Annual GCU event celebrates upcoming basketball seasons
(Phoenix, AZ) Each basketball season builds into March Madness, when the Grand Canyon basketball teams’ postseasons become “Lope Vegas” for the WAC Tournament.
But with the trip to Las Vegas five months away, GCU turned the block off 33rd Avenue and Camelback Road into the Lope Vegas Strip for its annual Midnight Madness tipoff to basketball season.
“Welcome to Fabulous Lope Vegas,” the Global Credit Union Arena digital ring displayed for thousands of Havocs, who dressed for the occasion and lined up in record heat throughout campus with some students camping outside for days to secure the best seats.
GCU men’s and women’s basketball debut with exhibition games later this month, but the students-only party provided an early introduction to the teams that figure to be WAC favorites when the next version of “Lope Vegas” arrives in March.”This was the best Midnight Madness yet,” GCU women’s basketball head coach Molly Miller told a crowd that was illuminated with LED wristbands that linked with the show’s colors and beats.The crowd was adorned with Vegas-themed attire, including a trio as a bride, groom and bible-toting chaplain and decks of cards, card dealers, sparkly dresses, leisure suits, Elvis impersonators, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and Las Vegas quarterback Gardner Minshew.
The Havocs shouted back, “Heyyyy, we wanna party,” to the DJR song and belted “I Love It” to Charli XCX and “Party in the USA” when Miley Cyrus’ vocals were cut.
“We were cooking in the sun, so it wasn’t ideal but it was all worth it,” said Logan Dahler, a junior from Orange County, California, whose group of 12 friends were the first ones camping on the Quad after Monday’s chapel service. “The vibes are great. It’s a good community. It’s a good experience to see the men’s and women’s teams and get hyped for the season.”
Once a lights-off countdown to midnight finished in the arena early Saturday, a video played with a GCU takeover of Las Vegas, including the most noteworthy Strip hotels undergoing name changes to match GCU residence halls and apartment buildings.
The theme carried out with GCU cheer doing a “Havocs du Soleil” routine, the GCU dancers performing a “Lopes Magic Show” and the drumline becoming the “Purple Man Group.”
Thunder, decked out in a tuxedo, pulled a slot machine lever and hit jackpot for T-shirt time before the hoops highlights rolled. Players were introduced and came down the stairs under a spotlight, with senior Tyon Grant-Foster breaking out a huge smile to his warm welcome and newcomers Bridget Mullings and Nneka Obiazorencouraging the crowd frenzy.Makaih Williams, also a newcomer, topped the dunk show by throwing down a slam off a high-bounce lob to himself.A preview of the home ritual, a Purple Pregame Party, swayed the arena crowd into a synchronized bounce under falling streamers, as Havocs staples “Party Till We Die” and “Tremor” played.
On a video of the purple-lit arena locker room hallway, punch-throwing Miller and finger-wagging men’s basketball head coach Bryce Drew emerged dramatically to roars while wearing sparkling purple coats. Halfway down the hall, they were joined by GCU President Brian Mueller and GCU Dean of Students and University Pastor Tim Griffin to bigger cheers.
“You have put the nation on notice with your contagious energy and it fuels our team every single game,” Miller told the crowd that chanted her name.
Knowing the Havocs fill the home games, Drew made a call to students to trek to downtown Phoenix on Nov. 14 when GCU and Arizona State plays a men’s-women’s doubleheader at Footprint Center.
The fifth-year coach of the defending WAC champions said the Lopes need the Havocs “being the best in the country at what you do.”
It was all that a GCU junior accounting major, the Havoc of the Year who goes by X alias Dom the Halo Spider, wanted to see from his front-row seat after a sweltering week in his Camp Elliott tent.
“I came here, and it captivated me,” the California native said of GCU. “I went to Lope-a-Palooza my freshman year and went to volleyball and soccer. I just liked the atmosphere, men’s basketball especially with how the whole school rallies around it.
“The Camp Elliott experience is so special. I get to spend a bunch of time with my friends. Camp Elliott brought us together.”
Press Release courtesy of Grand Canyon University Athletics – Paul Coro
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