After being canceled last year due to reduced crowd attendance, Midnight Mania is finally back and it seems just about everyone is ready to unleash the Roar.

"When they canceled it, I was pretty upset but I am really glad it's back now."

"We have a lot of people here so it's probably going to be great."

"They’re definitely trying to invoke some more spirit with the free stuff and everything so that’s cool, very exciting."

Joe Jones, the coach of the men’s basketball team, believes the return of midnight mania is crucial for team and community morale: "Its been a great event for us over the past several years I think our guys were really bummed out last year when we didn’t do it and its really for them, its for the women’s team, and its really for our whole campus."

"It energizes the campus gets students from all the schools involved, and its something we can build on," explains Gerrald Sherwin, former Columbia Alum and athlete.

"We've got a lot of guys that didn’t play last year, or played a limited role playing, in a much different role this year. So it will take us a little time but I really feel like in a month or so this team will be ready to really get going."

While the university tries to increase support for athletics, some students remain skeptical.

"It was really hyped up and we thought there were going to be a lot of people here."

"Hopefully we can win some games."

"I think we could win some games. I think it could be great."

Looking for their first win, the basketball team travels to captain Kevin Buldger’s hometown Chicago this Tuesday to compete against De Paul.

"What better way to start our season by going to Kevin’s hometown and getting it done. He calls it Chi-Town, so we’ll see what they've got for us."