As Indianapolis prepares to host its ninth Final Four, the NCAA has turned Circle City into a basketball championship hub.
Events that will be hosted in the city between April 2 and April 6 include the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) semifinals and final, the Division II and III national championships and the College Slam Dunk & Three-Point contests, in addition to college basketball’s crown jewel at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Hinkle Fieldhouse will play host to the NIT semifinals on April 2 and the College Slam Dunk & Three-Point Contest event on April 3. These events will be broadcast to a national audience on ESPN. The College Slam Dunk and Three-Point Contest will air on ESPN at 1:30 p.m. on April 5.
John Dedman, senior associate athletic director for strategic communications, discussed the benefits for the university when these events come to Hinkle.
“It’s an opportunity from a basketball standpoint to welcome people to Hinkle Fieldhouse who probably are not Butler fans,” Dedman said. “There is a financial upside for Hinkle in terms of a rental fee, but we also just enjoy hosting people here.”
Before the events tip off on Thursday and Friday, here is a brief overview of each contest and its role in making Final Four weekend a special one in Indianapolis.
NIT
The NIT tournament returns to Hinkle Fieldhouse on April 2, marking the third consecutive year that Indiana’s Basketball Cathedral will host the tournament’s semifinal rounds.
Games will tip off at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., respectively, with New Mexico facing Tulsa in the first game, followed by Auburn taking on Illinois State in the second.
Before seemingly finding a new home in Hinkle, the NIT semifinals were hosted in New York’s Madison Square Garden from 1938 — when the tournament began — to 2022. After the 2022 tournament concluded, the NCAA began bidding off the tournament rights to willing host sites — leading to the semifinal round briefly moving to Las Vegas in 2023 before arriving at Hinkle in 2024.
Concerning the NIT’s future in Hinkle, Dedman looks forward to further collaboration with the NCAA to keep the tournament on Butler’s campus.
“We’re interested in being part of [the NIT] moving forward,” Dedman said. “I think the NCAA knows that, and we’re having those conversations with them. We’re always looking for opportunities to be able to showcase Hinkle and showcase campus … If there [are] opportunities to house things here at Hinkle in the same way that they’re housed at [Clowes Memorial Hall] and other things, we’re open to that. [We are] aggressively researching those [opportunities] and pursuing them.”
JoAn Scott, vice president of men’s basketball for the NCAA and a Butler alumnus, is also happy to be able to show off the campus’s historic fieldhouse.
“I’m very excited about it,” Scott said. “We talked about [doing something in Hinkle] after the [COVID] bubble because we had fans fly in [from opposing teams] that just wanted to go to a [Butler game], so [then], I really saw the draw of and the magic of Hinkle. [With everything happening this week], I’ve [already] had a lot of people reach out to me saying, ‘We’re in town, we want to go to Hinkle’, [or you know], ‘I have family coming in because they’ve never been to Hinkle and want to see it.’ I think [that’s] just the mystique of Hinkle.”
College Slam Dunk & Three-Point Contest
The 37th edition of the College Slam Dunk & Three-Point Contest will be held April 3, beginning at 7 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse. As the event is held in the Final Four city each year, the competition serves as a high-energy kickoff to college basketball’s championship weekend.
Notable participants in this year’s event include Purdue’s Fletcher Loyer, Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton and Indiana’s Shay Ciezki.
Ran by Intersport, this year’s edition will consist of a slam dunk competition in addition to a men’s and women’s three-point contest. Additionally, the event will feature seniors and graduate students who will display their skills one more time as college athletes.
Avery Smith, executive director of live events for Intersport, addressed the importance of the event for players, families and their teams alike.
“[The contest] is the last time that these seniors get to perform in their college uniform,” Smith said. “So you get to see not just the excitement on the seniors’ faces, but most of the time, their coaches [and] their family members all come down and watch them perform one last time, and the spotlight’s on them.”
Adding to the lively atmosphere Friday’s event will bring, other components of this year’s contest include a “Greek Row” competition as part of the festivities, featuring two participants from both fraternities and sororities on Butler’s campus in addition to a slam-dunk contest judging panel that includes members of the Club 520 podcast and two members of the college football national champion Indiana Hoosiers: Tyrique Tucker and Roman Hemby.
Smith also highlighted the impact the event has had on players following their participation.
“It’s really a showcase for these players,” Smith said. “I’ve seen players go play in the NBA, play overseas. I’ve seen some even go to the Harlem Globetrotters after [participating], which is really exciting.”
Notable alumni of this event include Naismith Basketball Hall of Famers Steve Nash and Gary Payton and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Cappie Pondexter.
Smith gave a brief preview of what to expect out of this year’s slam dunk participants and how Intersport is working to bring the best three-point shooters to Hinkle.
“I expect a lot of athleticism with our dunkers,” Smith said. “I’m very excited with what our dunkers have been showing me behind the scenes. We are currently recruiting players for the three-point contest [by] evaluating games, watching film and seeing who’s playing in the Final Four and who’s not.”