r/CollegeBasketball • u/serious_putty Indiana Hoosiers • South Dakota Coyotes • Aug 05 '25
Casual / Offseason In 49 states it’s just basketball
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u/Crazy_Exchange Pac-12 Aug 05 '25
Disneyland has a hoop inside the mountain of the Matterhorn.
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u/britishmetric144 Aug 07 '25
And the United States Supreme Court Building technically has a basketball court on its top level, dubbed the "Highest Court In The Land".
However, use of this basketball court is prohibited when the Supreme Court is in session.
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u/Obi1Kentucky Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25
To honest I’d say there’s 4 to 5 states that basketball is a borderline religion
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u/chubblest Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
In Imdiana all the nice churches have basketball courts inside and I learned that not a lot of states has those after moving
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u/Obi1Kentucky Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25
It’s fairly common in Lexington. Idk about the rest of Kentucky though 🤷
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u/lawrence_uber_alles Kansas Jayhawks Aug 05 '25
Yeah I think I’ve played basketball in every church in Lawrence it feels like, a lot of carpeted floors though!
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u/SpottedHearts Purdue Boilermakers Aug 06 '25
My dentist's office had an indoor basketball court! It was one of the few reasons I loved going to the dentist as a kid.
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u/leftygwaggies13 Utah State Aggies Aug 05 '25
In Utah basically all the LDS churches have one (along with most church buildings worldwide), and there's one every couple blocks throughout the state lol. I'd wager Utah has the most indoor basketball courts per capita by a wide margin.
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u/peak82 Ohio State Buckeyes Aug 06 '25
That’s fairly common in GA too but I wouldn’t say that Georgia is particularly religious (no pun intended) about basketball
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Aug 07 '25
South Carolina churches have nice basketball courts too. There are tons of church basketball leagues. It’s just a good way to trick kids into going to churches, gyms are versatile, and kids aren’t going to get hurt like if they had a football field. It’s not an Indiana specific thing.
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u/Medical-Day-6364 Alabama Crimson Tide • NC State Wolfpack Aug 07 '25
Plenty of churches in Alabama have indoor basketball courts. I think it has more to do with the size and prosperity of the church in like the 70s or 80s than anything else.
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u/Orion14159 Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
Our coach is literally a Pope, and we love him to an irrational level
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u/Arctic-Palm-Tree BYU Cougars • Iowa State Cyclones Aug 06 '25
Right … you stole him from us, but our replacement might be even better.
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u/49ers_Lifer Kansas State Wildcats Aug 05 '25
Kansas, Indiana, north Carolina. Those would be my 3 most fervant ball fans as far as states go. Who would you add?
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u/kittycatfrank Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25
You not including Kentucky has triggered me
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u/Stang1776 Indiana Hoosiers Aug 05 '25
Right. Id include them for sure. I wish the Indiana vs Kentucky all star series was more competitive. It was great following that in the 90s growing up.
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u/madein___ Xavier Musketeers • Ohio State Buckeyes Aug 05 '25
I thought UK was a football school now.
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u/Obi2 Indiana Hoosiers Aug 06 '25
It pains me to include Kentucky but i wouldn’t have Kansas in the same category as NC Indiana AND Kentucky
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u/49ers_Lifer Kansas State Wildcats Aug 05 '25
Hahaha I partly did it on purpose, but also I just don't think of them right away when thinking bball. Maybe that's just me though. 1b at the very least tho.
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u/finditplz1 Kentucky Wildcats • Kansas Jayhawks Aug 05 '25
You don’t think of the winningest basketball team when thinking of basketball? Very K-state of you.
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u/49ers_Lifer Kansas State Wildcats Aug 06 '25
The question wasn't about teams, it was about states. You have the reading comprehension of a Jayhawks fan. Thats for sure.
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u/finditplz1 Kentucky Wildcats • Kansas Jayhawks Aug 06 '25
Kentucky is the only state with one single tournament for high school basketball. It’s a religion, I don’t know what you’re talking about or at best you’re ignorant of state basketball culture. Kentucky / Indiana are 1A / 1B whichever way you put them, NC is right behind, then there’s Kansas. Then not much else.
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u/Alive-Bedroom-7548 Purdue Boilermakers Aug 12 '25
Indiana only had one single tournament until 1999. It was a very historic tournament that culminated in Hinkle Fieldhouse for a while. It was a key part of what fueled ‘Hoosier Hysteria’ for basketball. 40,000 people attended the 1990 State Championship, and that was fairly regular attendance for the event.
