Roselyn McKittrick thought she had experienced it all as the owner of Milan Station Antiques and the unofficial keeper of town basketball history. Then a man from Singapore walked into her store and announced that he had made a special trip to experience the aura of Milan.

"It's hard to explain," says McKittrick,

	Hoosiers
	Watch "Hoosiers" - Sun. 9 p.m. ET on ESPN Classic Turan's take: Review of "Hoosiers" Chat wrap: Milan star Bobby Plump

who has more than half of her store's space filled with letter jackets, photographs and other Milan memorabilia. "It's just magic."

The magic is the fact that one shot in one basketball game could spawn a Hollywood movie, catapult a school and a town into an eternal national spotlight and create a legend that has town organizers planning a permanent museum as the 50th anniversary nears. The words on the rusted water tower -- 1954 State Champs -- remind everyone of the 32-30 victory by Milan over mighty Muncie Central in the 1954 Indiana high school basketball finals.

The story of Milan -- between Indianapolis and Cincinnati off of I-74 in southeastern Indiana -- was always the top sports story in basketball-rich Indiana, but the extraordinary success of the movie "Hoosiers" introduced the phenomenon to the entire world.

The movie received mixed reviews from those who actually lived through the original events. Many of the Milan citizens complained openly that the film used no footage of the town, made the residents appear backward and strayed too far from the truth. Even Glenn Butte, a player on the '54 team, disliked the movie upon first viewing. He warmed to it in subsequent showings and probably summed up the feelings of everyone involved with Milan when he said years later that "the movie Hoosiers did more than any of us will ever realize to solidify our niche in history."

The basic premise of the movie -- a small school winning the Indiana state basketball tournament against incredible odds on an unlikely last-second shot -- matched reality. From that starting point, the lines become heavily drawn between actual small-town life and the need to create excitement and multiple plots on the big screen.

	Gene Hackman stars as coach Norman Dale in "Hoosiers."

The Milan coach was 26-year-old Marvin Wood, a young and energetic leader who was climbing toward the top of his profession, a deep contrast to the aging Gene Hackman character seeking redemption and one final chance. There was no town drunk on the bench as an assistant coach, no mid-season arrival of a star player and the old "picket fence" play never won a game by anyone's recollection.

What is unmistakably similar is the last-second shot -- made in real life by Bobby Plump, on the big screen by Jimmy Chitwood. In the real game, Plump stood at midcourt for more than five minutes in the fourth quarter with his team behind two points. A few minutes and a couple of baskets later he hit the game-winner, a shot that awarded Plump folk hero status and not long ago became the basis for his popular north Indianapolis restaurant -- Plump's Last Shot.

There will be no more Milan's in Indiana high school basketball. The one-class, winner-take-all tourney -- referred to by many as the greatest high school sports spectacle in the nation -- was shelved four years ago in favor of a four-class format that mimics other states and awards more trophies.

The results have been dismal for the bottom line -- almost 400,000 fewer fans attended the tourney in 2000 than in the last one-class tourney in 1997 and the state athletic association saw the bottom line decrease almost $450,000. There is now a movement to reduce the tournament to two classes to revive traditional rivalries and increase interest among the fans.

The irony of the class basketball argument is that Milan has actually excelled in state tournament play in the past few years. The Indians, who went winless through an entire season just a decade ago, have advanced to the Elite Eight twice in the past three years and boast a two-year record of 39-8. But don't mistake Milan's recent success as an endorsement for class basketball. The new format of the tournament only makes current Milan coach Randy Combs wonder aloud how far his tiny school could have advanced against the bigger powerhouses the past few seasons.

"I'm against it," says Combs, who played on a state champion team at Vincennes Lincoln in 1981 in one-class format. "I think we destroyed the best tournament in high school athletics nationwide."

Greg Guffey is the author of "The Greatest Basketball Story Ever Told: The Milan Miracle, Then and Now."