Madness aids team in effort to draw in fans

Friday night more than 9,000 fans came to Assembly Hall for Midnight Madness, the first practice for the men's and women's basketball teams. It was the second year the women's team has been included in the festivities, and coach Kathi Bennett said she appreciates the opportunity to play in front of the IU faithful.\n"It's a great opportunity for us to join the men, and I think what it does is give us exposure," Bennett said. "I think it helps us with some exposure seeing as how athletic we are going to be this year, how fit we are. Things like that build that excitement going into the season."\nThe evening began with freshman forward Me'sha Salters teaming with A.J. Moye to win the spot-shot competition, which featured one women's player and one men's player shooting from designated spots on the floor.\nIn the three point competition, the women were looking for one of its team members to defend last year's title. Junior Jill Hartman emerged as the women's champion before losing in the finals to freshman walk-on Ryan Tapak, who launched his winning shot at the buzzer. From where the women's team sat, it appeared as if Tapak did not get his shot off in time.\n"I heard I got ripped off. I looked up, it was 12-12, my teammates say I got ripped off and that he didn't get it off," Hartman said. "It's so much fun (practicing in front of so many fans)."\nThe women's team fell in the competition to the men, but the team hopes it optimized its chance to win over some fans. The women are coming off a 20-11 season and an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. With their key contributors returning, the Hoosiers hope fans respond to the team's optimism.\n"We have increased (fan support) since freshman year, but it doesn't compare to other schools (in the Big Ten)," Hartman said. "I think attendance will go up when people see what sort of team we have."\nSeniors Heather Cassady and Jill Chapman, the top two scorers last season, want to finish their careers with a .500 record in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers will have to go undefeated in Big Ten play to accomplish the goal.\n"One big point is if we can go 16-0, we'd finish in the conference at .500," Chapman said. "We wouldn't leave the program under .500, so that's one thing I'm looking at getting done."\nBennett said expectations can be good or bad, but she is convinced the team has the ability to meet many of its goals this year.\n"This group really believes that they can be special," Bennett said. "I don't know if we quite had that belief last year. It was all new, and we were really excited about the season, but I think this group really does believe in how good we can be."\nThe Hoosiers hope the early season confidence translates into post-season success.\n"We really want to compete for a Big Ten title, and we want to get to the NCAA tournament," Bennett said.