​1 / 57Northridge’s Karsyn Rumfelt (12) is introduced before an IHSAA boys basketball regional championship game between Saint Joseph and Northridge at Plymouth High School on Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Plymouth.(MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE)Would the current form of Hoosier Hysteria be better off without relying each year on the random ping pong balls to determine who plays who come sectional time?Would a seeded tournament at the sectional level provide for better matchups, more excitement and bigger crowds?AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe given opinion of several South Bend area prep boys basketball coaches is that the format for the sectional tournament should be a seeded one.Eric Gaff, who guided South Bend Saint Joseph to an IHSAA Class 3A state championship in 2024, is a firm believer that a seeded sectional field is best for the tournament.The Huskies, who moved up to Class 4A for the 2025-26 season due to the IHSAA success factor, were in a loaded sectional this past winter. The field included eventual champion St. Joe, along with powers South Bend Riley and Penn to go with South Bend Adams, Michigan City, LaPorte and Mishawaka. Those seven teams had a final combined record of 113-59.”I think that the sectional should be seeded,” said Gaff, who is 92-44 in his five seasons at St. Joe. “If it’s seeded, then that makes the regular season mean more. Every game during the season would matter and count because it would factor into your seeding.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe IHSAA says that the current blind draw system works best due to the fact that every team in the Hoosier state qualifies to play in the state tournament.”The reason we do not seed here is simple, and it’s because that everyone in our state plays in our tournament,” said IHSAA commissioner Paul Neidig in an interview for this story. “That’s not the case in all of the other states. Everybody participates here, and that puts us in a different standard. We need to be realistic about the differences in schools as far as different locations and the different resources they have.”Neidig has served as the IHSAA Commissioner since 2020. He served as an assistant commissioner prior to that from 2017 to 2020 and oversaw boys basketball. Prior to coming to the IHSAA, Neidig had a 31-year career in education for the Evansville School Corporation.Scott Radeker, the highly successful coach at Northridge High School, is all for seeding, even if it were for just the top two teams in each sectional.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement”Teams should be rewarded for good regular seasons,” Radeker said. “Having the top two teams in a sectional play at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday night makes no sense. It makes perfect sense to seed the top two teams, and that’s pretty easy to see in most sectionals who those teams are. Especially since we have Class basketball.”Radeker led his 2025-26 squad to Class 4A sectional and regional championships. The Raiders wrapped up their seaso