Photos by Slaven Gujic
GCU News Bureau
The basketball season hasn’t even started yet, and Grand Canyon University students already are in midseason form.
A campout – organized and managed by the Havocs, GCU’s nationally renowned student cheer section – to get premium spots in line for Midnight Madness, scheduled for Friday night at GCU Arena, drew 88 tents housing 385 people. That’s almost twice as much as the turnout for games against Louisville and New Mexico State last season.
“This completely exceeded my expectations,” said Titus Converse, the veteran Havocs member who managed the event. “It blew my mind for event that doesn’t even have a game attached to it.”
Dubbed “Camp Elliott” in honor of Daniel Elliott, who was first in line at the first campout last year, the campout even featured a Purple Pregame Party, only 24 hours early.
Midnight Madness has a pirate theme this year, and entertainment with that theme in mind was planned for students waiting in line all afternoon.
“It will be like Disneyland out here,” Converse said.
