Ok, we’ve got some information flowing in tonight this weekend…

The production values on these things are unbelievable, considering they’re still just glorified practices…  from Georgetown…

How about Tom Crean’s first Hoosier Hysteria (Indiana)…

It looked like a great time at the Kennel (Gonzaga) on Friday night…

From Michigan State – a nasty 360-degree left dunk from Durrell Summers…

The original venue of Midnight Madness (Maryland)…

Here’s some K-State footage…  what happened to that Beasley kid?

How about a little George Mason love with Michael Jackson in the background…

Dunk you very much at UConn…

Some Mackey Madness at Purdue…

Here’s an excerpt from Corey Johns, our America East correspondent, at UMBC Sports Blog with a description of their festivities on Fri. night. 

Then came the dunk contest.  Freshmen Brett Burrier (6-6), Jake Wasco (6-9) and Chauncey Gilliam (6-2) and junior Matt Spadafora (6-4) all took the floor for the contest.  The first round Spadafora was the only one to
make both dunks sending him automatically to the finals, and the next guy was up to fan vote, and they choose Chauncey Gilliam.The finals were set and Spadafora hit is first one sending the crowd in an uproar thinking he won it right there, but Gilliam made and even more impressive shot making the crowd even crazier.  With the second shot at a dunk Spadafora barely missed hitting the back of the rim and shooting the ball back out.  Gilliam went on the court with the contest on the line.  He ran up did a 360 hook tomahawk dunk for the win and a floor storming performance as some fans and both the men’s and women’s team’s picked him up and carried him around as he celebrated.

Josh over at Big Ten Geeks, RTC’s Big 10 correspondents, was kind enough to allow us access to some live-blogging he did last night while watching the BTN coverage…

Live-Blogging Midnight Madness in the Big Ten

Josh here, from Big Ten Geeks, blogging the Midnight Madness festivities from…my living room.  But hey, I have the Big Ten Network in HD, and if you’re not one of the 12 or so households that receive the network – no fear! – I’ll be here to give you the rundown.  Looks like we have Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Minnesota, and Michigan State on tap. 

…Jim Jackson just compared Wisconsin to the New England Patriots.  I hope Marcus Landry has strong knees.

…Lots of dancing at the Night of the Grateful Red.  Each of the players has a silly dance routine with a cute co-ed (dance team members?  Does Wisconsin have a dance team?  Does Bo Ryan coach that too?).  Some are…better than others.  Jared Berggren gave a rythmically-challenged dance to Vanilla Ice.

…Man, Wisconsin has a lot of tall white guys.  Bo certainly has a type.

…Wisconsin fans hope Jason Bohannon has a better outside shot this season than pop-and-lock.

…Am I alone for thinking Bo Ryan bears a striking resemblance to Jon Voight?  Everytime I see him, Coach Kilmer’s voice pops in my head.

…Yes, Bo danced again this year, but it wasn’t as good as last year’s Soulja Boy routine.  But how can you top that?

…The festivities are tipping off in Mackey Arena.  Purdue has a Mission Impossible theme going. 

…Chris Kramer – not a dunker.

…BTN cuts away from the dunk competition as super-athlete Lewis Jackson starts his routine.  That’s just bad scouting.

…Hey, Kramer threw one down, and it appears he’s worked his way into the finals.  Well, hey, Purdue figures to rely on outside shooting anyways.

…JaJuan Johnson takes home the crown.  No LewJack highlights to be seen.  Color me disappointed. 

…Coach Tom Crean figures that IU will shoot a lot of 3s this season.  The talent certainly seems to be on the perimeter.

…Flipping over to ESPNU.  It’s ex-Big Ten coach Bill Self with a blue microphone.  He looks like he’s lost some weight.

…Scrimmage at Purdue.  A lot of defense being played for a scrimmage.  The Boilers will be tough to score on this season.

…Wild prediction time: LewJack will supplant Chris Kramer as the starting PG by the end of the season.  He looks good out there.

…A lot of growing pains at Indiana.  The fans are still figuring out how to cheer their coach.  Right now, they’re adapting the classical two-syllable chant (“Mich-ael Jor-dan” clap clap clapclapclap) to an elongated “To-om Cre-ean.”  Err, needs some work.  A modest proposal: why not go with the two-syllable “TomCrean!” clapclap, or the “U-S-A! U-S-A” three syllable cheer (“Coach Tom Crean! Coach Tom Crean!”)?

..Out to the Barn now.  You really have to like what Tubby’s done in a short time at Minnesota.  I’m sure Billy Gillispie is a great coach, but I can’t help but feel that Kentucky chased away a good one.

…Announcers are debating whether or not Blake Hoffarber should come off the bench.  Please – no!  The Hoff needs minutes!  It would be a mistake to relegate the best returning scorer to anything less than significant minutes.

