UK Big Blue Madness ushers in new coaches, new hopes, new floor

Big Blue Nation will be staying up late tonight, because of a uniquely Kentucky sports tradition.

UK's Midnight Madness opens the mens and womens basketball season for the 19th time in Rupp Arena. Every ticket was snapped up in 24 minutes in September in anticipation of the debut of two new head coaches, Mark Pope and Kenny Brooks.

They'll run their respective squads through practice drills, while other contests, videos and more fire up the crowd.

It'll also be the debut of new technology in Rupp Arena. It'll be the first college sports use of the new ABS glass floor, which is basically a basketball-court-sized LED video screen. The floor will display the regulation markings during the game, but during breaks it can show videos, graphics, and of course sponsor messages. The technology debuted last spring at the NBA All-Star game.

The Big Blue Madness festivities will air on the SEC Network.