I want to start this column with a link to something Matt Norlander wrote this summer about the Jacksonville Dolphins. It was part of a CBSSports.com series on college basketball foreign tours. Most people probably ignored the column because Jacksonville isn’t exactly a college basketball powerhouse. But that is exactly why I loved it. As much as I love debating which freshman can play in the NBA, or saluting the fourth year senior who is on the brink of setting his team’s career assist mark, college basketball is about more than just accolades. For most players, these once-in-a-lifetime experiences will probably be more important than anything that ever happens on the basketball court.

And that is what I try to remember during Midnight Madness. As much as I love estimating prediction models and arguing about the tempo free stats, the reality is that college basketball is more than just a set of numbers. It is about coming home from your Friday lab session for Chemistry and having your roommate ask if you are going to Midnight Madness that night. It is about looking at the calendar and expressing shock that basketball season is already here. It is about asking your girlfriend if she will go to the event. It is about one of the first chilly fall evenings of the year, and how you wish you had brought a jacket with you, but since you are in college you rough it with shorts and a t-shirt.

It is a night where everyone on the team is a star, and everyone is filled with hope. Those new walk-ons (who have no idea how much work they’ve signed up for) get a standing ovation. Some freshman (who is going to average 1.3 PPG this season) looks fantastic during the defense-free scrimmage. The senior center decides to get funky and take a three. And one of the shorter guards misses a ridiculous dunk that he never should have tried. There are cheerleaders, free t-shirts, and dunk contests. And at the end of the night, all you did was just waste a couple of hours of time. Nothing relevant to the national basketball landscape happened, and no one cares.

Of course as someone who zipped through ESPN’s coverage of Midnight Madness on my DVR, here are some random thoughts:

-I loved Jamie Dixon’s costume. Dixon dressed up as Will Ferrell’s character from the 2008 movie “Semi-Pro” and the look was hilarious.

-The mini-Jayhawk on a bike who was scared by a cheerleader, the Maryland ring-of-fire, and the Kentucky basketball floor transformation were also amusing.

-It is really hard to be an announcer and not get caught saying something foolish occasionally. Jalen Rose said, “At Kentucky, they only hang national championship banners in the rafters.” If that is true I must be going blind. They just showed the banner hanging ceremony and I could have sworn there were Final Four banners up in the Kentucky rafters too.

-I was very excited to see Seth Greenberg and Bruce Pearl working for ESPN. Seth Greenberg seemed solid in his first night of analysis. I completely agreed with his analysis that eight of the ten Big 12 teams have a shot at the NCAA tournament. (Sorry Texas Tech and TCU.) And Bruce Pearl is perfect for these type of events because he just exudes joy and energy. Pearl’s red, black and white plaid jacket at NC State’s Midnight Madness could give Craig Sager a run for his money. But things did get a little creepy when Mark Gottfried was asking Pearl to rip open his shirt so everyone could see Pearl’s chest hair. It was a reference to something Pearl did at a previous Midnight Madness event, but no one really wanted to see that again.

-A show like this is going to be accused of East Coast bias, but since it airs from 9pm to Midnight ET, there just isn’t a lot of content from Washington or UCLA to be shown. But why didn’t Dick Vitale mention a single Diaper Dandy from the Pac-12? Even if you have questions about Shabazz Muhammad’s eligibility, why not mention Arizona’s Kaleb Tarczewski. He’s a very mature player who should make an immediate impact.

-I thought the extended coverage of Maryland was a little odd. I truly believe head coach Mark Turgeon will turn Maryland into an NCAA team, but this doesn’t seem like the year to be showing the team’s scrimmage along with North Carolina, Kentucky, and Kansas. Unless transfer Dez Wells is granted a surprise waiver for immediate eligibility, 2013-2014 looks like the year to get excited about the Terrapins. And I think the interview with Mark Turgeon revealed that. Turgeon described the team’s strength as its chemistry and raved about Pe’Shon Howard losing weight. Those are the things you emphasize when you still have serious question marks. Compare that to Frank Haith at Missouri who told his fanbase, “I’m not going to lie to you, this could be another special season.” Those are the type of dreams you want to have on the first night of practice.