Syracuse Basketball Recruits Enjoy Midnight Madness, Meet Carmelo, Meek Mill, and Tweet About It

While Midnight Madness is a nice way to bring the fans back into the fold and get them ready for the upcoming basketball season, the most substantive benefits of holding this event for many programs have been on the recruiting front.  Kentucky is known for landing big recruits on the heels of its Midnight Madness almost every year.  

Syracuse's Midnight Madness this year, was a huge hit with the big recruits who were in attendance, as evidenced by how much they tweeted about it.  

Meet Your Tweeters:

@MooMoo25: Jerami Grant 

@NerlensNoel3: Nerlens Noel 

@Goodlucko_12: Goodluck Okonoboh

@tdot_ennis: Tyler Ennis

@_isaiah11: Isaiah Briscoe

Let's take a look at their impressions:

• Waitin for the madness to start! #CuseNation

  

  MooMoo25October 14, 2011 at 19:20
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  Meek Millz jus walked smooth past my face

  

  MooMoo25October 14, 2011 at 20:06
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  http://yfrog.com/hwttchjMooMoo25 October 14, 2011 at 20:23
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  Melo got hella swag DAMN

  

  MooMoo25October 14, 2011 at 20:25
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  The Carriers goin off

  

  MooMoo25October 14, 2011 at 20:26
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  Crazy star power Melo Wes Johnson J. Mac Donte Green Andy Rautins Deodorth Lawrence M. Hakeem Warrick Darrick Coleman and of course MeekMill

  

  MooMoo25October 14, 2011 at 20:35
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  Oh and Johnny Flynn

  

  MooMoo25October 14, 2011 at 20:39

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  Haven too much fun in my future home #CuseNation

  

  MooMoo25October 15, 2011 at 19:32
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  Syracuse midnight madness wit my right hand@Goodlucko_12 #wow

  

  NerlensNoel3October 14, 2011 at 19:48
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  @NerlensNoel3 Noel and Christmas I like the sound of that.....hope you enjoyed your weekend and Let's Go Orange #CuseNation

  

  cusenc03October 16, 2011 at 18:47
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  Out here with my bros @NerlensNoel3,@ASANTANAs_Swag, and @TheRealJames15 at Syracuse Midnight Madness!!! Showing us to much love!!

  

  Goodlucko_12October 14, 2011 at 19:46
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  Legggo! @MeekMill in the building!!

  

  Goodlucko_12October 14, 2011 at 20:03
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  Chilling with @MeekMill after the show! Real dude #dreamchaser http://twitpic.com/70g8biGoodlucko_12 October 14, 2011 at 23:40
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  @ASANTANAs_Swag @Goodlucko_12 @MJCWilliams@NerlensNoel3 @ASANTANAs_Swag having a good time kicking it with my bros funny moments ...

  

  TheRealJames15October 15, 2011 at 20:53
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  "@Goodlucko_12: "@R_Xmas25: @Goodlucko_12 yo bro dat was good times" lol I'm hip bro we gotta do that again"#RealIshBro

  

  R_Xmas25October 16, 2011 at 20:18
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  On my way back to school Bumpin @MeekMill speakers going hammer!!!

  

  Goodlucko_12October 16, 2011 at 20:09
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  Me and my Man Melohttp://lockerz.com/s/147211522tdot_ennis October 15, 2011 at 0:22
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  Me and @MeekMill last night at Midnight Madness. http://lockerz.com/s/147336063tdot_ennis October 15, 2011 at 11:11
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  Who Wouldn't Be? , //RT @WatsonW12: I Know My YoungBul @_Isaiah11 Happy He With @MeekMill Right Now Lol.

  

  _Isaiah11October 14, 2011 at 20:56
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  Me & @MeekMill Lastnight , Lemme Get That Follow Bro #Dreamchaserhttp://lockerz.com/s/147342411_Isaiah11 October 15, 2011 at 11:34
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  Me & My Boy @carmeloanthony Lastnighthttp://lockerz.com/s/147343246_Isaiah11 October 15, 2011 at 11:37

I have a few thoughts about how Midnight Madness went as well.  I'm not going to do a whole breakdown of the events, because it's pretty hard to gauge anything beyond "whoa, that was cool" from a scrimmage, but there were some things worth mentioning:

• I loved all of the new tricks that the Dome pulled out for this event.  We had the "batman-style" block S beamed onto the Dome.  We had smoke machines aplenty.  We had spotlights.  There was a big time feel to Midnight Madness this year, which is not something we've been able to say in the past.
• Tone Loc for Meek Mill was the trade of the century.  I didn't think MM's set was all that great (he was lip syncing the whole time, right?), but just look at all of those tweets from the recruits.  They seemed more excited about meeting him than Carmelo.  
• I'm jealous of those of you who are long term Syracuse fans, because I couldn't really appreciate the Legends Game as much as you guys could.  "Old school Syracuse basketball" for me was watching Jonny throwing ridiculous passes and Devo shooting threes and laying it up with his left hand.  It was awesome to see guys I'd only previously heard about or seen on YouTube, like John Wallace and Lawrence Moten, and I can only imagine what a thrill it was for long-time fans to see those guys take the floor.  This was a special event, and it's probably not something we'll ever see again.  
• I dare you to find one person in the Dome on Friday who didn't get chills when Carmelo came out.  As I'd tweeted earlier in the day, I knew that he was going to be there ahead of time and it was still a total thrill. 
• If James Southerland ever puts it together, he is going to be a special, special player.  He just oozes athleticism.  
• It's apparent that everyone put in a lot of work this summer.  Dion looks slimmed down and more explosive. Triche and Kris look stronger.  Melo lost a ton of weight, and looks so much more athletic than last year.  A whole extra year of basketball is huge for him.  If CJ's jumper is something that will be a consistent threat this year, he's going to make "The Jump", I have no doubt.  
• I'm so excited about Michael Carter-Williams.  He can shoot, he's a great athlete (see: the posterization of Fab), and he can still fill the pass-first point guard role.  I don't know how much run any of our freshmen are going to get this year, because we have so many veterans on the team, but I definitely think all three can step in this year, if necessary, and produce.
• I don't expect to see much from Rakeem Christmas offensively this year, he's really raw, but he looked like a really fluid athlete who should be able to play solid defense this year, and score on put backs and whatnot.  That's all we really need from him at this point.  
• Trevor Cooney's three-pointer off the screen, where he took one step to face the basket and drilled the shot, was a thing of beauty.  He has a great stroke, and a quick release.