Basketball season is officially under way.

Friday night, fans got a little taste of what this year is going to be like as Late Nite Madness made its return to the Events Center.

The celebration to kick off the first day the basketball teams can start officially practicing began at 9 p.m., with doors opening at 8:30 p.m. to the over 2,000 fans that would eventually fill the building.

‘I was pleased. I thought we got great audience participation and a nice turnout,’ said Jason Siegel, the senior associate director of athletics. ‘It’s more for the fans. That’s who we do it for. That’s whose opinion matters most.’

All the fans seemed to respond positively to Late Nite Madness, after the event did not take place last year.

‘It was Kevin Broadus’ call,’ said Dave Simek, the associate director of Athletics, Promotion, Advertising and External Events. ‘At ‘Meet the Coach,’ he asked, ‘What can we do for you?’

And when the fans requested to bring back Late Nite Madness, the men’s head basketball coach got on board. Broadus, wearing his Atlanta final four sweatsuit from last year’s Georgetown team, addressed his new school’s fans toward the end of the night.

‘You guys are the most important of all ‘ you are the sixth man for this team,’ Broadus said. ‘We look forward to packing the house the entire year and don’t want to see any green except for green faces and green shirts.’

But before Broadus stood at center court, his team huddled together over the Bearcat logo holding one ball in the air. Will that be symbolic of this year’s team? One team under one ball?

The fans won’t find that out for months, but what they could see that night was the men’s and women’s teams in a slam dunk and three-point contest, respectively.

The women’s team took the floor first as four shooters competed in the three-point shootout. Senior Laura Sario started things off by putting up a four spot while sophomore Erica Carter only managed two. Sophomore Muffy Sadler tied Sario’s mark with four and senior Brianna Thompson just came up one short with three baskets. In the one-rack tiebreaker, Sadler defeated Sario 3-2.

But the event that most were waiting for was the men’s slam dunk contest which consisted of four players and the top two advancing to the finals. Junior Reggie Fuller, the odds-on favorite, was pitted up against freshmen Moussa Camara and Devon McBride while sophomore Lazar Trifunovic represented the returning players.

Camara started things off with a safe one-handed flying dunk that scored eights from the three judges consisting of the Greek God Adam Morelli, Student Assocition Vice President Joe Danko and former BU Zoo Vice President Bradley Small. Camara missed his second dunk after throwing it off the backboard, but still received three sixes from the judges for style points. McBride also took his first dunk safe, going up for a two-handed slam and receiving eights from the judges. Then, like Camara, McBride missed his second dunk but received two sixes and an eight.

Trifunovic, who was clearly the fan favorite being the only returning player from last year’s team to compete, got the fans to their feet immediately with a double-clutch, one-hand dunk that received straight 10s. On his second dunk, Trifunovic continued to win over the crowd, especially the female fans. He threw the ball in the air, then attempted to take off his shirt then find the ball off one bounce and throw it down. Trifunovic missed the dunk, but received two sixes and a nine from the judges.

As Fuller stepped up for his turn, the fans stayed on their feet as did the bench of the Binghamton players. Fuller came out guns blazing as he pulled off a reverse two-hand dunk that received two 10s and a nine. On his second dunk, Fuller went with the one-hand windmill for all 10s.

Trifunovic started off the finals giving Fuller his money’s worth. Trifunovic went up in the air and did a spinning one-hand dunk which got all 10s from the judges as the crowd and BU players erupted. Fuller knew he had to come up with something big, so he had senior Mike Gordon throw the ball off of the shot clock. The two could not connect as Fuller was forced to go up for a one-hand dunk, but missed giving the championship to Trifunovic.

‘I was being teased in the locker room, they all said Reggie was going win, but I kept my cool,’ said Trifunovic.

The ‘Nite’ was a success and the BU men’s and women’s teams are hoping that will carry to their seasons.