ELKHART, Ind. - Everybody will be rooting for the black and gold, but thanks to at least some 80 people coming from Elkhart, that doesn't mean everybody will be rooting for the home black and gold, when Northern Kentucky visits Purdue in each team's men's college basketball season opener on Friday.
Northern Kentucky sophomore guard and Elkhart Memorial graduate
Todd Johnson, due in part to a joint effort by the city-operated Tolson Center and Elkhart Community Schools, will receive plenty of support at Mackey Arena.
About 40 local children, accompanied by seven or eight adults, will be transported by ECS bus for the 7 p.m. tip-off in West Lafayette, about 125 miles from Elkhart.
Not only that, but Tonda Hines, Johnson's mom, says about 35 family and friends will be attending the game, and will be seated in a section different from the Tolson group.
The bus trip was offered to children who attended Johnson's camp this past summer at Tolson and to other potentially interested students at a cost of $1, according to Tolson director Clyde Riley, and it includes dinner from McDonald's.
"A lot of the kids, it might be their only chance to see a major college basketball game growing up - especially one with somebody playing who they know, or know of, from Elkhart," said Bruce Klonowski, ECS director of engagement.
Klonowski worked out a discounted price on a block of tickets for the group.
The city of Elkhart is picking up that cost, minus the $1 that each student is paying so that the students know they are "buying in," Riley said.
Johnson, who helped lead coach Mark Barnhizer's Crimson Chargers to within a game of playing for a Class 4A state championship and to a program-best 24-2 record in 2011-12, is entering his sophomore season with the Norse.
As a freshman, Johnson averaged 13.4 minutes and 2.8 points per game off the bench as NKU went 11-16 in its first year as an NCAA Division I program, including 9-9 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
This season's Norse, though, will be far younger than last winter's.
One Norse returnee is sophomore forward
Jalen Billups, who averaged 10.3 points and 5.7 rebounds in seven games as a freshman last season before being sidelined by a medical condition. He has been cleared to play, according to the school, and is a preseason all-conference pick.
Nevertheless, NKU is projected to finish just ninth in the 10-team Atlantic Sun by the league's coaches and tied for eighth by league media.
The Boilermakers, meanwhile, are coming off a 16-18 season, 8-10 in the Big Ten, and are anticipating significant improvement.
They return four starters, including brothers Terone and Ronnie Johnson — no relation to
Todd Johnson — at guard, and sophomore center A.J. Hammons, though Hammons, a Big Ten All-Freshman pick last winter, will be completing a disciplinary suspension in the opener.
