Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own blog, Hoops Haven .
The phenomenon known as “Midnight Madness” in college basketball, signals the official beginning of the NCAA season. Although most teams won’t be competing head to head for another two weeks, excitement and enthusiasm runs rampant on every campus, during each schools’ version of the glorified pep rally for their basketball teams. The event marks the date that teams can officially start practicing as a group, for the upcoming season. Every year teams go all out by booking musical acts and former star player and alumni appearances, pyrotechnics, and dunk contests to drum up support for their programs and to convince possible future recruits to commit to their schools.
Midnight Madness officially got its start more than 30 years ago at the University of Maryland, as coach Lefty Driesell took his players outside at midnight, for a few laps around the football field, while a small gathering of students were on hand to cheer them on and help illuminate the field with their car’s headlights. Fast forward to today, and the event has turned into a multimedia extravaganza highlighted by packed arenas, dance contests, and even full coverage by ESPN. Here is a just a small sample of the “Madness.”
Syracuse Midnight Madness
The Orange brought in two former BMOC, John Wallace as master of ceremonies and G-Mac(Gerry MacNamara), to get the festivities started with both sinking half court shots in the long distance shooting contest. Besides the annual dunk contest, the highlight of the evening has to be Coach Boeheim entering the arena in a police cruiser and dressed like the sheriff.
| Syracuse Basketball Midnight Madness 2009 |
Countdown to Craziness – Duke University
If the Dukees fail miserably as basketball players, they may have a future in acting……..not! Check out the hilarious video which kicked off the Blue Devils version of midnight madness. The video features the men’s team spoofing many blockbuster movies including, Kyle Singler and Coach Wojo in the Godfather, Steph’s little brother Seth Curry and Mason and Miles Plumlee in Austin Powers, the Spy Who Shagged Me, and Nolan Smith and Andre Dawkins hilarious take of a scene from Titanic.
Michigan State Midnight Madness
Since the Final Four will be played in Indianapolis this year, Coach Tom Izzo enters the sold out Breslin Center, driving a Formula 1 race car. We get it coach,…………..the Spartans, who are one of the deepest teams in the country, should make a return trip to the Final Four.
Kentucky Big Blue Madness
We all know that Coach Cal brings lots of excitement to the Wildcats program, but judging by the 23,000 fans of Blue Nation, who camped outside and packed Rupp Arena, they apparently think he is the second coming of Christ and also bleeds blue. Calipari starts his speech off big with fireworks and a 3 minute handshaking session……………Isn’t this supposed to be about the players?
Even the player introductions are done big as each player descends from the rafters on a makeshift elevator. Listen to the crown erupt when the former#1 HS player in the country, John Wall is announced at about the 3:50 mark. Can you say one and done?
Washington State Midnight Madness
Check out WSU’s Brock Motum imitating current NY Knick forward David Lee’s shirtless dunk from 2001.
