Homecourt advantage?

Coach Mike Davis is happy he had to endure just a 45-minute bus ride for the Big Ten Tournament. \nSenior Dane Fife and Tom Coverdale hope for high Hoosier fan turnout, and Jared Jeffries' family won't have to fly, something the sophomore fears. \nFor IU, there are plenty of positives regarding the Big Ten Tournament moving to Indianapolis for the first time in its five-year history. \nBut is playing in Indianapolis, where IU has racked up a 60-9 record since playing its first game there in 1940, that much of an advantage? \nDavis, his players and other Big Ten coaches can't settle on a definitive answer. \n"We lost to Butler there," Davis said, referring to IU's Dec. 29 Hoosier Classic loss to the Bulldogs in Conseco Fieldhouse, where the Hoosiers will meet Michigan State 11:30 this morning. "It's all about playing. It doesn't matter where you play."\nIU has played in Conseco, the home of the NBA's Indiana Pacers, four times, winning three. But IU is just 1-2 in Indianapolis this season, with a win over Eastern Washington and losses to Butler and Kentucky (in the RCA Dome, where IU is 7-7 all-time). \nFife said IU has a feel for the atmosphere, rims and the floor, but he doesn't consider that IU's biggest asset. Instead, it's the large Hoosier fan base that is expected to fill Conseco. \nEstimated attendance for the four-day tournament is expected to be near 100,000, according to the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association, and most fans began arriving Thursday, when the tournament kicked off with three first-round games. \nOnly Thursday's session and the championship session Sunday were yet to sell out as of Thursday. Today's first session, with No. 4 IU and No. 5 Michigan State at 11:30 a.m. and No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 9 Iowa at 2 p.m., is sold out. \n"We fully expect our crowd to come in as the days move on," Fife said. "Hopefully our fans will come in and fill those empty seats so we can have a nice crowd."\nAttendance at IU's four games in Conseco has averaged nearly 12,000 per game. But the venue, which holds 18,500, will be split 11 ways for the tournament. And IU isn't the only team with Hoosier ties. \nThe Hoosiers have six players on the roster from Indiana, and Purdue leads the Big Ten with 10. Michigan State's Chris Hill and Adam Ballinger both played high school basketball in Indiana, as did Iowa's Luke Recker and Brody Boyd, Wisconsin's Charlie Wills and Michigan's Gavin Groninger. \nIllinois and Northwestern had a similar home-state advantage in the first four years of the tournament, which was played in Chicago's United Center. But the Fighting Illini never won the tournament, and Northwestern never won more than one game. \n"If you talk about it a lot to your team, it might become an advantage," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "I don't ever get into that. If the team that's playing from that area wants to mention it, it might help them."\nOhio State coach Jim O'Brien, who coached at Boston College before moving to OSU, worked a similar scenario while in the Big East Tournament, which is played at Madison Square Garden in New York. St. John's plays many regular season games at Madison Square Garden, but O'Brien said he never felt the Red Storm had a blatant advantage. \n"Might there be more fans for those teams?" O'Brien said. "Maybe, but I think it might be overrated."\nCoverdale, who played high school basketball at Noblesville, about 20 miles from Indianapolis up I-69, isn't so sure.\n"There better be a lot of IU fans there," Coverdale said. "I'm sure there will be."\nRise and Shine\nToday's morning tip-off will be the third time in five years that IU has played its first Big Ten Tournament game before noon. The game between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds is the only game during the four-day tournament that begins in the morning. \n"I like playing early," Fife said. "The normal human body needs a nap during the middle of the day. By the time we get done playing our game, it should be about nap time."\nIU's earliest game of the season, a loss at Michigan State, began at noon. The Hoosiers have started every other game at 1 p.m. or later and played at 11:30 p.m. in a win over Alaska-Anchorage in the Great Alaska Shootout Nov. 21. \nHome-bar advantage\nSelect bars and restaurants in downtown Indianapolis have been paired with fans of the 11 Big Ten teams and will serve as meeting places for fans of those teams. \nIU fans are paired with Rock Bottom Brewery, which is located at 10 West Washington St., between Meridian and Illinois Streets. \nIndianapolis has also renamed 11 downtown streets for each of the 11 teams. "Hoosier Place" will be Pennsylvania Street between Ohio and Georgia Streets.\nIn addition, pre-game previews featuring radio, TV and basketball personalities will take place before each of the first three rounds of the tournament. Ober Parking Lot of Conseco Fieldhouse will be the headquarters.