The Binghamton basketball teams held their first public event of the 2014 season on Friday night, hosting the annual BU Basketball Showcase at the Events Center. This year, the showcase featured an unexpected guest appearance: Spider-Man.
Well, almost. Junior guard Jordan Reed donned a Spider-Man mask while hurdling over men’s head coach Tommy Dempsey’s youngest son, Tyler — who completed the ensemble by wearing a Spider-Man suit — en route to throwing down his contest-winning dunk.
“I knew [Tyler] would steal the crowd more than I would,” Reed said, explaining his decision. “People would say, ‘Oh he’s so cute!’”
Like all Midnight Madness-type events, the showcase’s aim was to provide a segue into hoops season for the athletes and their fans. The night featured performances from the Cheer, Dance and Kickline Teams while the BU Pep Band played in the background, flushing out the components of an actual game at the Events Center. All that was interspersed with team introductions and four friendly competitions amongst the players.
“I love this time of the year — going out and showing the fans my personality, even though they see that during the season,” Reed said. “But this is the first time of me going and meeting them again for a long time.”
In addition to allowing fans — both season-ticket holders and the BU Zoo — to reintegrate into the college basketball scene, the showcase affords newer players the opportunity to acquaint themselves with game-day pressures.
“Even though they’re college basketball players, they’re nervous, and I can tell that they’re nervous,” Dempsey said. “So that’s good, just getting them comfortable being on the court in front of a big group of fans.”
“Getting to step out on the court in front of all the fans was a cool experience,” said freshman guard Jasmine Sina. “It makes me that much more excited for the season to start.”
For women’s head coach Linda Cimino, who was hired by the University last April, the event granted her a glimpse of what’s to come for her and her squad.
“This was my first chance to see almost the game setup, see the band, see the fans, the season-ticket holders, the BU Zoo and action,” Cimino said. “It was exciting, and I thought our crowd was awesome.”
Cimino also used the occasion pragmatically. For seven recruits on both official and unofficial visits, the showcase’s energy provided an early indicator of what they could expect were they to sign with Binghamton.
“They got to see all our effort and our first-class performance in terms of what the school does,” Cimino said. “The fog, the steam, the lights — it’s exciting for high school kids to come to see this Events Center filled with people and it’s not for a game. So that’s really helpful for us in the recruiting process, too.”
As for the night’s events, the first was a skill competition. Pairs worked together to clock as low a time as possible in maneuvering through cones, shooting a three-point basket, charging back down the court and tipping the ball in. The team comprising sophomore guard Yosef Yacob and senior forward Sherae Swinson took first in that competition.
Next up was a three-point basket competition. Senior guard Kim Albrecht and junior guard Karon Waller teamed up to win this one, shooting a combined 16 of 30 treys. Both teams selected their best perimeter shooters for the event, which included Sina and senior guard Gintare Surdokaite on the women’s side and sophomore forward Nick Madray and freshman forward Dusan Perovic on the men’s.
The entire teams then faced off in an unrehearsed dance competition, which evinced more enthusiasm from the men’s team than the women’s. Freshman forward Romello Walker embraced the opportunity especially, landing a backflip in the last round of the battle.
Asked whether or not Dempsey had expressed any caution in executing the gymnastic, Walker grinned and said, “He did actually, but it was for my team. We had to win, so it was necessary.”
The final competition was the slam dunk contest. Making it to the semi-finals round with Reed was senior forward Jabrille Williams, whose qualifying dunk was an alley-oop on which Yacob assisted. Also competing were Walker and sophomore forward Magnus Richards.
Both teams are slated to head into exhibitions games against Mansfield to open the season early next month. The men’s is set for 2 p.m. on Nov. 1 while the women’s is set for 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 7. Non-exhibition matches begin on Nov. 14.
– E.Jay Zarett contributed reporting to this article.