October 11th: On this date...

..... in 2001, the University of Kentucky would celebrate the anniversary of its 20th Midnight/Big Blue Madness. Former Kentucky head coach Joe B. Hall started Midnight Madness at UK in 1982, trying to provide some excitement for his 1982-83 squad. They invited fans to come by and take part in team introductions at 12:01am on the first official day of practice the NCAA would allow. It was called Midnight Special back in 1982 and 8,500 fans came to Memorial Coliseum for the show. The evolution of Midnight Madness has grown at epic proportions over the past 25+ years into a phenomenon. The theme of the October 11, 2001, reverted back to Midnight Special, also celebrating Tayshaun Prince’s last Midnight Madness. All 8,500 tickets would be sold out within an hour through online and window purchasing.

Big Blue Booyah on Tom Leach