Marquette Announces Details For Basketball Madness Event

Practices are already underway on 12th Street in Milwaukee, but the official kick off to the 2017-18 Marquette Golden Eagles men’s and women’s basketball season comes this Friday, October 6th, in the form of the yearly Marquette Madness event at the McGuire Center.

The official press release on the event is sparse in terms of details as to what attendees will see as part of the festivities. However, the checklist at the bottom seems to say that the schedule of events is pretty much exactly what it has been in years past: Women’s team introduction, women’s team scrimmage, men’s team introduction, men’s team scrimmage, dunk contest. There is mention of a dance contest, but no further details are provided, and a student will get a chance to win $1,000 if they can hit a half-court shot.

There is a teensy tiny catch in terms of the scheduling. Madness is scheduled to start at 7pm, but the volleyball team will be playing Providence on the McGuire Center floor with first serve scheduled for 5pm. Now, odds are that the Golden Eagles will be able to dismiss the 13-6 Friars with relative ease, but it usually takes about 90 minutes for a three-set sweep. If PC pushes Marquette to a fourth or fifth set, Madness is definitely not starting on time. MU’s five set victory over Hawaii in the season opener went 2:37, while their loss to Wichita State went 2:15. Plus, y’know, they have to take the net down afterwards.

Starting Madness a little late because of volleyball isn’t the biggest issue, though. It’s the fact that the building will be open for the volleyball match, and thus, this is the rundown on how you have to acquire a wristband in order to get in:

Admission is free, but capacity in the 3,700-seat arena is limited, and doors to the Al McGuire Center will open at 4:30 p.m. to the public for the volleyball match. Those in possession of a wristband, which will begin to be distributed at 3:30 p.m., will earn entrance not only to Madness, but also the 5 p.m. volleyball match versus Providence. Fans won’t be asked to clear the Al at the conclusion of the volleyball match, but may be asked to relocate to accommodate special seating sections.

It’s first come, first serve, starting at 3:30pm for those wristbands, and you will need a wristband in order to watch the volleyball match and/or get in to Madness. If you aren’t a volleyball fan, you can just get your wristband and then hang out at the reunion/pep rally in the parking lot across the street from the McGuire Center. If you’re looking to get either team to autograph the team poster for this season, the pep rally will be your only opportunity of the night to get that squared away.

If you aren’t going to be able to make it down to the McGuire Center for Madness or you just don’t want arrive at 5:30 after work and find out all the wristbands are gone, you can always watch Madness on television. Spectrum Sports will be broadcasting it live with Dennis Krause and former Marquette star Steve Novak operating as hosts. It will also be streamed through MySpectrumSports.com, but you have to be a Spectrum customer in order to access the feed.