INDIANAPOLIS — There’s a phrase that’s ubiquitous in Indiana. You see it on chalkboard signs outside of bars. You hear it from fans, coaches and players. It was emblazoned on T-shirts at Game 3 of the NBA Finals. It’s even the slogan for the state’s basketball Hall of Fame.

In 49 other states, it’s just basketball. But this is Indiana.

It was in 1925, after all, that the inventor of basketball, James Naismith, watched a state high school tournament and declared Indiana “the center of the sport.”

Now, 100 years later, between a stunning Indiana Pacers run to the finals and the exploding popularity of the Indiana Fever, Naismith’s observation has never been more true.

“I realized that basketball was really special when I took my official visit here,” said Pacers center Thomas Bryant, who played two years at Indiana University before entering the NBA in 2017. “It just felt right. You felt the energy, you felt the tenacity, you felt the love of the game, and the passion that everybody brought. That’s what made me fall in love with Indiana.”

“Basketball is king,” said actor Drew Powell, a native of the town of Lebanon whose recent credits include the medical drama “The Pitt.” “It’s everywhere. The entire state buys in. Like Brazilians are born with soccer, Hoosiers are born with basketball.”

“I’ve been here for a few years now,” Fever guard Lexie Hull explained. “And getting to go to high schools and see just even at that level, people are so passionate, excited and supportive of women’s and men’s basketball. I don’t think you find that everywhere.”

Hoosier Hysteria dates back well into the early 1900s. The state’s love of basketball in particular grew out of the single-class high school system, which pitted every school in the state against one another in one massive basketball tournament that whipped fans into a frenzy — and impressed Naismith.

In 1954, the Milan High School Indians, with an enrollment of only 161 students, won the state tournament, which served as the inspiration for the 1986 film “Hoosiers.” In 1955, Sports Illustrated wrote about what it deemed the “statewide mania” of basketball in a story headlined “The Hoosier Madness.”

Since then, Indiana has produced well over 100 professional players, most notably Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who, after stints as the head coach and the president of basketball operations, is an adviser for the Pacers.

And now, Indiana is home to both another underdog story in the Pacers, who are on the cusp of their first NBA championship, and the ascending Fever, who employ the biggest star in the WNBA, Caitlin Clark.

“As someone who grew up in the state of Indiana … it’s such a fun time to be in the city,” Fever head coach Stephanie White said. “I was here the last time the Pacers were in the finals. I remember being in the building and feeling the energy. There’s no better place.”

The simultaneous success of the men’s and women’s professional teams gives Indiana a real chance to become the first state to have an NBA and a WNBA champion in the same year since 2002, when the Lakers and Sparks won for Los Angeles. (The Fever may not be title favorites, but then again, neither were the Pacers.)

The teams have also shown up for each other, with players from both sides often attending the other’s games this spring. (Through Game 3 of the finals, the Pacers were 8-0 in playoff games attended by Clark.)

“It’s been real fun,” said Fever forward Natasha Howard, who has attended multiple postseason games. “To see our guys come from being 10-15 to being in the NBA Finals, anything is possible. I’m extremely proud of what they overcame.”

“It’s electric,” added Hull, who attended Game 3 with Howard and Clark. “They’re selling out Gainbridge [Fieldhouse], we’re selling out Gainbridge. We love to support them and they love to support us.”

The Pacers and the Fever are not only successful, they’re capturing fans in a unique way.

Since drafting Clark last year, the Fever have routinely broken attendance and viewership records. Powell described the atmosphere at their home games as something closer to a concert because of the fanaticism.

The team even sold so much merchandise after drafting Clark that it was reportedly audited.

The Pacers, meanwhile, aren’t quite as much of an underdog as Milan was in ’54, but they are putting together their own run worthy of a Hollywood script.

The Pacers had the 17th-best title odds before the season, worse than some teams that didn’t even make the playoffs. They were five games under .500 over a quarter of the way into the season. And during the playoffs, they pulled off a string of comebacks en route to the finals, the chances of which were 1 in 10 million. Literally.

And the Pacers have done all of this despite their limited avenues to building a contender.

