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Midnight Madness, the half pep-rally half practice that starts the college basketball season throughout most of the country, has come to College Station. Both the men and women's basketball teams will participate in a series of festivities that begin 10:30 p.m. Friday at Kyle Field during Yell Practice.
New men's head coach Billy Kennedy will be introduced to the crowd. Kennedy, the head coach at Murray Valley State the last five years, will look to continue the tradition created by Billy Gillispie and Mark Turgeon, who combined to lead the Aggies to six straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Texas A&M has a strong team returning, led by preseason All Big-12 forward Khris Middleton, who was projected to be a first-round pick last year but elected to stay in school.
The women's team will be presented with the national championship trophy. Three starters return from the team that beat Notre Dame 76-70 in Indianapolis last April.
ESPNU will provide a live look-in during their "Midnight Madness" show, while the entire event will be streamed on ESPN3.