Midnight Madness 2014: Schedule for Top NCAA Basketball Teams
Not every college basketball power needs to have a Midnight Madness celebration. The ones that do just tend to be more fun.
Designed by programs to mark the true beginning of the season, Midnight Madness has basically become a raucous nationwide free-for-all. Coaches are shot from cannons, freshmen flourish before the biggest crowd of their lives and mascots do...whatever the hell mascots do.
The most important thing, beyond the spectacle, beyond dunks, beyond whatever celebrities John Calipari brings to Lexington to lure future recruits, is that we've mercifully survived the offseason. No more trying to convert yourself into a Premier League fan for the eighth straight fall; no more rummaging through the weekday dregs of the college football slate; no more studying your heat maps and memorizing the xFIP formula to discuss baseball with your friends.
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Midnight Madness is a prelude to the overcoaching, 34.5-second possessions and Ken Pomeroy-metric scouring we'll be witness to over the next six months. It's a nibble before we get inundated with glossy "Preseason Preview" editions of magazines and "bold" predictions. It is our last day of innocence.
The opening date for most teams is Oct. 17, with a few stragglers thrown in over the next week-plus. Let's take a look at the most notable Midnight Madness dates and highlight why they'll be worth checking out.
| Oct. 10 | Kansas | ESPNU/ESPN3 |
| Oct. 17 | Arizona, Kentucky, Connecticut, Florida, Gonzaga and San Diego State | ESPNU/ESPN3 |
| Oct. 18 | Iowa State | TBD |
| Oct. 24 | Michigan State | TBD |
| Oct. 25 | Duke | TBD |
Kentucky
The Hook: So. Much. Talent.
Surprise, surprise. Calipari has an awesome, youth-laden team again. The Wildcats do not boast quite the level of all-time greatness as their supposed Fab Five in the making last season, but it's hard to quibble with four 5-star players. Center Karl Towns leads a foursome that includes Trey Lyles, Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker, each of whom will be looking to carve out a niche in the rotation.
Unlike previous seasons, there isn't much of a clear path to playing time. Towns and Lyles have Willie Cauley-Stein, Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee to contend with for minutes. Booker and Ulis will have an opportunity to compete for backup jobs, but they're clearly behind the Harrison twins in the pecking order.
This is, as anyone who has paid attention to the Calipari revolution knows, atypical. The Harrisons didn't have to wait. Anthony Davis didn't have to wait. Neither did Julius Randle nor Nerlens Noel. I'll be curious to see if any of the Wildcat youngsters use the Midnight Madness stage to send a message to the incumbents.
Arizona
The Hook: Let Us Marvel At the Length of Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
The Wildcats are going to miss Aaron Gordon. That tends to happen when you recruit a player good enough to be the No. 4 pick in a draft. His passing ability offensively, high-flying dunks in transition and tenacity on defense would all be a fantastic fit for this roster.
On the other hand, the Stanley Johnson-Rondae Hollis-Jefferson wing duo is gonna be a whole lot of fun. And, no, I don't necessarily mean that in the SportsCenter "Top 10 Plays" way, though both are plenty athletic enough to have a few jaw-dropping slams. I mean watching these two execute Sean Miller's defensive system is going to be a thing of beauty.
Arizona led the nation last season in defensive efficiency, per Pomeroy, and has a good chance of repeating in 2014-15. Johnson and Hollis-Jefferson are both long, athletic wings who are quick enough to defend shooting guards and long enough they can handle most power forwards. Miller is a defensive wizard, so it'll be fun to see the ways he utilizes them together.
Connecticut
The Hook: Hey, I Mean, They Won the National Championship.
Kevin Ollie is headed toward a post-championship letdown in 2014. Shabazz Napier and DeAndre Daniels are both gone, one with the Miami Heat and the other strangely playing in Perth. Taking a leadership role is Ryan Boatright and coming with him are a whole lot of question marks, including highly touted freshman Daniel Hamilton.
For the Huskies to have any significant success this season they need Hamilton to live up to his grade. The 6'6" shooting guard is an excellent athlete and aggressive shot-creator who falls into the Napier-Kemba Walker school of consciousless gunners. Only, again, he does it at a regular shooting guard size instead of Fun Size.
Connecticut elsewhere isn't looking at much in terms of returning talent. Ollie needs to cross his fingers he can get this team to the Big Dance.
Kansas
The Hook: Hello, Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre.
Another year, another pair of superstar freshmen for John Calipari Bill Self. Alexander and Oubre were two of the nation's seven best recruits by 247Sports composite rankings and both will have a say in how far the Jayhawks go in March.
Alexander, barring injury, is an NBA lottery lock. He's a 6'9" athletic freak who already possesses a pro-ready body and a bunch of plus skills. He's a terror to stop rolling to the basket after setting screens, an excellent and aggressive rebounder and makes scouts marvel at how quick he gets at the rim. I'm not sure I love him as an NBA talent based on the limited film I've seen, but he might be this year's Aaron Gordon.
