Student Government will be hosting Midnight Madness on Thursday, Oct. 20 to celebrate the beginning of the basketball season for the 2010 Sun Belt regular season champions.
The event begins at 8:00 p.m. and continues until 2:00 a.m.
The annual kick off for the season will feature a chance for fans and students to meet coaches, players, cheerleaders, dance team members and the pep-band.
After that, fans will have a chance to compete in various games, including a three-point shootout contest, slam dunk contest and knock out contest with not only other fans, but members of the FAU basketball squad.
An assortment of prizes will be given away, such as mini FAU basketballs, autographed basketballs, T-shirts and even special concert tickets and tickets to a Miami Dolphins home game for the 2011 season.
“The Midnight Madness is an event that began many years ago at FAU, but the tradition sort of died out, and now we’re trying to revive it,” said coordinator of student government, Mike Burdman. “It really is a great way to meet the players, a great way for incoming freshman to meet new people and see the arena, and to also meet coach [Mike] Jarvis.”
Jarvis has led two of his former teams deep into the NCAA tournament and looks to do the same with the Owls. Each season, FAU has performed better than the last.
“We’re really lucky to have a guy like [Jarvis] and this is an opportunity to get his autograph and meet one of the most respected coaches in the NCAA,” said Burdman.
SG will also be giving out 1,000 7-inch commemorative FAU mini basketballs to attendees.
“There are a bunch of prizes to be given away for the event that makes it even more worth attending,” said Burdman. “We have suite tickets to a Florida Panthers hockey game, autographed basketballs and a pair of tickets to a Korn concert. There will be different events at the Midnight Madness, where the prizes can be won such as the slam dunk contest and the knockout contest.”
Students are invited to attend the event for free, win prizes, compete in games and participate in an experience that dozens of other NCAA basketball programs don’t engage in.
