For the first time since the 2017 season, Edinburgh is back in a basketball sectional with four Mid-Hoosier Conference schools, including natural rivals in Southwestern and Waldron.

The Indiana High School Athletic Association recently released new sectional alignments for basketball that will carry through the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons.

In Class A, Sectional 60 will feature seven teams, including five from the Mid-Hoosier Conference.

Edinburgh, Jac-Cen-Del, Morristown, Oldenburg Academy, South Decatur, Southwestern and Waldron will make for competitive sectionals in both girls and boys basketball tournaments.

“The team that benefits the most is probably Edinburgh,” said Southwestern athletic director and boys basketball coach Brady Days. “They play teams now that they have played for years and years and years. I think it all worked out really well. If you look at our sectional, I think the IHSAA got it right.”

Once the traditional Edinburgh boys basketball sectional was broken up five years ago, Edinburgh was sent south for sectional competition. That made it tough on the Lancers to schedule postseason opponents during the regular season. That will change during the 2022-2023 school year.

Sectional 60 also features five programs that have won sectional titles since 2020. Edinburgh and Jac-Cen-Del were boys basketball sectional champions this past season – Southwestern was in 2021.

On the boys side, Morristown and South Decatur are in the hiring process for a new varsity basketball coach. Waldron is in the same situation on the girls side.

The next step is identifying the sectional host sites.

“We are in that process now,” said Days. “We have boys and girls basketball and volleyball voting (on sites) but it has to be unanimous.”

Days expects the process to be complete within the next two weeks.

Edinburgh, Southwestern and Waldron are the top venues for basketball based on size and location but that is not a guarantee to host a postseason event.

Class 2A

Triton Central sits in Sectional 42 in Class 2A with Eastern Hancock, Scecina, Irvington Prep and Indianapolis Riverside.

That denotes a change for the boys basketball program that has won the last two sectional titles at the South Ripley Sectional.

Eastern Hancock is the defending Sectional 42 champion in both boys and girls basketball.

Class 4A

For years, Shelbyville has failed to overcome a pair of Bloomington schools to capture a boys basketball sectional title. The last sectional adjustment cycle moved the Golden Bears west to deal with Franklin, Whiteland, Greenwood, Franklin Central and Center Grove. That still proved challenging in terms of overall school size.

The newest sectional alignment is likely the best fit the Golden Bears will get in Class 4A.

Now in Sectional 14, Shelbyville is grouped with Columbus East, Columbus North, East Central, Franklin and Whiteland.

Franklin, who won a sectional title this past season, is the only program in the field that has experienced sectional glory in nearly a decade.

“I think this is very good for us,” said Shelbyville boys basketball coach John Hartnett. “I think we can match up better with these teams.”

Columbus East has the longest drought – last winning a boys basketball sectional title in 1996. Shelbyville and Whiteland’s streaks extend back to 2001 and 2002, respectively.

East Central won a sectional title in 2008 and Columbus North’s last came in 2013.

Columbus North was the only new sectional opponent not on Shelbyville’s regular season schedule in 2022.

“We are working on getting Columbus North back on our schedule,” said Harnett. “I think it’s good that we play those teams during our season. I think now we have an even better shot (at winning). Any team in the sectional now can win it.”