Madness Before Midnight

Special thanks to Hall07 for covering MBM for me!

I did not get to the SHU campus until around 8:00 PM just in time for the announcement of the Teams. There was hardly any excitement in the gym for this or anything else during the night. The biggest cheer for the players came when Kelly Whitney came out. After all the players and coaches were announced, the Men and Women’s teams split to do there warm ups. As usual the men put on a dunking extravaganza (I did not mind this time because it was MBM) not that you can get a lot out of lay-up lines, but each player looked good.

3pt contest: Featured Copeland, Marshall, and Messy This I thought was a waste of time do to the time limit…there was a limit of 30sec and the players barely had enough time to get to the 3rd rack of balls. Copeland: 1st round hit a total of I think 3 shots Messy: hit all of 2 shots and was beat by one of the women’s players who hit 3 Marshall: 1st round hit 4 shots Final: Marshall vs. Copeland Marshall wins with I believe it was 6, Copeland only hit 2. Overall: All shooters looked bad many air balls. Grades: Marshall C, Copeland D, and Messy F

3 V 3 Teams of 2 students and one player We had Team Laing & Team Billmeier This was pretty entertaining with Grant throwing up 3’s and Laing dunking everything, but the best part was when Grant went up for two dunks and one of our bright SHU students tried to draw the Charge twice. Grant knocked him over once and the next time the kid just feel but Grant missed both. Team Laing won. Laing gets a B and Captain Grant gets an F but A for having his teammates laughing.

Dunk Contest: Pilgrim, Palmer, Gause, and Laing 1st round all made their Dunks all looked impressive. Laing eliminated (over all dunk scores about C+) 2nd round Gause, Pilgrim, and Palmer Gause went up twice trying to complete what would have been amazing dunks but could not connect. Gause gets a B+ because he jump out of the Gym Pilgrim used 3 kids (I think his little cousins) for a nice soaring dunk over all 3. Palmer showed great athletic ability with a windmill drunk Finals: Palmer Finished with a nice reverse dunk (nothing special) Pilgrim tried to pull off a sick dunk four times but could not connect. Gets a A- Winner: Palmer (B+ never thought the kid would be this athletic)

For the players: Grant Billmeier- Was vocal and led the team in the drills Looks slimmer and in better shape. Donald Copeland- Arms looked a little thicker but nothing drastic Marcus Cousin- Still big and still looks disinterested Stan Gaines- Looks somewhat quick and athletic from the guest appearance drunk. Also looks trimmer and toned. John Garcia- Big but not 6’9 Palmer and Cousin are both taller. Needs to lose some baby fat, but the kid looks solid. Paul Gause- Can stroke it and jump out of the Gym could be come a very good scoring option off the bench Brain Laing- Looks much bigger and more toned, can jump like Gause and hit a few midrange shots in the 3v3 Carl Marshall- A little taller then Copeland but looks like more rugged also, got along well with the Illinois boys. Mani Messy- Looks wise he looks great but can the kid play valuable minutes?? Jamar Nutter- Did not do much but he is trimmer and more toned, could have a big year if he can stay on the court. David Palmer- Athletic and big but can he play BE basketball... Mike Pilgrim- Is definitely bigger weight and height wise then Kelly, he can soar above the rim…but will he be on the team in January? Kelly Whitney- Looks like the same player from last year…he looks like a SF, very toned, but not the Kelly from sophomore year. The question can he become the player he once was? Overall MBM did not help bring any answers to the fan. Student turnout was low because of fall break, but if there was some buzz or hype for the season that would have not mattered. I can't imagine students in 2000 going home for fall break and missing Midnight Madness. We need to get the campus buzzing with SHU basketball again. Side note saw Quinlan smoozing the alumni and being very approachable. He was wearing navy blue suit with a blue, white, and silver tie.