Saturday, October 16, 2004
When practice is perfect
First the fun, then time for serious work
By Jim O'Connell
The Associated Press
The college basketball season officially ended just more than six months ago when Connecticut left the Alamodome with its second national championship trophy, beating Georgia Tech.
After an offseason marked by players leaving early for the NBA, recruits signing with a school or going right to the NBA, and coaches either heading for the NBA or turning it down, it's time to return to action.
No other sport marks the start of practice as precisely as college basketball, and at 12:01 a.m. today, it was back to work, officially, after a couple of months of unsupervised scrimmages.
"That's the last thing you've got to get out of the way before you get serious in practice," Maryland coach Gary Williams said of Midnight Madness. "There are so many things you have to do now as a college coach that are really not basketball-related. You just want to get to the basketball every year, and this gets us to the basketball."
It was another Maryland coach - Lefty Driesell - who started Midnight Madness in 1970. His version was quite different, players running a mile in the dark in an attempt by Driesell to illustrate that no one would outwork them as the season approached.
Now schools try to outdo each other with festivities aimed at getting the fans ready for the season.
Maryland, Kansas and Kentucky had their usual packed houses with fans being treated to laser shows, skits and of course, just after midnight, dunking lines that get the basketball juices flowing.
Keith Booth was a star player at Maryland who is starting his first season as an assistant coach at his alma mater.
"As a player, you look forward to Midnight Madness. You want to come in and put on a show," he said. "It's just a big pep rally to kick off the season. It's great for the student body and great for the players."
Memphis was to have a new touch to its Midnight Madness.
The school band was to lead a parade up Beale Street to the new FedExForum, which the Tigers will share with the NBA's Grizzlies.
Not every program started festivities at midnight.
Some schools with home football games today will have things planned around that.
Illinois will hold a dunking contest and 3-point shooting contest for its team after the football game with Michigan. Once the Nebraska football team takes its walk to the stadium for a game against Baylor, the basketball team will scrimmage on a special outdoor court that will be placed on the Ed Weir Track. One fan also will have the chance to shoot to win up to $500,000.
And then there are the coaches who see today as the first day of work and don't have any parties planned.
Alabama's Mark Gottfried will have his players hit the court at 6 a.m., and he expects the practice to last nearly three hours.
"We're just going to work," Gottfried said.
Can March be far behind?
Key dates for the next round of "Madness," the NCAA Tournament:
• Opening game, March 15, Dayton.
• First and second rounds, March 17-20: Boise, Idaho; Charlotte, N.C.; Cleveland; Indianapolis; Nashville, Tenn; Oklahoma City; Tucson, Ariz.; Worcester, Mass.
• Elite Eight, March 24-27: Albuquerque, N.M.; Austin, Texas; Chicago; Syracuse, NY.
