Men’s and women’s basketball players and campus rec staff pose in the Sid Richardson Center to promote the upcoming Midnight Madness event to be held on Oct. 1. [Photo courtesy Jeline Rivera]

Campus recreation is set to host Midnight Madness on Wednesday Oct. 1 in the Sid Richardson Gymnasium.  

 The event aims to drum up support for the upcoming men’s and women’s basketball season through student and student-athlete tournaments, competitions and performances.  

“I think basketball’s a good way to bring people together, bring people to games and build stronger community within the school,” said senior men’s basketball player Noah Williams. “I think Midnight Madness will help that a lot; they get see who we are, meet us individually, see what we’re capable of.” 

Midnight Madness will begin with set up at 8 p.m. before transitioning into its first event, a 3v3 student-only basketball tournament.  

The tournament will last until 10:15 p.m. with student organization tabling, Ram Band performances and a student dunk contest in-between matches.  

Once the student tournament concludes, the men’s and women’s basketball teams will arrive to fanfare, callouts from Midnight Madness Emcee Jeline Rivera and a performance from the cheer team, Goldine dance team and Ram Band.

“I’m just really excited to be with the team, see all the supporters and just to fill the room with energy,” said women’s basketball center and senior early childhood education major Iasia Goldman. 

University President Dr. Emily Messer and University Vice-President and Dean of Students Dr. Gary Stout, along with Student Government Association representatives, will speak after the team walkout.  

Williams emphasized the support that Midnight Madness will provide for the basketball programs. 

“There’s a lot of unseen work that we do,” Williams said. “A lot of time, energy and effort that we spend out of our day, several hours every day sacrificing our bodies and our minds and that all gets to be celebrated and acknowledged, and it means a lot that we can have people to support us.” 

Next, team drills, a 3v3 game, and a dunk contest will showcase the student athletes’ talents to the Sid Richardson audience.  

“The dunk contest, that’s going to hype everyone up,” said Kyla Speights, a junior marketing major and point guard for the women’s basketball team. 

The 3v3 game will consist of two teams with five men and five women basketball players on each team.  

Speights said she appreciates the women’s team being promoted alongside the men’s team. 

“We women’s team, we don’t really get mentioned or get seen as much as the men’s teams so seeing the supporters come through and recognize us at our games or at Midnight Madness, that will definitely spark us up,” Speights said.  

 The game will run from 10:30 p.m. and conclude with a countdown to midnight to commemorate the official start of the basketball season.  

Prizes for participants, audience members and tournament winners include t-shirts, Rambucks and more.  

The event will be funded by contributions from SGA ($2,500), Campus Rec ($1,500) and private contributions from basketball coaches and Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Services & Retention Dr. Jill Gerloff.

Midnight Madness will conclude with an after-party for students, complete with music, food and games that will end at 1 a.m. 

“We’re hoping it’s going to be a huge turnout,” said Anisha Hinton, a senior psychology major and Campus Rec staff member. 

Jeline Rivera, Campus Rec coordinator, SGA vice president and Masters of Business Administration student, has been the primary planner for the event and will act as Emcee.  

“It [Midnight Madness] was something that was attempted to be done a long time ago and my boss was confident that I was going to be able to do it so he brought the idea to me, I started planning it all, and I was like ‘yea this is something we can do,” Rivera said.  

Basketball season kicks off on Oct. 23 in the Sid Richardson Gymnasium with the men facing the Richland College Thunderducks at 6:00 p.m. and the women taking on the Arlington Baptist Patriots at 8 p.m.