Indiana House calls for single-class tournament\nINDIANAPOLIS --The Indiana House passed a resolution Thursday asking the Indiana High School Athletic Association to create a new single-class state basketball tournament.\n"I think the public really wants this," said Republican Rep. Larry Buell of Indianapolis, the resolution's sponsor.\nThe resolution asks the IHSAA to create a single-class tournament during or before the regular basketball season, but does not specify whether such a tourney should be started for both boys and girls teams. The current class tournaments at the end of the season, which began in 1998, would stay intact, Buell said.\nIHSAA Commissioner Blake Ress said he knew the resolution had been filed in the legislature, but had not talked with any lawmakers about it. He did not know what steps the organization would take.\n"We will see what it has to say and analyze it," Ress said.\nRep. Jerry Denbo, D-French Lick, said a second tournament that could be entered by all schools, regardless of enrollment, would be popular and that IHSAA should respond to public opinion.\n"I hope they would wake up sometime, realize what they're doing," Denbo said. "I would urge the ISHAA to start listening to what the people want."\nRep. Eric Turner, R-Marion, said the four-class tournament system has been exciting and have drawn good crowds. But he said a single-class tournament would also be popular.\n"It in no way takes away from the class system," Turner said. "This resolution just urges them to look at this. Basketball is important in Indiana."\nThe House passed the resolution on a voice vote without taking a roll call.
NCAA expands football season \nto 12 games \nINDIANAPOLIS --The NCAA will allow football teams to play 12 games per year, but it won't enter the postseason playoff fray.\nThe board of directors approved proposals on Thursday that would add a 12th game to Division I-A schedules -- starting in 2006 -- allow schools to count one victory over Division I-AA schools each year toward bowl eligibility, and loosen the requirements to qualify for Division I-A status.\n"The season will not be elongated, it just means the bye week would be taken out," NCAA president Myles Brand said. "Nor will it lead to any additional midweek games.\n"But I seriously suggest you take up the tournament situation with the BCS."\nThe Bowl Championship Series has tried to pit the two best teams in a national championship game since the system was created in 1998. \nThe NCAA has tried to avoid the playoff debate.\nOne argument against a football tournament is that lengthening the season could force student-athletes to miss more classes.\nBrand has supported academic reform since taking over as president in January 2003 and said Thursday that an additional football game each season won't create a problem.\nBoard chairman Robert Hemenway, the chancellor at Kansas, said schools could make more money with an extra game but he insisted that wasn't the only reason why the proposal passed.\n"There was also a feeling that if you had another game, that it does give you some flexibility in your scheduling," he said. "A school like Oklahoma State, for instance, could possibly play a game in Tulsa or Oklahoma City and play to that fan base."\nBrand said the extra money could also be used to help fund athletic departments that are losing money.\nThe board also adopted a resolution that strongly urged schools not to adopt the new Title IX Internet-based surveys, which the U.S. Department of Education said in March could be used to scientifically gauge whether schools must expand or create women's teams to meet demand.\n"We felt that it was not true to the principles that have been in effect," Hemenway said.\nThe board also asked the NCAA executive committee to propose a comprehensive policy on alcohol advertising during college telecasts. Hemenway said the committee took that action after a lengthy discussion to include Division II and III events under any new standard.\nOn Wednesday, the American Medical Association asked the NCAA to ban all alcohol advertising. The current policy allows one minute per hour of alcohol ads and prohibits the sale or advertising of alcohol at NCAA championship events.\nBut the biggest winners Thursday were Division I-A football teams.\nBesides the 12th game, the NCAA will allow schools to count one victory over a I-AA opponent each year, starting this fall. Previously, schools could count one win every four years.\nAnd smaller football programs, such as those in the Mountain West and Mid-American Conferences, also got good news. The NCAA will now allow schools to qualify for Division I-A if they average 15,000 in paid or actual attendance once every two years.\nPreviously, schools had to have 15,000 in actual attendance.\nDivision I vice president David Berst said schools could also include students who attend games at a reduced price.\n"I think it's a case of fixing things," Brand said. "When we went to the turnstile attendance, I think we inadvertently harmed some teams because they don't control the weather. I think that's an indication that we had the wrong rule"
