March Madness 2015: Top sports bars on every Big Ten campus

We can’t tell you who’s going to win, but we can tell you where to drink. Whether you’re on campus to watch the home team, or if you want to check out some of the 67 games during the March Madness 2015 NCAA Tournament, these are our picks for the best sports bars at all 14 Big Ten schools:

Firehaus

Illinois – Firehaus (708 S 6th St, Champaign, IL)

The walls are adorned with plenty of local fire department memorabilia and even more television screens. Make sure to split an order of Firehaus Fries or Pompier Pretzel Bites while you enjoy their daily drink specials.

Nick’s English Hut

Indiana – Nick’s English Hut (423 E Kirkwood Ave, Bloomington, IN)

A Bloomington tradition since 1927. Act like a local by playing Sink The Biz (check out the rules here) while you eat one of their delicious pizzas in the heart of Hoosier country.

Tailgators

Iowa – Tailgators (450 1st Ave, Coralville, IA) – If you’re willing to trek west across the Iowa River to Coralville, you won’t be disappointed by the food and drink options here. Try one of the Big Ten burgers, featuring toppings based on the conference schools.

Cornerstone Grill & Loft

Maryland – Cornerstone Grill & Loft (7325 Baltimore Ave, College Park, MD) – This College Park staple took the place of the legendary Rendezvous Inn back in 1997 and has continued to please the masses with plenty of beers on tap and plenty of TVs on the walls.

The Sports Bar Westside

Michigan – The Sports Bar Westside (5510 Jackson Rd, Ann Arbor, MI) – As the name suggests, the Westside is the place to be when the tourney tips off and with a motto like “Eat Sports, Drink Sports, Watch Sports, Talk Sports” you can’t go wrong.

HopCat

Michigan State – HopCat (300 Grove St, East Lansing, MI) – With 100 beers on draft, this is the place to be in East Lansing if you’re a fan of sports and craft brews. While the games are on, they are running their own tournament called March Hop Madness, which pits 32 of the best IPAs against one another with the winner to be sold for only $3 a pint during the Final Four.

Minnesota – Stub & Herb’s (227 SE Oak St, Minneapolis, MN) – A campus landmark since 1939, this is another spot that will cater to beer lovers on game day and, as the staff t-shirts say, “Your grandpa drank here.” So it’s got that going for it.

Barry’s Bar & Grill

Nebraska – Barry’s Bar & Grill (235 N 9th Street, Lincoln, NE) – This massive venue has been packing in crowds since 1959 and is the perfect place to hunker down for a 12-hour day of watching college hoops. Plus, if the weather is nice, take a break from all the basketball to enjoy the glorious rooftop.

Northwestern – Bar Louie (1520 Sherman Ave, Chicago, IL) – The Wildcats have never made it to the dance and with futility like that, perhaps it makes sense that the best place to watch other teams compete in the NCAA Tournament is a national chain that just so happens to have an outpost in Evanston. (The ’Cats tout themselves as “Chicago’s Big Ten Team,” so with that in mind, do yourself a favor and head into the city where you’ll find plenty of great options for watching the madness.)

<atitle=”Columbus, OH Hotels” href=”http://www.orbitz.com/psi?force=hotels/United_States–OH/Columbus.hd18262/&GCID=78142″ target=”_blank”>Ohio State – Varsity Club (278 W Lane Ave, OH) – It might be known for its epic tailgates on football Saturdays in the fall, but the VC has been treating customers right for more than just those eight days a year since being founded in 1959.

Champs Sports Grill

Penn State – Champs Sports Grill (1611 N Atherton St, State College, PA) – Although it’s located a bit away from campus, once you step inside the doors you’ll know you’ve come to the right place to watch the game…any game.

Scotty’s Brewhouse

Purdue – Scotty’s Brewhouse (352 E State St, West Lafayette, IN) – Although it might take longer to read the entire menu than it will for the cavalcade of time outs at the end of a close game, this brick fortress filled with ice cold beer is built for marathon days of hoops viewing.

Rutgers – Mike’s Courtside Sports Bar & Grill (1 Elm Row, New Brunswick, NJ) – This isn’t your typical sports bar, but, then again, Rutgers isn’t your typical Big Ten school. Mike’s not only features a standard bar menu, but also a separate sushi menu which means you can watch the madness while eating a Godzilla roll.

Wisconsin – State Street Brats (603 State St, Madison, WI) – This Madison legend has been feeding the masses since creating their famous smoked red brats in 1932. Whether you’re there to watch the Frank Kaminsky-led Badgers or an out-of-town team, you’ll leave fat and happy.

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