Bloomfield head coach and athletic director J.B. Neill responds to IHSAA changes

The IHSAA announced that the boys basketball regional games this weekend will be closed to all non-essential personnel Thursday afternoon.

Bloomfield head coach and athletic director J.B. Neill, who has been preparing his team to play all week to play in front of a large and noisy crowd, responded to the announced changes this afternoon.

“I truly hate it for the Bloomfield community,” coach Neill said. “We have a great fan base that travels very well to our games. Our pre sale ticket sales have been good all week, so we were anticipating a big crowd from Bloomfield as usual.”

“As far as affecting my team, I am 100 percent confident that they will play as hard as they can, no matter the attendance. They do it everyday in practice and there are way less than 75 people there,” coach Neill added.

As reported earlier today by the Daily World, a press release from the IHSAA stated, “For the remaining games, each participating school will be allotted only 75 complimentary tickets aside from the 12 dressed players and to include only essential personnel, coaches, administrative staff and immediate family of the players.

Anyone holding a regional ticket will be issued a full refund at the point of purchase. Individuals must present the ticket(s) in order to receive a refund.

Regional games will continue to be streamed at IHSAAtv.org and its affiliates as well as previously approved broadcast stations.”

The recent announcement of changes to be made will add a new dynamic to ‘Hoosier Hysteria’ we’ve all come to know over the years as almost all games, regular season, postseason and even some preseason scrimmages usually have more than 150 people in attendance.

To stay up to date on all information about the recent changes to the boys basketball regionals this weekend go to www.gcdailyworld.com.