At the risk of becoming the first (I think) Broad Ripple Gazette columnist booted after three columns, I'm expanding geographically beyond Broad Ripple. This is because all I've been thinking about, talking about and writing e-mails about for the past two weeks is basketball. Specifically, class basketball and the merits thereof, through the eyes of a tiny school in southern Indiana.

In my defense, I have engaged in-alright, started-several heated debates in and around Broad Ripple recently about class basketball. And I attempted to call Broad Ripple Rockets' boys basketball coach Jeff Brandes for this column to add local flavor, but my attempts to navigate the high school's voice mail system were unsuccessful. I took that as a clear sign the school is just too darn big, and refocused my attention on Harrison County, way down south by the Ohio River.

Harrison County is my first (now second) home. The school that's captivated my post-Superbowl attention is my alma mater, Lanesville High School. Lanesville's basketball team, the Eagles, happens to include my youngest nephew, David, a 6' 3" senior and starting forward on the team.

Last year, Lanesville won its first boys basketball sectional in the school's 82-year history. This year they repeated, and on March 10 won the regional in Franklin in two heart-stopping contests that weren't decided until, literally, the last second.

To basketball purists (which as far as I can tell includes every man, woman and child in Indianapolis), the wins are next to meaningless because it's-ew-class basketball. Class A basketball even-the smallest class in Indiana.

Ask the people of Lanesville, though, if they're bitter about sharing the glory with bigger schools in three other classes, and I'll bet you'd get run out of town. The school sold more than 800 advance tickets before the March 10 regional; Lanesville's entire population, incidentally, is about 650. As of March 14, the school had sold 1,100 tickets for the March 17 regional in Seymour, an hour's drive away.

For the 200 students of Lanesville High School (yes, that's grades 9-12) and the fans, it feels great to finally have a chance at the big time.

Here's where I could tell you my own sad sectional tales from tennis (in which I resorted, fruitlessly, to aiming shots at my opponent's head), but I'll let a real authority, Lanesville boys basketball coach Mikel Miller, explain instead.

"This year we finished the regular season 18-3," Miller said. "New Albany High School [a Class 4A school] finished with about the same record. Before, more than likely, we would have been in the same sectional. More than likely, we're not going to win that game."

Amen, Coach Miller. I've been there. Those kids are bigger, faster, stronger and probably meaner. But they don't have more heart, which is why Miller is a fan of class basketball, too.

"If you just drive through these areas of teams that are still playing, you see the school spirit and the town spirit," he said, mentioning how businesses decorate in the school's colors and post signs thanking the team and wishing them luck.

Miller recounted the pep rallies after the Eagles' sectional and regional wins, which featured the town's fire engine meeting the boys at the Interstate 64 exit to give them a ride through town to the high school.

"To be honest, I'm not sure they would have had that opportunity under single class [basketball]," Miller said.

Nearly every opponent of class basketball I've talked to has brought up the movie "Hoosiers," where the team from tiny Milan beats the big-city school for the One True State Championship. I posited to Miller that they made a movie because it only happened once in all of basketball history. He responded that while it feels great to beat the big school, usually kids from small schools don't ever get to experience that.

"Knowing they lost to a bigger school, it doesn't make them feel any better," Miller said of pre-class-basketball days. "You can sense that your kids don't believe they have a chance."

Now, Miller said, "The kids look forward to sectional and having a chance to win."

Go Eagles!