Hoosier hysteria just overhyped?

I actually used to hate IU basketball. \nI despised coach Knight, laughed at the team's bikini shorts and basically just loathed the "Hoosier" style of basketball. I was like everyone else outside of Bloomington; a Hoosier hater.\nAnd then I arrived in Bloomington. \nBefore I had a chance to open a book, I was running down Fee Lane chanting slurs in protest of coach Knight's firing. \nOf course I was delighted on the inside, but I wasn't about to share my true feelings with my new peers. \nTrust me, trees were being set on fire, signs knocked down while Myles Brand was being burned in effigy. Yeah, I'll keep my feelings inside. \nI remember thinking, two weeks at IU and I already was on CNN and ran into a mounted policeman with tear gas. \nI was at the right place. \nBut in truth, I was just learning the magnitude of basketball in Bloomington. \nLittle did I realize, the 3-8 record by the football team my freshman year would be considered a success. \nMy first IU football game reminded me of my pee-wee football squad. Give it to the fast quarterback guy and let him run until he can't anymore. Then let him catch and return the punts too. Oh yeah, let him actually punt the ball too. \nBut this would be the last time I showed the slightest interest in IU football. See, growing up as a Michigan fan, I expected greatness and got, well, two different coaches, 13 total wins but the same old poo box they call Memorial Stadium. I went from watching Michigan games at the Big House to witnessing IU football from my house.\nBut if everyone has one moment they look back on in college, I cannot recall a more unforgettable and extraordinary time than IU's tournament run my sophomore year. \nI've never had a test cancelled because of a basketball victory. And I grew up in Chicago, trust me, I had plenty of chances. \nBut that win over Duke was more than monumental. If IU basketball was already on the map, then it just had another star put over Bloomington. \nAnd for the next couple weeks, IU was only talking hoops. Sure, life-long Hoosiers have always cared, but now out-of-towners were beginning to fall in love.\nDon't shout fair-weather because I don't hate them when they suck, but sometime it takes a winner to trigger a passion for them. \nSo after a crazy introduction into IU basketball, the next year was followed by nothing more than an average team. A tournament appearance and first round win followed by a second round blowout. Like I said nothing to cause a Kirkwood riot. \nBut with the good and the bad comes the ugly, and my senior year at IU was a witness to history. For the first time in 18 years, IU failed to earn an NCAA tournament bid. \nI never dreamed of not being able to sell my basketball tickets for face value. Heck, toward the end of the season, I couldn't pay people to take them from me. \nBut my farewell year wouldn't go without seeing a winner. Not only did I witness another soccer championship, but I had the privilege of covering the team first hand all year. \nFor legendary coach Jerry Yeagley's final season everything in the 2003 season seemed to fall perfectly in place for the most underappreciated, but most dominating sport at IU.\nBut I leave Bloomington no longer doubting Hoosier hysteria. \nWell, I arrived here bleeding Maze and Blue but leave Bloomington sweatin' and lovin' ole IU. \nYeah, I'd call that Hoosier hysteria.