UCLA Basketball Needs To Put On A Midnight Madness Preseason Event

UCLA basketball is the most decorated and most storied program with the most legendary players, coaches and arena in college basketball, so why the heck are they not acting like it? The Bruins have the most NCAA championships of any basketball team playing Division 1 basketball (11, if you did not know and shame on you for not) but have always eased into the season like a ninja on the prowl. No noise, no fan fare, just an exhibition game followed by a non-conference audience inside a half-full Pauley Pavilion. This needs to change. It is time to get the people excited for the start of the season with a Midnight Madness preseason event!

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Now we will give the athletic department a pass this year as UCLA is still preparing the floor after it warped from the infamous UCLA Flood back in July. UCLA officials in the AD have said the floor will be ready by the time the Men’s basketball team has their exhibition game against Azusa Pacific on October 31. But for next year, UCLA needs to plan something big and not just an introduction/scrimmage/dunk contest type of event, fans barely come when there are actual games going on. The UCLA athletic department needs to go big!

This past week, we saw images from around the nation of schools ringing in the new season with a party-like atmosphere that included fireworks, celebrities, players performing high-flying feats and even motorcycles. MOTORCYCLES! We will get back to that in a second.

Right now, it is necessary to inject some life into the basketball program that is not as popular as it has been with it’s own fan base in quite some time. It is Steve Alford‘s second year as head coach of the Bruins and despite a good first season that changed the direction of the program, he is still not a favorite. Regardless, this is not about him, it is about the team and no matter what you think of Alford, he is doing things that is getting this UCLA team back to elite status. To go with that, he needs a preseason pep rally on steroids! This is Hollywood use it!

Mar 26, 2014; Memphis, TN, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Norman Powell (4) dunks during practice for the south regional of the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship at FedEx Forum. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

We have famous alumni in entertainment, reach out to them, UCLA. Picture this, alumnae and actress Mayim Bialik coming out in character with her Big Bang Theory co-stars to introduce the team while Tenacious D plays on an elevated stage on the east end of the Pauley floor. As the players are introduced, they circle around a darkened court. Spotlights illuminate the east free-throw line to reveal Bruin greats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Don MacLean facing off in a first-to-five one-on-one event. The winner gets to do the jump ball for a scrimmage while the loser has to get up and dance with Jack Black and Kyle Gass.

After the scrimmage, recent Bruin players compete against the current team in a slam dunk contest while Tim Robbins recites Coach John Wooden‘s Pyramid of Success to Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor. Can you imagine slow-mo video of Russell Westbrook and Zach LaVine dunking to classical music? That would be epic! I would pay good money to see that, for your information.

May 25, 2014; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) goes up for a dunk against the San Antonio Spurs in game three of the Western Conference Finals of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Oklahoma City won 106-97. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

Still, this is one person’s opinion that loves college basketball and sometimes wish it would come in with fury as great as college football’s. The Midnight Madness preseason events that have taken place for years at campuses across the country have the right idea and it is time for UCLA to get that tradition going. But that is just me.

By the way, that thing about motorcycles earlier in the article was about Texas Tech’s head coach Tubby Smith entering his basketball’s preseason event on a motorcycle and falling over on the court. Now that is an epic entrance that no one in the near future will ever forget.

So when you all get this going, no motorcycles, please. And no Drake. Absolutely zero Drake, thank you UCLA Athletics!