The past two years, many Maryland fans were already losing focus on the football team and ready to move on to basketball by the time mid-October has arrived. But with the success of the football team this year, Maryland Madness was sneaking up on a lot of fans...until the University announced that the event would be held in historic Cole Field House. Since then, we've been anxiously waiting for Friday, October 18th to arrive. That day is today and Cole is ready.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Finishing touches. We'll see you tonight! <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MarylandMadness&src=hash">#MarylandMadness</a> <a href="http://t.co/zgDCxvbh5k">pic.twitter.com/zgDCxvbh5k</a></p>— UMD- Fac, Ops Events (@UMD_FOE) <a href="https://twitter.com/UMD_FOE/statuses/391180051976183809">October 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
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As you can see, they've put some awesome finishing touches on the court, including adding the original "M" at center court and including the waving Maryland flag on either side of the midcourt line, the way it originally appeared. I was hoping this is what they would do, so it was very exciting to see once it was completed. A huge thank you to the University of Maryland Athletics- Facilities, Operations, and Events folks for tweeting out so many pictures of Cole being transformed back into a basketball arena.
Here is a schedule of events for tonight:
- 5:30 PM - Doors open to the public
- 5:30-6:15 - Public Autograph sessions with the Men's & Women's basketball teams
- 6:30 - Alumni basketball game tips off
The event will be streamed live for free via www.umterps.com (likely here), so if you couldn't get a ticket (the event is sold out) or you're not in the state, you get to experience the excitement of basketball back at Cole via the interwebs.
The other big component of Maryland Madness are the recruits who are planning on attending. Here is who we've heard will be in attendance for tonight's event:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Have confirmed Melo Trimble, Dion Wiley, Randall Broddie, Anthony Cowan, Alani Moore, Joe Hampton, Ako Adams all expected at MM tonight.</p>— Testudo (@TerrapinNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/TerrapinNation/statuses/391253322297909248">October 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Latest addition to <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Terps&src=hash">#Terps</a>' Maryland Madness visitor list is Top-50 junior Curtis Jones: <a href="http://t.co/Z0oqeNk6iy">http://t.co/Z0oqeNk6iy</a></p>— Jeff Ermann (@insidemdsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/insidemdsports/statuses/391219485538910208">October 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
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We've also heard that 2016 forward Daryl Gerald will be in attendance tonight. There will probably be additional recruits there and some of the above might not be there, but we'll have a full wrap-up of that in the coming days.
We'll have an open thread and will be providing live updates from tonight's event all evening, so if you won't be at Cole, hang out here to talk about all of the awesomeness of tonight.