Archie Miller took the microphone at Saturday’s Hoosier Hysteria with an upbeat tone in his voice, even letting half a chuckle slip as he addressed the crowd.
He said the feeling of the fans being there “never gets old.”
And it was kind of weird.
To hear a man usually as serious as Miller come off in a jolly manner almost seemed unnatural, even if it was the slightest snippet of emotion.
It raised a good question about the festivities kicking off the new IU basketball season at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
If Miller, who would semminlgly rather get down to business when it comes to basketball, can approach Hoosier Hysteria with lightheartedness, why can’t so many Hoosier fans do the same?
For the most part, the large crowd that attended Saturday had fun.
For example, one father standing up in the higher rows of the arena's lower bowl held his young daughter up on his shoulders so she could see the flashy on-court video projections during player introductions.
But, this is a question for those fans who might take Hoosier Hysteria a bit too seriously. It’s for those who try to analyze every play from the Red vs. White scrimmage, or point out who looked good in the 3-point and dunk contests.
All those things can be important takeaways if looked at in the right context, and some may argue the fun part of Hoosier Hysteria is trying to figure out who could be contributors this upcoming season.
One can marvel at graduate forward Evan Fitzner’s shooting stroke and see why IU coveted him as an offseason addition. Or maybe fans can see how freshman sensation Romeo Langford carried himself in front of an IU crowd for the first time.
Yet, very little can be learned from those things. The players obviously just want to have fun and entertain as much as they can.
They want to go out to halfcourt and dance during introductions and mess around with teammates during the dunk contest, regardless of who wins.
Take sophomore guard Devonte Green, who with five seconds remaining in the 3-point contest, held the ball and dribbled it, instead of shooting, just so he could shoot a buzzer-beating shot.
Even in the scrimmage, junior guard Johnny Jager, who played a total of seven minutes as a walk-on last season, started for the white team instead of sophomore Al Durham.
“I think everybody had a lot of fun,” Fitzner said. “Hopefully we put on a good show for them.”
If there is any major takeaway from the night, it was something Miller hit on near the end of his speech.
He briefly brought up a mindset for his team this year that IU faithful have been hoping to hear for a while — reestablishing a dominant home atmosphere.
“We know Assembly Hall is one of the greatest places in all of college basketball to play," Miller said "But when it’s really, really good, we don’t lose at home, and that’s what we’re going to try and reestablish.”
But once Miller was through speaking, the fun truly began for the players. Even afterwards, Durham had a big grin on his face as he recounted how much he enjoyed being in front of the home crowd again.
“The atmosphere was amazing,” Durham said. “The Hoosier Hysteria fans are the best. It’s just unbelievable.”
Miller reiterated that same thought, saying the Hoosiers’ fans were the “best in college basketball.”
Yet, to truly live up to that high praise means to not nitpick every move a player makes in a glorified pick-up game.
Hoosier Hysteria wasn’t meant for that. There will be plenty of time for that during the regular season.
For now, just have fun — and relax.
jonmwhee@iu.edu
@murph_wheelerIU
