Faulkner University

Faulkner kicks off season with Madness

Fan rate the dunk contest at Thursday night's Madness event

November 6

The Faulkner basketball team held its annual midnight madness preseason event last night in the Tine W. Davis Gymnasium on campus. Luckily, we turned our clocks back over the weekend making midnight only 9:30 p.m. The evening was filled with food, fun, dances and dunks and for on lucky fan, a shot at $10,000.

The freshmen break it down at the start of the evening

The evening began as usual with a blacked-out gym filled with roaring Eagles fans. A slideshow ran on a suspended screen followed by the spotlight introduction of each of this year’s basketball players. After the mid-court huddle and swinging chant, the freshmen ripped off their warmups to partake in an interesting rendition of the Cha-Cha Slide. Bojan Milosavljevic, George Manomano and Jamarious Alderson all showed their ‘skills’ for the Faulkner student body.

Palmore tries to gain the lead in the three-point finals

Milosavljevic sinks the winning shot in the three-point contest

Palmore and Milosavljevic together after the shootout

The lights were brought up following the Slide and players began warmups for the three-point contest. After two rounds Milosavljevic and sophomore Chris Palmore found themselves in the championship round. Milosavljevic out-paced Palmore to take the title with a final round score of 19 to 14.

Demarcus Palmer opens the contest in style with this dunk off a pass from the lobby and over the walkway

Randell Moore swoops under the rim for a reverse dunk to get the crowd on their feet

Adam Okechukwu soars in from the side for this slam in the opening round

The night wouldn’t be complete without the much-anticipated dunk contest. After the preliminary dunks, Palmore had made his way into the finals along with sophomore Darius McKnight. McKnight, a 6-7 forward, seemed to have the edge over the 6-3 guard, but after dropping the three-point shootout, Palmore was determined to steal the spotlight on the evening’s most coveted honor. After all was said and done, Palmore proved once and for all that he’s just better at creative leaping than anyone else on the team.

Andrew Boland deep-dishes this slam in the opening round

Chris Palmore's 360 easily sends him into the finals - phase one

Palmore  360 - phase two

So creative were his aerial acrobatics that he was bombarded by a charging fan hoping for an autograph. True to the celebrity status that he had so convincingly earned, Palmore graciously signed the young man’s Sperrys.

Darius McKnight owns the rim on this two-handed jam

Palmore's windmill dunk earns him dunk contest champion honors

Chris Palmore signs a pair of Sperry's after winning the dunk-off

The night was not all about the athletes, however. Nay, the evening was really about the students. It gave them an opportunity to get to know the athletes before the season and of course the chance to take home cool prizes, not the least of which, was a suitcase full of non-sequential unmarked bills in the sum of $10,000. Okay, not really. It was however, a chance at a full-paid spring semester and that’s nothing to laugh at.

Before the grand finale - that being a shot at the suitcase full of dough for those of you not keeping up - there were a host of other door prizes to be won.

Maddie Brinkely knocks down her free throw in the women's triple contest

Emily Jones sinks the deep ball first to claim the victory

The ball got rolling, well tossing, with Maddie Brinkely and Emily Jones whose raffle numbers were randomly drawn for a chance to win some gift cards. The contest required the participants to make a layup, free throw and three-pointer in sequential order. The first of the two to hit all three was crowned the winner. Brinkely started off strong hitting the layup and free throw without fail, but Jones rapidly caught up and was the first to nail the shot from downtown. Jones not only won the gift card, but a photo op with Faulkner forward Andrew Boland which is shown below.

Emily Jones gets her picture taken with Andrew Boland after the win

When fans discovered that the winner of the round would get their picture taken with Boland, people began protesting in droves, exclaiming that they would willfully have fought both Brinkely and Jones for the chance at a one-of-a-kind photographic memory. After settling down the rowdy crowd, the contest resumed.

Lincoln Taylor comes up short in the men's triple threat competition

Lincoln Taylor and Emanuel Godfrey, two football players here at Faulkner, were drawn to compete in the men’s triple threat competition. Again, the participants need to be the first to hit a layup, free throw and three-pointer in order to claim the prize. Godfrey took the honors, completing the shooting course with Taylor still at the free-throw line. In all fairness, Taylor had only one good hand having damaged the other in an apparent football related accident.

Jessica Monarch sinks her second three-pointer to clinch a gift card

Lauren Whitaker and Jessica Monarch faced off in the fan three-point shootout. Monarch, a University soccer player, inched out Whitaker 2-1 to take home the prize. Both contestants stated later that they would have easily sunk double-digit threes had they had more than one ball. The men’s competition produced an entire rack full of balls, but due to the limited quantity of women’s regulation balls - i.e. two - both Whitaker and Monarch had to wait impatiently for the rebound before releasing their subsequent shots. In related news, Faulkner has announced the addition of women’s basketball which is slated to begin next year. The addition of that team should provide sufficient hardware for next year’s madness event. Both Whitaker and Monarch said that they would work vigorously in the offseason in hopes of again retaking the court to battle for yet another gift card.

