A look back at Midnight Madness

Syracuse’s Midnight Madness Friday night was not madness at all, and did not occur at midnight.

In fact, the event as a whole failed to excite the 10,156 fans in attendance, and left many hoping that the creators of the preseason polls don’t take a team’s ability to dunk a basketball into consideration when they compile their initial rankings.

It’s safe to say there were three high points of the night, with everything else significantly lacking in comparison. There was some creative use of emergency response vehicles, a couple of entertaining outfits, and the introduction of the future of Syracuse men’s basketball.

The night kicked off with the introduction of a guest emcee, former SU standout John Wallace. Following his opening remarks, a badly botched attempt at Otto leading a “We Will Rock You” chant and the women’s team’s video montage led to highlight number one.

SU women’s team

The Syracuse women’s basketball team entered the Carrier Dome riding a fire truck, with the sirens blaring and lights flashing. Some of the players wore firefighter helmets. That seemed to be the extent of the excitement from the women’s team, seeing as a lopsided intrasquad scrimmage was not all too thrilling, even if it showcased the strong shooting ability of the Orange.

Entertainment prior to the introduction of the men’s basketball team was a tandem of trampoline artists who, wile mildly entertaining, it was just an act that helped bridge the gap between highlight numbers one and two.

After the women’s team entered on a fire truck, SU fans anxiously awaited the entrance of the men’s team, and while you could sense a general excitement in the Dome, it is debatable whether the fans were more excited for the players or the entrance itself.

SU men’s team introductions

The men’s team, arguably appropriately, entered individually on the backs of motorcycles driven by people who actually knew how to drive them (no- Brandon Triche was not driving a motor cycle; that would have been the last thing Jim Boehiem would have wanted).

Or should I say Officer Boeheim? The head coach entered last to a thunderous ovation when he pulled up courtside in the driver’s seat of a police car. The fans erupted when Officer Boeheim exited the car dressed in a leather jacket, sun glasses, and a police chief’s hat.

Assessing SU men’s basketball

Other than Boeheim, fifth-year senior Andy Rautins and freshman Brandon Triche received the loudest ovations from the Syracuse faithful. During the intrasquad scrimmage, some players looked good, some didn’t, but overall, SU fans could not have been pleased by what they saw.

An overconfident Scoop Jardine blew several layups in warmups and the scrimmage, DaShonte Riley missed a handful of wide-open shots from inside 10 feet, Arinze Onuaku tried to run a fast break, and for the most part, it appeared that the Orange forgot how to dunk, missing more times above the rim than one could keep track.

Triche, for the most part, looked solid (when he wasn’t throwing up airballs from behind the three point line). Mookie Jones, on the other hand, looked less than stellar.

Kris Joseph, Wesley Johnson, and Rick Jackson clearly stood out with promising performances. Granted, the scrimmage was clearly taken half-heartedly and included a ton of alley-oop attempts (most of which failed), it was clear that these three gave SU fans something to look forward to.

Orange fans finally got a taste for what Johnson will bring to the table this season, and also got to see a much more agile (and thin) Jackson do work around the basket.

Half court shootout, three-point contest and slam dunk competition

A confused John Wallace came back on the court to announce a half court shootout between Gerry McNamara and himself. Each player had two opportunities, and after McNamara missed his, Wallace sunk his second shot and got the SU fans on their feet.

Wallace then took back the microphone and announced an upcoming three point shootout despite not knowing who was competing. The men and women competed in a three-point shooting contest that paired Elashier Hall and Scoop Jardine against Lynnae Lampkins and Andy Rautins.

Lampkins watched from the sideline as Hall and Jardine shot first. Despite her disproval of having to shoot with the bigger men’s balls, she made her first four baskets as she and Rautins won the contest 15-10.

What followed the shootout was the annual slam dunk competition. This year, however, fans would have settled for a free throw-shooting contest, or at least a glorified layup drill.

James Southerland, Brandon Triche, Mookie Jones, and Wesley Johnson competed in this year’s competition, and none of them came close to matching Onuaku’s epic glass-shattering jam or former Syracuse baller Paul Harris leaping over two kids.
Southerland’s best dunk was a two-handed windmill from a pass off the backboard. Generally, a dunk like that would have had fans hooting and hollering all night, but after several missed attempts, SU faithful were more reluctant than ecstatic.

Brandon Triche followed with an array of failed attempts. Despite channeling the power of his shiny gold shoes, he had to settle for a one-handed 360 degree dunk. Although fans were given big scorecards with “10” on one side and “9” on the other, Triche managed to convince the crowd to flip the “9” to show a “6.”

Jones continued the theme of unsuccessful dunks and less than riveting entertainment. His attempts at jaw-dropping dunks were tough to watch and provoked Wallace to ask “is that a layup or a dunk?”

The hype alone surrounding Johnson’s dunking ability brought some optimism to SU fans. However, after several failed attempts, he too fell victim to the weak-dunk-bug. Johnson’s attempts were at least creative, and consisted of trying to dunk two balls at once. His highlight came from a two-handed windmill off a bounce pass from Jardine.

As a whole, Midnight Madness did not amount to the hype that surrounded it. After seeing small glimpses of the team’s new players, however, SU fans could at least walk away knowing the hype surrounding their new arrivals is very much alive.