By: Adam Tortelli ~Staff Writer~
As happens each year, Cintas Center once again hosted a raucous crowd of more than 5,000 fans for 2014’s highly anticipated Muskie Madness.
As a staple event for Family Weekend, students and their families packed the arena with fellow Muskie fans alike to ignite their support for this year’s basketball season.
Players on both the men’s and women’s teams received their individual ten seconds of fame as they were introduced to the crowd with a song of their choosing.
Following the women’s kick-off, a highly touted freshman class of boys received their first official introductions to the Xavier community.
Returning players and redshirt junior Remy Abell then followed suit only to prepare Cintas for head coach Chris Mack and his daughters to walk out rapping “Paul Revere” by the Beastie Boys.
Mack later explained his emotions preceding his intro to students sitting behind the bench “I’ve never been more nervous in my entire life,” Mack said.
The lights soon returned and shone down as freshman guard J.P. Macura dethroned sophomore guard Myles Davis in the men’s 3-point shootout.
Macura then defeated Fincher in a head-to-head shootout to determine Xavier’s ultimate marksman.
Shortly thereafter, the lights dimmed once more in preparation for the dunk contest for another freshman-versus-sophomore matchup for the title between Makinde London and Jalen Reynolds. After two rounds that included London receiving a pass from the crowd and Reynolds soaring over the ball rack, the contest ended in a tie. Both of the high-flyers walked away with perfect scores of 50.
Finally, the men’s team took center court together in their scrimmage. In this competition, senior captain Dee Davis led team Blue along with junior forward James Farr and hyped freshman forward Trevon Blueitt over the Gray Squad.
Gray’s Davis led the way with 8 points on 3-4 shooting while Senior captain Matt Stainbrook hauled in five rebounds in just one 12 minute session.
Musketeer Madness once again excited fans for what should be another great season of basketball. Additionally, fans were able to view new players from both teams.