NCAA Rule Nixes Ripley County Game at Hinkle

Hinkle Fieldhouse

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - A couple local high school basketball teams were left scrambling for a court to play on this past weekend thanks to an NCAA rule.

South Ripley and Batesville were supposed to play Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the home court of the Butler University Bulldogs.

The Raiders-Bulldogs game was part of a larger, day long high school hoops showcase called Big Rivals Saturday produced by Compton Strategies. The event and similar others had taken place for years at Hinkle Fieldhouse without issue, until last week.

On Friday, the schools were notified they could not play at the legendary facility because a new NCAA rule enacted earlier this year prohibits, in most cases, high schools from playing on college floors because it could be considered a recruiting advantage for that college.

The rule in the 2011-12 NCAA Division I Manual reads, “An institution [including any institutional department (e.g., athletics, recreational/intramural)] shall not host, sponsor or conduct a non-scholastic basketball practice or competition in which men’s basketball prospective student-athletes (see Bylaw 13.11.1.2) participate on its campus or at an off-campus facility regularly used by the institution for practice and/or competition by any of the institution’s sport programs.”

The Big Rivals Showcase was deemed to be “non-scholastic,” leading to its cancellation less than 24 hours before the tipoff of the Ripley County rivalry game.

Batesville and South Ripley ended up playing their game at South Ripley High School in Versailles on Saturday. Batesville earned the victory, 49-46.

Meanwhile, fans who purchased their tickets for the showcase in advance can contact their local schools for a refund.