Nobody gets the day off.
Banks are open and the mail still gets delivered. Only in the world of college basketball is today a holiday.
It's celebrated to various degrees by more than 330 college programs across the country. High-profile teams hold Midnight Madness festivities in front of packed arenas, some covered live on ESPN.
It's the first day of practice for the 2011-12 season.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's team will hold its first official practice this afternoon in the Chattem Practice Facility.
"It gets you going, and if you can't get ready for the first day of practice then something is wrong with you," Mocs coach John Shulman said. "You get the butterflies and you get anxious and you know that this goes on until, you hope, the middle of March. It's exciting."
The season begins every year, at almost every school, with optimism. Every NCAA Division I team has a chance to win a regular-season championship, the conference tournament, get into the Big Dance, reach the Final Four and then win the national championship.
Different programs have different degrees of optimism and definitions for success.
Southern Conference teams, such as UTC and two-time defending champion Wofford, consider winning the conference tournament and playing in the NCAA tournament the best season possible.
A few schools on the Mocs' schedule - Butler, Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee - have goals of playing well into March. The Mocs have an exhibition game against Tennessee Wesleyan on Nov. 1 then open the season at Indiana on Nov. 13.
UTC shared the SoCon North Division title last year with Western Carolina but got booted from the SoCon tournament on its home floor in the quarterfinals by Furman.
The Mocs return four starters from that team and add University of Georgia transfer Drazen Zlovaric at the center position.
Even though it's the first day of practice, senior Omar Wattad said the day will have the feel of a December practice because primary roles are established.
"I feel that as a team, and as an individual, our pace an enthusiasm has a midseason feel," Wattad said. "We're excited to get it going."
And the Mocs know what they need to do. With so many players back and a season full of statistics to look back on, Shulman has a practice plan set in ink. It could be chiseled in stone.
"The first week of practice, we're going to defend and throw it inside," Shulman said. "We have the same guys so we can start out a little further advanced - we have to bring young ones on a little bit - and knowing what we have to work on."