Ethan Back is the MAC correspondent for RTC.

Top Storylines

• Will Ohio Be Able to Reach the Sweet Sixteen Again? After an extremely successful season that ended in an overtime loss in the Sweet Sixteen against ACC power North Carolina, Ohio will look to make another deep NCAA Tournament run. The Bobcats have a lot of hype to live up to, as they return all of their significant contributors from a season ago, including standouts D.J. Cooper and Walter Offutt. Not all of the personnel returns from a season ago, however, with former head coach John Groce now at Illinois, but new head coach Jim Christian will look to keep momentum going.

Ohio’s D.J. Cooper Hopes To Follow One Head-Turning Season With Another. (AP Photo/T. Dejak)

• Toledo’s Postseason Ban: Toledo has a very solid core intact from the 2011-12 season, so it’s a real shame that the Rockets won’t be able to qualify for postseason play due to its academic problems. Luckily for the Rockets, two of its best players (Rian Pearson and Julius Brown) are underclassmen, so they’ll still get a chance to win the MAC Tournament in future years, assuming they stay in school beyond the 2012-13 season.
• East vs. West: Last season, the East had five teams finish with a winning record, whereas the West had a measly one. This clear imbalance within the MAC doesn’t have serious ramifications, as the conference tournament seeds are not based on division, but for the sake of self-respect, the West will hope to have a better season than it did last year.
• No More Zeiglers: Winning games hasn’t been an easy task for Central Michigan these past two seasons, as its 12-20 conference record during that span indicates. It won’t be any easier this year after the firing of head coach Ernie Zeigler led to the transfer of his son and the Chippewas’ leading scorer Trey Zeigler to Pittsburgh. New head coach Keno Davis brings great experience to the program, but his first season on the job will likely be a rough one.

Reader’s Take I

Read the rest of this entry »

And away we go, headfirst into another season heralded by our 2012-13 edition of Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball, our annual compendium of YouTube clips from the previous season 100% guaranteed to make you wish games were starting tonight. We’ve captured here what we believe were the most compelling moments from last season, some of which will bring back the goosebumps and others of which will leave you shaking your head. Enjoy!

#24 – Where The Sweet Taste of Victory (Finally) Happens

We also encourage you to re-visit the entire archive of this feature from the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 seasons.

Most of the prominent schools who were going to hold a Midnight Madness event already held it, with the majority coming on Friday night (highlights here) and a few others — Harvard and Louisville, for example — trickling out over the weekend. A good number of schools for one reason or another have held off on a celebration thus far, choosing instead to introduce this year’s team to the fans in the coming days and weeks.

UNC Celebrated More Than Just the Return of the Team Friday Night (credit: Jeffrey A. Camarati)

Here’s the list of Midnight Madness stragglers, for those of you still interested.

• Arizona – Sunday, October 21 – Arizona’s McDonald’s Red-Blue game at 2 PM PT will feature a scrimmage as well as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Arizona’s 1988 Final Four team.
• BYU  – Wednesday, October 24 – Cougar Tipoff will begin at 7 PM MT and also run streaming on byutvsports.com.
• Dayton – Saturday, October 20 – Dayton’s Red and Blue Scrimmage will begin at Noon ET and feature autographs and a meet-and-greet session prior to the football team’s game against Valparaiso.
• Duke – Friday, October 19 – Countdown to Craziness is scheduled for 8 PM ET on Friday night and will be carried live on GoDuke.com. Several elite prospects in the Classes of 2014 and 2015 are expected to be there.
• Gonzaga – Saturday, October 20 – Kraziness at the Kennel tips off at 4 PM PT. The event is also being held concurrently with Fall Family Weekend on the Gonzaga campus, and one fan will get to shoot a halfcourt shot for a chance at $10,000.
• Ohio State – Monday, October 22 – The Agonis Club is again sponsoring a meet-and-greet with the players and bid through a silent auction for team gear and seats right behind the bench. This event, which costs $75 per person to attend, begins at 5:30 PM ET.
• Stanford – Friday, October 19 – The Cardinal’s Friday Frenzy event, beginning at 6 PM PT, will feature a raffle for a fan to win an all-expenses paid trip to the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas next month.
• UNLV – Thursday, October 18 – The Runnin’ Rebel Scarlet/Gray Showcase (that’s a mouthful) will begin at 7 PM PT and feature a Legends Game in addition to the standard fan-friendly dunk contest and scrimmage.
• Villanova – Thursday, October 18 – Hoops on the Hudson will take place at 6:30 PM ET at The Lighthouse on Pier 61 in Manhattan so that NYC-area fans and alumni can meet the team in a relaxed environment. The price per person: $300.
• Xavier – Saturday, October 20 – Musketeer Madness will tip off at 6 PM ET with introductions to the team and the standard fare of events.

And away we go, headfirst into another season heralded by our 2012-13 edition of Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball, our annual compendium of YouTube clips from the previous season 100% guaranteed to make you wish games were starting tonight. We’ve captured here what we believe were the most compelling moments from last season, some of which will bring back the goosebumps and others of which will leave you shaking your head. Enjoy!

#25 – Where This is Our Super Bowl Happens

We also encourage you to re-visit the entire archive of this feature from the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 seasons.

We’ve been scouring around the web tonight to find some of the best sights and sounds submitted through various forms of social media. Much more will undoubtedly pop up in the next 24 hours, but this is what we’ve found so far…

Pittsburgh dusted off Midnight Madness for the first time in a number of years and seemed to have won the night with its outdoor court, Jamie Dixon’s impersonation of Jackie Moon, and a Bill Raftery re-enacting his iconic “SEND IT IN JEROME” call from the wayback machine. But Kentucky‘s Big Blue Madness was epic as usual, Syracuse brought in Wale to rock the house, and Mizzou fans gave us our first sorta-RTC of the nascent season. More to come over the weekend!

