113th Annual IHSAA Boys Basketball State Tournament Draw

Thanks to IHSAA press release

(2-19-23) The opening two weeks of pairings have been announced for the 113th Annual IHSAA Boys Basketball State Tournament presented by the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever. Sectional games are scheduled to begin Tuesday, Feb. 28, and run through Saturday, March 4 with regionals on Saturday, March 11.

This year’s state tournament, like the girls tournament, has a different format than previous years as the regional round and semi-state round have essentially switched.

The regional is now a single-game championship, and the semi-state becomes a two-game affair with the winner advancing to the state championship game. The previous format of a two-round regional and a single semi-state game had been in place since 2002.

Two regional championship games will be played back-to-back at the same site with the winners finding out their next opponent and host site the following day. The semi-state games – scheduled for Saturday, March 18 – will be randomly drawn and announced in a second pairings show via IHSAAtv.org.

IHSAA Commissioner Paul Neidig

“We really like the potential of a high-energy atmosphere at the semi-state level with a chance to advance to the state championship games the following week at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. This new format will double the number of teams who play a
week longer in the tournament and should create a lot of excitement in those communities and will be financially beneficial for those communities that serve as host sites.”

The four state championship games that make up the State Finals will be played at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday, March 25.

Top-ranked Ben Davis will meet Southport in Sectional 11 played at Perry Meridian. The Giants are the No. 1 team in both the 4A poll from the Associated Press and the single class poll from the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA).

In Class 3A, the No. 1-ranked NorthWood Panthers will host Wawasee in the opening game of Sectional 20.

The Class 2A poll shows the Linton-Stockton Miners leading the field. That team will meet Paoli in the first round of Sectional 47 played at North Knox.

And in Class 1A, the Bloomfield Cardinals top the latest poll and are scheduled to play Clay City in the third game of Sectional 57 at White River Valley.

The Indianapolis Cathedral Irish, the defending state champions in Class 4A and ranked No. 6 in this week’s 4A poll, drew a bye and will await the Warren Central-Lawrence Central winner in the Sectional 10 semifinals.

The Beech Grove Hornets, who won last year’s Class 3A crown and ranked 13th this week, drew a bye into the semifinals and will face the Speedway-Christel House winner in Sectional 28 at Christel House.

Last year’s Class 2A state champion and this week’s No. 7 team, the Providence Pioneers will face Clarksville in the first round of Sectional 46 at Southwestern (Hanover). And last year’s Class 1A state champion, the North Daviess Cougars, who opted up to play in Class 3A and are ranked 11th this week, will take on Pike Central in Sectional 31 at Washington.

About the Draw
To conduct the random drawing for the girls basketball state tournament, the IHSAA places ping-pong balls representing each school in each sectional into a lottery-style air mix machine. A motorized fan in the bottom of the machine blows the balls around the inside of the transparent container and air then forces each ball up through a tube in random order. For example, the first ball retrieved from the machine will be the visiting team in game one with the second ball representing the home team in game one. The third ball to come out is the visitor in game two and the fourth ball the home team in game two. That same method is followed through all 64 sectionals and 16 regionals.