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Syracuse Basketball: 5 Observations from Orange Madness

If you missed Orange Madness, read about it here.

By Michael Burke

We got our first glimpse at the 2015-16 edition of Syracuse on Friday night at Orange Madness. Here are some of the highlights from the team's intrasquad scrimmage, plus some non-basketball highlights from earlier in the night.

Oh, and a reminder to take these basketball-related observations with a grain of salt. The defensive effort tonight was very low, understandably.

1. Lydon's night

From the start of the scrimmage, freshman Tyler Lydon was the most active player. After Paschal Chukwu won the opening tip, Lydon caught the ball and made an uncontested dunk. He would sky for three dunks in total, the most of any player. He also blocked DaJuan Coleman at one point before finding Trevor Cooney on the other end for an easy dunk.

2. Joseph making things happen

It didn't always result in baskets, but Kaleb Joseph was constantly penetrating and attacking the basket. He made some nifty passes and found center Coleman open near the basket on a few occasions. Later, he attacked the rim and threw down a pretty ferocious dunk.

3. It's raining 3s

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I'd be willing to bet that more than half of the shots taken in the scrimmage were 3s. Between Cooney, Franklin Howard, Michael Gbinije and Malachi Richardson, the shots from deep never stopped coming. It could be an indication of things to come for the Orange this season; head coach Jim Boeheim said on Friday that he expects SU will take plenty of 3s this season.

4. Player intros

During the player introductions, Cooney and Gbinije received, unsurprisingly, the two loudest ovations from the crowd. Coleman and Joseph were well received, too.

The best introduction, though, belonged to Julia Chandler of the women's team. She came out to Drake's "Know Yourself," with a Canadian flag draped over her shoulders. Hard to top that.

5. Not a great night for music

To kick off the night, Otto's Army members sang the national anthem. It was ... not good. And Twitter let them have it:

Not long after the anthem, Christian rapper NF performed. He's clearly a talented guy, but it just wasn't the right audience. The Syracuse fans in attendance were not feeling it.

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