We Recommend: L. Jon Wertheim’s Transition Game: How Hoosiers Went Hip-Hop

May 24th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanR

It’s been some time since we’ve done one of these. So here goes nothing...

We all know the sports landscape has changed. Baseball players are no longer rail thin and lithe. They are thick and strong — no matter what position they play. But perhaps more than any other sport, it’s basketball that’s veered away from its mean the most.

Gone are the short shorts. There’s a 3-point line. And, in a lot of circles, fundamentals and hard-nosed work is de-emphasized. There is more emphasis on pure 1-on-1 athleticism. Defense has taken a backseat to dunking. And this is where L. Jon Wertheim’s Transition Game: How Hoosiers Went Hip-Hop manifest itself.

It’s a quick, well-written read. The book bounces back and forth between Wertheim following his alma mater’s (Bloomington High School North) boy’s basketball squad during the 2003-2004 season and him taking us to other pockets of the state. He tells us where the history lies and how it’s been eroded by the new school. The spirit of the Milan squad, the team the movie “Hoosiers” bases itself upon, is still alive and well. The hero, Bobby Plump, still gets recognized and asked for autographs. But, there will never be another underdog, small-school-beats-big-school state champion. Class basketball no rules the day, a wholly unpopular decision in the state.

He pens about the proliferation of women’s basketball, where 20-30 years earlier it was nearly nonexistent in the public’s consciousness. We learn that one of the most successful sports agents, Eugene Parker, lives in tiny town in the northeast quadrant of the state. He tries going about things the right way. Instead of sending headhunters and shady individuals to AAU tournaments, he prefers to take a less aggressive route.

There’s even a scant description of a young Mike Conley Jr. and Greg Oden and their Lawrence North squad taking out Bloomington North in the state tournament’s equivalent of the Final Four. They were sophomores at the time. We also learn of the Duany family, who migrated to Bloomington from Sudan after experiencing hardships and political strife in their homeland. The parents sent all five –all five!– of their kids to college on a basketball scholarship. Wertheim takes us to all these places at a blistering rate, giving us just enough information to get a handle on the situation. Then, we are wisked away to somewhere else.

In Indiana, basketball is life. And life is basketball. Both have changed. But, the game we all know and love still seems to be plugging right along. It’s just different now, that’s all. And that, my friends, is all that really matters.