Friday night was supposed to rescue us from the disappointment of the NBA lockout. ESPN praised the return of college basketball and excitedly covered "Midnight Madness" events taking place around the country.
Instead, Friday night on the Hilltop was just another disappointment. As other big-time universities opened their seasons in front of packed crowds and screaming fans, the four corners of McDonough Gymnasium were littered with empty seats.
At the University of Kentucky, students camped out in tents for hours just to get tickets to attend the"Madness." At Georgetown, students were able to walk in even after the event started. In Chapel Hill, players scrimmaged in front of 20,000 students. In McDonough, less than 2,000 filled the bleachers.
In fact, Georgetown's Midnight Madness was more about student dance teams than the basketball team. I do appreciate the talent of groups like GU Step Team and Groove Theory, but was Friday night really the time and place for them to perform? The doors opened at 8 p.m., but the show we really came to see — the men's basketball team — didn't start until a couple of hours later.
It's ok to have a little fun — the musical chairs and shooting contest were entertaining — but whoever directed the event essentially turned it into a talent show for our dance groups. There's a reason why students started leaving the bleachers.
I admit that I was one of them. Horrible Bosses was playing in the ICC Auditorium, and I can guarantee that I was more entertained by Jennifer Aniston than Midnight Madness.
I didn't miss much at McDonough. The word on the street was that JTIII overstayed his welcome; there were more bribes to entice us to attend the women's basketball games, including a free pizza and a Metropass that is probably worth five bucks; the slam-dunk contest and alumni introductions were apparently pretty cool, but where was Allen Iverson? I guess he really doesn't like showing up to practice.
At the end of the day, Midnight Madness was supposed to get us all pumped up for the new season. But how excited are we? Three problems put a damper on the upcoming year.
First, we don't have any strong personalities on our team. Last year, we were all focused on Austin Freeman and Chris Wright, two returning stars that we hoped could lead us to March glory. When Austin or Chris played well, it energized the entire team. Do we have any stars this year that can take their place? Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson are the two most experienced returnees, and there will be a lot of pressure on them to step up and become leaders. But as of today, few in the college basketball world really know who this team is, and it will be up to these players to restore respect to Hoya basketball. We're anxiously hoping for the best, but we're just not fully confident that they can carry the load.
Second, our early-season home schedule is quite simply not very exciting. Our December and January games feature low-end teams like Howard and NJIT, and we won't be on campus for our winter break matchups against Memphis, Marquette and Cincinnati. Fans will have to wait a long time before we see our three big games against UConn, Villanova and Notre Dame — all of which take place in February. While these games are without a doubt worth waiting for, they won't be stirring up the Hilltop any time soon. And don't forget that our rivalry game against Syracuse is hosted by our opponent this year.
And finally, Hoya basketball is in trouble. In the past three years, we have lost in the first round of the NCAA and NIT postseason tournaments, and skeptics are starting to question Georgetown's recruiting ability and John Thompson's leadership. Last year, Hollis Thompson almost left for the NBA, and VeeSanford and Jerrelle Benimon ditched the program altogether. It goes without saying that the Big East is hanging on by a thread.
We live in uncertain times. We're not pumped up or confident. Instead, we're anxious and maybe even a little bit upset. And instead of rallying our spirits, Midnight Madness just made us even madder.