Oubre can flat out score. Assuming Wayne Selden progresses as expected, he and Oubre will be high among the nation's best scoring wing duos. Oubre is a plus shooter from all over the floor and was perhaps the best three-point shooter in the 2014 class. The rest of his game needs some work, but he needs to be mentioned more in conversations about potentially elite freshmen.
Florida
The Hook: Chris Walker, Your Time Is Now.
Last season was supposed to be a culmination of Billy Donovan's slow build of a veteran-laden core. Scottie Wilbekin, Casey Prather and Patric Young were all primed for star seasons and even the likes of Will Yeguete could help out. The plan worked in the regular season, as the Gators were so good they didn't even need a major contribution from star recruit Chris Walker.
And then it all fell away with one Final Four loss to Connecticut. Gone are Donovan's trio of stars, replaced by a whole heaping pile of question marks. Michael Frazier II and Dorian Finney-Smith, regular contributors on the Final Four team, are back and should command roles of higher import. The Gators also landed three solid wing recruits, led by 5-star swingman Devin Robinson.
But the real swing player here is Walker, who returns for his sophomore season with plans on fulfilling his promise. A rangy 6'10" forward with elite athleticism and above-average defensive instincts, Walker could be a lottery pick if he can keep himself out of Donovan's doghouse and perform as expected. If he fails, though, Florida might have a tougher time transitioning to its new era than people think.
Gonzaga
The Hook: Are the Zags Finally Legit Title Contenders?
This is the best Gonzaga team since Adam Morrison's mustache graced Spokane. The Zags will start five upperclassmen, all returning from an eighth-seeded bunch that probably deserved more respect from the selection committee.
Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. offer a reliable backcourt tandem of 40 percent shooters from distance, and Mark Few's squad will be bolstered by the arrivals of transfers Kyle Wiltjer and Byron Wesley. Wiltjer sat out the entire 2013-14 season after leaving Kentucky, while Wesley averaged 17.8 points per game last season at USC.
Add 7-footer Przemek Karnowski in the middle, and there are few teams nationwide that can match the Bulldogs' length. If Few is able to weave the transfers in with the incumbents, this is a dangerous all-around bunch.
San Diego State
The Hook: You Do Your Wizardry, Steve Fisher.
The Aztecs earned their second Sweet 16 berth in the last four seasons in 2013-14, but they'll be without leading scorer Xavier Thames and top rebounder Josh Davis. Winston Shepard, Dwayne Polee II and JJ O'Brien all return, but this team is going to be hurting for size and scoring.
The tallest player on the San Diego State roster is Skylar Spencer at 6'10". Only one other player, seldom-used junior Angelo Chol, is taller than 6'8". Fisher's system is fantastic at finding smaller players and thrusting them into roles outside their comfort zone, but this will be an upward battle. Perhaps freshman Malik Pope becomes an instant star or Shepard thrives in his expanded role.
Otherwise, Fisher will need to pull one of the best coaching efforts of his career to make it six straight tournament appearances.
Iowa State
The Hook: Georges Niang Is Ready for the Limelight.
Niang's ill-timed injury irreparably altered the trajectory for one of my favorite teams to watch last season. DeAndre Kane would school kids as he told them what the 80s were like. Melvin Ejim would use all of his 6'6" frame to bully guys four and five inches taller. And Niang would nonetheless stand out, knocking down threes, making smart passes and executing Fred Hoiberg's system beautifully.
It's no mistake NBA teams came calling Hoiberg this offseason. He understands the way the game is headed and embraces it without the hardheaded rigidity of a typical college coach. The freewheeling system he plays is not necessarily a "pro" style but is as close as one can get at the collegiate level.
Niang has a real shot at being a first-team All-American if he stays healthy and embraces his leadership role.
Michigan State
The Hook: Tom Izzo Got Shot Out of a Cannon Last Year.
Tom. Izzo. Got. Shot. Out. Of. A. CANNON. Last. Year.
What more do you people want?
Duke
The Hook: Jahlil. Tyus. Justice.
Oh, and then all those other guys coming back too. Duke knocked Kentucky off its yearly top recruiting class throne by landing the nation's top player in Jahlil Okafor, the nation's second-best point guard in Tyus Jones and its second-best small forward in Justise Winslow. Grayson Allen is somehow overshadowed in this class as a fourth banana and he's the 25th-best prospect in the country.
This is a special, special group of young talent that should step in right away and give Duke a shot at a national title. Quinn Cook is back for what feels like his 53rd straight year at the point, Rasheed Sulaimon will confound (and thrill) us all and Marshall Plumlee remains, well, super Plumlee-esque.
The Blue Devils are going to miss Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood. Their scoring isn't going to come in avalanches this season. But they'll be better defensively, Okafor gives them a centerpiece around which to work and there is more than enough talent here to figure it out.
I'm honestly kind of rooting for Allen to throw down on someone just to remind everyone he exists—and is pretty damn good. But unless Coach K shoots himself out of a cannon, nothing that happens in Durham is topping Michigan State.
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter
All rankings data is via 247Sports.
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