There is no method to Midnight Madness. The first day of basketball practice is like the last day of school. Michigan State's players started their season "on a red carpet accompanied by the song of their choice," according to the Associated Press. The team's "theme" this winter is "Let The Music Play." Basketball teams have themes, just like Homecoming. Who knew?

The Xavier Musketeers had a theme in their first practice, too. It was called Run This Drill. It featured 15 players, a few coaches, some basketballs and exactly nobody else. Madness would have occurred at Cintas Center only if the TV cameras had shown up as Thad Matta was teaching. The coach would have been furious.

"It's just us. That's all that matters. I want the guys to understand we're the only ones that can make a difference with this team," said Matta.

Xavier head coach Thad Matta. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

This is how the Matta Muskies do things. It's nothing like Skip Prosser did it, or Pete Gillen. Midnight Madness is show business. Matta is basketball. He's as basic as a Converse All-Star. He's a plaid shirt in a business overwhelmed with Armani. "If a guy wanted to rob me, he'd say, 'You can't go to practice,'" Matta said.

As the preseason presents rolled in - David West for Player of the Year! All-American Romain Sato! - Matta asked his players to "fall in love with the process." Trust the game. Because when it's all over, the only truth is on the court. "The rest is extraneous bull," Matta said.

The Musketeers are top 20 in every poll you can find. The Sporting News thinks they're the fifth-best team in the country. The erstwhile Little Team That Could is officially dead. In everybody's mind but Matta's.

"I wrote the team a letter," he said Friday. In it, the coach talked about the Muskies being perceived as the "hunted" team now. "Hunted my (butt)," Matta wrote. "We will take great pride in being hunters. That's the Xavier way. We won't rest on what people are saying."

He doesn't get out much. Literally. College basketball is a coaches' game, but Matta has stayed under the radar, even as his team has soared into the national discussion. That's no accident. You could fit Matta's ego into a shoebox and still have room for the shoes. "It's not about me," he said.

Matta coaches and goes home to his wife and two preschool kids. He doesn't need to be the life of the party. He doesn't need the party. Given a choice between being a local celebrity and an ESPN star, Matta would rather be doodling half-court traps on cocktail napkins.

"The best teacher of basketball I've seen at Xavier," said former XU player and current broadcaster Steve Wolf. "He's a perfectionist as far as X's and O's."

It will be interesting to watch how Matta reacts to his emerging star status, if the Muskies season goes as expected. Meantime, he'll stay wrapped tightly in the XU basketball cocoon. Midnight Madness went quietly at Xavier. The basketballs made the loudest noise.

E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com