Indiana University Athletics
Getting in the Game with Lance Bennett
1/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2006
Indiana football junior Lance Bennett has added another music feature to his resume with the song "Get in the Game" for the 2005-06 Indiana basketball team. Bennett used his connections within the music industry to create a season-long theme song for what has become a promising start to Indiana men's basketball campaign.
Bennett's football teammate, freshman James Hardy, brought the idea for a song about the basketball team to Bennett's attention. Hardy came to Bennett with the idea after Bennett recorded "Knock, Knock," a song featured prominently during the Hoosiers football season.
"James Hardy was my roommate on the road and he came to me saying I should do one for the basketball team," Bennett said.
Bennett wrote the song as the football team headed to Ann Arbor for the Michigan game. The lyrics to the song were then sent to a friend and producer, where the song was completed.
"I actually sent out the lyrics to a friend of mine who is a producer out in California," Bennett said. "He built a beat around the lyrics and the song was born."
Bennett completed the song just before the start of the basketball season. Its debut came at the first home basketball game against Nicholls State, where it introduced the team for the first time as the Hoosiers ran out onto the court.
"The players told me they love coming out to it because it gets them really hyped for the game," Bennett said.
As the basketball season moved into December, IU created a video with a highlight reel of previous games to stand alongside Bennett's song. Indiana displayed the video for thousands to see before every home basketball game at Assembly Hall.
The song has become a tradition for fans before every home basketball game. Recently, Bennett threw in a new twist when he came up with the idea for a music video.
"I thought up an idea about a music video for the song, and knew that I wanted to do something with the players," Bennett said.
Shooting took place over Christmas break and wrapped up prior to IU's first home Big Ten game against Michigan. Both videos can still be seen before every home basketball game as the players warm up.
"It means a lot to me, being a student here and being able to combine a new song with the traditions of this university," Bennett said. "As a younger generation, we have a lot of hip hop influence in our lives, and it feels great to be able to incorporate some of that within the traditions of IU."
Recently, Bennett wrote a song for ESPN's 10-episode series "The Season." As for his future plans, they involve both a song and video for the 2006 Indiana football team.
Lance Bennett's CD "Get in the Game" is currently on sale at the Varsity Shop and can be ordered on www.iuvshop.com for $6.99. The CD contains the original audio track and two different videos (IU basketball highlight video and music video) that can be viewed on any computer desktop.
