Luke Ertel and Undefeated Fishers, Surging Mt. Vernon Top Class 4A Contenders

IndyStar’s Kyle Neddenriep wrote, "The Indiana High School Athletic Association has announced the tournament draw for 404 boys' basketball teams," unveiling the Class 4A sectional brackets that begin March 3-7, with regionals on March 14, semistate on March 21 and state finals on March 28. Neddenriep opened his preview with "Let the games begin. [...] Let the games begin," framing a statewide field that will funnel toward Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Neddenriep’s preview spotlights Fishers and guard Luke Ertel as a team to watch, describing Fishers in the excerpt as "undefeated Fishers." The same preview calls out "surging Mt. Vernon" as a contender and includes an incomplete entry presented as "Pi" in the provided excerpt; that truncated item remains unresolved in the materials supplied.

Class 4A Sectional 11 at Plainfield earned a lead mention as "arguably the toughest sectional this year," chiefly because it houses two ranked programs. Neddenriep wrote, "In a key Class 4A Sectional 11 matchup, third-ranked Pike will face No. 5 Plainfield in a semifinal game." Pike enters with a 20-3 record and Plainfield with a 21-2 ledger, setting a high-stakes semifinal that could reshape the 4A landscape.

IndyStar and IHSAA materials outline the regional pathway and format: "Remember, the regional is a one-game setup and the semistate is a two-game affair with the winners meeting at night for a bid in the state finals." Central Indiana regional pairings called out include Fort Wayne Northrop winner vs. Noblesville winner, Greenfield-Central winner vs. Plainfield winner, Tech winner vs. Mooresville winner and Columbus North winner vs. Martinsville winner. The IHSAA uses the formal name Indianapolis Arsenal Technical for the Tech entry in Regional 6.

The IHSAA’s Class 4A Regional championship pairings list eight regionals: Regional 1 Chesterton winner vs. Crown Point winner, Regional 2 Elkhart winner vs. Mishawaka winner, Regional 3 Fort Wayne Northrop winner vs. Noblesville winner, Regional 4 Lafayette Jefferson winner vs. Huntington North winner, Regional 5 Greenfield-Central winner vs. Plainfield winner, Regional 6 Indianapolis Arsenal Technical winner vs. Mooresville winner, Regional 7 Seymour winner vs. Evansville North winner and Regional 8 Columbus North winner vs. Martinsville winner.

Logistics from IHSAA materials set admission at $8 per session or $20 for all sessions, with pay-per-view on Android TV listed at $20 per game or $25 for all games, and radio broadcasts on affiliates of the IHSAA Champions Network. Those price points and broadcast windows matter for families tracking Fishers, Mt. Vernon and the other statewide contenders.

Local schedules excerpted by WNDU provide sectional game-by-game listings. SECTIONAL 3 Mishawaka shows Game 1 March 3 Mishawaka vs. South Bend Adams and Game 2 March 4 Penn vs. Michigan City, with the sectional final on March 7. SECTIONAL 51 Culver lists Game 1 March 3 Trinity Academy vs. Triton, Game 2 March 3 Oregon-Davis vs. Argos and a championship on March 7. SECTIONAL 36 Bluffton and SECTIONAL 38 Manchester are likewise laid out with March 3 opening rounds and March 7 finals in the provided excerpts.

IHSAA historical context underlines long-term stakes: Lafayette Jefferson holds the record "Most Consecutive Sectional Championships 29 by Lafayette Jefferson, 1944-72," and all-time totals list Kokomo at 77, Marion and Vincennes Lincoln at 71, and Lafayette Jefferson at 69. With 404 teams in the draw and the IHSAA noting 412-member high schools overall, the March schedule compresses longstanding traditions, rising programs like Fishers and Mt. Vernon, and heavyweight sectionals such as Plainfield into a month that will decide who advances toward Gainbridge Fieldhouse. As Neddenriep declared, "Let the games begin.