Midnight Madness is an annual event celebrating the upcoming college basketballseason in which a team opens its first official practice to the public, often combining it with a pep rally and other fan friendly activities. The tradition originated from teams holding public practices at midnight on the earliest day that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) would allow a practice to be held. In 2013, a new NCAA rule established some flexbility around the opening of a team's practice sessions. As a result, the dates on which teams celebrate Midnight Madness can vary, but most stick with the traditional date of a Friday night closest to October 15.
History
Prior to the 2013–14 NCAA Division I men's basketball season men's and women's basketball teams were not permitted to practice prior to the Friday closest to October 15. Maryland Terrapins head coach Lefty Driesell began the Midnight Madness tradition at 12:03 a.m. on October 15, 1971 by inviting the public to a 1.5 mile team run. The early practice session was attended by 3,000 fans at the track surrounding Byrd Stadium on the University of Maryland campus. Driesell continued the annual midnight practice session throughout his tenure at Maryland, and brought the tradition with him when he became head coach at Georgia State University. In 2008, that school delayed the event until sunrise for the first time since Driesell established the tradition.
Leon (Alan Solomon), a genius, summons five college students to his apartment and challenges them to participate in his latest game creation: The Great All-Nighter. He tells them about his game and instructs them to form teams. At first, the leaders refuse to play. However, rivalries between them lead all five to change their minds by the game's start time.
The game works like this:
Teams are given an initial clue to solve.
When the clue is solved, it will lead to a location.
At that location they must find and solve another clue leading to another location and eventually the end.
Leon, as "game master," keeps track of the teams locations with a giant map, and various radio equipment. The teams are supposed to call and check in at each clue (though many of the teams end up skipping at least one location).
GCUMidnightMadness basketball event. GCU Midnight Madness basketball event ...Camp Elliott begins as students prepare for Lopes basketball ... He was instrumental in getting them back to March Madness last year.
11 at Mullett in Tempe... “It’s a good atmosphere ... It's gonna be a great place to watch basketball," DJ Automatic said ... The open practice was similar to a college basketball team's midnight madness practice to start the season ... “I miss it a little bit.
Five days before MidnightMadness, the madness began at Camp Elliott...Wilson Neitzel, a senior, who is president of the Havocs, said because basketball is such a big thing at GCU, the excitement starts with Midnight Madness.
Michigan State’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will host their midnight madness event at the Breslin Center with an earlier start that will transition to the campout where students spend the night outside for membership in the Izzone.
3 overall pick Drake Maye. Sports Seriously ... ∎Used to be that we’d have basketball practices begin at the stroke of midnight, and “MidnightMadness” was actually a thing across the country when teams would begin fall workouts ... Bonaventure basketball.
Michigan State makes changes to annual MidnightMadness basketball kickoffSights, sounds and standouts from Michigan State basketball’s trip to SpainMichigan State basketball’s draw set for Maui...
College basketball teams made famous the midnight madness practice to officially start their seasons ... “You have to have some kind of drive to play at midnight ... For that reason, Achtermann’s all about a midnight practice.
The video ended seconds later ... He has appeared on the Florida Field sideline for a number of Gator football games over the years, and addressed the audience at the Gator basketball team’s MidnightMadness event in 1998 ... Loading. You’re all signed up!.
But most of it, he said, was to pay for a high school recruit and his family to travel to Tucson to watch “MidnightMadness,” the celebration that marks opening night of practice in college basketball.
Code said conditions in college basketball mirror America... But most of it, he said, was to pay for a high school recruit and his family to travel to Tucson to watch “MidnightMadness,” opening night of practice in college basketball.
But most of it, he said, was to pay for a high school recruit and his family to travel to Tucson to watch “MidnightMadness,” the celebration that marks opening night of practice in college basketball ... AP March Madness bracket.
Just over $7 million of the cost will go toward work such as HVAC, landscaping, kitchen accessories, courts, basketball hoops and turf ... "Can you imagine a MidnightMadness basketball tournament in there?" he said.
