The month of March long has secured a niche in the hearts of Indiana sports fans.

The term, "Hoosier Hysteria," defines a statewide subculture. The primary object of affection for 90 years has been the Indiana boys high school basketball tournament.

Beginning each February and continuing through March, packed gymnasiums throughout the state have celebrated an annual ritual: 64 Sectional, 16 Regionals, four Semi-Finals or "Semi-States," and the Final Four.

That epoch apparently has passed just as Terre Haute South's extraordinary girls team brought the community its first state basketball title.

Last weekend there was no television coverage of the Indiana High School Athletic Association boys championship games. Moreover, there was no radio coverage of any title game accessible in Terre Haute on a standard radio without a special antenna.

In 1951 - when there were only two television stations in Indiana - WFBM-TV of Indianapolis first telecast the boys' Sectional, Regional, Semi-state and Finals championship basketball games from Butler Fieldhouse.

Lamentably, after 50 years, television coverage of the tournament has ceased.

"Television sets," as they were called, were very scarce in 1951. Yet people all over the state used antennas affixed to their chimneys to watch snowy black and white images. The appeal was not limited to fans of the Final Four teams: Evansville Reitz, Indianapolis Crispus Attucks, Muncie Central and Lafayette Jefferson. It was universal.

Besides WFBM-TV, 48 Indiana radio stations carried play-by-play descriptions of the 1951 "Finals," a term once used to describe the three games (two in the afternoon and one at night) held on the final day. Achieving Final Four status was cause for exaltation.

Strong radio signals from stations covering all four Semi-States also were accessible.

Television coverage increased in 1952 when WTTS-TV (later WTTV) of Bloomington covered the Southern Semi-State. Vigo County fans watched a very snowy picture to "see" the unheralded Terre Haute Garfield Purple Eagles come from 13 points behind in three minutes before losing to Evansville Central in four overtimes, 56-54.

Garfield's George Miller, Walt "Dunk" Pugh, Roy Kalen, Don Scott, Gary Giffel and Coach Willard Kehrt were household names from Kokomo to the Ohio River.

Few local residents will forget the 1953 IHSAA Finals. That was the year Terre Haute Gerstmeyer's Arley Andrews fouled out "with four or fewer personal fouls" and the Black Cats lost the controversial championship game to South Bend Central, 42-41.

Though there were no television stations in Terre Haute until WTHI-TV went on the air in July 1954, every local basketball fan either attended the 1953 and 1954 Finals or was situated in front of a small picture tube hoping to catch a glimpse of the games despite a weak signal and frequent outside interference.

Coach Howard Sharpe, Arley, Harley and "Uncle Harold" Andrews, Bill Bolk, Jack Smith and Jerry Sturm of Gerstmeyer were Indiana folk heroes.

Television coverage of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament did not begin until 1954.

Thus, neither the 1952 NCAA championship game, featuring the University of Kansas with unanimous All-American Clyde Lovellette of Terre Haute Garfield, nor the 1953 title contest - spotlighting Indiana University with Terre Haute Wiley's Dick White and Terre Haute Gerstmeyer's All-American Bob Leonard - were telecast.

Lovellette scored a title game record of 33 points as Kansas dismantled St. John's, 80-63. Kansas without Lovellette succumbed to IU in the 1953 title game, 69-68.

Sadly television cameras did not capture Lovellette breaking Don Sunderlage's existing NCAA tournament scoring record by 58 points in 1952.

Or Leonard hitting the game-winning free throws in 1953. Or White snaring the game-clinching rebound after a shot by the Jayhawks' Jerry Alberts with six seconds left.

Leonard and the Hoosiers returned to the tournament in 1954 but Notre Dame upset Branch McCracken's team in the second round, 65-64. The Irish, featuring Dick Rosenthal, then lost to Penn State, 71-63, in the NCAA Regional championship game.

Few Hoosiers watched the televised 1954 NCAA title game between Bradley and LaSalle. Without an Indiana team in the Finals, college basketball could not compete with the IHSAA tournament for viewers or advertising dollars.

National interest in the college basketball tournament gradually grew and television revenue increased. In 1966, the NCAA netted more than $500,000 for the first time. In 1969, net income exceeded one million dollars. In 1974, it made more than $2 million.

The 1979 NCAA tournament finale pitting undefeated Indiana State and Larry Bird against Michigan State and Earvin "Magic" Johnson is still identified as the most watched college game in history. Despite such strong competition, Indiana high school basketball held its own through the "Damon Bailey era" which ended in 1990.

Sagging attendance may justify the lack of media coverage. Indiana boys high school basketball tournament attendance declined from 981,365 in 1990 to 457,010 in 2001. And the declining figures do not tell the whole story.

Only a small number of fans buying tickets for the IHSAA tournament Finals stay for more than one game. As one scribe quipped a few weeks ago: "Seems anymore that fans in one class couldn't give two shakes of a pompom what takes place in another."

Indiana high school basketball tournament attendance began to ebb before the IHSAA divided its schools into four classes. Yet the sport continued to attract live media, and necessary corporate sponsorship, for another decade.

Illinois, which apportioned its high schools into two classes many years ago, continues to telecast the Quarter-Finals and Finals of its boys state basketball tournament.

Nothing should diminish the proud feats of the 2001-02 South Lady Braves. It's simply too bad their accomplishments could not be shared by more people statewide.

Until it is, the month of March will not be quite the same in Hoosierland.