For the first time ever, the IU men's and women's basketball teams sold out Assembly Hall for the program's version of "Midnight Madness" as both programs got a chance to practice, scrimmage, and get the home crowd on its feet for the first time this year. From IU alum Sage Steele emceeing, to a surprise winner in the "long shot" competition, here are some highlights from Hoosier Hysteria.
- After first stepping foot in Bloomington as a student in 1991, IU alum and co-anchor for ESPN's SportsCenter Sage Steele got the chance to emcee Hoosier Hysteria Saturday night. Steele came out to center court to begin the night clad in candy stripes and a Hoosier Hysteria t-shirt, and it was obvious right from the start that the ESPN reporter had done her homework on both IU teams. Throughout the evening, she was able to unearth some team inside jokes, giving the players a chance to rag on each other a little bit. Although she works now for one of the most popular sports media companies in the US, Steele certainly didn't hide her Hoosier spirit, handing out praise for the program, particularly IU men's coach Tom Crean, as the night went on.
- Fans got to see IU women's basketball coach Curt Miller for the first time tonight. Coming off an 11-year stint at Bowling Green where he amassed a 258-92 record (.737 winning percentage) while helping his team take the Mid-American Conference regular season and/or tournament championship each of the past eight seasons, Miller said that getting the IU women's program back to prominence will be "marathon, not a sprint."
- The crowd got to see Oladipo lip-sync to four songs, including the recently popular "Gangnam Style" while most of his teammates took on the role of backup dancers. Steele had alluded earlier in her pre-Hoosier Hysteria press conference that the dances were a little rough, but they certainly got the crowd on its feet, whether some of the older members knew what "Gangnam Style" was or not.
- Steele and Crean gave a shout-out to the Hoosier fans who had been in line for seats for Hoosier Hysteria since Friday morning. Crean and his wife gave them a visit Friday night and said they were enjoying themselves while passing the time with pizza and some Red Bull, and Steele added that after almost 36 hours in line, the fans were a bit smelly. She, though followed that with some praise. "We love you," she said.
- In a surprise upset, sophomore center Cody Zeller took the long shot championship in the finals over sophomore guard Jonny Marlin, who took down No. 1 seed Hulls earlier in the contest. Zeller looked strong from deep, nailing a bunch of five-point shots way beyond the 3-point line in the final matchup. It surely won't be a secret to any IU opponents any longer that Zeller can hit from long range, but it'll be interesting to see if he gets a shot to shoot any of these during the season.
- As most expected, Oladipo took the dunk contest by storm, winning without even having to take on an opponent in a final round. He earned a perfect 70 points from the judges, which included former Hoosiers Matt Roth and Tom Pritchard, as well as Miller. After the contest, Oladipo was given some extra time to showcase a couple other dunks, finally slamming one home off a feed from senior guard Jordan Hulls off the back of the backboard.
- The Red team (Zeller, Oladipo, Kevin "Yogi" Ferell, Jeremy Hollowell, Maurice Creek, Jeff Howard and Raphael Smith) narrowly defeated the White team (Hulls, Austin Etherington, Marlin, Derek Elston, Peter Jurkin, Remy Abell, Christian Watford and Taylor Wayer) 40-39 in a 15-minute scrimmage at the end of the evening. Zeller led all scorers with 14 points, followed by Hulls who led White with 13. Arguably the most exciting play of the evening was an early alley-oop from Ferrell to Zeller on a breakaway after Zeller stole the ball. These two showed a good amount of chemistry throughout the scrimmage as Ferell showed some strength taking Hulls, the other point guard on the team, head-on.
Hoosier Hysteria has certainly evolved from the strict practice it once was to a showcase of player personality, skills and team camaraderie, yet one thing stood out among it all: the Hoosier crowd. During Zeller's introduction, fans could hardly even make out the preseason No. 1 player's name as the crowd roared as he stepped onto the court. If tonight's crowd noise is any indication of what kind of support the Hoosiers will get during the season, Assembly Hall will be a tough place for any visiting team to come out on top.