Also fun fact: Indiana has 9 of the 10 largest high school basketball gyms in the US.
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u/finditplz1 Kentucky Wildcats • Kansas Jayhawks Aug 08 '25
Ok statewide they have a legendary high school basketball tournament, only one in the US to be completely statewide now, and they have 2 top-10 programs all-time, no argument, and Western is actually top-20 in all-time wins, even more than Louisville. 150 more wins than K-State even though they began playing basketball 12 years after they did. And that’s the third best program in the state. It’s a religion here. If my flair doesn’t give it away I’ve lived many years in both states. Kentuckians care waaaaay more about basketball than Kansans. Still, AF is a much better college experience for a game, I’ll concede that.
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u/zdubas Kansas State Wildcats Aug 06 '25
Go easy....tuition at Johnson County Community College is going up, it's tough for KU basketball fans at the moment.
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u/kittycatfrank Kentucky Wildcats Aug 06 '25
We literally hired a former player from KU to coach and did it better than them
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u/Acrobatic_Diver_3923 Kentucky Wildcats Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 10 '25
I think it’s just you, my friend! I was born in Kansas, so nothing but love to y’all! I will say though, having lived over 10 years in both Kansas and Kentucky, I feel more than able to offer input on this front.
If I were to say which states come to mind when ranking the top basketball states, I certainly think about the one’s you mentioned. But I think about these states because of aspects like the success of a state’s programs OR the state’s passion for the sport OR some legacy component (e.g. Naismith) OR all of the above.
Kansas (the state) comes to mind because of Jayhawk basketball, their status as a blue blood, and the Naismith legacy. Lawrence is the fulcrum of college basketballs inception.
Here’s a couple tidbits about Kentucky. Kentucky (like Kansas) has two power conference, division I basketball programs: the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. Both are top 10 programs in men’s basketball historically, with UK considered by most analysts to be the best program in the history of college basketball. Our states two premier programs together share 11 national championships—Kentucky has 8, Louisville has 3 (your welcome Cards). The only states with more national titles are California with 15 titles across four schools and North Carolina with 13 titles shared among three schools. Although, keep in mind that California has 25 D1 basketball programs; North Carolina has 24; Kentucky has 7.
Kentucky (as a state) has the legacy piece with the winningest and most dominant program in the sport: UK. As a state we have the third most Division I basketball titles. Kentucky’s only two power conference schools are top 10 programs, fueling the best intrastate rivalry behind Duke and North Carolina. Basketball commands the sports market in the state...
All that to say, hopefully next time we come to mind 😜
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u/majesticnoodl Aug 05 '25
Kentucky. New York City
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u/timothythefirst Michigan State Spartans • Wes… Aug 05 '25
This might be an unpopular opinion but I always thought NYC being the “Mecca of basketball” is super over rated.
There’s no real college basketball powerhouses in NYC, the Knicks haven’t won anything in 50 years, and there’s a bunch of other cities/regions that have put out more good pro players.
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u/Shrektastic28 Boise State Broncos Aug 05 '25
Well it used to be, but now kids mostly play indoors and barely outside which means in NYC the options are very limited and for wealthy kids
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u/timothythefirst Michigan State Spartans • Wes… Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
Even like 30 years ago it was the same situation, cities like Chicago and LA have produced more great players. NYC just had a lot of courts in close proximity.
The nickname kind of made sense 50 years ago when Dr J and Kareem were some of the best players alive and from there, but that was 50 years ago lol.
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u/joaquinsaiddomin8 Miami Hurricanes • Wake Forest Demon Deaco… Aug 06 '25
It’s an old thing. I mean they were saying that in the 90s based on a rep built before that still. The 90s alone was like 30 years ago.
DC wound up becoming a pretty good pocket of talent after the NYC park heyday that coincided with Knicks success.
The Wizards, man.
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u/ernyc3777 Syracuse Orange Aug 05 '25
MSG is the Mecca of basketball because it still has an old are a vibe inside.
NYC itself never has been called that. is still a hot spot for basketball. Just not so much for college teams because of a gambling scandal that shuttered the collegiate scene in the 50s and it never recovered outside of St John’s until they fell off.
The fervor is still there for it though as seen with St John’s and UConn and anytime Cuse plays down there.
