Another Midnight Madness has come and gone at Kansas University, and one thing is certain: “Late Night in the Phog” is gaining momentum.

Allen Fieldhouse was filled to its 16,300-fan capacity Friday night, and hundreds more were turned away.

The Associated Press reported 4,000 fans attended Missouri’s Midnight Madness in 13,545-seat Hearnes Center.

Indiana’s Midnight Madness attracted 12,000 fans in 17,257-seat Assembly Hall; Arkansas had 14,250 fans at 19,200-seat Walton Arena; Florida 10,000 fans at 12,000-seat O’Connell Center; and Duke had 8,000 at 9,314-seat Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Kentucky sold out 8,700-seat Memorial Coliseum, which is about a third of the size of Rupp Arena, where the Wildcats play.

Other Late Night sellouts were reported at North Carolina (21,700, Smith Center), Maryland (17,950, Comcast Center) and Connecticut (10,150, Gampel Pavilion).

Arizona’s and Louisville’s coaches scrapped Midnight Madness this year.

There’s no danger of a similar extinction at KU.

“I like it. It’s a tradition here at KU,” first-year coach Bill Self said. “I’d say it was pretty good, really good.

“It makes for a long night. I’m really appreciative of all the fans who showed up and stayed here five hours to be able to see that.”

Self’s first Late Night, as expected, had a different feel from those in the Roy Williams era.

The feel Friday was of a massive pep rally.

KU football coach Mark Mangino and quarterback Bill Whittemore spoke to the fans, as did women’s basketball coach Marian Washington, junior forward Blair Waltz and former KU standout Tamecka Dixon.

The best of past Late Nights were used again this year — the men’s and women’s basketball players each performed two dance numbers. The men’s players also danced in a video parody of a Nike commercial, which was shown on three video boards hanging from the rafters.

Junior Keith Langford approves of the new Late Night.

“It’s fine either way it goes as long as we are out there involved and having fun,” Langford said. “The skits we were involved in were fun. A lot of guys have a lot of different things in their personalities and that’s what this is for, for fans to see our personalities.”

Freshman guard Omar Wilkes unveiled an outgoing personality Friday — he loves to dance, and is good at it, too.

“No, no, no, no,” Wilkes said, asked if he was the star of the show. “It’s a team effort. I was so scatterbrained with it being my first Late Night.

“I wish I could have seen it all from an outside perspective. I hope it was entertaining for the fans.”

The fans were enthusiastic all night, especially when the 1988 team was honored.

“That was incredible,” Langford said. “People tell you about the championship season, but for you to sit there and talk to them and hear them tell stories about what they accomplished is special. We went to the Final Four. They won it all. Hearing them talk about winning it all … that makes you hungrier for this season.”

Former KU guard Kevin Pritchard outlined the reasons for the ’88 team’s success.

“We played well together, and really bought into each other’s roles and held each other accountable to those roles,” Pritchard said. “Coach (Larry) Brown was very difficult to play for, but Chris Piper, Danny Manning, Jeff Gueldner were even harder to play for. They held everybody accountable.

“Danny was the ultimate go-to guy. He was so good he made everybody else around him better. Jeff, Milt (Newton) and Chris played so well late in the season and in the tournament. If you get all seven guys playing well at the same time with the player of the year, that’s a tough combination.”

That ’88 team was 12-8 at one point.

“I really believe we were not the best team during the season, but we beat Oklahoma and Duke (in Final Four), and they might have been the two best teams in the tournament. It wouldn’t have mattered who we played. Our whole team was in a zone,” Pritchard said.