Midnight Madness observations

[DickerJames]

I enjoyed the big event last night, and overall I would call it a success. As I said before, I am just thrilled that the event happened and I think it shows a new commitment to basketball. There certainly was no comparrison to the highlights I saw on ESPN of the events staged by the top 10 programs in the country, but that's an unfair comparrison.

Highlight: There was a genuine display of happiness on the team. I have never seen Patrick Simpson smile so much.

Lowlight: Free food was advertised. Pluckers was serving free hot wings and charging FOUR DOLLARS for a bottle of water or coke. I call that bait and switch and I am ashamed that SMU allowed this to happen. Free is free. This event was designed to reach out to potential fans, mainly youth. You don't load em up with hot and spicy food then carge $4 bucks for a soda.

[Diehard Pony]

How did the team look?

Estimated attendance?

[DickerJames]

There were around 5 to 7 hundred in attendance I would guess. I didn't get a feel for how the team is going to look since the scrimage only lasted around 10 minutes or so and was very loose, no coaching. I will say again that the entire team seemed to be having a great time and looked very happy. I know this isn't what you're looking for, but it's all I got.

[Hoop Fan]

Here are my observations. Ike Ofegebu is much stronger looking and mature than I thought. He won the slam dunk content, which also tells you he is an athletic 6'9. He is gonna help us alot I think. Even though Ike won the dunkoff, Derrick Roberts was the most impressive dunker. Pretty phenomenal athleticism. Hopkins didn't dunk. His explosiveness is not back, but he seems to be healthy. I think his body has just changed and he is just a different type player now. It happens. I still think he is gonna have a big year. Isham appears to be stronger and in great shape. Castro and Simpson look about the same. Everybody looks healthy, which is all you can hope for. But I dont think you can tell much at 1 am. I was tired. I admit I am not a big fan of Midnight Madness, I like real practice better. There werent any kids there below college age, except mine and not many alums. Mainly students and friends of the program. Cant wait for the season to start.

[Pony_Fan]

[quote="Hoop Fan"]Hopkins didn't dunk. His explosiveness is not back, but he seems to be healthy. I think his body has just changed and he is just a different type player now. It happens. I still think he is gonna have a big year. quote]


HF,
I guess we will never be able to see the Lincoln Hopkins ever again? That is too bad b/c a lot of people didn't get to see it. I thought it might come back around. I hope he stays healthy this year and Tubbs settles his game down a bit and plays a little bit smarter. I hope he gets in sync with assists rather than TO's this year.

I am surprised by Roberts from what you said if he is that athletic..

[MustangStealth]

My observations:

Yo yo
It was Midnight Madness
Full of b-ball badness
The playas did dunk
And some white guys laid down the funk

[geephunk]

DickerJames is a mooch and can't shell out 4 bucks for a little water. Give me a break, if you want free food, go down I-35 to Big Billy Barrett and grub you some hot dogs at the car lot you freakin low-quality mooch!

[DickerJames]

I didn't go to Moody at 10:30PM for free wings from Pluckers nor did I partake of said wings while there. I was one of the very few season ticket holders to attend the event, the crowd was mainly teenagers enjoying the hip hop DJ and rap contest. Call me crazy, but I believe that when you throw a free party and provide free food a beverage should be included. If Pluckers donated the wings and then charged $4 for drinks to offset the expense then shame on them. If SMU paid for the wings and charged $4 bucks for the drinks to make some money back then shame on them. I saw maybe 3 people with drinks the whole evening and a whole lot of kids walking around eating wings probably thinking SMU was cheap. I bet it wouldn't have been very hard to get Dr Pepper to donate drinks to this event.

I am a long time season ticket holder and give generously to this university. It makes me mad when stupid people make stupid decisions that make my school look stupid.

[geephunk]

You think too much of yourself and make yourself look stupid.

[jtstang]

You think too much of yourself and make yourself look stupid.

g-funk, if you were here observing instead of spouting SMU sunshine from 2,000 miles away you'd realize the marketing of SMU sports leaves much to be desired. Anybody who'd post what you do has a lot of nerve telling others they think too much of themselves.

[Ponymon]

I think that the marketing department is doing a great job this year considering the quality of the product that is being put on the field. I think that they have taken a page out of the Russ Potts era by giving away so many free tickets. They even have developed a connection with the SVAA league in Richardson, which my son participates in. They gave a lot of free tickets away to kids and sold a lot of $5 tickets last weekend to their parents to help out the crowd size and boost earnings from the concession stand. Now if the football team would just get their act together we might have a chance to get some loyal regular fans out of it. One other thing that they have done is to give the season ticket holders a 4 seat free game pass for every full ticket that they purchase. I have given several of these passes away to people I know that wouldn't have considered otherwise attending. Promotions like this may help to boost attendance for the last couple of games this year and could help entice these people attend next year if they enjoy the experience. At a minimum, the concession stand will benefit and, considering the prices that they charge, the athletics shortfall might be fully alleviated!