Hoosiers Now

Merry Christmas, baby! Hoosier Hysteria has arrived

It's the official start of another Indiana basketball season and, for everyone involved, it's a bit of a holiday of its own.
Tom Brew|
Merry Christmas, baby! Hoosier Hysteria has arrived
Merry Christmas, baby! Hoosier Hysteria has arrived

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It's not exactly Christmas morning, but it's pretty darn close. There's just always something special when they throw the doors open at Assembly Hall for the first time.

That happens Saturday when Indiana hosts Hoosier Hysteria starting at 4 p.m. The men's and women's basketball teams will get introduced and then have a little fun, and for thousands of loyal IU basketball fans, it's a chance to make the journey to the iconic arena and get it's first whiff of hoops.

Here's the schedule for the day, which includes several pre-event basketball entertainment.

Several students couldn't wait, and started forming lines outside Assembly Hall by midnight, even though plenty of seats will be available for the free event. Like kids at Christmas? Of course.

Indiana's Joey Brunk, the transfer from Butler who is making his childhood dreams come true now by playing at Indiana, hooked up with the students on his way out of the facility Friday night. 

(And by the way, don't be the least bit surprised that Brunk would be working out close to midnight. "He's always there,'' IU guard Al Durham said Wednesday at Big Ten Media Day. "He never stops working.''

Brunk also posted a cute tweet earlier in the day, expressing his own excitement for Saturday's event. He remembers being at Hoosier Hysteria six years ago when he was a kid. 

It's also a huge recruiting weekend, of course. Several key recruits will be on campus, as well as the two local guys who have already committed — Bloomington South's Anthony Leal and Culver's Trey Galloway.

There is a skills competition, a 3-point shooting contest and a slam dunk contest. Here's the participants:

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Tom Brew
TOM BREW

Tom Brew has been the publisher of “Indiana Hoosiers on SI’’ since 2019. He has worked at some of America's finest newspapers as an award-winning reporter and editor for more than four decades, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He operates seven sites on the “On SI’’ network. Follow Tom on Twitter @tombrewsports.

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