On Friday night, a bevy of collegiate programs kicked off their 2008-09 season with their form of Midnight Madness. The names vary a bit, but the general idea is the same: Coach gives a quick speech to fire up the crowd, the new teams are introduced, the women's squad show off its skills, everyone hopes no one gets injured in the dunk contest, and the men's team scrimmages for maybe 20 minutes. Midnight Madness may be an overhyped non-practice that tells fans very little about how good their actual team will be that year, but whatever. It's the official start of college basketball season. Drink it in. It always goes down smooth.

Anyway, below are some photos from around the Midnight Madness scene. Was Kansas serious about that whole "phog" thing? How did Tom Izzo make his entrance this season? You'll have to click the jump to find out!

Why yes, Kansas was serious about that whole "phog" thing. So phoggy! I like to think this is the professional wrestler approach from Kansas, and given the team's proclivity for public fights recently, perhaps that analogy isn't too far-fetched.

"It is I, Calipari-xes. I am your new god-king. Thou may now touch thy royal polyester athletic garments."

That's Michigan forward DeShawn Sims with an impressive dunk. Those are Michigan's fans with an umimpressive Midnight Madness turnout.

Minnesota forward Rodney Williams apes Dwight Howard's style for the soaring dunk contest slam at the Tubby Tip-Off, quite possibly the greatest of all the Midnight Madness names. Meanwhile, teammate Justin Cobbs was putting himself in the sorts of positions at which photos like this can be taken:

College basketball: Where the phrase "athletic Gopher" makes perfect sense, actually.

What a silly question. Yes, of course that's Tom Izzo, and yes, of course his Midnight Madness entrance theme this year had to do with funny car racing. After Izzo arrived, he was greeted in the winner's circle by wife Lupe:

Look at little Izzo with his big boy race car costume on! Adorable.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, here is a photo of a Missouri player struggling to breathe. Because Mike Anderson didn't have Midnight Madness -- notice the lack of fans in seats. He just had "practice." Ouch. I can't imagine this is much of a recruiting tool, but the Tigers will thank their coach down the stretch. (Or resent him even more. It just sort of depends, really.)

And finally, here's a group of Washington Huskies facing the bright lights and big expectations at their school's opening celebration, "9 p.m. Madness." (What? I can't do time-zone humor? Baahhhh.)

Related: Midnight Madness