The men's and women’s basketball teams arrived in style on Friday at the Carrier Dome, getting fans excited for their seasons at Orange Madness.
Orange legend Carmelo Anthony couldn’t make it, but prepared a video in advance sending his support. He introduced rapper Jadakiss [13], who pumped-up the crowd prior to introductions.
Head coach Jim Boeheim [14] received a standing ovation for what will be his 41st season.
Returning players on both teams received their Final Four rings prior to the start of the event.
When asked by ESPN’s Seth Greenberg — who conducted on-court interviews throughout Orange Madness — if this is one of the best team’s he’s ever had, Boeheim chuckled and said, “For now, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
The Syracuse women’s team was the first to take the court, playing an eight-minute intra-squad scrimmage.
Team Orange started off on an 8-0 run and wouldn’t look back, beating Team White 18-10.
A spin-o-rama lay-up on a fast break near the end of the game by guard Desiree Elmore [15] impressed the crowd, who gave the freshman guard a loud round of applause.
Up next came the 3-point contest. Winner Gabrielle Cooper [16](13pts) squared off against Andrew White III [17] (11pts), John Gillon [18] (12pts), and Abby Grant [19] (8pts).
Gerry McNamara [20], one of the assistant coaches for the men’s basketball team, also shot 3-pointers following the victory by the freshman guard. Without warming up, he tied her with 13 points. McNamara knocked down 400 3-pointers in his Syracuse career, the most in the program's history by a single player.
Then came the four-shot contest. The two teams consisted of a men’s and women’s basketball player, a current Syracuse student and a member of the military. The teams were required to make a layup, a free throw, a 3-pointer and a half-court shot. Julia Chandler [21] and Matt Moyer [22] were the players for the first team. Moyer couldn’t connect on the half-court shot before time expired.
Alexis Peterson [23] and Frank Howard made up half of the second team competing. Howard [24]drilled the half-court shot to secure the victory for his team.
The 12-minute men’s basketball scrimmage was the next event. Sophomore Paschal Chukwu [25], a member of team Orange, blocked a dunk with 5:45 left, showing the fans what they could expect from the sophomore during the upcoming season. The 7’2" transfer from Providence College is the tallest player in program history.
The final event of the evening was the dunk contest, won by freshman Tyus Battle [26]. Battle topped reigning champion Doyin Akintobi-Adeyeye [27] by completing two impressive dunks which drew loud reactions of approval from the crowd.
