Surreal scenes surround victory

I can't believe what I am witnessing.\nHoosier basketball fans flooded Kilroy's Sports Bar. Everyone was wearing so much red and white I thought Steve and Barry's had been looted. You couldn't hear yourself think let alone carry on a conversation. I've seen more walking space on a 50-passenger plane. And perhaps for those same reasons, there were nothing but smiles and laughs from the people having the greatest night of their college or post-college career.\nAnd that was still two hours before game time.\nWhen the Hoosiers advanced to the NCAA national championship game, the students, alumni, townspeople, visitors, dogs and everything else congregated on Kirkwood Avenue immediately following the victory. It was like clockwork. \nThe scene was surreal…again. \nThe same people, who two years ago protested the axing of Bob Knight, celebrated the glory of his successor Mike Davis.\nI might have hand imprints on my upper back left over from the relentless celebratory smacking after the victory. My hand is red from hundreds of slaps with IU fans, mostly strangers, throughout the night. And the main library was oddly empty Sunday afternoon.\nThough everyone has their theory about IU's post season magic, sometimes the wisest person following a game is not a member or fan of the winning team, but the coach of the loser. \nKelvin Sampson, who led Oklahoma to a Big 12 Tournament championship and an NCAA Final Four appearance before having the season ended by the lower-seeded Hoosiers, figured out why IU continues to defeat teams seemingly more talented.\n"Sometimes we get carried away with athleticism, but they're full of really good basketball players."\nHe means players such as junior Jeff Newton, who picked the biggest game of his life to have the biggest game of his life. He scored a career high 19 points and more importantly, with his aggressive interior play, forced Sooner forward Aaron McGhee into foul trouble.\nHe also means players such as Donald Perry, who, despite being a freshman, stayed within himself late in the second half. He understands his role and that his strengths are ball handling and slashing.\nAnd players such as junior Tom Coverdale, who with a sprained ankle, had a week of therapy that included more electricity pumped into it than a Texas death row victim. But he understands that his presence on the court, even if limited by injury, is psychologically essential to his team.\nThe Hoosiers are once again overwhelmingly not the favorite in tonight's national championship game with Maryland. And they should be. It's a little more fun that way and certainly more fitting. IU, after all, was picked to finish third in the conference before sharing the regular season title. \nAnd later were 13 point underdogs to Duke in the Sweet Sixteen. My guess is they would be again if the two teams did it all over.