The Illinois men's and women's basketball teams got an early start to their seasons Saturday, holding what they called the world's largest outdoor basketball practice on a portable court at Memorial Stadium.

It's unlikely they'll be able to repeat it, though. The NCAA is expected to ban such early events after coaches at other schools complained.

The basketball teams took advantage of Illinois' homecoming football crowd, setting up the court in the stadium's south end zone and practicing and scrimmaging right after the Illini's 27-20 loss to Minnesota.

“The players had fun, got to scrimmage in front of an audience and get those competitive juices going a bit after a long offseason of pickup games in an empty gym,” Illinois men's coach Bruce Weber said.

Weber received permission from the NCAA to hold the practice ahead of the official Oct. 17 start date, and he was hoping for the outdoor practice to become an annual event.

But coaches around the country became irritated that Illinois, along with Kentucky, Marshall and West Virginia, were given special dispensation – and, they worried, a possible recruiting edge – by the NCAA.

According to Weber, the event never was meant to give Illinois a recruiting advantage, though he acknowledged more recruits were in attendance than there would have been at a traditional Midnight Madness event.

TRIVIA TIME

Where did Midnight Madness originate?

TALK ABOUT SWEEP REVENGE

A Cubs-loving couple who won a midsummer dinner bet when their team swept the White Sox made the mistake of taunting the losers by leaving a broom and a pointed note on their front doorstep. The Sox couple didn't forget.

So fast-forward to last Sunday – the morning after the favored Cubs got swept out of the playoffs – when the Cubs couple awoke at 7:30 to the sounds of a CD player blasting “Go Cubs Go” through a bullhorn . . . and the sight of 100 billy-goat signs on the front lawn . . . a blue “L” flag . . . and all sorts of mocking posters plastered to their garage doors.

“Ah, but the Sox husband still wasn't done,” wrote Steve Rosenbloom of ChicagoSports.com, “and this was the best because it was the most subtle.

“The address on the Cubs couple's mailbox was changed. The new number?

“1908.”

QUOTABLE

 The world's tallest man, a 7-foot, 9-inch Mongolian herdsman, fathered his first child earlier this month.

“The man received congratulatory phone calls from all over the world, but mostly from basketball coaches in the ACC,” noted comedy writer Jerry Perisho.

 Vikings DL Jared Allen to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, when asked if he gets tired of being asked about having just two sacks in the first four games after leading the NFL with 15½ last year: “I don't care; it's your guys' job, asking all the dumb questions you want.”

TRIVIA ANSWER

Former Maryland basketball coach Lefty Driesell is credited with starting Midnight Madness in 1971.

THE SCOOP

Driesell didn't want to miss an opportunity to get a jump on the competition, so just after a minute on the legally recognized start date of practice, the Terrapins ran their first mile of the season – on the football field no less. It was barely illuminated by car lights, but several hundred students and fans cheered the team on.

– COMPILED BY P.K. DANIEL FROM NEWS SERVICES, ONLINE REPORTS