4,001 people made the life choice to attend an NIU men’s basketball game Friday night.

Obviously, the opposing fan base figured into the highest attendance for an NIU basketball game since 2005. The number of Northwestern University alumni in the Chicagoland area is staggering. In addition to that, Northwestern has a team poised to make a legitimate NCAA-tournament run.

The number of fans sporting Huskie red, however, is hard to ignore. NIU fans were excited to see their team take on a Big Ten opponent in its regular season opener.

Regardless of what color T-shirt each fan wore to the game, the attendance figure produced Friday is hard to comprehend for any NIU student that has been in DeKalb more than a couple weeks.

This isn’t to say that Friday’s attendance is impressive to everyone. There are some traditional basketball schools that would not only be unimpressed with the turnout, they would be downright appalled that the NIU community finds 4,001 people impressive for a men’s basketball game.

Nuts to them. Anytime DeKalb gets excited for a college basketball game, it’s a cause for celebration. From the Xavier Silas fan club to the Patton’s Platoon cheering section, the energetic crowd acted as a snippet of what the Convocation Center could be if people actually showed up to watch the basketball games.

Exiting the Convocation Center, die-hard Huskie fans were left to hope that one blowout game would not prevent the first-time fans from coming out again. When broached with a question concerning the attendance, NIU head coach Ricardo Patton mimicked the notion.

“The atmosphere was great,” Patton said. I thank those fans for coming out. Hopefully they won’t throw in the towel this early and will come back and support these young men. It was good to see the people.”

Don’t give up Huskie fans. No college basketball fan with common sense will tell you that NIU is ready to break out for a MAC Championship. The Huskies are rich in talent, however, and are a fun team to watch. Freshman forward Nate Rucker threw down a dunk in the second half, that had it happened earlier in the game would have brought down the house.

If the Huskies clean up some of their ugly turnovers from Friday night, they could surprise some people in a weak MAC West.

It is ridiculous how much a good home-court advantage can affect a basketball game. Even if the games act as only temporary breaks from your otherwise riveting DeKalb lifestyle, come out to see your school play ball, and give the home-team Huskies a boost. After all, it’s still college basketball.