This past Thursday, October 27, 2011, Midnight Madness was held up at North Campus at the Charger Gymnasium. The event, held every year, is the kick off the 2011-2012 men and women’s basketball season. Doors opened to the gym at 9:00 p.m., but there were a lot of students lined up at the gym a long time before that with canned goods of nonperishables. Why would anyone bring a canned good to a basketball pep rally? It was to get a free t-shirt of course. This year, to continue the tradition started last year, students wishing to receive a t-shirt for the event were required to bring in a canned good to be donated. Hundreds of students brought in an item. It was a great way to get students to come to the event and to raise food for the hungry.
Midnight Madness did not officially kick off until 9:30 p.m. Each student entering received a ticket to be used for giveaways throughout the night, one of which was a chance to win 1,000. Before the event, as students were entering the gym, some were selected to participate in competitions held on the gym floor. These included a dribbling contest for fastest time, a shooting competition from various stations on the court, and a free throw contest. The winners of these competitions were announced during Midnight Madness and received special prizes.
The event began with the announcement of the 2011-2012 men and women’s basketball team players. This was then followed by an announcement from the men and women’s team captains. The entire evening was then filled with performances from the various performance groups on campus. First to perform were the UNH Cheerleaders who brought their enthusiasm to the filled bleachers of students cheering. The 5678 Dance Team was next to perform and brought cheers from the crowd of supporters. The pep band also graced the crowd with a song that had everyone clapping along.
In between performances, the two hosts of the evening called out ticket numbers and gave out free basketball t-shirts to those who won. It was also announced that later on in the night, five lucky students’ tickets would be called for a chance to win $1,000. Meanwhile, the audience was able to watch the Monsoon Dance Crew perform, an organization new to the UNH campus, but still an impressive team to watch. Having only been established last year, the organization has shown to improve drastically, having increased to an enormous size. They were followed by the ever favorite UNH Step Team who did a Halloween Themed step number to everyone’s enjoyment. What was most impressive was that they began their performance blindfolded.
The men’s basketball team then treated the audience to a ten minute mock basketball game. The women’s team then, instead of doing their own mock basketball game as they usually do, performed their own dance number for the audience. This included a mash up of songs and dance steps that also brought cheers from the audience. It was a nice change from the original idea of two ten minute mock games. Following this performance, the UNH Dance Team performed a new dance for the crowd of fans to enjoy. Once again they continued to impress with their squad of 15.
The evening ended with five lucky students being called to the court. They all received a free basketball t-shirt. They then had the chance to trade in that t-shirt for a chance to shoot a basketball from one point for a $25 prize. If they won, they could keep that prize or trade it in to shoot a second time. This would end with an opportunity to shoot from half court to win the grand prize.
This year’s basketball teams look promising. Be sure to come out to all of the games this semester to support both the teams playing and the spirit groups.
