High School Basketball Thread

[HoosierCoop 3,889]

On 12/4/2019 at 4:50 PM, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Luke Goode offered by Louisville. Great offer for him. Is he their next McMahon (sp?)


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Good for him.  I wonder which way he will lean?  Football or Basketball?  He is a helluva QB.

[WayneFleekHoosier 47,975]

Good for him.  I wonder which way he will lean?  Football or Basketball?  He is a helluva QB.

Agree. I think it’s going to be basketball based off the offers. I really feel Indiana could be the leaders here if we wanted him strongly.

It appears Wesley and obviously Lander are ahead of him.

He also seems like a Leal type player. Wouldn’t likely be any early playing time as he’d likely be behind Leal off the bat.


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[protectthishouse 162]

Good for him.  I wonder which way he will lean?  Football or Basketball?  He is a helluva QB.

Somewhat info from the inside. 100% basketball. Struggled to get him to play football this season.


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[HoosierCoop 3,889]

Carroll (FW) @ Norwell was a great game.

Norwell won on two free throws with 3.5 seconds to go.  They remain undefeated.

Carroll has a young solid group of players.  They'll be a tough out.

[JustWinWoody 3,368]

 

[Alford Bailey 12,356]

Tournaments everywhere. Luckily my sons JV tournament got canceled so Im going to check out Leal at the Bob Wettig.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,045]

Really nice story on Jerry Oliver who coached the Indianapolis Washington teams of the mid-1960's (Billy Keller, George McGinnis, Steve Downing sound familiar?) and also was acting IU coach for the final 20 games of the 1969-1970 season while then head coach Lou Watson recovered from surgery.

How a fiery coach led a naturally integrated Indy basketball team to first state title

Dana Hunsinger Benbow, Indianapolis Star Published Dec. 24, 2019

He was fiery and intense and screamed into the air, not at the players, but into the air. Those teenage Indianapolis boys — some from all-white neighborhoods, some from mixed neighborhoods, some from a neighborhood called Foreignland where Armenians lived in houses next to African Americans — admired this young coach of theirs.

These teenage basketball players — all feeling the racial tension flooding the nation in the 1960s  — respected their coach.

Jerry Oliver was everything they hadn't seen on the flashy courts of professional basketball. He was everything they hadn't seen on state championship winning teams in Indianapolis. State titles happened at Crispus Attucks, three times the decade before. Washington High had never made it past regionals.

But in 1965, Oliver — with an unorthodox style of zone pressing and practices that often lasted only 60 minutes — led Washington's basketball squad to become the first naturally integrated Indianapolis team to win a state title.

And somehow in that bubble on West Washington Street with a floor made of hardwood, those players never felt that passing a ball to a white guy, then cutting to grab a pass from a black guy and answering to a man from a tiny town called Rochester in northern Indiana was anything special.

But it was.

This was the era of civil unrest. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech two years before Washington hoisted the championship trophy in Butler Fieldhouse. Just before the sectionals in 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated. During the state finals in March, a group of demonstrators battled violence as they attempted to march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery to demand the right for black people to vote.

Civil rights and segregation and desegregation seemed to be all people talked about.

"It was a confusing time back then," said Eddie Bopp, who was a guard on the 1965 state title team. "But we started three blacks and two whites sometimes and three whites and two blacks sometimes. So, I believed in integration and that was because of Jerry Oliver. That was because of our team."

'There was so much talent'

Oliver never intended on blending races when he became the head coach of Washington in 1960. He intended on blending a basketball team.

"I didn't ever distinguish between blacks and whites," Oliver, 89, said this week from his Brownsburg home. "I just didn't recognize there was any...It's just something that didn't ever enter my mind." 

Oliver grew up in Rochester and went to a school where all the students were white. His dad, Mark, was an electrician at Northern Indiana Power. His mom. Lorene, stayed home until he and his younger brother, Jack, were in high school.

To make money as a teenager, Oliver took turns with his brother coming in early to mop down Baxter's Drugstore, where his mom worked. One summer, he delivered milk. Another, he worked in a shoe store. Always in his mind was a goal of one day being a basketball coach.

Oliver played all four years of high school on the golf and basketball teams. Golf was where he excelled — but basketball was what he loved.

"Obviously, I wasn't a great player, that's for sure," he said, "because I was always small."

