Seen and heard in Indy: Arizona's '97 title still visible, NFL next door, T.J. McConnell's cup of joe, more

INDIANAPOLIS — Because there are photos and memorabilia all over the walls at Indianapolis’ famed St. Elmo Steak House, there was a good chance Neal Weitman would pick up a little of the city’s history during his dinner Friday evening.

He just didn’t know that history would involve the Arizona Wildcats.

The father of UA guard Grant Weitman and son of one of Lute Olson’s best friends, Paul Weitman, Neal was seated at a table next to a framed front page of a particular 1997 Indianapolis Star edition. On it was a nearly half-page headline that screamed “ARIZONA WINS” along with an action picture of UA players A.J. Bramlett and Eugene Edgerson.

“Totally random,” Weitman said of his seating assignment.

And, because Weitman was hardly the only Arizona fan in the restaurant, the newspaper turned out to be something of a distraction. Not that he was complaining.

“A lot of people stopped by to take their pictures with it,” Weitman said. “Hopefully, it’s a good sign.”

Booster buzz

Weitman was one of about 150 top Arizona boosters who were invited to make the trip  along with the Wildcats' team traveling party in a chartered Airbus 320 on Friday from Tucson to Indianapolis.

After arriving Friday, the boosters were treated to a happy hour event at the NCAA Hall of Champions, at which UA coach Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats made an appearance. Before Saturday’s game, they also met at a restaurant near Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

“It’s been a really good trip,” UA athletic director Dave Heeke said. “Lot of fun. Lot of great people. Really substantial supporters who believe in our program.”

Heeke said it was particularly interesting to be in Indianapolis because the NCAA moved its headquarters from Kansas City under then-director Cedric Dempsey, who took over the NCAA after being UA’s athletic director from 1983-1193.

The NCAA headquarters has “a strong connection to Arizona,” Heeke said.

In their blood

The fact that Gainbridge Fieldhouse’s 18,000 seats were sold out and about 80% of them were full of exceptionally vocal Purdue fans is the sort of thing that comes as no surprise to UA player relations director Jason Gardner, the former Wildcat standout player who is from Indianapolis.

“It's a basketball state,” Gardner said. “You’ve got a lot of fans who just love basketball and in the state you kind of grow up being an IU fan, a Purdue fan, a Notre Dame fan. You’ve got a lot of history there."

Gardner said the Indianapolis area has a lot of Purdue fans, with its campus in West Lafayette only about an hour away, but some fans are just likely to show up to a good game no matter who is playing.

NBA, college, high school, whatever.

“We have arenas that hold eight to 10,000 people,” Gardner said. “We have a bunch of field houses. Basketball, historically, is just kind of what you know as a kid. At one point or another, up until you get to high school, almost everybody has had the opportunity to play basketball.”

Hoops day

The Arizona and Purdue game turned out to be the main event for a somewhat epic college basketball day in Indiana.

Before the Wildcats and Boilermakers tipped off in the second game of the Indy Classic at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indiana State beat Ball State 83-72 in a mid-major undercard game.

Just about an hour away in Bloomington, meanwhile, Kansas edged Indiana 75-71 in a tense nonconference matchup while Notre Dame hosted Georgetown in the northwest part of the state.

Indianapolis also hosted a low-major game between IUPUI and Lindenwood on Saturday night.

The NFL shadow

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But as big as college basketball was on Saturday in Indianapolis, the NFL pretty much nudged it out of the local spotlight.

That’s because it moved a Colts-Steelers game at nearby Lucas Oil Stadium to Saturday and into the exact same 4:30 p.m. local starting time that Arizona and Purdue had.

As a result, while there were fans wearing Purdue and Arizona gear all over downtown Indy on Saturday, many more were wearing Colts and Steelers gear. That included not only “Touchdown Town,” a tailgating area near Lucas Oil Stadium but even bars much closer to Gainbridge.

The Colts-Steelers game was moved last month into part of an NFL Network tripleheader, sandwiched between an 11 a.m. Vikings-Bengals game and a 6:15 p.m. matchup between the Broncos and Lions.

Introduced in 2006, the NFL’s flexible scheduling allows matchups with significant playoff implications to be moved into broad television windows.

Long memories

Among the attractions at Touchdown Town included an old school bus painted in the team’s blue colors, attended by a man wearing blue and white checkered overalls.

The bus was painted with the words “GO HORSE” and “XLI Super Bowl Champs!” — even though Super Bowl XLI was played in 2007.

T.J. joe

Often on the lookout for local coffee joints during UA road trips, a group of support staffers had the perfect spot to hit on Saturday morning.

The group of seven staffers, including team doctor Stephen Paul and player development director Rem Bakamus, headed to Jack’s Donuts for a cup of the “T.J. McConnell Breakaway Blend,” a special mix named for the former Wildcat and current Indiana Pacer guard that benefits the Firefly Children & Family Alliance of Central Indiana.

“The T.J. McConnell Breakaway Blend is a light/medium roast made with natural honey selected by T.J. himself,” a package of the coffee said. “This smooth brew’s tasting notes include chocolate, almonds, berries and cane sugar.”

Family man

While Saturday’s game was tailor-made for former UA basketball publicist Richard Paige, who now works in the Indianapolis area as Wabash College’s director of marketing, he did fork over cash for four seats to see it.

Paige said he was grateful that UA offered him two free tickets for a booster-trip game when seats are scarce, but he turned the offer down and bought four tickets on the second deck so he could sit together with his entire family.

Substitute Hoosiers

Arizona’s presence at the Indy Classic was a symptom a result of how the old Crossroads Classic between in-state teams Indiana, Purdue, Butler and Notre Dame fell apart two years ago. Instead, Saturday’s Indy Classic featured Indiana State-Ball State while the Wildcats flew in to fill the other spot.

“This is a great event,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “We obviously liked the previous event. It made a whole lot of sense. I mean, you’re with Indiana, Notre Dame and Butler. That just makes sense. … But to get quality neutral-site games like this is huge.”

The big number

53: Combined points scored by Purdue guards Fletcher Loyer (27) and Braden Smith (26), who both had entered Saturday never scoring more than 27 each.

Quotable

“They have a good team. They’re gonna beat a lot of people, and they’re gonna be there at the end," Painter said of Arizona.

Photos: No. 1 Arizona falls to No. 3 Purdue 92-84 in Indianapolis