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.

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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 is an award-winning journalist who has worked at some of America's finest newspapers as a reporter and editor, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, the Indianapolis Star and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has covered college sports in the digital platform for the past six years, including the last five years as publisher of HoosiersNow on the FanNation/Sports Illustrated network.

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