Terrapin Station
Fansided

Maryland Madness To Be At Cole Field House This Year

By Michael Willis

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Apr 2, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Maryland Terrapins guard/forward Jake Layman (10) saves a loose ball along the end line during the second half of the NIT Tournament semifinal against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Madison Square Garden. Iowa won the game 71-60. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Mark your calendars as “busy” on Oct. 18th. According to reports, Maryland Madness will be played at Cole Field House this year instead of it’s normal venue, Comcast Center. This marks the first time during Mark Turgeon or Brenda Frese’  respective tenures at the university that the preseason event has been held anywhere but Comcast.

Since it’s closure in 2002, Cole Field House hasn’t seem much basketball action since the Terps moved down the road to Comcast Center. Nowadays, the casual student is more likely to have a class there or an intramural soccer match rather than have to attend a basketball game there. The last time the university has held a basketball event at Cole Field House? A 112-92 win over UVa back in March of 2002.

But this marks a bridging of the past with the present and future; “Fear the Turtle” meets “Maryland Pride,” if you will. Mark Turgeon was barely even ten years old when Lefty Driesell decided to create the event back in the ’70s; Brenda was not even five. On a typical year, the event usually includes a dunk contest, a scrimmage, occasionally player’s dancing and lots of explosions to get the school ramped up a notch for basketball season, which begins this Friday.

Cole Field House is the only on-campus venue to host more than one NCAA Final Four, and it was host to the famous 1966 national championship battle between Texas Western and Kentucky, which featured an all white team (UK) against an all black one (TW). It is also home to Maryland’s lone national championship in 2002.

Tickets will be available to students beginning on Sept. 30 at 8:30 a.m by going online to umterps.com/student. Terrapin Club members can reserve tickets at umterps.com or by calling 1-800-462-TERP. Should any tickets remain, season-ticket holders who are not Terrapin Club donors can reserve seats beginning on Oct. 3 at 8:30 a.m.

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Oh and judging by Twitter, the announcement is being met with a lot of applause:

So yeah, everyone is pretty excited.