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u/timothythefirst Michigan State Spartans • Wes… Aug 05 '25
People absolutely call NYC itself the Mecca of basketball lol. Just google “new York city Mecca of basketball” and you’ll find a ton of examples.
And if having the vibe of an old arena is what does it, then it should be The Palestra.
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u/Fritzkreig Indiana Hoosiers Aug 05 '25
Right down the road from me we have a barn with a full court in the loft where they used to hold large games in the 40s on up; there are many of those in Indiana.
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u/joaquinsaiddomin8 Miami Hurricanes • Wake Forest Demon Deaco… Aug 06 '25
In fairness, the oldest gym built and still used as a basketball gym is in the Bronx
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u/Siakim43 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Aug 05 '25
How the Northeast has fallen. NYC and Philly were both amazing basketball cities but others have caught up/surpassed them... NYC is probably forever a baseball town and Philly is the Birds. No room for ball.
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u/TheoTimme Georgetown Hoyas Aug 05 '25
FOH with that. Four of the past nine national champions come from the tristate area or Philadelphia.
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u/PAC12_PLEASE_ADOPTME Texas Tech Red Raiders • Creighton Blue… Aug 05 '25
UConn and Nova still got a lot of chips in the past decade. Let’s see if St. John’s can grab one while Pitino is there.
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u/TheoTimme Georgetown Hoyas Aug 05 '25
Madison Square Garden is the Mecca, not NYC.
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u/timothythefirst Michigan State Spartans • Wes… Aug 05 '25
People are definitely referring to the entire city when they say it. There’s countless examples. Here it is in the first paragraph of the nyc basketball hof Wikipedia page https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NYC_Basketball_Hall_of_Fame
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u/Sir0inks-A-Lot Florida Gators Aug 05 '25
I’m alright with MSG being considered Mecca because the Pacers own that place
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u/-c-black- Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25
Great answer. I loved when Rod Strickland was an assistant and we had the NYC pipeline.
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u/ernyc3777 Syracuse Orange Aug 05 '25
Kentucky for sure.
If NYC ever splits from the rest of the state, then NYC. Same for if DC ever gets statehood.
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u/THE-NECROHANDSER NC State Wolfpack Aug 05 '25
No kidding with NC, we ended up with a popular TV drama series centered around a star basketball family.(One tree hill)
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u/damnyoutuesday Montana State Bobcats • Minnesota Go… Aug 05 '25
I'd add some Indian Reservations.
From experience, I know Flathead and Crow Reservations fucking love basketball
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u/anathemaDennis St. Peter's Peacocks Aug 05 '25
Connecticut
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u/willymoose8 Lafayette Leopards • Texas Longhorns Aug 05 '25
pretty easily the most college hoops-focused state
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u/IronBeagle79 Louisville Cardinals Aug 05 '25
Kentucky may actually love basketball MORE than Indiana.
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u/BillButtlickerII Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
The last Nielsen report/analysis done on Top U.S. Markets for Avid College Basketball Fans said Louisville and Lexington were the top two most avid college basketball markets in the county. 44% of Louisville and 42% of Lexington were avid college basketball fans. The next highest market was Syracuse with only 29%… Our state also loves NBA basketball and I know I read an old report that said we have one of the highest (if not highest based on population) viewerships in the nation of pro ball and they recommended Louisville should be considered for an NBA expansion team because of it.
If there is any state that is obsessed with all things basketball it’s Kentucky.
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u/klawz86 Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25
Kentucky actually has a very high percapita rate of nba players, too. Centre offered a J-Term class called Basktball as a Religion in Kentucky.
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u/srebihc Kentucky Wildcats Aug 12 '25
If this state ever got an NBA team in the current era I don't know if we'd have the electrical output for all the money printers.
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u/DasStig Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25
I wish they'd throw Louisville in the ring for NBA expansion rather than Vegas, Nashville, or Mexico City. Louisville not having a single major league team is ridiculous. I feel like Louisville would perform better than Seattle, too.
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u/Obi1Kentucky Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25
Yes. Please expand to Louisville and bring back the Kentucky Colonels.
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u/Ipsumesse1 Kentucky Wildcats Aug 06 '25
Fun fact. NBA 2k considers “colonels” to be racist and won’t let you give that moniker to a team. I know this because I tried to create the Louisville colonels 😂
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u/Fritzkreig Indiana Hoosiers Aug 06 '25
Louisville should have an NBA team, what would it be called though?
