Where the Game Matters Most

A personal look into the final all-state Indiana basketball championship season follows four teams and documents the desperation, agony, and competition in a sport in which only one team will emerge victorious.

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In 1997 Indiana crowned its last all-state champion, marking the end of an eighty-seven-year-old Hoosier tradition. Despite public outcry, the statewide tournament has been replaced by four divisional tournaments based on school size. Small-school teams no longer will have the chance to compete against big-school Goliaths for the state title. Where the Game Matters Most captures the passion and the personalities, the triumphs and the heartbreak of this final all-comers season. Through the most intense basketball season in Indiana history, William Gildea follows four teams. Bringing alive the extraordinary bonds forged among players, coaches, schools, families, and entire towns, Where the Game Matters Most is a compelling evocation of a truly historic championship season.