Eastern will officially open its basketball seasons with what is being called Midnight Madness.

The Panthers’ first practice, which is commonly referred to nationwide as Midnight Madness after an eccentric coach had a forward-thinking idea, kicks off at 10 p.m. and will give the public its first opportunity to see the men’s and women’s teams live for the first time in 2005.

Thirty-five years ago, Maryland head coach Lefty Driesel was trying to get a jump on the competition and decided that since the NCAA wouldn’t let practices occur until Saturday, Driesel interpreted that as meaning midnight on Friday. The midnight practice involved the Terrapin players running a mile on the football field so Driesel could say that he started about 15 hours before everyone else.

Word made its way around the Maryland campus, and although there was no light shows or cheerleaders, a couple hundred people did show up to watch the Terps run that midnight mile. The next year, about 1,000 people showed up to watch the midnight run. Thus, this is how Midnight Madness as we know it came about.

The event will occur immediately after the Panthers’ volleyball match and Homecoming pep rally in Lantz Arena in the hopes of attracting a larger crowd.

“It will be a busy day in Lantz, that’s for sure,” Eastern director of marketing Amy Reis said. “We are hoping for a large turnout because of the schedule.”

Both Eastern’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will be involved. The festivities will include players and coaches’ introductions, a three-point contest, a slam-dunk contest and a 15-minute intersquad scrimmage.

This is will be the first public appearance in Lantz Arena for Eastern new head coach Mike Miller since the announcement of his hiring on April 11.

“I think we will just play for a little bit and it will be exciting for the people to see the team,” Miller said.

On the women’s side, Eastern head coach Brady Sallee may need his players to wear name tags as he will introduce the eight new players on his roster that include six incoming freshman and two junior college transfers from Lakeland Community College.

On a national level, for the first time in eight years, ESPN will broadcast five-hours of Mightnight Madness with coverage from the Pyramid at Memphis, Phog Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas, Rupp Arena in Kentucky, Michigan State’s Breslin Center and McArthur Court in Oregon.