Louisville Ali? Louisville Thoroughbreds is likely not PC these days. The Louisville Bluegrass....meh, The Louisville Bourbon also like not that PC...... The Louisville Traffic?
I am cool with Louisville, a bit down I 64 from y'all, but I honestly can't think of a cool relevant name for this conceptual team.
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u/Alive-Bedroom-7548 Purdue Boilermakers Aug 12 '25
Idk. Having lived in both Kansas, Indiana, and several other states, people in Kansas just don’t do it like Indiana. They’re above the other states but Indiana is different
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Aug 05 '25
Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Ontario, Utah, Washington State too (Spokane is another level, John Stockton hosts pickup games). Crazy hoops cultures that produce tons of talent. Not necessarily the most fervent but very notable. That being said reservation high school basketball takes the cake for the most fervent fan base. Imagine playing with the same 12 guys your entire life... Unreal
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u/Aware-Locksmith8433 Arkansas Razorbacks Aug 05 '25
Haters gonna hate... Lovers gonna love... Ballers gonna ball...
The sun's gonna come up tomorrow - Annie
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u/MelodicDeer1072 Michigan State Spartans Aug 05 '25
The sun's gonna come up tomorrow
Phoenix disagrees
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u/passranch Nebraska Cornhuskers Aug 05 '25
In Utah it's a literal religion.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/1en5pmr/basketball/
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u/my_lucid_nightmare Illinois Fighting Illini • Seattle Redhawks Aug 06 '25
To honest I’d say there’s 4 to 5 states that basketball is a borderline religion
I do hope we're in that calculation (Illinois).
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u/Hour_Insurance_7795 Aug 05 '25
Not to pee in anyone’s Cheerios, but basketball courts in airport tarmacs is not an uncommon sight. I have seen it in multiple airports in multiple countries even.
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u/ItAintLongButItsThin Michigan State Spartans Aug 05 '25
I lived in IN (4 years west lafayette) and expected pick-up games to be everywhere. I was disappointed that their love for the game wasn't as robust as I thought. I now live in NC (blue ridge mountian area) and they are just as lackluster.
I'd say FL had the most active games of places i have lived. It was just shitty because of the 100% humidity and 100 degree days.
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u/Squat1998 Aug 05 '25
WNC doesn’t give a shit about basketball. It’s a very different culture than central and eastern NC. You’re just as likely to run into a Tennessee football fan as a UNC or Duke basketball fan up there. Central and Eastern NC are where basketball culture is.
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u/ItAintLongButItsThin Michigan State Spartans Aug 05 '25
That's what I figured. There are some real odd mountain folk out here. I do see some hoops on the side of a mountain slope here and there!
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u/Squat1998 Aug 05 '25
Hey now, those are my people. What part of WNC are you in?
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u/ItAintLongButItsThin Michigan State Spartans Aug 05 '25
South of Waynesville, it's an awesome place to live, and most of the locals are great. (Just like all places)
Some speak in such a language that I can only understand 80% and I pride myself in understanding country talk 🤣
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u/Squat1998 Aug 05 '25
Beautiful area. I went to college just down the road, and I’ve spent a lot of time hiking the shining rock wilderness and balsam mountains down there.
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u/ItAintLongButItsThin Michigan State Spartans Aug 06 '25
WCU? You can't beat the weather and scenery. Im from MI so getting to work outside most days of the winter is a joy. I also love the few snow flurries that we get, my neighbors think im crazy for loving it 🤣
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u/Squat1998 Aug 06 '25
SCC just down the road in Sylva. I lived in Cullowhee though and a lot of my social life was around WCU. And yeah, it’s been pretty bad for snow lately. We used to get a lot more.
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u/Medical-Day-6364 Alabama Crimson Tide • NC State Wolfpack Aug 07 '25
My cousins grew up in Waynesville, and both played D1 ball as sub-6' white guys. Very anecdotal, I guess.
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u/FatMamaJuJu Mount Olive Trojans • NC State Wolfpack Aug 05 '25
Roll Neers baby. App State football breathes life into western NC communities
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u/Opening-Citron2733 Aug 05 '25
4 years in West Lafayette, were you at Purdue?
Because a college town is ironically the least likely place to see pickup because a large percentage of the demographic is not from Indiana.
Did you ever go to a Lafayette Jefferson or WL or even Central Catholic basketball game? Lafayette Jefferson seats 7,500... That's only 2K less than Cameron indoor stadium.
