Long wait about to end as Sampson gets started with Hoosiers

Friday, October 13th 2006, 4:46 am

By: News On 6

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) Former Oklahoma basketball coach Kelvin Sampson is getting a taste of basketball fever as he prepares for his first season as coach of the Indiana Hoosiers.

Sampson is finding out it's a little different in Indiana. Whatever the season, wherever the locale, the conversations and questions are all about basketball.

Sampson spent much of the past six months making plans and crisscrossing the state to meet the die hard fans who helped establish Indiana's reputation as a basketball school. Tonight, he'll meet the masses again at his first Midnight Madness.

Sampson says he's excited to start the season and enjoys the passion the Hoosier fans have for basketball.