Michigan State Midnight Madness 2015: Highlights and Twitter Reaction

The Michigan State Spartans hosted their annual Midnight Madness ceremony to mark the unofficial start of its 2015-16 campaign Friday at the Breslin Center.

The event featured autograph sessions with players, the Spartan Marching Band, cheerleaders and more.

The most monumental showcase was the unveiling of the 2015 NCAA Final Four banner—Sparty’s ninth, courtesy of team's official website:

The men’s team followed the women’s with a series of dance moves as they took the court. 

Men’s head coach Tom Izzo then emerged following a Mission: Impossible-themed video and then introduced a Tom Cruise look-a-like, who confused many in attendance for the actual actor.

The MSU Big 10 Network affiliate tweeted Izzo's full speech:

"

Watch @MSU_Basketball's Tom Izzo's "Mission Impossible" Midnight Madness entrance & listen to his speech. https://t.co/tBfczwuyLz

— Michigan St. on BTN (@MichiganStOnBTN) October 24, 2015"

The men’s and women’s teams then each took scrimmaged briefly, though the men’s shootaround turned into dunk party, per David Harns of the Lansing State Journal:

The Michigan State men are coming off their 18th straight NCAA tournament appearance—tied for fourth-longest in history. 

The 2014-15 campaign was a classic Izzo-type season: The Spartans started slow, went 12 weeks unranked, finished 27-12 (12-6 Big 10), then surged in March and lost the Big Ten Championship Game and to the eventual NCAA champion Duke Blue Devils in the Final Four as a No. 7 seed.

The Spartans return a great nucleus in Marvin Clark, Matt Costello, Bryn Forbes, Lourawls Nairn, Gavin Schilling and Denzel Valentine, and add McDonald’s All-American Deyonta Davis. 

The No. 13 Spartans open the season Nov. 13 against Florida Atlantic and haven’t shied from national title hopes again this year. With Izzo still at the helm, it’s hard to doubt them.