The stroke of midnight last Friday didn’t bring its usual fever-pitched excitement to McDonough Arena for the college basketball season’s official kickoff.

On a night when the Hoyas trotted out legends of the past — Greg Monroe, Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, Patrick Ewing Jr., Reggie Williams, John Duren and Patrick Ewing Sr. — there was not a packed house of fans at Midnight Madness last Friday to greet them, but rather an unimpressive crowd of student supporters that didn’t fill the stands.

The so-called Blue and Gray nation has been sulking over the past few weeks as the Big East drama plays out on the national stage. Once the most powerful conference in the college basketball game, it has lost three big contenders: Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Texas Christian University. Meanwhile, Hoyas are left bemoaning the headache of conference change.

Ultimately, basketball fans make all other Hoya sports teams possible. Were the university to see a significant drop in revenue as a result of changes to the Big East, the entire Athletic Department would suffer from insufficient funding. Most other athletic programs depend on the revenue from the basketball program. However, membership in a strong conference isn’t the only pillar of power the basketball program needs to remain strong.

Through it all, Hoya followers need to buck up and remain just as proud to wear their Georgetown apparel this basketball season in support of our program. At this year’s Midnight Madness, that patronage was less than stellar; Hoyas need to make their voices loud and clear as they cheer for our teams during the remainder of the season.

School spirit should not be based solely on the result of past seasons. As Georgetown students and Hoya fans, we are supposed to pump our school’s colors through our veins. With the Big East status continuously in flux, Georgetown needs a solid base of undergraduate confidence now more than ever.