Greatest Basketball State

All time its North Carolina  and prob is this year as well

I agree All-Time it is North Carolina but no way is it this year NC State and North Carolina have been disappointments

As Duke suffers its 3rd humiliating loss and to a 17-7 team....

 I have lived in Indiana and found out that it is a great basketball state.....but,....their high school tournament isn't what it use to be when they play for division championships now and have for many years ,attendance is way down from the single class championships days,.....the Pacers are playing well again but they rank in the bottom 1/3 of attnedance in the NBA,.....IU is red hot right now but when they were down after the Sampson years there were many empty seats at Assembly Hall up until last season,.....same goes for Purdue as they seldom sell out,Butler has an awsome program but until recently they rarley sold out at Hinkle,..... as for players I think there are blue chippers from all over the country and Indiana has it's fair share.....the Hoosier state has many great fans but like many other places they also have many wagon jumpers,winning cure all.There are many fair weather fans in Indiana as I'm sure that is true in most states........even the Colts didn't sellout a few games last season and early this season although that is a whole different story...

Indiana. And I hate to be the one to bring it up, but the state of Ohio could send four (most likely three) teams to the Tourney. Ohio falls somewhere around 5-7 on that list of states.

Any other state out there had a movie made about their passion for basketball starring Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper?

I could be wrong but the setting for that movie was back in the 50s when Indiana had a one class championship tournament and that thrill of a small school taking on the "big boys"  is long gone.

Step back and look at the big picture for a minute.  Indiana fans love their hoops so much that they made a friggin' MOVIE about high school basketball in the state.

I agree,Indiana as a whole does love the game of basketball,I wish they wouldn't have changed the tournament,it was nice to see the lttle guys take on the big boys in the regional and even the sectional games....and I enjoy watching the movie Hoosiers.

Absolutely agree that Indiana is a great basketball state, and also absolutely agree that they lost something when they went away from the one class system in HS.  I strongly felt when they made the change that they were making a bad decision.

Not sure how many people know this, but 13 of the 14 largest HS gyms in the country are in Indiana.  That is a sign of what basketball means in the Hoosier state.

IT is indiana and Kentucky #1

Do not overlook La., they have put way more than their share for such a small(population wise)state! Look at past and present history and do not look at LSU, they actually got very few of the GREATS!

The GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAYER IN COLLEGE HISTORY DID PLAY FOR THEM THOUGH, but he was from S. Carolina


                                  PISTOL PETE "GREATEST IN THE HISTORY OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL" 

The GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAYER IN COLLEGE HISTORY DID PLAY FOR THEM THOUGH, but he was from S. Carolina

Lew Alcindor was not from South Carolina, nor did he attend LSU.  Whenever the NCAA creates a rule because of you, you're one bad mofo****. 

The guy was before his time and was THE BEST!
You did not see him play or this would not even be a debate;  you would know the error of your ways (remember collegeplayer) 

I have to agree,"Pistol Pete" was awesome and a treat for any basketball fan to watch.

Maravich was a great ball player, but he isn't quite on Alcindor's level.  Alcindor's Bruins won the NCAA Championship in all three years he was eligible to play, plus the NCAA outlawed dunking because of him.  That's a dominant player.  Here's a little nugget for you. UCLA's varisty team, which was ranked #1 in Alcindor's freshman year, scrimmaged the freshman team with Alcindor on it.  That freshman squad beat them by 15 points.  The guy was that good.

To argue that Kareem wasn't one of the greatest ever would be foolish,he could defend(although always known to be a tad lazy on defense) the post,nobody could stop the sky hook ,he could rebound (he should be a great rebounder as in his time nobody was near his size) and had a good outlet pass,but let's not forget he 7' something at a time when there were nobody or very very few men his size. the Pistol could do it all and we're kinda comparing apples and oranges here.John Wooden always denied that is why the no dunking rule was put in place anyway,...I would hate to call the late coaching legend a liar.Let's just agree they were one if not the bet at their positions during their college careers.

This is all pretty subjective of course and personal bias will never be left out. That being said if you took a starting 5 of all time greats from each state, Indiana would hold up pretty well vs. other states. 3 of my startes would probably be a lock, Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird, and Glenn Robinson. Then it would be a toss up for the last 2 spots between Greg Oden, Kent Benson, Shawn Kemp, Walt Bellamy, Steve Alford, Rick Mount, and several others. Impossible to compare because of the different eras.

Are we arguing greatest bball state this year or of all time??? Being as Ohio got all 4 teams into the sweet 16, the OSU, Xavier, Ohio, and Cinci this past tourney....

True, wizard, if you are talking about this year, FL is right up there with 2 top 5 college teams and the Heat fans that are diehard!

If we are talking about high schools.  New Jersey is top 5 for sure.  They all leave the state for college. St Anthony's , St. Patricks, St. Benedicts, Seton Hall Prep, Paterson Catholic etc. etc.  Kyrie Irving, Michael Kidd Gilchrist, JR.Smith, Andrew Bynum and Kenneth Faried are a pretty good starting 5 and they are the ones I can rattle off the top of my head.  All time forget about it.

Kentucky ,Indiana,Carolina for sure..top to bottom...<br /><br /><br />followed by Kansas<br /><br /><br />after that who cares...    <br /><br /><br />