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If you believe — and read deeply into — everything you see on Twitter, then Illinois Basketball is having a Midnight Madness for the first time in a minute in 2018.
That’s what a tweet from walk-on Drew Cayce and a quoted tweet from Trent Frazier is telling us today.
@Ninja How many RTs for you to come to @IlliniMBB midnight madness?
— Drew Cayce (@Uncle_drew23) June 10, 2018
— Trent (@_Trentfrazier1) June 10, 2018
Ninja, a streamer from Grayslake, Illinois, and an avid Illini fan — he’s wore Illinois gear before in photos — is asked from Cayce in the first tweet how many retweets it’ll take to get him to come to Midnight Madness.
If we’re asking him to come, then there’s got to be a Midnight Madness then, right? That’s what we hope for.
Illinois hasn’t had a Midnight Madness event in a few years, and one in a renovated State Farm Center would certainly rejuvenate the current student body and fanbase entering a season where Illinois looks to end a five-year NCAA Tournament drought.
Using Google as a search tool, we can’t find any more recent Midnight Madness than one to kick off the 2010-11 season in Huff Hall.
From Writing Illini:
With many fans and recruits in attendance at Huff Hall, Illinois redshirt freshman Joseph Bertrand stole the show, winning the hotshot, dunk and impromptu dance contests.
There were also a ton of recruits at that last Midnight Madness, including Kendrick Nunn, Jabari Parker and Tracy Abrams. Another event like this in 2018 would definitely bring in recruits, like E.J. Liddell, who Brad Underwood wants to add to the 2019 class.
While there hasn't been a Midnight Madness in a few years, there was an Illini Street Jam in 2013, which also looked pretty cool.
Anyways, be on the lookout for the first Midnight Madness in a while this season.
Underwood said he wants to put “swagger” back in the program. What better way than letting Trent shoot half-court shots and Kipper dunk in front of 10,000 Illini fans at midnight?