It began with a murmur, a few muffled voices calling out a familiar song. Then it quickly crescendoed into a chorus, the sound echoing across Nick’s English Hut, from the blue and red neon Leinenkugel’s sign to the IU poster plastered on the window.
“Hoo-hoo-hoo-Hoosiers,” they said.
It was March of 2016 and a continuous hum swept inside the dimly lit restaurant. Nick’s was packed full, people squeezed at the corner of the bar to find a place to set their alcohol-filled mason jars. Pitchers of beer, baskets of fries and crumpled napkins covered the tables.
The Indiana men’s basketball team had still yet to polish off a win over Chattanooga in the first round of the 2016 NCAA tournament, but the jubilation had already started at Nick’s.