[Oh8ch]

I am speechless that Nick Aldrige was not on the D4 1st-team all-state,

I was impressed also. I heard references to something that happened at the beginning of the season and "that their are consequences". No idea what that was, but it apparently hurt him in the voting.

if they didn't build that large lead the game would have been much closer.

Hard to argue with that. Actually, you guys showed you could shoot against Windham, but South Webster simply played great D. They didn't just deny open looks, they made it hard to move the ball up court. To me that was the difference in the game. Waginger was a beast going after the ball and IMO was more of a factor than Aldridge.

I find it interesting that the Division 4 game had the highest total, even if it was only by a few hundred.

I was at 10 of the 12 session. The school support is a big part of it. Largely that is because they reserve the ends of the court for the schools. The big city schools don't have the following the smaller schools have (to a remarkable extent in some cases). I am sure those tickets go on sale to the public at some point, but pretty late in the process.

Ticket sales for the state is an interesting subject in itself. Scalpers jump in early and grab a big part of the lower bowl. Ticket buying and selling is huge out front on a daily basis. When I arrived for my first game I didn't think the doors were open there were so many people milling a around buying and selling.

Also, those numbers are for sold tickets, not filled seats. The Div IV championship game was one of the least attended - as seemed the case for all of the late evening sessions.

I know the Schott holds 18000+...

Capacity for OSU BBall is 19,200 - but it is lower for the tourney because they lose several rows in the front of the lower bowl to the press. I think they move the students back at the ends as well. Record for a HS game is 18,541 - Lebron's senior season. I was there - it was full.

Overall, even though my alma mater lost I am very proud of their accomplishment on Saturday.

You should be. Div IV games were my favorites of the tourney. It is everything HS BBall should be about. Fans screaming for their kids and kids playing their hearts out when all they were getting for it was a tee shirt and their name on a trophy.

A big part of the reason I went to the tourney was to see Mayo and Walker - but I feel a little dirty for doing it. (Same reasons Bob Hunter cited in his Dispatch article this morning.) They are an AAU team exploiting the HS system to get big crowds and play in big arenas. Walker is absolutely the laziest player I have ever seen on a basketball court. An incredible talent, but a disgrace to the game. An NBA player playing in HS in all respects.

Prior to each game they showed a brief video of Clark Kellogg (who's son BTW looked good - but not top level Div I good). He talked about what kids learn from playing ball - that it is more than a game. Pretty much his exact words were (I heard them 10 times) - "They learn about playing by the rules, discipline and respect for others."

Bill Walker represents the opposite of all three of those. That he took his act to Div III made it all the worse.

And BTW - of all the great athletes I saw this weekend (and there were a lot) none showed more class than David Lighty and Daquan Cook.