San Francisco State University’s Student Athlete-Advisory Committee (SAAC) hosted its second Midnight Madness event on Friday night, a kickoff for the SFSU men’s and women’s basketball teams at the start of the new season.
Approximately 100 SFSU students filled the Don Nasser Family Plaza gym, where they witnessed the basketball teams compete in a dunk contest, a 3-point contest, and performances from the SFSU dance team and the Dancing Divas of State.
“I thought it went really well. It was awesome to see the support of the greater student community. And we loved having the dancing divas and the dance team here at SF State come out,” said Kimberly DeBoer, SAAC co-chair. “They were a really fun addition and we’re always happy to have them and host them. They bring really good energy to their group.”
The event started with an introduction of both teams followed by a four-on-four 3-point contest. The quartet of sophomore guard Perséas Gioukaris, redshirt junior guard Alexsandra “Alley” Alvarado, redshirt freshman guard Elijah Newsome, and freshman Diego Martinez were the winners of the four-on-four portion of the contest.
The teams then split for the finale where the duo of Gioukaris and Alvarado defeated Newsome and Martinez.
However, it was the next event that had the crowd the most jubilant. Six volunteers from the crowd competed in a three-on-three relay race where they had to run the full length of the court and make a layup on the opposite side while wearing extremely large basketball uniforms and shoes.
One of the participants was the son of assistant basketball coaches Daron and Moné Sims. The younger Sims brought the crowd into a frenzy running the length of the court in this baggy uniform and scoring the layup on his first try to secure his team the victory in the relay race.
“To see all of the love and support for my son from everyone there was an amazing feeling,” said Daron Sims. “And for him to handle himself the way he did, makes me really proud.”
After the relay race, the crowd was sent into another loud cheer when the SF State dance team hit the floor for their performance, dancing to hits such as “Tell Me When To Go” by E-40.
An intense game of musical chairs was next on the agenda, where the crowd was once again frantically cheering on the kid. Despite not winning the musical chairs competition, the youngster seemed to be a fan favorite and arguably the highlight of the night.
“It’s a great thing to have him out here, because, you know, it gets that good balance. Just to see him having a great time out here is — it’s awesome,” SFSU’s baseball redshirt sophomore pitcher Gabrial Lopez said when asked about the kid’s participation in the events.
Shortly after musical chairs, a dunk contest took place where three of the men’s basketball players had the opportunity to electrify the crowd with some devastating dunks.
Junior forward Caleb Oden, sophomore forward Alec Smith, and freshman center Evan Mcknight participated in the dunk contest, with Oden winning in the end.
“I’m always a big fan of the dunk contest, because, you know, me personally, I can’t dunk. Someone being able to go out, see them go out there and do all the crazy tricks. I think it’s so sick to watch,” a junior baseball player Nick Cook said.
The event came to a close with a performance from the Dancing Divas of State and a game of knockout with participants from the crowd.
“I would say my favorite event was definitely knockout,” Lopez said. “I think that it was my favorite because there’s a lot of my teammates up there, so that was another thing. I saw a lot of familiar faces, and there were more people competing in knockout than anything else.”
The ultimate goal for an event like this is not only to celebrate and kick off the new season for the basketball teams but also to bring the campus community together and get other athletes supporting each other, a goal DeBoer thought was reached.
“It’s about just bringing the community together and knowing that we all support each other no matter what is one of the biggest things,” Deboer said. “I’m a volleyball player and we’re supporting the basketball team. Like, it’s so much fun getting to connect through the athletic department.”
Deboer, who was on the committee for last year’s inaugural Midnight Madness event, said the goal for this year was to make the event smoother but also keep the different events competitive enough to keep the crowd engaged throughout the night.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams will begin their 2024-2025 campaign in the next couple of weeks, with the men’s team in action first Monday, Nov. 4 vs the University of California, Santa Barbara at the UC Santa Barbara Events Center. The women’s team season opens up Friday, Nov. 8 vs Academy of Art University at the Otter Sports Center at California State University, Monterey Bay as part of the CCAA/PacWest Challenge.