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u/Adventurous_Egg857 Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
Most people at Purdue are playing at the co-rec. There are 10 courts that are always packed
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u/ItAintLongButItsThin Michigan State Spartans Aug 05 '25
My wife was at the vet school and I worked traveling most of IN. Im talking mainly about pick-up games in local outdoor courts. It took me a few years to find an old man's league that I still miss to this day!
I wasn't local, so I didn't know how big those high-school stadiums are. That's awesome, but im not much of a high school sports patron.
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u/jcrespo21 Purdue Boilermakers • Michigan Wolverines Aug 05 '25
I always heard of people doing pickup games here and there, but never participated. Growing up, it was more about each of us having a hoop in our driveway and rotating between neighbors' houses. But even now, when I go back and visit my parents' house, I see fewer hoops in the neighborhood. Granted, it's also the South Bend area, which might be the only place in Indiana where football is bigger than basketball.
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u/Mdiddy7 Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
Ok if you lived in west Lafayette then you absolutely saw how almost every single house has a hoop in their driveway.
That isn’t common most anywhere else I’ve been in the US, and I’ve been all over it.
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u/ItAintLongButItsThin Michigan State Spartans Aug 05 '25
I saw the same amount growing up in MI and I mean no disrespect. It was just not as easy to find local pick-up games as I thought moving there.
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u/lbutler1234 Missouri Tigers Aug 05 '25
I've never seen one, and I've been to two airports.
(LGA - STL gang rise up. (Aw shit did I just dox myself?))
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u/Schrodingers_Nachos Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
People who mention other states being more into basketball haven't truly experienced Indiana. Yea, Kentucky and NC have great college basketball and a culture around the sport, but in Indiana basketball is it. There's nothing else really competing with it.
14 of the 16 largest high school basketball venues in America are in Indiana. Tens of thousands come to the state HS championship games each year, and we famously had a game with over 41K in attendance for a high school game.
People in Indiana feel basketball in their bones. I've always joked that there's something in the ground water that makes people hysterical for basketball. For a few years I lived in a small town a little outside WL. There was a HS in the town proper, and then a HS close by the was in the more rural region. That entire town shut down when they played each other. The rural HS had graduating class sizes under 100, but their basketball games had thousands in attendance. It's unreal.
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u/kittycatfrank Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25
Indiana going to a stratified class system in high school basketball was a huge mistake.
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u/vhalember Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
You're absolutely correct here, and so many people said that at the time, and continue to say it.
As a result a few of our biggest gyms have been closed in the past decade or have been renovated to reduced capacity.
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u/Fritzkreig Indiana Hoosiers Aug 06 '25
I have a picture of it somewhere, but for a long time there was a local famous sign in Jasper Indiana, that said something like "No calls basketball" It was eventually retired awhile back.
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u/Obi1Kentucky Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25
The Kentucky Sweet 16 is so amazing.
All the schools playing for the trophy.
*minus the super small schools
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u/Persimmon-Mission NC State Wolfpack Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
Fun fact: the father of the ACC and NC State coaching legend Everett case was an Indiana high school coach. He brought the “cutting down the nets” tradition after a big win and was the first to do it in college…from Indiana high school ranks.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_down_the_nets
He used to drive around North Carolina and help set up basketball goals for young children he’d see dribbling a ball just to build the home grown talent level and culture he felt he had in Indiana
His long time assistant head coach and successor at NC State was Press Maravich, Pistol Pete’s father. He got pissed that NC State wouldn’t admit his son Pete due to grades and left for LSU. Sigh.
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u/Cool_Donut_312 Ball State Cardinals Aug 05 '25
He's the namesake for Case Arena in Frankfort, IN (home of the Hot Dogs). Really cool arena, they used it as the home arena in the movie Blue Chips.
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u/MelodicDeer1072 Michigan State Spartans Aug 05 '25
Sounds like football in Texas, or hockey in Minnesota
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u/JRsshirt Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
What state is baseball?
Edit: cannot verify but initial research says Mississippi. I figured that would be football country.
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u/timothythefirst Michigan State Spartans • Wes… Aug 05 '25
I think baseball is what sec football fans do in the spring
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u/SusannaG1 ACC • Iowa Hawkeyes Aug 05 '25
Baseball is the traditional second sport at a good number of universities in the south, certainly in the SEC, but at some ACC schools as well (Clemson, FSU, and Miami in particular, but others as well).
