The Orange Of Anarchy Highlight 7PM Madness

Probably the best way to get a feel for what went down at Midnight Madness on Friday...watch the highlights:

Arinze smiling, G-Mac in Revenge of the Nerd glasses, Jim Boeheim in a police squad car...that's all a win.

There's a massive amount of other videos from the event courtesy of Len Songer here.  Peruse to your heart's content.

So...yeah, you saw that right.  The women's team arrived on a firetruck and the men's team came in on motorcycles while Jim Boeheim entered in a police car.  And no, Devo was not in the backseat (rimshot!).  The team performed in some drills, shooting contests and a scrimmage.

The highlight of the night seemed to be John Wallace's upset of Gerry McNamara in the half-court contest.  There was a time when Gerry would out-half-court anyone in the nation.  Alas...

Reaction to the event ranged from "an amazing scene" to "awkward," depending on who you talked to.  While SU had deemed the event a "sell out" with 20,000 tickets given away, the official attendance was 10,156 (which was still referred to as a sell out).  Only half of the purported crowd actually showed up...what is this, Syracuse football?

As long as Kris Joseph had fun, it was all worth it:

Midnight Madness Was A Success, Had Much Fun!! But Games Are Over Now. Business Starts Tomorrow At 11AM!!!

Mike Waters checked in with some thoughts on what he saw on Friday night.  Most of which seems to be positive, including:

James Southerland, the 6-7 freshman from New York City via Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass., is much more ready to play than expected. The extra year of prep school did wonders for Southerland. He's slender, but not toothpick-thin.

Syracuse's frontcourt is ridiculously big and long. Really long. Arinze Onuaku, Rick Jackson and Wes Johnson seem to stretch from one corner to the other.

Wes Johnson can fly. Well, not really. Wes Johnson can levitate.

Giddiness, commence.

Tons of links and videos below, have at it and start wrapping your head around the fact that basketball season is not that far away...

• Midnight Madness Photos...Syracuse.com
• SU Basketball Media Day Photos...Syracuse.com
• A new year and new hope for the women's team...Chris Wagner
• More media day quotes and photos...SUAthletics.com

The SU men's team's first official practice:

The freshman are ready to step into the spotlight:

Scenes from the Syracuse University men's basketball Media Day, and excerpts from Coach Jim Boeheim's news conference:

Coach Q, stylin' and profilin'