STORRS, Conn. - Thousands of fans wildly cheered as the defending national champions Connecticut Huskies burst into the gym, each with a Hollywood-like introduction amid smoke, music and laser lights.

But there was one player who missed all of that at 12:01 a.m. Saturday when college basketball practice officially started.

Freshman guard A.J. Price is recovering from an intracranial hemorrhage he suffered nearly two weeks ago. He's been at Hartford Hospital since Oct. 4, and is slowly improving.

Coach Jim Calhoun made sure the crowd wouldn't forget him.

"There is one Husky not with us and we don't know when he will be," Calhoun said. "But hopefully it will be sometime soon. By the time he's done here, he's going to be one of the greatest players in UConn history."

The crowd responded with a deafening roar inside Gampel Pavilion.

There was plenty of cheering going at a number of schools Friday night as Midnight Madness got things started. Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, Maryland and Michigan State all had their traditional starts to practice.

At Maryland, coach Gary Williams made his usual spectacular entrance to a Midnight Madness, this time driving on to the court in Comcast Center in a NASCAR vehicle belonging to Donnie Neuenberger.

"I'm not nervous at all. I practiced a couple of times," Williams said about an hour before midnight. "It's driving a car. A little different car."

Kentucky drew the usual packed house of 8,700 to the event in Memorial Coliseum and next year it might be moved to 23,000-seat Rupp Arena.

"This is unique," Wildcats coach Tubby Smith said. "You don't find this at too many schools. That's why it's such a spectacle, such an event, such a happening."

Joe Crawford, a member of Smith's heralded recruiting class, dazzled the crowd with a double-pump reverse dunk and got a personal congratulation from actress Ashley Judd.

Indiana made a bit of a fashion statement at its Midnight Madness as the Hoosiers donned new warmup shirts that included the candy stripes that have been a trademark on their warmup pants.

Washington was one school that couldn't have its usual Midnight Madness. The Huskies have to hit the road this year for the first weekend of practice because of the world's richest man.

The Huskies will begin preseason workouts at Evergreen College in Olympia, Wash., because Washington's gym is being used for an important campus fund-raiser. Microsoft chairman and co-founder Bill Gates is a featured speaker.

"This year, we wanted to do the Midnight Madness, but the man in the city - Bill Gates - is doing a million-dollar deal," guard Nate Robinson said Friday. "Hey, that's his thing. That's cool. We'll go to Evergreen."