Let the MADNESS BEGIN

For nine young men, Friday night was their introduction into the Hoosier mystique. Seven freshmen and two transfers donned the Crimson and Cream for the first time in front of the Hoosier faithful. \nWhen the clock struck midnight, all memories of last season began to fade and hope for this season began to rise with the introduction of each new freshman. As their names were called, the roar of the unexpected crowd of more than 12,000 grew, crescendoing with freshmen D.J. White and Indianapolis native Robert Vaden. \nSoon after the crowd settled, the show known as Midnight Madness commenced.\nThe evening's events began with sophomore Pat Ewing Jr. attempting to defend his slam dunk contest championship a year ago. \nGoing up against senior transfer Marco Killingsworth and freshmen Vaden, A.J. Ratliff and James Hardy, Ewing Jr. sealed his back-to-back championships with a 540-degree dunk that brought the crowd and his teammates to their feet. \nFollowing Ewing Jr., sophomore Errek Suhr and junior Angela Hawkins won the spot shot contest with a score of 61. Suhr and Hawkins didn't have to win the contest alone. The tandem had the help of a fan who was selected to shoot with them. \nThe last individual competition of Midnight Madness was the three-point competition. \nSenior Ryan Tapak continued his hot streak from behind the arc, where he has made a niche for himself, ousting Suhr in the finals 15-10 out of a possible 25 shots. \nTapak said the key to winning a three-point contest is deception.\n"You try to act like you're not going to be all nervous," Tapak said. "But you go out there and see all those people and hear Chuck Crabb counting down -- you get nervous."\nTapak said by the second rack of balls, he fell into a rhythm and the nerves disappeared. He also said his style of set-shooting makes it easier to get through all 25 balls, thus giving him a better chance of winning than those who shoot jumpshots. \nIn the Battle-of-the-Sexes overall championship, which pits the men's winner against the women's winner, defending champion Cyndi Valentin was out to make her title a three-peat in the overall competition. But Tapak said he asked the junior if she'd be easy on him because it's his senior year and he wanted to leave IU with a three-point title. Tapak outshot Valentin 13-10 to bring the overall title back to the men's side after a two-year hiatus.\nAfter the events, the Hoosier faithful had the chance to catch the 2004-05 squad in action for the first time in a scrimmage. \nThe scrimmage was the only chance for fans to see Killingsworth and senior Lewis Monroe, who both transferred from Auburn and are forced to sit out this season to be eligible next season. Killingsworth led the Crimson team with 12 points and three rebounds while playing the entire scrimmage. Monroe scored six points and had three assists in his debut for the White team. \nLeading the White team was freshman D.J. White with 12 points while matching up against the older and stronger Killingsworth.\n"It was exciting," White said. "This is what I was waiting for. It was fun. It was just like open gym, but fans were there."\nHe said this was his second time being in front of a crowd that large, but the IU fans were "beautiful."\nIU coach Mike Davis didn't give the team much rest. \nThe squad had to be back at Assembly Hall by noon Saturday to go through a three hour practice -- the first real practice of the 2004-05 season. \nVaden scored six points in the scrimmage, but said that after Friday night, it's time to crack down.\n"All the fun and games are over," he said. "It's time to get down to business."\n-- Contact senior writer Josh Weinfuss at jweinfus@indiana.edu.