A couple of things occur at the news that the IHSAA awarded the 2012 girls state basketball finals to Terre Haute, after two years in Fort Wayne:

1. Attendance no doubt played a big part in this. It fell by a third this year, giving those who weren't happy with the finals going to the extreme northeast corner of the state a valuable wedge in prying it loose.

2. That said, don't look for the attendance to get much of a bump in Terre Haute next year. Yes, it's marginally more centrally located, but it's even less a destination city than Fort Wayne. The only way it draws well is if enough of the finalists are close enough -- which, to be honest, is more likely to happen than it would have in Fort Wayne, where the closest school last March outside of Luers was Penn, nearly two hours away.