Basketball is finally here

Madness doesn't even begin to describe the players and crowd Friday night. Only a few hours before the public was released into the gym for Midnight Madness, one could have heard a pin drop on the court.\nBut come 12:01 a.m., Assembly Hall exploded with screaming fans.\n"So many people came here to support us," freshman forward Patrick Ewing Jr. said. "There's nothing like it."\nWhat really got the crowd pumped was the slam-dunk contest. Senior center George Leach, Ewing Jr., senior forward Jason Stewart, junior guard Donald Perry and freshman guard Roderick Wilmont all took their best shots at pleasing a panel of judges from the Student Athletic Board.\nLeach led the group of slam-dunkers with an impressive one-hand dunk, but Ewing Jr. showed him up by hanging from the basket with his arm in the net. \nThe second time around, Leach got a little encouragement from the crowd before attempting his next couple of dunks, but was unsuccessful at making the basket.\nCoach Mike Davis sat and laughed as Ewing got ready for his next dunk.\n"I explained to him before, 'Whatever you do, don't pull your shirt off,'" Davis said, laughing after the event. "And he didn't. They were just having fun."\nNo one was ready for Ewing Jr.'s second dunk. Earlier in the week, senior guard A.J. Moye had said Ewing Jr.'s dunks weren't humanly possible. And in front of almost 14,000 fans, he proved his out-of-this-world abilities.\n"It's a dunk I've been working on for a while," Ewing Jr. said. "One day I just pulled it off and I haven't missed since." He said he doesn't have a name the 360 degree, between-the-legs dunk that brought the entire crowd to its feet.\nAfter Ewing Jr. easily walked away as champion of the slam-dunk contest, the men's team participated in the spot-shot contest and three-point contest.\nAnd then, for the first time since March, the fans got to see the team play some basketball.\nSophomore guard Bracey Wright said it had been way too long since they played in front of a crowd.\n"You're tired of looking at the same people," Wright said. "Playing against each other with no noise or fan support, so it's good to come out."\nThe 15-minute scrimmage was cream versus crimson. The cream started Perry, Ewing Jr., Wright, freshman forward Jessan Gray-Ashley and junior forward Mike Roberts. The crimson team started sophomore forward Sean Kline, sophomore guard Marshall Strickland, Wilmont, junior guard Ryan Tapak and Leach.\nStrickland contributed for the crimson team by hitting two three-point baskets and a free throw.\nWith three minutes to go in the scrimmage, the score was tied 13-13. Field goals from Ewing Jr., Wilmont and Perry helped the cream team take the lead with just a minute to go.\nOnly a few seconds remained when Perry went to the line to shoot two free throws for the cream team. He sunk them both and helped win the game for his team 23-20.\n"It feels good," Wright said of the scrimmage. "You know I'm coming back from the surgery and the rehab and everything. To get out here and get playing, it's a good feeling."\nWith Midnight Madness over, the team is preparing for the tough schedule ahead of them. But slam-dunk champion Ewing Jr. said he just might have something else in the bag.\n"I got a little bit, but I can't tell y'all though," Ewing Jr. said. "It's a surprise for next year."\n-- Contact staff writer Natalie A. Trout at natrout@indiana.edu.