Texas population: 25,674,681 based on 2011 census.
Texas is a "third tier" high school wrestling state yet has a great population than Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New Jersey. Numbers can be deceiving. Indiana is a basketball state. Bottom line. Indiana is clearly not the most populated state in America and no one in their right mind who is educated on the sport of high school basketball would honestly believe that we are not the best state for basketball. Last year we had 12 or 13 of the ESPN's top 100 high school basketball players.
Indianamat has done an amazing job in advertising and promoting the sport of wrestling. When the state removed the team tournament coaches by communicating through Indianamat (and other means) established a solution with the dual tournament to be held at Westfield High School. Also, they have started the Indianamat preseason open- among other things.
Indiana athletes do not have to look very far to find a basketball camps filled with former Indiana High School athletes. Also, youth are constantly reminded of the consistent great players that come from the state of Indiana that have compete at a high level at any stage in their careers. This was established through years and years of tradition.
Indiana wrestling is catching up. We are definitely getting better. Tradition in this state is becoming deeper and deeper among teams. Individuals like Andrew Howe, Angel Escabedo, Reece Humphrey, and so on are deepening our Indiana wrestling roots and tradition as well as pride. We may never be better than Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Illinois but we are getting better. Our coaches are getting better and part of that has to do with tradition and pride in programs developing, promotion of our sport, the increase in popularity of UFC, increased understanding of weight training techniques, and so on.
I am excited for the future of Indiana wrestling.