HAMLIN — In the 1986 motion picture “Hoosiers” there is a memorable scene in which coach Norman Dale (played by Gene Hackman) uses a clever tactic to help his small-town team overcome their feeling of “awe” after arriving at a huge basketball venue.
Taking out a tape measure, Dale instructs some of his players to measure the distance from the baseline to the free throw line and from the floor to the rim. The measurements, of course, were 15 and 10 feet, respectively.
“I think you’ll find these are the exact same measurements as our gym back in Hickory,” Dale says, making the point that the game is unchanged by all of the fancy surroundings.
Thursday morning at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, a group of green-clad people from Hamlin will meet on the field, where coach Russell Lucas will try to make a similar point.
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