But being 5-8 doesn't matter at the head of the bench.  

After graduating from Ball State with a degree in physical education, then a two-year stint in the Army, Oliver came to Washington High as an assistant basketball and football coach in 1955. His dream came true in 1960 when he took over as head basketball coach.

"I had seen all this talent we had all around," said Oliver, who was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994. "I knew we could be good because there was so much talent."

Good is an understatement for this high school basketball program under the direction of Oliver. Along with assistant coach Dick Harmening, Washington won three straight city championships from 1963 to 1965. 

But the magic came that night inside Butler Fieldhouse in 1965 when the team made history as Indianapolis' first team of black and white players to win it all.

"I never had a team," Oliver said, "that could meld together so well."

'He brought players together'

Washington principal Cloyd "Curly" Julian made sure Oliver had his last period free each day of teaching so he could work on practice preparation.

Each day, every single practice had its own 3-x-5 card with that day's drills marked down. Oliver wanted to make sure his players were home in plenty of time for family dinner and homework, so most of his practices lasted about an hour, 90 minutes at most.

Before school ended, Oliver would place the card on a board in the locker room, 3 p.m. to 3:10 rebounding, 3:10 to 3:20 another drill and so on.

"It was amazing," said Oliver, who went on to be an assistant coach at IU and for the Pacers. "As soon as they got in the locker room, they got serious."

His players say the work ethic came easily, because playing for Oliver was easy. He was intense and strict and hard on them, but he had a heart for the players like no other coach they'd ever seen.

"Coach Oliver was a guy that would give you the shirt off his back," said Billy Keller, who started on the 1965 state team. "If a kid didn't have lunch money, he would help them. If a player didn't have a ride home, he would help them. He went above and beyond his coaching to take care of his players."

And he was brilliant at melding a team of 12 different players into one cohesive unit, said Keller, who later played for Purdue and the ABA Indiana Pacers.

"Coach Oliver, he was a master of that. He brought players together," he said. "We didn't have any racial problems. We didn't have any white-white problems. We didn't have any black-black problems. The guys got along, we had fun and we won."

But at other schools, playing other teams, things were different. Bopp remembers a game versus Southport where Ralph Taylor, Washington's  6-2 center, was the target of a racially charged insult. Bopp said he will never forget how awful he felt about that.

Taylor said he knew there was racial tension all around, but he never felt it at Washington. And he especially never felt it around Oliver.

"With coach," he said, "the expectations were the same for all us."

'The press saved our hide'

"He was very demanding, no nonsense, well-organized, motivational," said Taylor. "He really knew the game of basketball."

Oliver was known for his yelling during games and at breaks, though players say they never felt the volume was aimed at them.

"It also is reasonable to assume that he did loud talking (during halftime)," Indianapolis Star sports columnist Bob Collins wrote of Oliver at a state tournament game.

Jerry Oliver was just 34 when he coached Washington to a state championship title. (Photo: Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame)

In addition to his intensity in coaching, Oliver became known for what was a “much publicized pressing defense," the Star reported in 1965.

Washington had used the strategy nearly every game the year before and it had flustered opponents. The team was asked to go to a statewide basketball clinic to show other coaches how to press.

Oliver decided for the 1964-65 season he would use the zone press only when it was desperately needed, though the team practiced it every single day.

"It really upset the offensive flow of the teams we were playing," Keller said. "Opponents, they didn't know when it was coming. It was kind of that element of surprise."

Taylor remembers Oliver calling for it when the team was trailing or needed "something to get us going."

"The press worked miracles," he said. "It was just a devastating defensive strategy."

And it didn't disappoint in that state championship game March 20, 1965, against No. 2-ranked Fort Wayne North.

“The press," Oliver said after wining the title game, "saved our hide.” 

'Greatest feeling I ever had'

Most of that season, Washington had played its games at Butler Fieldhouse or Indiana Central to accommodate the crowds who wanted to watch. The team was ranked third in the state going into the tournament,

"We were drawing a lot of people," Oliver said. One night playing Tech at the fieldhouse, it was snowing terribly. More than 15,000 people showed up.

Washington went 24-2 that season, losing to Manual and Ben Davis. During the afternoon game of the state tournament, the team beat Princeton and headed for the title game against Fort Wayne North.

