Late-night Terp Tradition, Reawakened

Hundreds of Terps were up for a midnight stroll—or run—in yesterday’s earliest minutes to revive the precursor to one of Maryland’s great basketball traditions.

In honor of its 100th season, the University of Maryland men’s basketball team held the Midnight Mile at the Kehoe Track & Field Complex. The event was a nod to legendary coach Lefty Driesell’s original Midnight Madness, held on Oct. 15, 1971, the first possible day to hold practice that season. It’s since evolved here and around the country to a pre-season pep rally and fan festival, which will take place at Maryland this year on Oct. 26.

Students joined players on the track for the one-miler, with the scoreboard lit up, music blaring and Testudo in attendance to take in the madness.

"I wanted to come out because Lefty was inducted into the [Naismith] Hall of Fame this year and I wanted to honor him," head coach Mark Turgeon told the crowd. "But more importantly, we wanted to get around you guys. We wanted to get around the students. I wanted our players to mingle with you guys and have a good time with each other and I figured midnight was a good time for everybody."