Even with the state being a hotbed for basketball, Indiana has not been a major player for free agents. The Pacers also largely refuse to tank for top draft picks. The result is a finals team very few saw coming — one that’s giving the Oklahoma City Thunder and MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander all they can handle.

The sport of basketball has followed Powell, who flew in from Los Angeles for Game 4, around his entire life. He was offered a chance to be in “Hoosiers” as an extra when he was in grade school, but he declined when he found out he would be required to cut his hair for the role. (He regrets it.)

He went to college in Indiana, at DePauw University in Greencastle, where he was fraternity brothers with future Butler University head coach (and current Boston Celtics general manager) Brad Stevens.

He knows how meaningful the Pacers winning it all would be for his home state.

“It puts you on the map,” Powell said about what an NBA title would do for Indiana. “For a long time, being a small-market team, there are ways in which we’re always at odds with the league. If the Pacers win, it would be the ultimate team award.

“There’s a quote in ‘Hoosiers,’ ‘Let’s win this one for all the small schools that never had a chance to be here,’ you know? I could see the Pacers saying that exact type of thing in the huddle.”

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – When assessing the best Indiana men’s basketball players of the 2020s, the nature of a decade in which players moved around with unprecedented frequency made it difficult to compare the legacy of one-year players and players who stuck around for a while.

For example, how do you rate Trey Galloway – who played more games in program history than anyone ever – against a one-year player like Jalen Hood-Schifino?

In the case of these rankings, Hoosiers On SI tried to compare the impact of the moment. Galloway shouldn’t have his years of experience count against him, but neither should one-year stars have their impact diminished because of the length of their stay.

Trying to square that circle is how Hood-Schifino comes in at No. 4 on the list. He’s the second-best of the one-year players included in the top 16 of the 2020s.

Befitting a one-year player, Hood-Schifino’s Indiana resume is blessed with peak achievements, not career ones. Hood-Schifino (13.5 ppg) ranked third in scoring when taking the best seasons into account. Because he was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, All-Freshman and an All-Big Ten selection, Hood-Schifino ranked second in the 2020s in individual honors.

Peak value is a great way to describe Hood-Schifino’s lone season in cream and crimson. He wasn’t always great, but when he was, he was as dominant as any player.

Hood-Schifino had eight games where he converted 25% or less on his shot attempts – which were always high as he was a volume shooter. He also had five games where he was 60% or better and when you’re a volume shooter? It means you’re going to put up huge numbers.

One of those performances was a 33-point game in an 84-83 home loss to Northwestern in January 2023. That was his career-high … until he had the game that lives longest in the memory of Hoosiers fans.

Few expected Indiana to go into Mackey Arena on Feb. 25 and live to tell about it. No. 5 Purdue would be Big Ten champions and spent part of the 2022-23 season ranked No. 1.

Hood-Schifino cut Purdue to pieces with his mid-range shooting and ability to go to the rim. He had 35 points, on just one 3-point shot made, to go with seven rebounds as the Hoosiers surprised the Boilermakers, 79-71.

Even when Hood-Schifino had a quiet game, he could still make loud contributions. In a home game against Illinois on Feb. 18, 2023, Hood-Schifino was 5 of 17 from the floor, but he calmly hit the game-tying jumper and the game-winning free throws to lift the Hoosiers to a 71-68 victory.

Hood-Schifino was a hot commodity after his freshman season and left Indiana to turn pro. His NBA adventures have been somewhat star-crossed. He’s already been dropped by the Los Angeles Lakers – the team that drafted him 17th overall in 2023, but he showed signs of life late in the 2024-25 season with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Hood-Schifino was capable of being the best player on the floor at his peak. If someone was building a team from Indiana players of the 2020s, Hood-Schifino would almost certainly be one of the first players picked.

Previous men’s basketball top 16 players of the 2020s

No. 5 – Malik Reneau
No. 6 – Trey Galloway
No. 7 – Oumar Ballo
No. 8 – Mackenzie Mgbako
No. 9 – Al Durham
No. 10 – Miller Kopp
No. 11 – Xavier Johnson
No. 12 – Justin Smith
No. 13 – Rob Phinisee
No. 14 – Luke Goode
No. 15 – Devonte Green
No. 16 – Anthony Leal