Bopp remembers feeling a sense of disbelief as the "Star Spangled Banner" was played before the game. Oliver said he felt like he was dreaming.

"I remember thinking, 'Here is a little old kid from Rochester coaching at the state finals,'" said Oliver, who in his first five seasons had a 102-22 record. "It was almost unbelievable."

When Washington won 64-57, after trailing at halftime and then pulling out the press, it gave the city its fourth state title, with Crispus Attucks having won the other three.

A photo of Oliver with his mother and wife, Ann, ran in the Star the next day. "Oliver reigns as king of the West Side," the caption read.

For the players, Oliver reigned as their king — a king who didn't see color. And neither did they.

"I didn't think of it as being an integrated team," said Taylor. "For me personally, it was doing something I had dreamed of as a kid. Winning a state championship. It was the greatest feeling I ever had."

[cthomas 6,332]

The fifties and sixties produced some great high school basketball teams in the city of Indianapolis. Shortridge, Tech, Washington, Wood, and Crispus Attucks were all good most years. The sectional at Hinkle always produced great games. There is virtually nothing left of those schools and the landscape of Indianapolis is mostly unrecognizable.

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,623]

http://scoreboard.homestead.com/boys/logsPaoli.htm#loaded

Paoli Rams boys basketball now 8-1. Have won 8 straight since losing their first game of the season to Linton-Stockton.


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[woodenshoemanHoosierfan 6,182]

Teutopolis and Effingham have hosted a 16 team bracket Christmas Tourney the last 7 yrs. One Bracket is played at Ttown. The other at Effingham. Chicago Corliss has been a participant the last 4 yrs. George Conditt played for Corliss their first 2 yrs. Now he is at Iowa State. When they play their first 2 games, each player passes out a gift to kids in the bleachers before they take the floor. Last year, they have donated a brand new pair of Nikes from each player to Catholic Charities. This year they included some backpacks with school supplies with the Shoes. It is so awesome to see.

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[woodenshoemanHoosierfan 6,182]

I didn't watch IU play live last night because the Wooden Shoes played in the Salem Illinois Invitational Tournament against Thorton factional High School. This is the same school that produced IU's Quinn Buckner almost 50 yrs ago. It wasn't a pretty offensive game for either team, but we came away with a win.
Tonight we play our cross county rivals Effingham for the second time in 3 weeks in the semifinals at 8 Central time.
If you get a wild hair and would like to see small town Basketball with no D1 prospects but play with a lot of passion and heart, this should be a very good game. It can be seen on Wabash Catch TV West on YouTube

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[woodenshoemanHoosierfan 6,182]

Here is the link

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-xTazRAR3UmjR3jPh4-9Lg

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[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,623]

At the Paoli-Valley game. Paoli is winning 19-8 at halftime. Valley playing stall ball simply because they can’t compete(a reason they are 1-13). Playing a 2-3 zone on defense and this might be a worse looking zone offense than Tom Crean coached.


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[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,623]

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[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,045]

From Michael O'Brien, Illinois high school sports editor for Chicago Sun-Times --

Multiple fights broke out here at Prosser after the (Austin vs Prosser) game. Things have calmed down now, inside at least. This was a rare game with no metal detectors, so this was a little more tense than usual.

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,623]

From Michael O'Brien, Illinois high school sports editor for Chicago Sun-Times --
Multiple fights broke out here at Prosser after the (Austin vs Prosser) game. Things have calmed down now, inside at least. This was a rare game with no metal detectors, so this was a little more tense than usual.

That’s just so weird and awful.


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[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,623]

High school basketball desperately needs a shot clock.


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[woodenshoemanHoosierfan 6,182]

High school basketball desperately needs a shot clock.


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It's not feasible. Many schools have a hard time finding enough competent volunteers to run the game clock, and stats panel. Now you want them to find someone else?
Not to mention the upfront expenses that some schools can't afford

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[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,623]

It's not feasible. Many schools have a hard time finding enough competent volunteers to run the game clock, and stats panel. Now you want them to find someone else?
Not to mention the upfront expenses that some schools can't afford

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A way has to be found. It’s an absolute joke that a team can just stall an entire game


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[woodenshoemanHoosierfan 6,182]

A way has to be found. It’s an absolute joke that a team can just stall an entire game


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I understand what you are saying and I agree with you, but it isn't feasible because of the reasons i shared.

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