana high school basketball ?players go?
Some of the best basketball talent in recent memory has been lost to neighboring states.
Purdue lost Gary Harris and Glenn Robinson III, children of former Boilermaker stand-outs, to Michigan State and Michigan, ?respectively.
Then there was the sting of losing 2014 Indiana Mr. Basketball and former IU commit Trey Lyles — whose 6-foot-10 frame and presence on the boards is arguably the missing piece for IU men’s basketball — to loathed Kentucky.
Had 2011 Indiana Mr. Basketball Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo (Hyattsville, Md.) remained in Bloomington for another season, this column might never have been written.
But such is the landscape of college basketball.
The objective is to win now, especially when it comes to All-American ?recruits.
There isn’t much time to develop a winning team on the coattails of rising stars with one year — two, if you’re lucky — before the best ones are gone.
That’s a difficult place for college basketball programs, particularly in Indiana, where scouts across the nation recognize it for the recruiting hotbed it is.
The high school talent our state produces has never been in contention, but who that talent belongs to might be.
We’re losing our home field advantage and with it, our banners.
Though the title of “Basketball State” isn’t predicated on the number of championships Indiana wins, that number, as of late, certainly diminishes the argument.
vziege@indiana.edu
