Indiana Hoosiers Basketball: Hoosier Hysteria a Hit as Team Wows Huge Crowd

Indiana Hoosier fans had to wait an extra week to see the No. 1-ranked team in the nation as Hoosier Hysteria officially kicked off tonight.

The event was supposed to be last week to signify the official start to the college basketball season, but with students being on fall break and the football team hosting the Ohio State Buckeyes, head coach Tom Crean decided to put a hold on the special night for a week.

It was well worth the wait.

The Hoosiers wowed a capacity standing room only crowd as they were heavily entertained with events all night. If a sold-out crowd to watch a bunch of college aged kids practice and have some fun doesn't say Indiana has some of the most die-hard fans in the nation I don't know what does.

Fans starting lining up early yesterday morning to see the team. The kicker is the doors didn't even open until 4:00 p.m. local time. By 5:00 p.m., Assembly Hall was near capacity. By 5:30 ushers were saying they were no longer letting people in as it had reached capacity. That's amazing as the doors were only open for just over an hour and events didn't start until 7:00 p.m.

For the second straight year, junior guard Victor Oladipo sang to the crowd with some of his fellow teammates, then brought out the rest of his teammates to do the new craze "Gangham Style" dance.

Then, an emotional tribute linking the great history of the Indiana basketball program to the current team gave fans cheer and tears.

Following that the 2012-2013 team was introduced to the crowd for the first time, and the roar that greeted all the players and coaches was deafening—so loud that you would have thought it was the Kentucky game all over again.

And rightfully so. This was just the third time in the 113-year Hoosiers history that they held the No. 1 preseason ranking. It's also the first time since the 1992-93 season that the Hoosiers have held the top spot in the country. That's a far cry from the six-, 10- and 12-win seasons the Hoosiers had the prior to last season's 27-win total.

Sophomore Cody Zeller displayed his offseason improvement tonight, holding off walk-on Jonny Marlin and pulling off an upset win in the shooting competition that kicked off the night's on-court activities.

Zeller at one point hit five straight threes and really showed that he can shoot from long range in addition to be being a force in the low post. It's going to be extremely difficult for his competition to stop him as he can score inside and out. He's going to be very special this year.

In the dunk contest, Oladipo once again stole the show, winning with ease. Last year, he shared the title with classmate Will Sheehey, but Sheehey didn't participate in anything tonight.

Finally to close the night, the team scrimmaged in what looked like a Big 10 game. Coach Crean mixed the teams up and had a lineup of Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford, Derek Elston, Peter Jurkin, and Remy Abell take on Cody Zeller, Yogi Ferrell, Jeremy Hollowell, Maurice Creek, and Victor Oladipo.

Those two teams could take on any team in the nation and literally contend for a title with any of those starting fives. Mix in Austin Ethrington as well and that's the best 13-man roster ever assembled in the history of college basketball.

The scrimmage was fierce, fast paced, and physical and had a feel of a mid-February conference game. Both teams looked extremely good and seemed like these guys have been playing together for years rather than just eight official days.

This team is going to be special and if they're only going to improve each day it's going to be scary. Tonight though was a nice break for fun, but it's back to work for the Hoosiers tomorrow as they're trying to capture their sixth national title and first since 1987.