A Sea Of Red

Does anyone know if Coach McKay is going to schedule an open "Midnight Madness" practice for the students and the public to attend?

In his interview at halftime of the St. Francis football game, RMc said they will not be having Midnight Madness this year. The gist of his reasoning is that as a new staff they don't want a bunch of hype before they have done anything. He wants to go out there and get it done against our schedule. He did not rule it out for future years.

i think it is good that we not have it. Because the last couple of years the midnight madness has been boring. I think the LU athletic staff should check out UNC or even Florida's Midnight madness because they do it big there and take some notes and incorporate it for the future.

From what I have heard and the video I've seen, the Midnight Madness at the Pit in NM were up there with the best. Of course it helps if you have JR Giddens and Tony Danridge to face off in a dunkathon death match as the highlight of the night!

The NCAA essentially killed midnight madness accross the country by pushing the allowable start time to earlier in the day so families could attend a couple years ago. While most places still have something, I see it all dwindling over time.

SCAR, do you have any great Midnight Madness stories from your playing/coaching days?

thesportscritic wrote:i think it is good that we not have it. Because the last couple of years the midnight madness has been boring. I think the LU athletic staff should check out UNC or even Florida's Midnight madness because they do it big there and take some notes and incorporate it for the future.

UNC's was garbage last year. I watched it on TV. I think our players would not be doing "that kind of dancing" at Liberty.

LUconn wrote:The NCAA essentially killed midnight madness accross the country by pushing the allowable start time to earlier in the day so families could attend a couple years ago. While most places still have something, I see it all dwindling over time.

How does that kill it? It should make it better.

People try to make to much out of "Midnight Madness." It is, what it is. As a basketball fanatic, all I want to do is see "the new team" play a little bit. A few layup lines and a 10 or 15 minute scrimmage would make me more than happy.

Oh, those video montage's of the new players have also been good.

To me what we don't need are:

1. Silly games
2. Contests
3. Women's basketball players

It also helps if the players are fan friendly and not too "cocky" or trying to act "thuggish."

Oh, and I agree with McKay about not having Midnight Madness this year.

kel varson wrote:

LUconn wrote:The NCAA essentially killed midnight madness accross the country by pushing the allowable start time to earlier in the day so families could attend a couple years ago. While most places still have something, I see it all dwindling over time.

How does that kill it? It should make it better.

because it was a gimmick. You can start practice on such and such a date and not a minute before so they start it 12am. That's the draw. If a team wanted to make it more family friendly, they could have had the festivities the next day at 5pm when everybody could go.

LUconn wrote:

kel varson wrote:

LUconn wrote:The NCAA essentially killed midnight madness accross the country by pushing the allowable start time to earlier in the day so families could attend a couple years ago. While most places still have something, I see it all dwindling over time.

How does that kill it? It should make it better.

because it was a gimmick. You can start practice on such and such a date and not a minute before so they start it 12am. That's the draw. If a team wanted to make it more family friendly, they could have had the festivities the next day at 5pm when everybody could go.

You're right it was a gimmick, but I would be more inclined to go at say 8 p.m. then at midnight. I don't think basketball fans care, they just want an opportunity to see the team. As long as its promoted people will come.

I disagree. Without the gimmicky aspect of it being at midnight, most basketball fans know what a worthless event it actually is.

Cider Jim wrote:SCAR, do you have any great Midnight Madness stories from your playing/coaching days?

No stories really. I hosted the one during LB and Dees' freshman year. That one was good because of the dunk contest. Blair, Woodson, Lightbourne and Dees had good dunks. Blair won it. Gabe Martin was there but was not 100% otherwise I don't think LB would have won it. Also my good friend Toby Mac made an appearance towards the end and was a judge during the dunk contest. I did my best, hype-man impressions but that is really not my forte. Hurricane Fan and GMTM helped out that night too. Prototype did a great job with the event though. It can be fun if done right and if it is not that long of an event. I think Ritchie is smart not to have it (yes we are on a 1st name basis ).

kel varson wrote:

thesportscritic wrote:i think it is good that we not have it. Because the last couple of years the midnight madness has been boring. I think the LU athletic staff should check out UNC or even Florida's Midnight madness because they do it big there and take some notes and incorporate it for the future.

