Welcome to Indiana Basketball

By Ryan Fagan
Sporting News’ Ryan Fagan is traveling the Hoosier State, watching every D-I team in Indiana over 12 days. He’ll write about all things Hoosier Culture for The Sporting Blog.
Do you know how I knew I was in Indiana?
Aside from all the road signs, I mean. The first meal I ate on my 12-day, 10-game trip through the Hoosier state was in the tiny town of Thorntown, somewhere between Indianapolis and West Lafayette. The name of the restaurant was The Lost Frontier, but that’s not how I knew I was in Indiana. There are lots of frontiers that can’t be found in lots of states.
I knew I was in Indiana because in the secondary dining room, there was a giant electric scoreboard on the wall from the local high school. A functioning scoreboard, no less. The score was 17-17, with Thornton tied with some unknown opponent. You just can’t make this stuff up -- tiny little color TV up in the corner, giant functioning high school scoreboard on the wall. And it’s hard to beat a 10 oz. ribeye with three sides (I got applesauce, fries and garlic toast, if you must know) for just nine bucks.
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I was told there were three places I absolutely must visit during my trip to Purdue: Triple XXX Family Restaurant, Harry’s Chocolate Shop and Bruno’s pizza joint. If anyone ever asks me, I’ll tell them there are three places they absolutely must visit during their trip to Purdue. Tom Dienhart, you were absolutely right.
Let me back up a bit first and tell you what’s going on here. I’m traveling through Indiana on a road trip for a story I’m working on (it’ll be out in the March 3 issue). Why, eh? Where’s the first place you think of when you think of amateur basketball? The Hoosier state, of course. Can you name all 10 Division I schools that call Indiana home? Did you know there were that many? Anyway, a month or so ago, I started looking at schedules and figuring out how long it would take to see all 10 schools play at least one game.
Turns out, the answer is 12 days. The trip started in West Lafayette and ends in Fort Wayne on the 23rd. I’ll see nine D-I games, and one high school game on my so-called “day offâ€.
Here’s the itinerary:
Feb. 12: Michigan State at Purdue
Feb. 13: Wisconsin at Indiana
Feb. 14: Youngstown State at Butler
Feb. 15: Anderson High School at New Castle High School
Feb. 16: Youngstown State at Valparaiso
Feb. 17: Toledo at Ball State
Feb. 18: Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame tour
Feb. 19: Wichita State at Indiana State
Feb. 20: Illinois State at Evansville
Feb. 21: Pitt at Notre Dame
Feb. 23: IUPUI at IPFW
If you’re going to be at one of the games, stop me and say hi. If you went to one of these schools and know of a restaurant or a bar I absolutely must visit, or know a diehard fan I absolutely must meet, shoot me an e-mail (rfagan@sportingnews.com) and I’ll include it in the blog. Maybe in the magazine, too.
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Try the Duane Purvis special (it’s a peanut butter burger—sounds gross, tastes great) at Triple XXX, the Newcastle on tap at Harry’s and the pizza at Bruno’s. Say hi to Orlando, the owner there at Bruno’s and one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. And take about a half-hour to check out all the memorabilia on the walls there.
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Gotta say, the Paint Crew student section is the most organized student section I’ve ever been around. They were at least 4,000 strong, urging on Purdue’s thrilling upset of Michigan State. Absolutely fantastic atmosphere. If the rest of the games even approach that level, it’ll be a great trip. Something tells me tomorrow’s game in Bloomington, Indiana-Wisconsin, will easily approach that level.
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As the final seconds wound down at Mackey Arena tonight, I heard a fan behind me start chanting, “IU sucks! IU sucks!†He stopped, looked at the folks sitting next to him and asked, “Is it too early?â€
He should know that, when rivalries are involved, it’s never too early. Especially when they play in Bloomington on the 19th. “I’ve been coming here since ’67,†he told me, “and IU does suck.â€â†µ