Let the Madness Begin

Chris Richards Arizona Daily Wildcat UA forward Bennett Davison dunks over guard Miles Simon during the Midnight Madness rally on Friday night. Davison caught Simon in the head as he made the jump.

The creativity shown in the dunks - Jason Terry jumping over Wilbur and Josh Pastner or Bennett Davison flying over Miles Simon - gave UA head coach Lute Olson a case of heart palpitations. And when Davison kicked Simon in the head on his way to the hoop, Olson had seen enough.

"That was the only thing I wasn't very excited about," Olson said. "And Bennett, coming off a serious ankle injury. Maybe next year we'll have a rule: You dunk, you dunk by yourself."

Call it the Bennett Davison rule. As for the ankle injury recurring, Davison brushed it off.

"It's 95 percent," Davison said. "It's not as bad as it seemed. Although when it happened I thought I'd never walk again I was in so much pain."

Much less fly high enough to clear a seated Miles Simon.

The evening started off with a mascot game refereed by A.J. Bramlett and Bennett Davison followed by the UA baseball, softball, golf and tennis teams hitting prizes into the crowd with their respective instruments of destruction. The UA cheer squads then put on their own version of the MTV show "Singled Out," which was highlighted by the player's Lute Olson impersonations.

Although, the less than capacity crowd of about 10,000, seemed to only get interested when the lights dimmed and a Final Four video was shown on the big screens.

Then, the Wildcats were introduced to the cheers and adulation of the crowd. However, the cheers might have been louder had the team been kept hidden until the 12:01 a.m. appearance.

The team then went through a normal one-hour practice that included a 25-minute inter-squad scrimmage that ended in a tie at 46.

"We wanted to make it a fun way to start the season," Olson said. "The work begins Sunday."

As for the players, Olson said many had made good offseaon progress. He singled out forward Michael Dickerson and his improve presence down low.

"Michael Dickerson is much stronger and physical around the glass," Olson said.

The Wildcats will hold their annual Red-Blue scrimmage on Nov. 1. The regular season officially begins against Morgan State on Nov. 20.