By CHRIS SURPRENANT
Managing Editor
With contributions by
JOSHUA NATOLI
Sports Editor
This past Thursday, throngs of students gathered in the Nolan Gym for the annual MidKnight Madness, a rally to introduce the members of the men’s and women’s basketball teams for the upcoming year. Beginning at 8 p.m., the crowd stretched from the EAC Atrium out to the campus quad. Amid the packs of excited students, Fear the Knight danced his way through, amping up the crowd for the night’s festivities.
When the doors finally opened, students entered the gym to pulsing music provided by Patrick Burke as emcees Myles Clendenin and CJ Joseph energized the already-fevered student body. The students packed themselves close in the bleachers, creating a wild sea of black and yellow, ready to ring in the 2013-2014 season.
Starting off the night’s festivities was a performance by the cheerleading team who then dispersed to pick out four members of the crowd for what would be the night’s first contest: pie-eating. Several students were plucked from their seats and seated at one end of the gym with their hands behind their backs and given two minutes to finish the desserts. Not being an easy task, each participant attacked the baked goods with their faces in hopes of winning.
Following the pie fracas was a performance by the Golden Knights Dance team. Their routine included a selection of popular songs such Bruno Mars’s “Treasure,” “Crazy” by Destiny’s Child, “I Love It” by Icona Pop, and “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore.
After, Clendenin and Joseph invited the Golden Knights cheerleaders to choose another group of students to take center court in a dance contest. DJ Burke played a variety of tunes including: “Crank That (Soulja Boy)”, “Cotton-Eyed Joe”, “What Does the Fox Say?”, “The Jerk,” and “Cyclone.” Ultimately, the contest yielded three winners, all of whom cranked that (Soulja Boy) better than the rest.
The crowd then welcomed performances from hip-hop groups Knights Out and Knights in Motion, later followed by an intense game of musical chairs. With the conclusion of another contest, the crowd went wild for a zombie-themed routine from the ALANA Steppers. With the conclusion of their performance, it was time to usher in the women’s basketball team.
After each member was announced, the team split into two groups. Half dressed in sweatpants and snapbacks, while the other half dressed in brightly-colored neon shirts. Much to the crowd’s delight, the Backstreet Boys “Everybody” began to blare, ushering in a good ten minutes of 90’s throwbacks ranging from RUN-DMC’s “It’s Tricky” to Britney Spears’s “Oops!…I Did It Again.” The crowd was on its feet, belting out the words to every song as the women’s team danced along.
As the women’s team finished, members of the men’s team were announced and welcomed with cheers from the crowd. With three minutes on the clock, the men’s team shot free throws and layups, showing a lot of promise for the upcoming season.
The night concluded with the announcement of the winners of snowboarding gear sponsored by the Student-Athelete Advisory Committee and Washington Tavern, as well as a drawing for a 32-inch flat screen television provided by the Student Association. Proceeds from the raffle went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
For some students, it was their first time attending MidKnight Madness. For others, it was their last. “This is my last MidKnight Madness,” said Daniela Cunsolo, a senior Communications Sciences and Disorders major, “I’m so excited to be attending. It’s a chance for the whole school to get together.”
Others like Resident Assitant Dave Mellan are looking forward to getting more involved this season. “I have a resident on the women’s basketball team and she’s very optimistic about the season. I’m excited to go to the games.”
On the women’s side the Golden Knights are coming off a rather disappointing season in which the finished 9-17 and 6-16 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The team does show some promise though with the return of their number one scorer, guard Gabie Polce, who averaged 11.4 points per game last season. If they can make some adjustments in the turnover department this season could be a much different and more successful story.
The men’s team posted a winning record last season of 15-14, but a losing conference record of 10-12 in the NE-10. The record was good enough to make it to the conference tournament, but they were met with an exit by Southern New Hampshire in the semifinal game. The team looks to be in good shape as they return two of their top scorers in senior Dominykas Milka (17.8 ppg) and sophomore Tyler Sayre (12 ppg). They will, however miss the vocal leadership of departed guard Andre Pope who chipped in 11.9 ppg as well. If Sayre fulfill some of his monster potential after a stellar sophomore year to go along with consistent production from Milka, the Golden Knights should be in even better shape to make a run at the NE-10 title.