Dustin Villarreal seals the deal in the fan three-point shootout

James Weaver and Dustin Villarreal faced off in the men’s three-point shootout that immediately followed the Whitaker-Monarch press conference. Weaver was exploding like a spring in hyperdrive in hopes of claiming victory over his opponent. Villarreal was too strong however, and clinched the upset 5-2. Villarreal took home the prize and bragging rights.

As the crowd anxiously awaited the raffle for a chance at pocketing some coin, there was one more prize that needed to be claimed - the 32 inch plasma television. All that the contestant had to do was sink a shot from half court - easy enough. Impossible you say? Ask Kyle Hayes who pulled off the feat on Nov. 9, 2007, taking home - you guessed it - a television. And if you don’t know him ask John Gordon who is still making payments on it.

The chance at the luxury television from Wal-Mart went to none other than SGA co-president Anna Edwards. Edwards felt that the possibility of making the shot lay beyond her physical means, but after encouragement from all those who wanted her to hurry up and shoot it so they could get to the money shot, she was armed with all of the support she needed. Leaping from the bird’s eye at half court, Edwards rifled the ball toward the goal. Then, in an unfortunate coincidence, the Hungry Howie’s Pizza delivery crew opened the front doors to deliver 76 boxes of hot, steamy deliciousness. The seemingly innocent act however let in a gust of wind that easily measured 20 plus miles per hour. The incoming air thwarted Edwards powerful shot knocking it short by several feet. The audience demanded a redo, but the rules were firm - you only get one attempt even if a gust of wind enters the facility in a seemingly impossible manner. The clause did stipulate that lightning striking the ball in motion would have constituted a reshoot, but last night there was simply no inclement weather.

The dunk contest judges have some fun before the slamming starts

Finally, the moment was upon us. The singular event that the entire University had been awaiting since its announcement earlier this week... the chance at $10,000 in cold hard cash (if you still believe this by the way, please reread paragraph six paying particularly close attention to the last sentence).

Everyone readied their raffle tickets - even faculty and staff who were completely ineligible for the contest. The room fell silent and everyone took a deep breath. Head coach Jim Sanderson reached into the bucket and withdrew a lone ticket - the golden ticket that could change the life of one student for an entire semester. The name that would become synonymous with greatness, with legend was revealed - Kendrick Rogers.

Rogers walked confidently, yet nervously across the court. He later said it was the longest walk of his life - like he was heading for greatness, yet also just across the gym floor. There were 11 lawyers and 7 law students from the Jones School of Law here on campus on site to verify the signing of the 1,950 fifty page document that ensured Rogers knew the regulations surrounding the shot. Wait, that was the national health care bill, never mind. There were no lawyers there for the signing of the one page document that listed in detail the regulations surrounding the qualification of the shot (and that part is actual fact - just ask assistant coach Sam Allen if you don’t believe me - or Rogers himself). After signing, Rogers made his way to half court.

Fans were uncertain what to do for perhaps the first time ever in the Tine Davis gym. Usually, yelling and screaming - even things that make absolutely no sense - is the default vocal pattern. This time however, things were...different. And the arena became quiet yet again. Rogers thought for a moment and then took a deep breath, walked under the backside goal thought some more and then re-approached the Eagle head at mid-court. Rogers set his sights on the home goal, took a step and released the ball.

If this were a movie, this would be where the ball floats in slow motion toward the goal. Think Pistol Pete or something. The ball traveled on a perfect trajectory, struck the backboard, but missed falling through the net. The room was deflated. Everyone wanted Rogers to get the money so they could all become his friend and ask for money and small personal loans, but this was simply not to be. Rogers’ hopes of making it rain disappeared when the ball dropped to the floor.

Two armed guards came and took the suitcase away in a Brinks truck and the night came to a close.

So, what have we learned from recounting the tale? Come out to Midnight Madness next year! There’s aerial performances, three-point contests, gift cards, strange dances, pizza, TVs and suitcases full of cash. It’s not even at midnight, so it’s not like you have to load up on Starbucks or 5-hour Energy to make it! I encourage everyone who reads this article - all five of you - to join the rest of us in the gym next year. It’s fun that simply can’t be described in realistic terms.

Jim Sanderson, Oneil Mangal and Adam Okechukwu

NOTE: The names in the above article are real. The circumstances surrounding the events, the methods in which the events transpired and, in fact, the entire recounting of last night has been modified via artistic license in order to make it stupid and mildly entertaining.