Much of the buzz surrounding the Terrapins men’s basketball team this offseason has been about its future. Terps faithful can boast that the team returns six underclassmen from last year and welcomes in two highly regarded freshmen this season. Not to mention, coach Mark Turgeon’s 2014 recruiting class already ranks among the nation’s best.

But to begin this season, the Terps are turning the focus away from what is to come and giving a nod to the program’s past.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams will hold the annual Maryland Madness event in Cole Field House on Oct. 18, marking the first official university basketball event in the building since the men beat Virginia, 112-92, in the final regular-season game of their national championship run in 2002.

Cole Field House

“Cole Field House represented many of the most iconic and memorable moments in Maryland basketball program history,” Turgeon said in a press release. “Cole was host to multiple hall of fame coaches and countless All-Americans that helped make Maryland basketball what it is today.”

Cole Field House is now known as Cole Student Activities building and hosts small concerts, shows and indoor soccer matches. But from 1955-2002, it was home to the men’s basketball team, and in 1971, the women began playing there.

Cole Field House

The two teams combined to compile a record of 774-246 at Cole Field House, and at the time of its closing the building had hosted more upsets of the nation’s No. 1 men’s basketball team (seven) than any other arena in the country.

Sixteen Terps men’s and women’s All-Americans played their college basketball in Cole Field House, including John Lucas, Len Bias and Juan Dixon.

“It’s a great chance for this generation to get a glimpse of what Maryland basketball was like and to honor our history,” said women’s coach Brenda Frese, who arrived in College Park for the 2002-03 season, the first year the teams began playing in Comcast Center.

Maryland Madness typically kicks off the Terps’ practice schedule, but new NCAA rules allow coaches to start practice two weeks earlier than in the past. So the Terps will begin practicing this week, but Maryland Madness will still be the first chance for students and fans to see the teams in action.

Cole Field House also hosted some historical moments that stretched beyond the reach of this university.

Juan Dixon

The first-ever televised women’s basketball was held in Cole Field House in 1975, the United States and China competed there in a ping-pong match that was the first sporting event between the two nations and the building hosted the 1966 men’s basketball national championship, in which Texas Western beat Kentucky to become the first team to win the title with an all-black starting lineup.

There were, though, plenty of great Terps’ moments in Cole, too. On Feb. 27, 2002, the Terps topped No. 1 Duke in the last matchup between the two rivals in the historic building, and the team went on to win its first national title several weeks later.

Perhaps Turgeon and the new-look Terps can recapture some of that success. But for one day, they’ll get to show off for fans in the arena where a championship team was built.

“It will be a special evening for our fans, students, alumni and our university as we reconnect with the historic past of Cole Field House and Maryland basketball,” Turgeon said.

Tickets will be available to students online and Terrapin Club donors over the phone on Sept. 30 at 8:30 a.m. on a first-come, first-serve basis. The doors to Cole Field House will open at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 and the event will begin at 6:30.

Men’s basketball opens its season Nov. 8 against Connecticut at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Terps’ home opener is Nov. 13 against Abilene Christian. Women’s basketball begins its season at South Florida on Nov. 8, and the home opener at Comcast Center is Nov. 10 against Loyola.