University of Maryland Terps basketball continues Midnight Mile tradition

A college basketball tradition that started more than 50 years ago at UMD still going strong tonight. Yeah, Terps basketball getting ready to run the midnight mile with students on campus. Our Shamari Stone is live in College Park tonight with more. Hey, show. Hey, guys, this is going to be an exciting night. You're going to have Maryland students who are going to jog. Run. Hey, some may even crawl. Who knows? But they're going to be here having a great time at the track right here. You can zoom in. Now, going around this track four times, that is equal to a mile. And this Terps tradition dates back to 1971. That's when the iconic basketball coach Lefty Driesell decided the best way to kick off the men's basketball season was a little midnight run. Now, the best part is that you're going to see all these students. You come right over here and they have been lined up, some of them for the past hour. One hour and a half and they are waiting here. You can see how excited they are. And here's the deal. What's going to happen is the best part. They'll get free pizza, drinks, T-shirts for the first 300 students. Plus, there are prizes up for grabs. Now, if you come right over here, these you guys have been here. When did you first get here? Man, I got here until 8:52 on the dot on the dot. So how does it feel to be here and to help launch the men's basketball program? Oh man, I was here last year. Man, last year we had, we was running like 1972, the film. Oh my God. It was so much people and it was so, it was so cold, but so exciting. I got to, I got to run in, in, in, in, I got to run. All right. He got to run. Oh my goodness. What's going through your mind right now? Are you going to run around this thing four times? I mean, we're kicking off the men's basketball season. It's exciting. Why are you here? I'm here because I'm excited to launch the basketball as well as run. I ran two laps last year and I'm attempting to run more. Let's see. I'm excited to see how everyone performs. And how does it feel to be a part of the rich history? I mean, this was started in 1971. Here we are. More than 50 years later. You know, I think back to the 2002 men's team when they won the championship and the women's team when they won the championship. Being able to support the basketball culture here in Maryland, I'm very proud of it. And to be a part of little things like this can make a huge impact for the team as well. It shows them that the fans are here to support him and their fans are behind their backs for the start of the season and beyond. So I'm just... Yeah, I'm happy to be here and happy to represent Maryland. Real quick, to wrap this up, we're now going to be joined by one of the organizers. How does it make you feel to hear these students be so excited to come out here? It's so awesome. You know, our student culture at Maryland Basketball is one of the best in the country. Our students really make the atmosphere at Xfinity Center every game. You know, this event's awesome because it really helps connect our student-athletes on the team with the students at the university in a really informal environment, so it's one of our favorites of the year. And they're going, the first 300 students get... A t-shirt that says Midnight Mile, Terrapin Hoops. Let's give it up for the t-shirt. Yeah, this is, oh, and look on the back. Lido Pizza, they're going to have some pizza over here. Do you think maybe there's some people who are coming here just to get the free pizza? Perhaps a few, but I think most of them are here to support Maryland basketball. Yeah, you got to run first. You got to put in the work. Yeah, yeah. You got to put in the work. And this gentleman, this is the first time he's ever, oh, my bad, first time he's ever run. Oh, he's also a boxer. I just hit him with an uppercut. All right, everybody, back to you all. And the doors, the gate opens at 1115. All right, go Terps. Okay, show's going to be running there soon. That's great. We'll be knocking people out. All right, show, have fun.