Maryland goes off for its basketball..

The Redskins and Ravens aside, Maryland Basketball tickets are the toughest to get in the Baltimore-Washington area. And with good reason. It's men's and women's programs combine for 27 ACC Regular Season and Tournament titles, 6 Final Fours and 2 NCAA National Championships. This decade, both teams combine for an overall record of 503-242.

Expectations are always high for its men's (06-07 finish: 25-9, 10-6 ACC-T3rd | AP Ranking: #17) and women's basketball (06-07 finish: 28-6, 10-4 ACC-T3rd | AP Ranking: #6) programs. Fans expect Final Fours and ACC championships and neither team won either last year.

In 1970, Coach Lefty Driesell started Midnight Madness (the official kick-off to the basketball season) at the University of Maryland - the first school in the country to do so. A lot of schools try knock offs (See: Georgetown's feeble attempt), but few do it as well as Maryland does. I'm talking lights and lasers and fog and fire and a Lamborghini.

Last night, my Dad and I and about 15,000 other people went to Midnight Madness, the annual kick-off to the basketball season and Maryland's Comcast Center in College Park. This about that for a second. 15,000 people showed up for what essentially is a practice. The arena only holds 18,000. I told you Maryland goes off for its basketball.

If you have some time, here's a link to video of the entire event. It's worth a watch, if for no other reason than the eye candy.

Anyway, here are pics:

The 07-08 men's basketball team rolled into the arena dressed in white suits with red bow ties and walking canes in a old-school Caddy (circa 1960) and performed a choreagraphed dance routine before returning to the locker room.

Each player was introduced one-by-one later in the program.

Amid chants of "Gary, Gary, Gary!", coach Williams also drove into the arena. Not to be outdone by his players, Gary arrived in a yellow Lambo and gave his trademark fist pump before addressing the crowd. He's pretty much treated like a god around here.

The '07-'08 women's team got some shine too and some of them even attempted to tone down the whole butch thing for the evening (at least for the performance).

Of course the white girls on the team (including Head Coach Brenda Frese) came out to Young Jeezy's 'White Girls'. Stunna shades and all.

The dance troop, competitive cheer team, spirit squad and gymnastics team did their thing. No stunna shades here, folks.

Now, I can't wait for the season to begin.