Tonight’s the night all you Wildcats fans have been waiting for. The Northwestern men’s basketball team is returning from a three-game road trip to play its first contest in Welsh-Ryan Arena since Jan. 18, against Michigan.
The game is more than just a match-up against Indiana. It’s a chance for NU fans to redeem themselves.
Four years ago Knight went ballistic when the Welsh-Ryan Rowdies started the now-infamous “Hoosier Daddy” chant.
NU fans spent a year salivating over Knight’s return. When he came back one fan painted “Not a Deer” on his chest — Knight had shot his friend in a hunting accident the previous summer. But Knight took the high road, tossing candy to NU fans.
A lot has changed since then. Knight’s gone and NU fans are boring. There’s nothing we can do about the former, but here are a few tips to spice up the “Mild Side” and give the Cats a bit of a home court advantage.
? Go to the game. Our attendance numbers, as usual, are pathetic for the Big Ten. In NU’s two conference home games, an average of 5,018 fans showed up. For the Cats’ five away games, they played in front of an average of 14,494 fans. And it’s not just numbers. When NU played Michigan, chants of “Go Blue” drowned out “Go NU.” Indiana fans are even worse — they live closer and are more often unemployed, so they have free time to drive to away games.
? Come up with some chants for our guys. This doesn’t have to be anything special. When senior Winston Blake scores his 1,000th point for the Cats tonight — he just needs a trey — a little “WIN-ston (clap clap) WIN-ston (clap clap)” couldn’t hurt. Same thing for T.J. Parker, Jitim Young and all the other NU players with two syllables in their first name. For freshman Mohamed Hachad, a nice, long “Mo” (rhymes with “no”) would be just fine.
? Stop messing around when NU is shooting free throws. You know what I’m talking about. All the morons who stand up and raise their hands right before an NU player shoots a free throw, then throw down their hands and say “whoosh” if it goes in. I can’t statistically prove this hurts our free throw shooting, but I can’t imagine it would help our players concentrate. We’re already the worst in the Big Ten from the foul line, so just stop.
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