Fans take to the streets, chaos stays controlled

Over a year ago, students took to the streets of Bloomington in anger. After Bob Knight was fired, students marched, chanted and removed the fish from the Showalter Fountain in protest.\nLast night the students gathered once again. The IU men's basketball team's nail-biting victory over Duke brought people out into the streets not to protest, but to celebrate.\nCar horns and screams of joy echoed in the cold night as students ran from all directions toward Showalter Fountain. Despite the lack of water -- and fish -- in the fountain, hundreds of students gathered on the benches and trees screaming chants in unison. They shouted everything from "We want Davis!" to "Overrated" (in reference to Duke) and even "Bobby Who?" More students ran up Seventh Street while others darted around the corner from the library and Jordan Avenue as the crowd quickly grew. When they joined the crowd, they were greeted with cheers.\nAt one point the crowd started chanting "We're Number One!" One student answered back by chanting "Not Yet! Not Yet!" He was corrected by David Shafer, a freshman. \n"Right now we are number one," Shafer said.\nShafer and his friends gathered at the fountain after the game out of "instinct," he said.\n"After we won, everybody started to run and shouted 'Showalter, Showalter,'" he said. "There is nowhere else to go. There's nothing better than being an IU student and defeating a number one team."\nStanding on a stone bench next to the fountain Mindy Hursh, a freshman, agreed with Shafer.\n"Oh my God," she said. "After the game we all freaked out."\nPolice clad in riot gear surrounded the crowd, but did not stop students from crowd surfing and climbing the lampposts. IU Police Department Sgt. Don Schmuhl said traffic was blocked from entering area near the fountain, and the IU Physical Plant heeded advisements to remove the fish statues from the Showalter Fountain. With extra units on duty, no vandalism or arrests were reported as a result of the celebration, Schmuhl said.\n"We were tickled to death for IU to win and we were prepared," Schmuhl said.\nEven buses waiting outside to collect audience members from the Auditorium production in progress carried messages of congratulations running across their computerized screens. \nAs students climbed the lampposts and trees around the fountain, freshmen Michelle Smith and Erin Romine, roommates, also stood on a bench, jumping up and down. Romine said she was so excited when the Hoosiers won she couldn't stop from hitting Smith on the arm. \n"I thought he was crying," Smith said about Coach Mike Davis. "He always looks worried."\nCheers of "Moye, Moye," echoed through the crowd. \n"Those boys can do anything…anything," sophomore Samantha Korak said.\nAt the same time, audience members of the "Buddy Holly Story" were ushered out the side doors of the auditorium.\nJunior Sara Bancroft said the actor portraying Buddy Holly left the audience with some words of advice. \n"Buddy Holly came out and said 'A couple of things before you go. One, drive safe there's a blizzard out there. Two, don't forget to eat. And three, go Hoosiers!'"\nTwo minutes later, as the house lights came up, the audience started screaming as they heard the news, Bancroft said.\n"These old women were screaming and jumping up and down," she said.\nOutside some of the audience members joined the celebrating crowd. \nMeanwhile another celebrating group accumulated at Kirkwood and Dunn Streets. Students streamed out of the warmth of the bars to gather in the street. As everyone pulled out their phones to call friends and family, they couldn't get through because of clogged circuits. The crowd didn't let up. It just kept growing as cars continued down Indiana Avenue and Seventh Street laying on their car horns, hanging out of windows and screaming at the people walking by. Standing in the street, Matt Hill, a senior, said it really meant something to watch his team beat one of the best in the country. \n"Mike Davis is a real coach, and he's proven he can coach in a big game," Hill said. "That was the most suspense I've had in four years here. The fan's were so great. I couldn't have dreamed anything better than this. This is my last year here, and I'll remember this forever"