6 Things Indiana High School Basketball Families Need to Know Before the Season Starts

Once basketball season starts, family calendars fill up fast.

Hoosiers with a player on the team can save themselves some scrambling by sorting out a few things early.

This is what to have in order before the first tip-off.

Note: This is general information, not legal or medical advice. Rules, dates and ticket prices are subject to change, so confirm the current details with the Indiana High School Athletic Association.

1. April 1 Physical Window

Under Rule 3-10 of the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), your basketball player needs a physical exam between April 1 and your player’s first practice.

March physicals don’t count.

Your player can get the exam from a nurse practitioner, a physician assistant or a physician who holds an unlimited license to practice medicine.

A separate form is also required each school year, so last year’s paperwork won’t carry over.

Download the form from that health page before the appointment.

Afterward, bring the signed exam form and consent form back to your player’s school.

2. Concussion Forms and Clearance

Indiana’s concussion law says you and your player must receive an information sheet and form every year before basketball practice begins.

You both then sign the form and return it to the coach.

The coach has to keep a file of the completed forms.

A player suspected of a concussion or head injury in a practice or a game has to come out of play at the time of the injury.

Your player can’t return until a licensed health care provider trained in concussions and head injuries has evaluated and cleared your player in writing.

A waiting period of at least 24 hours also applies after your player comes out of play.

3. Sudden Cardiac Arrest Symptoms

Indiana’s sudden cardiac arrest law covers your basketball player at practices and games.

If a game official, coach, athletic trainer or another person the law names suspects a symptom, your player comes out of practice or play at that moment.

You also have to be told about the symptoms.

Before your player returns, the coach or another school official has to give you the sudden cardiac arrest information and get your verbal permission.

You then owe that official a written statement within 24 hours of giving permission.

That part is on you.

Each year before practice, you and your player also get a sudden cardiac arrest information sheet and form to sign and return.

If your child cheers at games instead of playing, the same form applies.

Cheerleading sponsored by or associated with a school counts as an athletic activity.

4. Girls and Boys Start Dates

Girls basketball teams get two weeks between their Oct. 19 first practice and their Nov. 2 first contest date.

Boys teams get the same two weeks, from a Nov. 9 first practice to a Nov. 23 first contest date.

The boys start three weeks behind the girls at both ends.

Three weeks is a long gap.

If you have players on both teams, you’ll be planning around two start dates.

5. Scrimmage Limits

An Indiana high school can hold only one controlled basketball scrimmage, under the IHSAA’s scrimmage rules.

Schools can scrimmage after five days of practice and before their first scheduled game.

The whole event, warm-ups and breaks included, is capped at 2 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes.

The opponent has to be another Indiana team.

Whether you pay to watch is up to the two schools, which have to agree on the money beforehand.

Each team may also have a single person videotape, so ask your coach before you bring a camera.

6. Tournament Ladder

Your player’s basketball team, boys or girls, has to work through four rounds to win a state title, starting with sectionals and ending with the state finals.

Regionals and semi-states sit in between.

Sectionals come first, with girls playing Feb. 2-3 and Feb. 5-6 and boys playing March 2-3 and March 5-6.

Semi-states are Feb. 20 for girls and March 20 for boys.

The state finals close out each tournament on Feb. 27 for girls and March 27 for boys.

Both finals dates land on a Saturday, so you can hold them on your calendar now.

Last season, both finals played out at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, with girls on Feb. 28 and boys on March 28.

Each finals day split into a morning session and an evening session, and each session had two games.

Tournament Ticket Prices

Tickets to Indiana high school basketball tournament games got pricier with every round in 2025-26, according to the IHSAA’s girls and boys tournament pages.

Sectionals cost $8 a session, or $20 for all sessions.

Regionals cost $10 a person, and semi-states cost $12 a person for each session.

Children age 5 and younger paid nothing at those three rounds.

EventLink sold the sectional and regional tickets to your phone, and additional fees may apply.

State finals tickets cost $20, or $24.75 with Ticketmaster fees, and each one covered a reserved seat for a single session of two games.

Ticketmaster was the only seller for the finals, and the tickets were digital only.

The general public could buy lower-bowl seats at the north and south ends of Gainbridge Fieldhouse starting Monday, Dec. 1, months before either final.

The eight schools in the finals received password-protected links to their seating sections beginning Monday of finals week.

Streaming Games

If you can’t make the drive to a tournament game, the IHSAA’s basketball pages point you to IHSAAtv.org.

For sectionals and regionals in 2025-26, fans could check there to see whether their school’s game was being streamed.

Semi-states moved to pay-per-view, at $12 a game or $20 for all 24 girls games.

The four state championship games cost $20 each or $25 for all four.

The IHSAAtv apps run on iPhone, Android phone, Roku, Amazon Firestick, AppleTV and Android TV, so you can watch on a phone or a television.

New Basketball Rules

High school basketball has five rules changes for 2026-27, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

The IHSAA's basketball pages link to the full list of those changes.

The rules committee met April 27-29, 2026 in Indianapolis.

When you watch the last minute of a quarter this season, a throw-in touched inbounds has to take at least 0.3 seconds off the clock.

That minimum applies in the final 59.9 seconds of quarters and overtime, and only where the clock shows tenths of a second.

If the clock at your player's game isn't started or stopped properly, officials can use a silent count to correct the timing.

The committee set a single dead-ball period for judging whether technical fouls on opposing teams offset.

Fan Rules

You can bring your voice to an IHSAA tournament basketball game, but not much else.

The girls' 2025-26 tournament page bars balloons, banners, posters and signs, plus cowbells, shakers on sticks and other noise devices.

State finals also bar live animal mascots and thrown articles, toilet tissue included.