DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA — As the Cameron Crazies began to file in to their seats in Cameron Indoor Stadium and blue and white swept through the legendary stage for basketball, a father and son stood at the corner of the court watching warmups.
A father and son in cream and crimson windbreakers with “Indiana” written across the front.
They stood there as the stadium became full. They stood there until an usher told them they had to find their seats.
The father and son were Dan and Mark Phebus.
Two men representing Indiana’s love for basketball in one of the few states that may love it as much.
Dan and Mark are from Rossville, Indiana. They both graduated from IU.
Dan, the father, got his master’s at IU in 1998. He works for a plant manufacturing company. Mark, 28, is an optometrist who earned his degrees in 2009 and 2013.
Mark played basketball at Rossville High School and made his way onto the honor roll. He moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, after college. He said he just wanted to live in the area.
His bio on the Waxhaw Family Vision Care website says he enjoys playing sports, hanging out with friends and family, “and of course watching IU basketball.”
Wednesday night he was doing just that with his father.
Because that is what people from Indiana do — they watch basketball. They pass the love of IU hoops down to their children. Then, when they are both adults living independent lives, the father flies to North Carolina to share a game together in one of the few states that loves basketball as much.
Love like this can be seen in the four young IU fans who found their way to the third row behind the basket, packed in with the Crazies themselves.
North Carolina and Indiana are two of the most prominent basketball states in the country. Duke and the University of North Carolina possess maybe the best basketball rivalry in the nation.
Ask Mark, who has lived in both places, which state takes basketball more seriously.
“Indiana, without a doubt,” he said.
The Cameron Crazies possess creative signs, like the one of Duke center Marshall Plumlee that reads, “Plumdog Millionaire.”
Dan said Assembly Hall has the pictures of faces held up behind the opposing basket, so there’s that. They joked about not being afraid to go jump in with the Crazies.
Talent aside, and despite the 94-74 result of the game in Duke’s favor, there was a surprising amount of red filtered in throughout Cameron Indoor Stadium. IU Coach Tom Crean’s brother-in-law — and Michigan football coach— Jim Harbaugh could be seen two seats behind Crean.
An IU 3-pointer didn’t earn an applause as loud as one from Duke, but it earned a noticeable one.
Among those applauding were Dan and Mark - men who made the trip despite the odds against IU.
Because basketball is something like family to some, especially in the state of Indiana.
