Basketball Teams Open Season With Midnight Madness
10/12/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Basketball Teams Open Season With Midnight Madness
10/12/2002
PITTSBURGH ? The Pittsburgh men?s and women?s basketball seasons officially began Saturday morning as the two teams kicked off practice with Midnight Madness at the Petersen Events Center. Approximately 4,000 fans attended the event which featured a student ticket lottery, several fan contests, a $10,000 half-court shot, slam dunk contest, three-point contest, highlight videos of both the men?s and women?s teams and a 12-minute men?s basketball scrimmage.
The evening began at 8 p.m. when Pittsburgh held its student lottery. A total of 2,815 students waited in line for an opportunity to win a season ticket. The line lasted two hours and 20 minutes long and stretched all the way down Cardiac Hill to Fifth Avenue. Pittsburgh head coach Ben Howland and featured guest/college basketball analyst Bill Raftery were on hand to greet the students which packed the Petersen Events Center lobby off Terrace Street. Student lottery winners are posted on www.pittsburghpanthers.com.
Midnight Madness began at 11 p.m. with several fan contests. Player introductions and highlight videos followed as WTAE-TV?s Andrew Stockey introduced the women?s squad and Raftery announced the men?s team. Raftery also led the crowd in cheers.
Next was a dunk contest put on by the men?s basketball team. Junior guard Julius Page came away the winner as he threw down a tomahawk and windmill dunk respectively. Junior Gino Federico, sophomore Mark McCarroll and freshman Ed Turner also participated in the contest.
The women?s basketball team conducted a three-point contest in which sophomore guard Haley Harguth emerged the winner. The men?s basketball team scrimmaged for 12 minutes and a student had an opportunity to win $10,000 on a half-court shot.
?It was a great experience for our players and our fans,? Pittsburgh head coach Ben Howland said of the evening.
Basketball color commentator Bill Raftery served as the featured guest. Raftery, who calls over 100 college basketball games each season, begins his 19th year as analyst for CBS Sports and serves as CBS Radio analyst for the NCAA Men?s Final Four. He also calls games for ESPN including the 2001-02 Pittsburgh game against Seton Hall. Raftery?s association with the University of Pittsburgh basketball program goes back many years. He uttered the words, ?Send it in Jerome? while calling the 1988 Pittsburgh-Providence game and after Pittsburgh?s Jerome Lane broke the backboard with a ferocious dunk. Also, Melvin Knight, the father of current Pittsburgh All America point guard Brandin Knight, served as an assistant coach under Raftery at Seton Hall from 1978-81.
Raftery was most impressed with the brand new 12,500-seat Petersen Events Center.
?Last year we had a chance to tour the facility and I was overwhelmed,? Raftery said. ?It must be the finest building in the East. For its size, I?m amazed at how intimate it is. What a fantastic place to play.?
Midnight Madness actually began as a men?s basketball promotional event in 1971 when Maryland basketball coach Lefty Driesell invited students to watch his team run its customary mile around the football field.
MIDNIGHT MADNESS FACTS
TOP DUNKS
Brandin Knight olley oop pass to Julius Page over the manager?s head
Gino Federico backwards between the legs pass, dunk off the glass
Mark McCarroll reverse dunk off baseline
Julius Page tomahawk dunk off the bounce
Julius Page windmill dunk
DUNK CHAMPION: Julius Page
THREE-POINT CHAMPION: Haley Harguth
ATTENDANCE: approximately 4,000
STUDENT LOTTERY ATTENDANCE: 2,815
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