Dave Krider looks back at 60 years of Indiana high school basketball

The Modern Era: Scott Skiles, Steve Alford and Damon Bailey

I'm jumping to 1982 to talk about Plymouth guard Scott Skiles because I regard him as one of the toughest, most competitive kids I've ever had the privilege to watch. One summer day I even brought three friends with me to Plymouth and we played pick-up games with Skiles and his teammates for a couple hours.

After watching him lead Plymouth, a town of 10,000 with no starter over 6-2, to the state title in 1982, I dubbed him "Indiana's Greatest Overachiever." I'll never forget the clutch 22-foot shot he made at the buzzer to send the title game against Gary Roosevelt into the first of two overtimes.

I also vividly recall the night he came to LaPorte suffering from mononucleosis and carrying a 103-degree temperature. I don't know why he was even at the game and I knew the host team was going to let him shoot, figuring there was no way he would be effective. All he did was set a gym record with 37 points.

Michigan State was the only major college to offer Skiles a scholarship, but he continued to disprove critics by making All-America and having a fine NBA career as a player and coach.

Michigan State coach Jud Heathcote told me that Skiles "had great confidence and wouldn't back down to anybody. He always thought that he was a little better than he was, and went out and proved it. I only coached two guys who could will a team to win — Magic (Johnson) and Scott Skiles."

Steve Alford, who played for his father, Sam, at New Castle, used the gymnasium as a classroom. He was a regular on his dad's bench at age three, learning to add by watching the scoreboard numbers change as the game progressed and how to read and spell by looking at game programs and names on the backs of uniforms.

He was a relentless trainer and told me with a touch of pride, "I never let the snow stay on our driveway." As a youngster he would squeeze tennis balls in his hands at night. The Alfords knew he had gone to sleep when they heard the tennis balls fall to the floor.

In 1983 Alford fulfilled a prophecy by being named Mr. Basketball. Just after his second birthday, his parents had posed him with a basketball on their annual Christmas card proudly proclaiming that he some day would be Mr. Basketball. Of course, he later led Indiana University to an NCAA title, won an Olympic gold medal and today is a very successful coach at the University of New Mexico.

In Alford's senior year, 1983, Anderson and Marion staged the greatest individual duel in Final Four history during the state semifinals. James Blackmon exploded for 52 points, but his Marion team was nipped by Anderson 89-87 in a double-overtime thriller as Troy Lewis countered with 42.

Franklin's 65-year-old record of three consecutive state championships was finally matched when the Marion Giants notched their third title in a row in the 1986-87 campaign. Sharpshooters Jay Edwards and Lyndon Jones were deservedly rewarded with co-Mr. Basketball honors.

The coach of that team, Bill Green, had won a pair of titles earlier at Marion before taking another job. Counting one at Indianapolis Washington, the wily redhead is Indiana's coaching king with six state championships. He perfected the match-up zone and often taught it to college coaches.

In 1990 a kid named Damon was named Mr. Basketball. Damon Bailey and Oscar Robertson are probably the only two Hoosier stars totally recognized by their first names. No second name ever needed.

Bailey first hit the headlines as an eighth grader through the recruiting of Indiana University's legendary coach, Bob Knight. He started for four years at Bedford North Lawrence and carried a team with no other Division I players to the state title in 1990. That title game drew a national-record crowd of 41,046. The was the last season in an incredible string of 61 consecutive years that Indiana's state finals were sold out.

He also became Indiana's career scoring leader with 3,134 points and was named National Player of the Year by USA Today.

For many years, Indiana's one-class basketball tourney was the envy of the nation. It was always the hottest ticket in town. However, the axe fell in 1997-98 when Indiana split into a four-class tournament for basketball and the interest started to evaporate.

Even though I fully understand what it has done for the smaller schools, I have heard coaches from many of those schools say they still wish they could take on the big boys. I've always wished that Indiana would have gone the Kentucky route: have a small-school tourney during the regular season, then everyone still plays at the end of the season in a single-class tourney.

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