With high school basketball entering postseason play this week across the Commonwealth, teams will be attempting to play at the top of their game to survive and advance. As the old cliché goes, everyone is 0-0, with renewed hope in the postseason.
Everybody loves pulling for the underdog, unless of course it’s your team that falls victim to a team you expected to defeat, but if you don’t have a real rooting interest either way, most folks love to cheer for an upset.
Whenever a decided underdog overcomes overwhelming odds to win a state championship, that team is remembered and revered forever. We have seen a couple of perfect examples of just that in years gone by in arguably the two most fanatical high school basketball fanbases in the nation.
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THE MILAN MIRACLE — The first shocker came 70 years ago, when tiny Milan High School became the smallest school in Indiana history – only 161 students — to win a single-class state basketball title in Indiana.
The Indians’ unexpected run culminated in a 32-30 win over heavily favored Muncie Central (enrollment 1,662) in the championship game. The defensive battle was
decided on a Bobby Plump 14-footer with three seconds to play and denied the Bearcats their fifth state title.
Despite the small enrollment, the run Milan made did not come as a total surprise, since the Indians had been in the state’s Final Four the previous year. The team entered the 1953-54 season with lofty expectations, but for Milan to complete the journey with a win in the title game was unexpected and an amazing accomplishment.
The team and the town eventually became the inspiration for the 1986 film Hoosiers, which remains one of the most popular sports movies of all time. In the film, Milan became the fictional Hickory High School, and Plump was the inspiration for the Jimmy Chitwood character, who makes the winning shot for Hickory. The film received positive reviews, and a renewed interest in the Milan story.
The team captured the hearts of fans all over the state with their improbable run to the title, which included an interesting battle in a semi-state clash at Butler Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to earn a return trip to the Final Four. Milan had to get past Indianapolis Crispus Attucks and their star sophomore guard and future Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, and they passed that test with a 65-52 win. Attucks would go on to win the 1955 and 1956 titles, with the “Big O” leading the way.
In the semifinals, Milan cruised past Terre Haute Gerstmeyer Tech 60-48 to set up the title tilt against heavily favored Muncie Central.
Plump, who was uncharacteristically struggling during the game – he was just 2-for-10 from the field before draining the game winner – cemented Milan’s place in history.
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A MOST UNLIKELY CHAMPION – In 1976, an even more unlikely state champion was crowned in Kentucky.
The Edmonson County Wildcats have been credited by some with saving Kentucky’s one-class playoff system in high school basketball. Before their seemingly impossible run to the state title in Louisville’s Freedom Hall, there were increasing calls for the KHSAA to divide the state tournament into classes to give small schools a chance to win a state tournament.
The talk was understandable, since Louisville schools had been dominating the event, winning six of the previous seven state championships. The big-city schools were perceived to have such an advantage that the small schools didn’t have a chance of winning, and the Sweet Sixteen was losing some of its luster.
Much of that talk subsided after the Brownsville school – with an enrollment of only 450 students – was crowned state champions.
Nobody considered the Wildcats a state contender before the season, and it took a while for them to find their groove under first-year head coach Bo Davenport, who was known as a tough, demanding coach who knew precisely how to get the best out of his team. The 49-year-old took over after being fired by Grayson County the previous season, and many of his new players were scared of him in their early practices. Davenport changed the team’s offensive philosophy to more of a ball control style, featuring the team strengths of ball-handling, shooting and team chemistry.
The Wildcats had their share of ups and downs during the season, and fell to Glasgow in the 15th District championship game. Despite entering the 4th Region tournament as a district runner-up with seven defeats, the players remained confident. After a 59-58 region semifinal win over Franklin-Simpson, Edmonson County easily defeated Bowling Green in the finals to earn a trip to the Sweet Sixteen.
The team was rated 14th in the field but knocked off Betsy Layne 77-72 in the opening round, before another close quarterfinal matchup, where they upset Harrison County 61-57. Another unlikely upset occurred in the Final Four, when the Wildcats nipped Shelby County 53-52, setting up the championship game against Christian
County, which had upended Henry Clay in the other semifinal 68-67.
Edmonson County breezed to a 74-52 win in the title tilt in front of 10,500 fans, and the team showed doubters that a small town school could still win it all, and quieted the classification talk. When they returned to Brownsville the next day, they were greeted like conquering heroes, and they were also celebrated across the Commonwealth as the small school that gave the Sweet Sixteen the boost it so desperately needed at the time.
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WILDCATS BLAST BAMA – What a display.
On Saturday afternoon, Kentucky demonstrated just how good the 2024 Wildcats can be. The team that has been riding a roller coaster all season long was at the top of its game against SEC-leading Alabama, cruising to a 117-95 win.
The Cats were on fire most of the game, especially freshman Justin Edwards, who enjoyed a breakout performance with 28 points on a 10-for-10 (4-for-4 from three) shooting day. Edwards will be a key performer going forward for a team that needs an added offensive threat, in addition to Antonio Reeves and Rob Dillingham.
The lineup utilized by coach John Calipari featuring Edwards, Reeves, Dillingham, Reed Sheppard and
Zvonimir Ivisic showed they can be an offensive juggernaut. Even so, a couple of questions remain for the group: Can they maintain a reasonable semblance of that kind of offense, and how well will this lineup defend?
But that’s where Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso come in; both are outstanding defenders and rebounders, and will be counted on to spell Edwards and Ivisic, when necessary. Tre Mitchell, who continues to battle a back injury, will also be a huge boost whenever he returns.
Outscoring opponents with 3-point shooting and fast breaks is exciting to watch, but attempting to win by just playing great offensively can be a risky proposition. The Cats will likely have a game, especially in postseason play, where the shots don’t fall like they did on Saturday. That’s when you have to step it up on the defensive end, crash the boards, and get to more loose balls that your opponent to come out on top.
Those factors will come into play in the next game, a road test at Mississippi State, a team with a completely different style of play than that of Alabama. UK defeated the Bulldogs 90-77 in a previous meeting in Lexington, but interestingly, oddsmakers before the game listed the Cats as underdogs.
For Kentucky to win, it will be imperative to keep the Dogs off the offensive glass, and contain their inside-
outside threat of 6-foot-11 Tolu Smith and 5-10 Josh Hubbard.
(Unfortunately, game was played after this was written, due to the game being another Tuesday night affair, so we’ll discuss it further in Saturday’s column.)
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COURT STORMING OUT OF CONTROL – We said it several weeks ago in this space, and even though I may not be the world’s greatest prognosticator, this prediction was obvious. We said the practice of court storming was dangerous, and that somebody would get hurt during one of the celebrations.
I understand fans, and especially college students, get excited when they see their team knock off a highly-ranked foe, but they have no business being overly aggressive and rushing a court as soon as the buzzer sounds. There’s no doubt that some of the excitement shown by students is alcohol-induced, and when that many people run onto the court, something bad is bound to occur.
The most recent example was Duke’s Kyle Filipowski being knocked to the floor by a Wake Forest student, an injury that didn’t turn out to be serious, but if the practice continues, it is bound to happen. Not sure of the ultimate solution to end this nonsense, but somehow,
school and arena officials need to get their heads together and solve it, before it’s too late.
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“I’d rather be the underdog than anything.” – Kemba Walker
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“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of fight in the dog.” — Mark Twain
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A few more quotes from Mr. Twain, on the subject of life:
“When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries of life disappear and life stands explained.”
“Life is at best a dream and at worst a nightmare from which you cannot escape.”
“What is human life? The first third a good time, the rest remembering about it.”
“Poor old Methuselah, how did he manage to stand it so long?”
