Big Ten Tourney Quick Hits: Day 2
The Boiling Point: Quick Hits about the atmosphere around and in Conseco Fieldhouse.
Well, it wasn’t a good day for Purdue. But I think we’re still at 3 seed, especially with the atrocious game I got to witness with Wisconsin losing. But enough about that and on to the things outside the game. Click here for Day 1.
-Indy is now alive for the Big Ten Tournament. It was way more crowded on Friday than on Thursday and it looks like everyone is rolling into town with the weekend. I don’t think I have ever seen so many scalpers. It was ridiculous. I don’t know how they get those really good seats when they are saved for schools, but whatever.
-Pat Forde looks much happier to be here today. That was until the Wisconsin-Penn State game.
-Student sections were still in same sections except the Maize Rage, which was moved next to the Paint Crew. No one was happy about it. The Paint Crew and Nittany Nation teamed up again on Friday.
-80% of O$U players wore Beats while warming up, while no one on Northwestern did. O$U fans have the same attitude as the players – cocky and arrogant, while thinking every call is against them.
-Northwestern is home of the random European big men.
-There were still some IU fans around. I’m sure most everyone has seen the sign for “Purdue keeping ugly girls out of IU since 1869.” Well, based on what I saw they all flunked out of Purdue and went to their back-up school, IU.
-Was there a Purdue football game? Because there were tons of O$U fans in our section for the first session
-O-H-I-O joins Michigan State’s fight song on most overplayed/oversaid list. Also need to add Illinois’ Indian chant to that, too.
-Thank God my girlfriend went to Purdue. I couldn’t pretend to like another team like the majority of the couples here.
-Everyone, including all of the student sections, cheered for Northwestern.
-The Maize Rage chanted “Fire Tressel” toward O$U and the Nuthouse, Ohio State’s student section, responded with “Bring back Rich Rod.” Toward Sullinger, the Maize Rage chanted “Use the Shake Weight” and “Wear a sports bra.”
-Ohio State freshman Aaron Craft makes me realize what it was like for other fans dealing with Chris Kramer for four seasons.
-The Orange Krush was out in force, equaling the Paint Crew’s total. Good thing they lived up to being over hyped as I couldn’t hear them whole game. The orange does stand out and there was a lot of it. Being loud might have helped though. They should stop their chant at I-L-L since that’s how their season probably made them feel
-Bruce Weber might as well just put his chair on the court for as often as he is on it.
-Every band played “Bad Romance” from Lady Gaga and that song got old about two days after it was released.
-There was a cheerleader dad in the Illinois crowd. Those cheerleaders could do no wrong in his eyes; as he stood and clapped for everything they did.
-I had to attend the Purdue pep rally at Scotty’s Brewhouse before the game as they had free stuff. There was a 3-hour wait to get a table, I hung out in the outside lounge area. I felt like a VIP watching everyone stand in that line, too. D.J. Byrd and Travis Carrol’s parents were sitting next to us buying beer after beer. Byrd’s sisters look exactly like him – you can decide if that’s good or not.
-There were two, no cost to get in beer tents across from Conseco that college students were flocking to.
-The third session was by far the most crowded, at least on Purdue’s side.
-The Paint Crew is by far and away the best student section here. Nittany Nation lending its 15 people did help. Did the Izzone disband? There were only 10 there.
-Purdue players gave the Paint Crew some love before taking court.
-Purdue fans started leaving with 5 minutes left so I made sure to take over supporting the team.
-There were still no fans of PSU except for Nittany Nation. From what I heard around my seats, they are now most people’s team to root for if theirs has lost. I would love a Michigan-Penn State final with Penn State winning. It would almost force the selection of six Big Ten teams into the NCAA Tournament with O$U, Purdue, Wisconsin, MSU, Michigan and PSU.
-Wisconsin fans weren’t so talkative when they were down 14, but had plenty to say when Purdue was in the same hole.
-Best decision of the day was bringing an extra phone battery because I needed it to get through four games. I highly suggest it for any of you that plan on doing the same thing.
Overall, it was a pretty good day for the tournament. Exciting games, minus Purdue and the actual skill portion of Wisconsin-Penn. Make sure you look for another recap on Saturday for the two semifinal games.