It wasn’t midnight and wasn’t quite madness, although the clock pushed that witching hour by the time the practice was finished and some of the action was frantic.

Coach Gregg Marshall pushed his Winthrop Eagles through a two-hour workout that began around 9 on the opening night of college basketball practice. A knot of fans watched most of a workout that made up in enthusiasm and effort what it lacked in hoopla.

And you could tell by looking at Marshall the start of practice was a welcome relief after a roller-coaster summer that saw him take the College of Charleston job one day and back out the next.

The start of practice, the chance to blow the whistle, yell and scream a little and work with the kids he’d recruited helped to bury a memory that he’s not sure will ever fade.

A couple of days before the start of practice Marshall was asked if he was ready to get started.

“I’m ready for the year to get going,” he said.

And then he was asked if that was in part because of what had happened in June, when he almost left the program he’s built from the ground up.

“Here’s my honest opinion,” he said. “I don’t know that I’ll ever stop thinking about that completely, but I do think that getting immersed in our season, coaching these kids will put it out of my mind to a degree.

“But I’m not sure when or if I’ll ever completely take it out of my mind.”

Marshall said he still wakes up at night with the scenario playing again in his mind. He knows he made the right decision for his family in deciding to stay at Winthrop. It’s the money he worries about.

“I did what I thought was right,” he said. “It was what we needed to do as a family unit, but the thing that sometimes wakes me up at night is the money.

“I don’t wish I was in Charleston, don’t think about that. But when some financial issue comes up, I worry about it. I could have doubled my salary.”

So, he has about 200,000 reasons to second guess himself, at least he did until that first practice when he saw the team he’ll put on the floor this year and realized he’s still got it pretty good.

While the teams at North Carolina and Florida and other spots celebrated the opening of practice with scrimmages and skits in front of a packed house, the Eagles went about the business of taking the first steps that could lead to another championship, another shot at playing in March with a chance to advance.

When you’ve built the kind of program Marshall has, you don’t need hype, just the hope that what you do on the court during practice will lead to production on the court at game time.

And maybe an NCAA win or two.

And that’s the one line that remains blank on Marshall’s resume. He’s won six Big South titles in eight years, gone to the NCAA Tournament six times. He has yet to win that NCAA Tournament game that could possibly lead to an even more lucrative coaching offer than was dangling in front of him by the folks at Charleston.

The talk around the Winthrop Coliseum these days, ever since Tennessee’s Chris Lofton had that prayer answered from the deep, deep corner in the Greensboro Coliseum last March, has been about “unfinished business.”

The unfinished business of winning an NCAA Tournament game.

“That was a feeling I can never really reenact,” senior Torrell Martin of last March’s disappointment. No one was closer to Lofton than Martin on that shot that gave the Vols a 63-61 win. Photos showed Martin’s fingers just inches from the ball.

Winthrop was inches from maybe a stunning upset.

“I knew I was going to play the best defense possible,” Martin said, “and usually the best defense gets you somewhere. When he made that shot, I was so distraught. I don’t know any other word to explain it.

“I could taste it. People say that, but I really could taste it. I don’t know the flavor, but I could taste it. Now I understand what they mean by that.”

And that’s why Martin and fellow seniors Craig Bradshaw and Phillip Williams and all the other veterans who have had two years of coming close in March joined their coach in all but begging for practice to start. With four starters and seven of the top eight players back, there’s reason to think this team will be the one that breaks that NCAA jinx in March.

As Martin and junior point guard Chris Gaynor led the team through warm up stretches during that first practice, Martin didn’t hear enough noise as the players methodically counted the cadence.

“Talk louder, baby!” Martin yelled. “Let’s get excited!”

For the next couple of hours, there was plenty of what you’d expect from a first practice – good plays, mistakes, newcomers looking a little lost, some veterans obviously needing a refresher course. Shooting wasn’t as sharp as it needs to be, and free throw shooting was agonizing at times and far from what it will take to win another Big South championship.

But first impressions are promising, and if true, the Eagles will be deeper, maybe quicker than last season. There will be some interesting practice battles for playing time in the weeks ahead.

Freshmen Byron Faison, the stocky guard, and Rainer Blickle, a lefty who can shoot, had pretty good first practices.

And junior college transfer Antwon Harris, who’s built like a concrete bunker and appears to have a motor that runs at the top end of RPM scale, could be one of the surprises in the league.

Gaynor continues to be as cool as the underside of the pillow, and his backup from last season, DeAndre Adams, looks to be more confident and careful with the ball.

Michael Jenkins’ shot looks sweet.

Bradshaw looks bigger, as does Williams.

Taj McCullough has to fill a good bit of the hole left by James Shuler’s graduation.

Mantoris Robinson and Jason Killeen, who redshirted last season, need to turn it on to get some minutes.

With so many familiar faces returning, the questions for Marshall and his staff aren’t as many as in some years. But, going by the first practice, they aren’t leaving any answers to chance.

“Listen and think before you move,” Marshall yelled at one point.

And the emphasis, as always, will be on belly-to-belly defense, taking care of the ball and executing. A good part of the two-hour practice was a refresher course on getting in the face of jump shooters.

The Eagles, especially the veterans, seemed to go about that first practice with a little urgency, especially Martin, who knows this is the last go-around for him. The memory of the last play of last season, it seems, will be a large motivator as he works his way toward the end of an outstanding college career. A couple of days before the start of practice, Martin was eager. It showed on the first night, when he, at times, tried to do too much, tried to force the action. At times, he was a little over the edge. First practice jitters perhaps.

A senior with a something to prove.

“I’m excited about practice, about the games, about everything,” Martin said. “I just couldn’t wait to get into this season.”

He wants to get back to March, get another chance to feel and taste the pressure of a tournament game.

“I want to feel that same feeling,” he said, smiling, talking not about losing, but about being in position to win.

“But this time,” he said, “not just taste it, but be able to bite and swallow.”

For the Eagles, from Marshall to Martin, the season’s here.