UNC's was garbage last year. I watched it on TV. I think our players would not be doing "that kind of dancing" at Liberty.

midnight madness at UNC last year was down.....but the 5 before that were amazing!!! We should try and copy them, but I don't think we have the resources for it

Who cares about families? It's freakin' college basketball. Any non-game events should be centered completely around the students.

kel varson wrote:

thesportscritic wrote:i think it is good that we not have it. Because the last couple of years the midnight madness has been boring. I think the LU athletic staff should check out UNC or even Florida's Midnight madness because they do it big there and take some notes and incorporate it for the future.

UNC's was garbage last year. I watched it on TV. I think our players would not be doing "that kind of dancing" at Liberty.

i'm sorry you didn't like it but i did!!!!!

LUconn wrote:I disagree. Without the gimmicky aspect of it being at midnight, most basketball fans know what a worthless event it actually is.

It depends what your going for and how they do it. If its what LU usually does than yes its pretty worthless. Like I said, I care about the basketball aspect and I just want to see the new players and how they measure up. A little scrimmage and layup lines is fine with me.

thesportscritic wrote:

kel varson wrote:

thesportscritic wrote:i think it is good that we not have it. Because the last couple of years the midnight madness has been boring. I think the LU athletic staff should check out UNC or even Florida's Midnight madness because they do it big there and take some notes and incorporate it for the future.

UNC's was garbage last year. I watched it on TV. I think our players would not be doing "that kind of dancing" at Liberty.

i'm sorry you didn't like it but i did!!!!!

Like I explained, from an entertaiment perspective it would have been okay, but I just want to see the team play a little. I'm not really into the Hip Hop and Dancing thing. Now...if they played the Beatles.

if we played the beatles, every stupid moron with a guitar would be out there acting like a effing retard

kel varson wrote:

thesportscritic wrote:

kel varson wrote: UNC's was garbage last year. I watched it on TV. I think our players would not be doing "that kind of dancing" at Liberty.

i'm sorry you didn't like it but i did!!!!!

Like I explained, from an entertaiment perspective it would have been okay, but I just want to see the team play a little. I'm not really into the Hip Hop and Dancing thing. Now...if they played the Beatles.

i would say mix it in. It looks like we have contrasting styles. I like a little hip hop and dancing.

I agree. I think they should do something--anything really. It's an excuse for kids to get out past curfew. I'd be okay with a three-point contest, a dunk contest and maybe even a little pickup ball between the team.

Something to build some excitement around this basketball team.

TDDance234 wrote:I agree. I think they should do something--anything really. It's an excuse for kids to get out past curfew. I'd be okay with a three-point contest, a dunk contest and maybe even a little pickup ball between the team.

Something to build some excitement around this basketball team.

That is the worst idea for the LU basketball team.....b/c what if they play awful or just plain suck at shooting threes??? the fans would walk away wishing they went to another school...

McKay was right on this one

A scrimmage against the alumni would be good, but we all know Scar and his buddies go to bed way before midnight now.

The way we did the contests at Coastal was to have students shoot them. They did the dunk contest, we picked a few to do the 3-pt and free throw contests as well. The dunk contest came down to two football players and Ren McKinnon won it. It all starts with having a good host (last year, I forget who it was, but it was terrible). Then you have to do things to keep the crowd in it, give things away, etc. It's not that hard.

jmdickens wrote:

TDDance234 wrote:I agree. I think they should do something--anything really. It's an excuse for kids to get out past curfew. I'd be okay with a three-point contest, a dunk contest and maybe even a little pickup ball between the team.

Something to build some excitement around this basketball team.

That is the worst idea for the LU basketball team.....b/c what if they play awful or just plain suck at shooting threes??? the fans would walk away wishing they went to another school...

McKay was right on this one

That's why I am against contests. Clearly we all want different things. Just kill it (midnight madness) and have an open practice and scrimmage.