By David Schuh | Men’s Basketball Columnist

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It seems like every year, fans walk away from Big Blue Madness wondering if it could possibly be topped the following year.

Big Blue Madness gets bigger and brighter every time.

This year it was a giant, rotating video screen above center court. It was the men’s roster being lifted out of the floor onto stage as their first introduction to their adoring fans. It was also their warm-up suits, bedazzled in glowing numbers.

Head coach John Calipari began the night with his “State of the Big Blue Nation” address, complete with presidential teleprompters on a stage decorated with national championship trophies.

Oh, and there was also some basketball to be played.

You can never really take the first scrimmage of the year with any seriousness, but it is a first look at the new player’s athleticism and poise.

Freshman forward Julius Randle is, as advertised, a complete player. At 6 feet 9 inches and 250 pounds, he showed the mobility and ball skills of someone, well, not 6 feet 9 inches and 250 pounds. He’ll take advantage of mismatches in nearly every game the Cats play.

Senior guard Jarrod Polson seems poised to take on the role of backup point guard. Polson showed quality dance moves as he arose from the Rupp Arena floor and as well as confidence when playing against the best freshman point guard in America.

Sophomore forward Willie Cauley-Stein was sporting a couple of new accessories. First, a nice set of cornrows fit well for the Kansas native. He also soldiered what looked like a glove on his stitched right hand. He played a bit tentative because of it.

There were several other newcomers on the court, notably freshman forward Marcus Lee, who put his jumping ability on display with a couple big blocks and soaring dunks.

Freshman guard James Young played big for his 6-foot-6 frame, but didn’t do much in the half-court offense. Maybe that’s because it was a unstructured scrimmage that didn’t matter, or maybe the young Darius Miller comparisons are accurate. We’ll just have to wait and see on that one.

We’ll also have to wait and see on everyone. Big Blue Madness is a showcase, with emphasis on the show. As Calipari spewed his manifesto to 24,000 receptive admirers in the stands, several high school seniors sat courtside.

“If you want to be developed as an NBA player, if you want to be developed as a person of character, you come here,” Calipari said. “Every team we play will be more experienced than us. But if we become one unit, play with one heartbeat and a love for one another, we will become unbreakable.”

That is a personal recruiting pitch to every high school basketball player in the country.

Calipari has gotten top recruits to show up to Big Blue Madness each of his five years in Lexington. And each time, many of them have turned into the ones dancing on stage with fireworks blasting overhead.

If the past is any indication, the 2014 installment will be bigger and better than Friday night.