I don’t know about everyone else, but to me, this offseason has really crawled along. This strikes me as a little odd, because it’s not like there’s been a shortage of  news:

1. Jonny Flynn became the highest-drafted former Orange since Carmelo Anthony in 2003, going sixth overall to the Timberwolves.

2. Phenom Fab Melo fell in love with SU on his first official visit and gave a verbal, propelling SU’s 2010 recruiting class to second in the country.

3.Tobias Harris and Brandon Knight are still on the radar to round out said class.

4. The shiny, $16 million Melo Center opened its doors, providing an exquisite practice facility for the men’s and women’s teams.

Maybe since that 2010 recruiting class is looking so stacked, I’ve been looking past the 2009-10 campaign, which would be a terrible oversight since the team is not exactly barren following the departure of its top three scorers.

Either way, I’m ready for this season to get going, and it all starts with the sold-out third installment of Midnight Madness Friday night. For those who aren’t familiar, here’s a short list of things to expect, and things not to expect:

What to Expect: A fun dunk contest which may involve audience participation.
What Not to Expect: A one-armed ESF student challenging Arinze Onuaku to a free throw shooting contest.

What to Expect: Recruits like Trevor Cooney in the stands.
What Not to Expect: Master of Ceremonies John Wallace asking current team members to place pushpins on a world map where SU alums are currently playing.

What to Expect: A light scrimmage where fans can check out newcomers Wesley Johnson, Brandon Triche, DaShonte Riley and James Southerland and see how holdovers from last year’s team have improved.
What Not to Expect: Greg Paulus bolting from his grad assistant post on the bench into the paint to take a charge from Wes Johnson.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 11:34 pm by Brian G. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.