It probably won’t be quite this manic

Hold onto your basketball-shaped butts, because it’s time for Basketball Mania.

On Thursday at 8:30 pm, the student councils will combine forces to host Columbia’s biggest pep rally of the year. Basketball Mania is a spirited mix of performing arts, pump-up music, and atrocious line dancing. The Lions won’t host a game in Levien Gymnasium until November 11th, but simple facts like that can’t stop the hype train that is Columbia Basketball.

The last NCAA basketball game played in Levien Gymnasium was on March 29th, when the UC Irvine Anteaters squared off against the Lions men to compete for the CollegeInsider.com Tournament trophy. Against nearly insurmountable circumstances, Columbia emerged victorious, sending off their senior class with joyous tears. You can be sure that clips from that game, especially shots of fans, will be used to hype the student body up for this year’s campaigns.

Expectations for the teams this year aren’t quite as high as they were last year. On the men’s side, the trio of senior forwards Luke Petrasek, Chris McComber, and Jeff Coby will have to use their size to redefine an offense that lost a majority of its three-point threat with the departure of the Class of 2016. Columbia was picked fifth in the preseason poll, in deference to teams like Princeton (lost no important pieces to graduation) and Harvard (top 10 national recruiting class). For the women, Tori Oliver is set to break records this season, having already place 7th on the all-time scoring list with a year left to go. However, last year’s two teams who made the NCAA tournament, Penn and Princeton, are still the favorites, and Columbia was pegged last in the annual rankings.

Basketball Mania, for all its whimsy, has not been without controversy. Last year, a 15-second dance segment in which members of the Women’s Basketball team stuffed basketballs in their shorts and twerked prompted an op-ed and a small group of protesters. Expect Athletics to be on high alert when it comes to avoiding confrontations. If you’re not leaving campus on Thursday night to get a head start on your fall break, Basketball Mania is the only show in town. Brush up on the Cupid Shuffle, find the cutest basketball player to fawn over, and get your hands on some giveaways in Levien.

Image via the Columbia Men’s Basketball Facebook page.