A disturbing trend in high school basketball

I see a trend in high school basketball that is disturbing. There seems to be more and more non-competitive games. In the Tri-Rivers conference on a recent Friday, there were seven games played by the girls’ and boys’ teams. In the girls' contests the average margin of victory was 27; in the boys’ it was 30. Other conferences have the same issue. As a former coach I see a serious threat to the game. A game is supposed to be fun. This is not fun for anyone, even the winners. Participation will suffer and make the situation worse. What can be done to level the playing field? It would be interesting to see what coaches and athletic directors have to say about the cause of this trend and what can be done to reverse it.

Darryl Syverson

Strawberry Point