Well, It Kinda Sorta Starts Tonight
Posted by rtmsf on October 10th, 2008Yep, Midnight Madness is upon us. Well, at least at the few schools who have flouted conventional wisdom and are using their 2-hr window of practice time this week to get Midnight Madness out of the way earlier than everyone else. It’ll be interesting to monitor whether this recruiting “advantage,” according to the NABC, will actually translate into anything substantial. Here’s the weekend schedule.
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Mountaineer Madness – West Virginia – Friday 9:30pm EDT
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Big Blue Madness – Kentucky – Friday 10:30pm EDT
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Football Game Madness – Illinois – Saturday ~3:30pm CDT
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Marshall Madness – Marshall – Saturday 9:00pm EDT
We’re interested to see in particular how this Illinois practice in the end zone of their football stadium turns out.
In Champaign, Ill., the men’s and women’s basketball teams will head onto a court set up behind one of the end zones Saturday at Memorial Stadium after the conclusion of Illinois’ game with Minnesota. The basketball practice, to be held on a donated court, will be canceled if it rains. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our players to be on this type of stage,” Illinois basketball coach Bruce Weber said.
Nevertheless, we shouldn’t get used to this early start. Word is that the NCAA will enact emergency legislation later this month to put an end to the practice of early practice. We’ll try to get some photos up as these things happen over the weekend.