Matadors Will Show Their Night Moves : College basketball: Ventura men and Valley women teams also will conduct Midnight Madness sessions tonight.

The college basketball practice season begins tonight at midnight, and at least three local teams are inviting fans to attend their first workouts.

The Cal State Northridge and Ventura College men’s teams and the Valley College women’s team will open practices as the clock strikes 12, and there will be festivities for fans who chose to join them.

At Valley, there will be music, food, a prize raffle and a half-court shooting contest for fans. Admission is $1.

At Ventura, a new era begins with Coach Virgil Watson taking over for Philip Mathews, who was hired by the University of San Francisco after guiding Ventura to a state junior college title last season. Admission to tonight’s practice is free.

At Northridge, fans can win prizes and compete in shooting contests, but Coach Pete Cassidy is resisting the temptation to let his players hold a dunk competition.

“We had a slam dunk contest last year and we almost lost two kids because their enthusiasm took over their common sense,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy, starting his 25th season with the Matadors, said the practice will consist of a warm-up, followed by a 30-minute intrasquad scrimmage. There is no admission charge. The first serious practice will be Sunday at 3 p.m.

Two starters return for Northridge from last season’s 8-20 team. The top returning scorer is forward Eric Gray, who averaged 8.6 points.

The Matadors figure to play an up-tempo style this season because their roster doesn’t include a player taller than 6 feet 7.

The Matadors open the regular season Nov. 25 at Nevada Las Vegas. Northridge’s first home game is Dec. 2 against Cal State Fullerton.

The Northridge women’s team will be introduced at tonight’s workout, but the Matadors will not practice. They will hold their first practice Sunday at 10 a.m.

“We need all the regular practice we can get,” said new Coach Michael Abraham, referring to the Matadors’ 1-26 record last season.

At Pepperdine, neither of the basketball teams are practicing until later Sunday. The men go at 10 a.m. and the women at noon.

The Cal Lutheran men’s team is holding a midnight workout Oct. 22, the first day Division III teams can practice.