…Why is Minnesota showing old footage of Flip Saunders runing some globetrotter-type drills?

…Every time I flip over to ESPNU to check out non-Big Ten festivities, I just get Andy Katz arguing with Adrian Branch in a studio.  Madness!

…Cut to the Breslin Center, which is having a flashback night to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1979 championship season.  Izzo hints that we might see some crazy 70s hair, mustaches, and short shorts.  Hopefully Goran Suton does not partake in that last one.

…Minnesota scrimmage time!  The Hoff is on the bench and…Tubby calls a timeout?  He can’t help himself, he’s always got to be coaching.

…IU scrimmage time!  Yeah, the Hoosiers will be short this season.  Either Tom Crean is mic’ed up, or he’s just really loud.  Chastising players for a lot of bad shots.

Well, that does it for the BTN’s Midnight Madness coverage.  Fun night for the fans, and it means that the season is just around the corner.

From Greg Miller at S. Illinois –

Even though they’re coming off their first non-NCAA Tournament season since 2001, the 2008-09 Salukis had a good crowd on hand at the SIU Arena for this year’s version of Maroon Madness (despite it being a high school football Friday night).  It was the first chance to really get a look at a big group of newcomers that have been highly touted as the best recruiting class in SIU history.  From my perspective, a lot of them showed some serious potential.  Kevin Dillard (2008 Illinois Mr. Basketball) didn’t score much, but his ball-handling skills show he will be able to help Bryan Mullins out a lot at the point this season.  Ryan Hare is an explosive wing out of Chicago who can get the rim quick.  Torres Roundtree put on a well-rounded display.  He threw down an alley-oop from Mullins, drove hard to the rack for an easy lay-up and also did a good job running the break and finding the open man at the other end.  He will be a welcome addition to the backcourt.  Didn’t see a lot from fellow McCluer North alum Anthony Booker.  But size alone, he is a monster.  A legit 6’8 that will definately be able to bang in the Valley.  Justin Bocot was a pleasant surprise.  After sitting out last year with academic problems, Bocot is back and has some serious offensive game.  He showed the ability to get the rim and knock down the long three (depsite having a knuckleball shot).  All in all, it was a showcase for the freshman.  And they showcased some skills.  The one thing that remains to be seen is if these young ‘Dawgs can play that Chris Lowery-defense that has made SIU famous.  Here is a link to some interviews from SIU Media Day and highlights from tonight’s Maroon Madness.

Here are some photos from Memphis tonight…

More to come…

We’ve let the news accumulate for a while, so without any further delay…

• Tom Izzo porked the media by putting them through a “typical” 2-hr MSU practice last week.
• Ben Howland got a hefty raise and an extension through 2014 coaching his self-professed dream job.
• If you haven’t heard, Jim Jones’ grandson Rob Jones will be playing for the University of San Diego this year. There have been multiple takes on this, but we like Extra P.’s at STF best.
• Hoops Weiss has a scathing analysis of the Jim Calhoun / Holy Cross Coaches vs. Cancer situation.
• Kyle Whelliston contributed a really insightful article on espn.com about high majors playing road games at mid-major schools this year.
• Hard luck- former McD’s all-american Mike Williams ruptured his achilles tendon in a workout at Cincinnati last week and will the entire season (he sat out last year as a transfer from Texas). USC’s Daniel Hackett broke his jaw (on OJ Mayo’s elbow) last week and will miss up to six weeks. Vandy’s JeJuan Brown has withdrawn from school for personal reasons.
• Speaking of OJ, this video of him playing in summer league is making the rounds.
• AOL Fanhouse is continuing its analysis of all the Big East schedules.
• NCAA Hoops Today continued its analysis of last spring’s HS all-star games with the Roundball Classic and the Jordan Classic.
• The Big Ten Network’s twelve viewers will get to see several Midnight Madnesses next Friday, including Illini Madness, Hoosier Hysteria, Midnight Madness (MSU), Tubby’s Tipoff and Night of the Grateful Red.
• Gary Parrish lists his top points and combo guards (Derrick Rose – Memphis), top shooters and wings (Chris Lofton – Tennessee), and top bigs (Tyler Hansbrough – UNC) in the nation. He really likes freshmen.
• DeCourcy lists his top players the more traditional way – centers (Hansbrough), power forwards (Darrell Arthur – Kansas), small forwards (Chase Budinger – Arizona), shooting guards (Lofton), and point guards (DJ Augustin – Texas).
• And continuing our edification of various offensive and defensive schemes, here’s an explanation of Bo Ryan’s Wisconsin swing offense and a John Beilein-esque 1-3-1 trap.