Cougar Madness first started as a Cal State San Marcos event in 2016. A spin on the traditional Midnight Madness, Cougar Madness signals the start of the college basketball season.

After a five-year hiatus due to COVID, Cougar Madness returned to CSUSM on Oct. 10, with students filling the Sports Center seats focusing on the scene unfolding in front of them. 

The scene? Introductions to the players from all of CSUSM’s sports teams. Basketball was the final sport introduced to the crowd. With both the men’s and women’s teams running through a huddle of cheerleaders and fog, waving to the crowd as their introduction videos played on the scoreboards. 

“I’m excited for the energy of the students,” said Morod Shah, CSUSM’s athletics director. “What I really want to do is help promote student life, campus life and school spirit.”

The event was full of energy. After introductions, the student emcees led the audience in a series of basketball-related games. One game was called, “Musical Cougs,” an alternate version of musical chairs where volunteers from the crowd attempted to make a basket and return to their seats before the music was paused. A few more games were played to further hype up the crowd. 

The event also featured performances from CSUSM’s cheer and dance teams. 

A dunk contest among men’s basketball players wrapped up the event. A group of judges sat at half-court and held up the number they felt the dunk fell on a 10-point scale. 

The judges demonstrated school spirit by wearing T-shirts with the number 25 and the word family displayed in the middle.

“We just completed 25 years in athletics,” Shah said. “We are a Cougar family, and the Cougar family is about not only our student athletes but the student body in general, and you can tie that into the power of CSUSM, the power of us. It’s all just one big family.”

CSUSM’s basketball season begins in November. The first men’s game is Nov. 8 at 12:30 p.m. against Biola at The Sports Center, while the first women’s game is Nov. 8 at 4 p.m. against Point Loma as part of the PacWest/CCAA Conference Challenge at Azusa Pacific.