The Frericks Center was electrified Friday night as Flyer Madness began the 2006-2007 basketball season with a bang. With the combination of basketball, music, cheerleaders and competitions, Flyer fans got more than there share of entertainment for the night.

The evening started out with the men's and women's squads making their red carpet entrances, strutting out of the gate dancing to their favorite hip-hop tunes. The gymnasium roared as players like Monty Scott and Brian Roberts made their appearances.

The 'Towel Guy' also showed his face, keeping the Flyer fans on the edge of their seats as the night had only yet to begin. Women's head coach Jim Jabir and men's head coach Brian Gregory also emerged from the gate and received as a warm welcome by the crowd of 2,700.

After a display of warm-ups by both teams, it was time for the Flyer hot shot contest where students were paired up with players in an exciting and frantic competition. Although not all the teams were on target that night, junior Brittany Holterman and student John Lincoln put up the most points, winning Lincoln two front row tickets to the UD-Xavier game.

The night ended with arguably the most exciting part of show, which was the slam dunk contest. Players such as junior Brian Roberts, sophomore Charles Little and freshman Marcus Johnson put on a spine-tingling performance, leaping from the court and defying gravity.

Although Roberts and Little's dunks were no less than impressive, it was the freshmen who would steal the show. As teammate London Warren sat himself down in a chair inside the paint, Johnson soared over his head and slammed the rock through the hoop, making the Flyer fans erupt with applause. Johnson went on to win the contest which was voted upon by Red Scare.

'Flyer madness is like the inaugural kickoff where we can all come together and practice,' said sophomore center Desmond Adedeji. 'I think it's more for the fans to come out and see the first glimpse of the team, go out with entrances, the dunk contest, shooting contest. It's just for the fans to get everyone rowdy up for the season.'

With the start of the regular season less than a month away, it's time for the Flyers to get serious as they will try to better last year's record of 14-17.

'It's a lot of fun. We got ongoing rivalries on each other, seeing who's gonna win the dunk contest and the shooting contest. It's a nice fun thing to kick off the year with,' Adedeji said.