Having grown up in Indiana, I’d like to think that there is little that can impress me with high school athletics.  Not that Indiana is the end-all-be all of sports, but in basketball, it is king.  And the people in Indiana take their basketball very, very seriously.  If you haven’t been to any of the 17 largest high school gyms in the world on game night in Indiana, pick one and go to a game, then you will understand what I mean.

Other states have their passions in different sports – Texas, Florida, Ohio, Penssylvania have football.   Baseball is pretty big in a lot of Southern states.  High school hockey in the northern states is impressive.    But after spending a few days out here in Southern California meeting coaches and players – and witnessing the other sports teams compete (I just saw the tale end of a cross country meet that had 4,000 runners, which wasn’t even the largest event out here.), it is obvious to me why Southern California always seems to have so many high school teams ranked nationally in the top 20 in almost every sport.   In fact, there are always so many Southern California teams that are highly ranked, you start to discount it a bit.  No longer.

The football is intense – what a recruiting advantage for USC and UCLA, well, and every other college or University that is out here.   Cross country – intense.  Soccer – wow.  Boys and girls volleyball – obviously a hotbed of talent.  I even saw a high school water polo team practicing the other day, which was a first. I’m told its one of the top programs in the world.

Then there is the basketball.  I have now seen first-hand just a couple of programs out here who are competitive but still working their way to the top of the region, and the focus, attention to detail, and passion from these programs rivals anything I have seen anywhere, even in Indiana.    And that is just a couple of programs.  I’ve been told that there are many more just like the few that I have seen first hand.  If that is the case, Southern California may have started to change the mind of an Indiana native about where the center of the sport may be for HS basketball.

And that in itself is impressive – those words are not easily said from a Hoosier.