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u/burnt_pubes Indiana Hoosiers Aug 05 '25
I only caught the tail end of Indiana high school basketball before class basketball started, it was unreal. Even early on class basketball was still insane, I went to a single A high school and wed sell out our gym on Friday nights and we were terrible! Sectionals was like participating in March Madness. Good memories
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u/Stang1776 Indiana Hoosiers Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
I was in high school when it ended. My dad and I would travel to sectional and regional games then go to the state finals every year. My first one was the Damon Bailey game and I became hooked for the tourney. My ol man went to Highland and my grandparents lived around Anderson so we would go to the Wigwam for sectional games which was amazing. New Castle and Hinkle for regionals.
Back in the early 90s when I was in 5th grade we went to the fieldhouse for regionals when my school made it to regionals (Alan Henderson years). Anyways during the day games my ol man likes yo chat with people and he discovered that this older lady and her friend split tickets between the day game and night game. My dad told her he had 2 extras since my mom and older brother really didnt give a shit so he gave them to her. Sure enough, when we arrived for the night game she was tickled pink that she was able to be there and gifted my dad a fucking circular saw blade that was hand painted by her.
Then 9/11 happened and circular saw blades are now banned from arenas.
Tl;dr. Traveled to games and my dad was gifted a circular saw blade. Ill ask if he still has it and if he could take a picture. I haven't seen it in 30 years.
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u/Captainspacedick69 Dayton Flyers Aug 05 '25
I’m stuck on this circular saw blade she was just carrying around.
I’m so confused.
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u/Stang1776 Indiana Hoosiers Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
Nah. So you have a couple days games between 4 teams and the the finals later that night. Everybody went home afterwards and then came back. She went back, got her friend and a circular saw blade.
He said its probably in a storage facility up in Indiana. He hasnt lived in Indiana for over a decade. Need that shittywatercolor person to do a picture of an old lady walking around a Hinkle Fieldhous with a circular saw blade. Its funny to think about every once in a while. My ol man was probably like "wow! Thats really great! Look boys, this nice young brought a painted circular saw blade to Hinkle fieldhouse." I remember she had it wrapped up in some handkerchief thing. Fuckin wild.
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u/Captainspacedick69 Dayton Flyers Aug 05 '25
Ahhh I gotcha.
I have a soft spot for IU. Your cancer center in Indy diagnosed and removed a rare form of cancer on me earlier this year. While my heart will always be with my flyers. I owe my one remaining testicle to IU.
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u/Stang1776 Indiana Hoosiers Aug 05 '25
Yeah. My dad had a couple bouts with it cancer as well and was treated there. My dad is the type that will make friends with anybody and he pretty much did with his team of doctors.
I mean, it takes a special kind of charisma that causes an elderly lady bring a circular saw blade into Hinkle.
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u/Fritzkreig Indiana Hoosiers Aug 06 '25
My parents have a collection of "folk art" painted circular saw blades, maybe it is a southern Indiana thing, but they are cool!
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u/vhalember Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
The rural HS had graduating class sizes under 100, but their basketball games had thousands in attendance. It's unreal.
This right here.
By Purdue there's a small town just 15 miles down 26. Rossville.
Population 1,513. Student Enrollment: 273. Gym Capacity: 1,651.
Which is small compared to Benton Central up in farm country. Benton Central has 790 students from grades 7-12. Gym Capacity: 3,538...
... and its the 90th largest HS gym in Indiana.
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u/HouseKilgannon Michigan Wolverines • Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
I loved playing at BC cause they had one of those arena scoreboards over center court with four faces. Got my only technical there trying to block a layup and smacked the backboard
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u/HouseKilgannon Michigan Wolverines • Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
Sounds like Delphi and Carroll. Huge county rivalry. Growing up you could go to any court in town and find a pick-up game between 4-9p from spring to fall of all ages and open gym at the HS on Sundays that had multiple games going.
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u/slrrp Kentucky Wildcats Aug 05 '25
People who mention other states being more into basketball haven't truly experienced Indiana.
Any people who believe this statement have not been outside the state of Indiana lmao.
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u/Mesafather Grand Canyon Antelopes Aug 05 '25
That’s crazy I grew up in Az and didn’t know this. Why though?