Pitt’s Outdoor Madness Was Certainly Unique (credit: @laurenwalheim)

Jamie Dixon’s Getup Was Ridiculous… and Awesome (credit: @andrew_salesi)

Remember This Guy? (credit: @brucepearl)

Read the rest of this entry »

And away we go, headfirst into another season heralded by our 2012-13 edition of Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball, our annual compendium of YouTube clips from the previous season 100% guaranteed to make you wish games were starting tonight. We’ve captured here what we believe were the most compelling moments from last season, some of which will bring back the goosebumps and others of which will leave you shaking your head. Enjoy!

#26 – Where Stupid Is as Stupid Does Happens

We also encourage you to re-visit the entire archive of this feature from the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 seasons.

In a little more than a half-day, coaches, players, fans and media alike will begin congregating at gyms on college campuses around the country to celebrate one of the most unique traditions in all of sports — Midnight Madness. Even though nobody actually holds their season-opening fan frenzy at the witching hour anymore, the name has hung on for dear life, perhaps in the hope that some enterprising schools will someday bring back the doppelganger of Lefty Driesell’s creativity.

As far as we can tell, about half of last year’s NCAA Tournament field will hold an event on Friday night, highlighted by the star-studded shows at Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Michigan State and aired throughout the evening on ESPNU. Another 15 or so will hold some kind of celebratory event on a separate day, and the remainder for some unconscionable reason are taking the year off. If we got something wrong as far as the details, shoot us an email and we’ll fix it. We’re going to be watching all the coverage and keeping track of the events around the country throughout Friday evening, so feel free to tweet @rushthecourt and/or contact us at rushthecourt@yahoo.com if you have some great photos, videos or simply anecdotes and rumors to share.

Here is a list of last season’s NCAA Tournament teams (along with a few other prominent basketball schools) who will be holding a season-opening celebration TONIGHT (major h/t to Jeremy Pfingsten for doing the heavy lifting and research on this piece). We’ll have the stragglers listed a bit later this weekend.

FRIDAY NIGHT EVENT (note: ESPNU will begin its coverage from Bloomington, Indiana, at 5 PM ET)

• Baylor – Moonlight Madness featuring both the men’s and women’s teams at 8:30 PM CT at the Ferrell Center. ESPNU will provide national television coverage.
• Colorado – Buffs Madness represents the first Midnight Madness at the school in 16 years. Celebration will begin after the volleyball game that starts at 7 PM MT.
• Connecticut – UConn’s First Night festivities will begin at 7 PM ET. According to the UConn athletic department, fans will be treated to performances by the marching band, the cheer and dance squads, a dunk contest and giveaways.
• Creighton – Bluejay Madness at 8 PM CT will include introductions of the players from both the women’s and men’s teams, a three-point shooting contest, scrimmages by both squads, and a dunk contest featuring a few of the men’s players.
• Detroit – 2012 Titan Tip-Off will get underway with the President’s Championship Celebration in the Titan Club Room at 4:30 PM ET, followed by on-court festivities at 5 PM.
• Florida State – The Seminoles will tip off their ACC title defense season with a practice at the Donald Tucker Center at 7 PM ET, part of the group of schools featured on ESPNU that night.
• Georgetown – This is the seventh-straight year ESPNU has featured Midnight Madness coverage and this is the fourth time Georgetown has been part of the televised coverage. Word on the street is that Doug E. Fresh will be there.
• Indiana – Jay Williams & Dan Dakich will tip off ESPNU’s programming with live walk-through coverage of IU’s first real practice at 5 PM ET.
• Kansas – Late Night in the Phog will be featured on ESPNU as well, with festivities beginning at 6:30 PM CT. It will also be aired online at AT&T Jayhawk All-Access via KUathletics.com.
• Kentucky – Coming off a national title and a tremendous two weeks of recruiting news, what will John Calipari have in store during Big Blue Madness (tickets sold out in 35 minutes, btw)? In addition to ESPNU’s coverage, complete live coverage will be shown online on ESPN3 beginning at 7:30 PM ET. Read the rest of this entry »

And away we go, headfirst into another season heralded by our 2012-13 edition of Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball, our annual compendium of YouTube clips from the previous season 100% guaranteed to make you wish games were starting tonight. We’ve captured here what we believe were the most compelling moments from last season, some of which will bring back the goosebumps and others of which will leave you shaking your head. Enjoy!

#27 – Where Snaer Gun in Cameron Happens

We also encourage you to re-visit the entire archive of this feature from the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 seasons.

And away we go, headfirst into another season heralded by our 2012-13 edition of Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball, our annual compendium of YouTube clips from the previous season 100% guaranteed to make you wish games were starting tonight. We’ve captured here what we believe were the most compelling moments from last season, some of which will bring back the goosebumps and others of which will leave you shaking your head. Enjoy!

#28 – Where Quadruple Overtime Happens

We also encourage you to re-visit the entire archive of this feature from the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 seasons.

And away we go, headfirst into another season heralded by our 2012-13 edition of Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball, our annual compendium of YouTube clips from the previous season 100% guaranteed to make you wish games were starting tonight. We’ve captured here what we believe were the most compelling moments from last season, some of which will bring back the goosebumps and others of which will leave you shaking your head. Enjoy!

#29 – Where Love Him or Hate Him Happens

We also encourage you to re-visit the entire archive of this feature from the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 seasons.