Last Saturday while you were catching up on some much needed sleep, the UW men's and women's basketball teams as well as many others throughout the country were up at the wee hours of the morning for the first practice of the season. Yes, Midnight Madness has come and gone, and what were you thinking sleeping through it? How could you miss the christening of the 2004-05 basketball seasons?
Easy--there's no such thing as Midnight Madness in Madison. I take that back; the women's team did practice at midnight on Saturday morning, but the public wasn't allowed to watch. The men's team on the other hand, got in a few hours of sleep before they had their crazy season kick-off at 9 a.m. practice which also was closed to the public. Good thing you got your sleep because it looks like you did not miss much.
So why don't we have Midnight Madness here? We have quality teams and a massive fan following to pull off an event like this. Teams like Clemson got to celebrate their season kickoff with a midnight practice under the stars. Kansas is well-known for its traditional \Late Night at the Phog,"" Maryland head coach Gary Williams escorted himself in a NASCAR car to the Comcast Center Arena and last but not least Florida even got William Hung to sing his classic rendition of ""She Bangs""! Can't you tell I'm jealous?
Alright well, we don't need William Hung anywhere near campus, but Midnight Madness is something that we could easily pull off. The opportunities are endless. Wouldn't you love to watch a three-point shootout between Clayton Hanson, Sharif Chambliss, Ashley Josephson and Stephanie Rich? Or how about a dunk contest? This would be ideal considering Alando Tucker is healthy and it would give fans an early look at freshman DeAaron Williams who supposedly has hops comparable to Tucker. Finally, men's coach Bo Ryan could cap off the morning with one of his ever so amusing stories from his college days at Wilkes.
I can envision it perfectly for next year; the Kohl Center packed in red and white creating a premature game day atmosphere, the lights turned out, fireworks, laser shows and then coach Ryan and women's coach Lisa Stone flying down from the rafters onto center court! Oh, the excitement!
On second thought, is this really Wisconsin basketball? Not quite.
Midnight Madness would have been a great way to get fans re-acquainted with the teams and even introduce the many new faces that appear on both rosters this year, but the spectacle that comes along with it does not fit in here. Every year during the men's first practice of the season, coach Ryan starts off with a passing drill that focuses on the crux of Wisconsin basketball-fundamentals. Even with coaches before him like Dick Bennett, the fundamentals still had as much, if not more importance. Under Bennett, the team prided itself not on how they would get points, but how they prevented opponents from scoring. Things did change a little last year with Devin Harris' flashy highlights constantly played on the ESPN Top Ten, but he also had to start somewhere, and that was with Ryan's passing drill he learned on the first day of practice. Show-off dunks, three point contests and even William Hung don't really fit into the formula of Badger basketball.
So I guess I can live without Midnight Madness, but just as long as there is plenty of madness to go around in March.
Are you feeling deprived of Midnight Madness? Tell Betsy about it at eagolomski@wisc.edu.