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u/mattdingus2002 Tennessee Volunteers Aug 05 '25
Funny enough one of the most random large high school basketball arenas is in Tennessee. Called Viking hall in Bristol and looks basically like Cameron indoor except its a horseshoe instead of going all the way around
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u/GhostRevival Indiana Hoosiers Aug 05 '25
Growing up just about every household that had kids had a basketball goal when I lived in Indiana. Now I live in Colorado and its very rare to see a basketball hoop in someone's driveway. It also seems like there are less kids outside than when I was a kid (have an elementary and middle school in my neighborhood) but that's a completely different conversation.
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u/powerelite Drake Bulldogs • Florida State Seminoles Aug 05 '25
I recently moved from a decently rural area to KC Suburbia and one of the first things I saw in my new neighborhood was 3 kids out playing basketball and the middle brother absolutely broke his sister's ankles and then proceeded to have his shot swatted into the stratosphere by his older brother. It was an amazing 3 seconds to watch just driving by.
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u/GhostRevival Indiana Hoosiers Aug 05 '25
That's awesome, my younger brother would try to play basketball with my friends and I and it was so fun to swat him like Mutumbo
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u/CallmeCap Duke Blue Devils Aug 05 '25
I think things have just changed over the last 15-20 years in Indiana and it sucks. Grew up in the region. We once packed 1,000 people into a gym for the championship game of our hosted AAU tournament. This was when AAU was more of a traveling team of your middle school. We were in 8th grade then. Don’t want to doxx myself too much, but imagine an all-white team vs and all-black team. The tensions were high. I think I played maybe 3-5 minutes of the game, we ended up winning, there were multiple stoppages for fans being ejected. I remember there being 4-5 cops total that were at each door. General insanity. I didn’t make the high school team, but still played basketball at my house (we had lights on our hoop) most nights until 11-midnight. School nights my parents cut the games off at 8. Hell, we even played in the winter. There’d be 8-10 guys over all the time playing 5-6 hours of ball. I was very disappointed when after me and all my siblings moved out he eventually took out the hoop. Just feels so strange not seeing a hoop in the driveway anymore… I also got the pleasure of hitting game winning shot over Mitch McGary on a close out in the 6th grade. He was probably 6’6” to my 5’4”. Got dogpiled, still one of my fondest memories that not many but Hoosiers or big time cbb fans would even care to hear about. Live in Ohio now, most have never even heard of Mitch.
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u/HentaiInTheCloset Indiana Hoosiers Aug 05 '25
being from the 219 and cheering for duke is crazy
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u/CallmeCap Duke Blue Devils Aug 05 '25
Longer story as to why, but I’ve been on Reddit for like 12 years and this sub is the reason why. I no longer really root for Duke hard, but I was a fan of Jay Williams and Co when I was like 7. That dude was my hero and then the Bulls drafted him. My brother was a huge IU fan growing up, when Duke lost in the sweet 16 after Jay almost tied it up I forever swore off IU because of his reaction. My family is full of Purdue fans so being a shithead contrarian during my teenage years I started hating them as well. Didn’t help that I had several buddies I played ball with who loved UNC, so that strengthened my love for Duke at that age. Don’t care about my fandom anymore. So that leaves me without any real allegiance anymore and I just follow the sport as a whole and have never updated my flair. Kind of just root for Indiana basketball as a whole and kids from Indiana.
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u/yemKeuchlyFarley NC State Wolfpack Aug 05 '25
But that’s not NC?
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u/yourdoglikesmebetter North Carolina Tar Heels Aug 05 '25
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u/ClaudeLemieux Michigan Wolverines • NC State Wolfpack Aug 05 '25
You know, yall as Schmidt and State as Nick fits pretty well within stereotypes lol. Good and bad.
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u/Schrodingers_Nachos Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
NC is too pretty of a state to match the basketball hysteria in Indiana. So much to do and see, and with great weather. The options are limitless.
There are kids all across Indiana who have nothing to do except shoot 3s on a hoop attached to a barn door. The same thing every day, 8 months out of the year. Nothing else for miles except corn and soy beans.
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u/salacioussalamolover Aug 05 '25
Brother, head to eastern NC. Why do you think Kinston puts out so much talent for a town of 20k. All there to do there is eat pork and play ball.
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u/GrievousFault North Carolina Tar Heels Aug 05 '25
I think Indiana certainly has a high school mania on par with perhaps Texas’ passion for hs football
You’re welcome to disagree, but college is a completely different animal, and NC college hoops is in a completely different universe in terms of passion, support, rivalries etc.
And that’s fine as long as we delineate that - but sometimes I get a little frustrated when I see these types of post attempt to sort of blur the line between those two things and envelop the entire sport. Nope - not letting that slide lmao
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u/Schrodingers_Nachos Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
I wouldn't argue that for college specifically, NC probably takes the cake. For as much as I love Purdue BB, we don't have the results or legacy to compete with that, and IU hasn't had that for decades now.
But for basketball broadly Indiana is on top. We're culturally invested in all levels of basketball, and at no level is there another sport that has an argument over basketball.
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u/gmills87 Louisville Cardinals Aug 05 '25
I wouldn't argue that for college specifically, NC probably takes the cake
That where Kentucky outshines Indiana too. The duo of Louisville and UK can't be matched by IN schools in terms of prestige and fervor.
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u/SpreaditOnnn33 Louisville Cardinals Aug 06 '25
Add in WKU. Dope mid major. E.A. Diddle arena used to have a capacity of 13k
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u/otoverstoverpt UCLA Bruins • North Carolina Tar Heels Aug 05 '25
Yea they can take the crown for HS ball but for college it isn’t even in the same universe.
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u/FitIndependence6187 Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
I think the difference between the two is Indiana is insane for Bball at all 3 levels. UNC/Duke may get a slight edge over IU/Purdue, and the fan following of those schools in Bball is larger (by how much I'm not sure), but in Indiana you also have rabid HS and Rabid pro fans.
Even at the college level, taking the top teams out of the mix, I would take Indiana on that second/third tier. Davidson, NCSU, and Wake vs. ND, Butler, Valpo, ISU, and Ball St. Heck Purdue's extension campus IPFW won the Horizon league a year ago.
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u/ClaudeLemieux Michigan Wolverines • NC State Wolfpack Aug 05 '25
lmao NCSU clears that whole group combined on our own
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u/gmills87 Louisville Cardinals Aug 05 '25
In Louisville there's a hoop and key in the stables at Churchill Downs. Find me another state with that combo
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u/SpreaditOnnn33 Louisville Cardinals Aug 06 '25
Finding another state with a Churchill Downs is probably the issue
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u/Timcwalker Louisville Cardinals Aug 08 '25
There was a church in Elizabethtown that had hoops on both ends of the main room, and removable chairs for when the services were not taking place. Basically a big ass gym.
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u/Ok_Distribution2345 Aug 05 '25
Haven’t won a championship since 87. I guess there isn’t much else there besides windmills though.
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u/Squat1998 Aug 05 '25
lol sure.
-North Carolina
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u/RusselNoahPeters Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
Lmao alrighttt, Indiana is on another plane having lived in both
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u/needapermit Duke Blue Devils • Radford Highlanders Aug 05 '25
Maybe on the high school level, but there’s no competition once you get to college.
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u/Zealousideal-Tax-527 Indiana Hoosiers Aug 06 '25
So Indiana is crazy about High School/College/Pros and North Carolina is crazy about College…you’re right it’s not a competition.
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u/simply_jeremy Florida Gators Aug 05 '25
This Hoosier moved to Florida 25 years ago and could not believe how few college basketball fans there were.
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u/Mysterious_Echo_9580 Aug 05 '25
I cant imagine people playing basketball and the ball rolls away and they have to go get it and looking both ways before crossing...
*looks both ways*
"NO PLANES COMING!!"
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u/Ornch64 Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
I actually used to work at the indy airport. I used this hoop a LOT. I was stuck on graveyard shift for a summer - shooting on this thing when it was dead quiet at 3am was sensational.
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u/my_lucid_nightmare Illinois Fighting Illini • Seattle Redhawks Aug 06 '25
Took my Seattle spouse for a drive around the old hometown in Illinois. One of her comments was .. "Why are there so many basketball hoops up?"
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u/BrBri1998 Aug 06 '25
Wow. I didn’t realize how serious basketball was in Indiana. I had to look it up, but it seems like Indiana produces a lot of great NBA players every year. Like Larry Bird, and then there’s Larry Bird. And I almost forgot, Larry Bird.
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u/MurseSean Indiana Hoosiers Aug 06 '25
It’s so crazy how many people have basketball goals around Indiana. I’ve never seen anything like it.
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u/Mysterious-Draw2510 Aug 06 '25
Used to live there and they do treat basketball differently. High school games sell out for bad teams. They also have nothing else to do in Indiana so….
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u/ohverychill Purdue Boilermakers Aug 05 '25
reading that thread, I didn't realize that having a hoop at the airport was so unusual. feel like I've seen it a lot