Men's Basketball: 11,000 provide Hoosiers with hysteria

It takes brains to skip an entire grade, but it took sophomore guard A.J. Ratliff to jump one.\nRatliff, who shared Friday's Hoosier Hysteria slam dunk crown with senior forward Marco Killingsworth, first wowed spectators by leaping over sophomore guard Adam Ahlfeld for a one-handed throw-down.\nHe then upped the ante with his first dunk of the finals by jumping over the entire sophomore class: Ahlfeld, forward Robert Vaden and 6'9" forward D.J. White.\n"He did kick me in the head, so I'm going to handle that when we get in the locker room," White said.\nThe energy and enthusiasm of Hoosier Hysteria were prevalent throughout the evening. The event, formally known as Midnight Madness, drew roughly 11,000 fans to Assembly Hall for their first glance of this year's basketball team.\nThe beginning lay-up drill turned into its own dunk contest, worthy of "ooh's and ahh's" from the crowd. And during the player introductions, many of the Hoosiers ran out with their arms flailing, trying to get the crowd fired up.\n"It was a real special night," said Killingsworth, who twirled for fans as he ran out of the tunnel. "I told everyone to just have fun, we'll get straight at it tomorrow."\nThe night opened with the traditional cream versus crimson scrimmage, which the crimson team won 21-14. Vaden and junior guard Roderick Wilmont treated fans to some highlight-reel material, when Vaden threw Wilmont an alley-oop off the backboard for a two-handed dunk.\nJunior guard Earl Calloway, a junior college transfer, showed the Hoosier faithful his potential, scoring two early baskets.\n"We call (Calloway) 'water bug' because he is so fast," Ratliff said.\nCalloway said his first Hysteria experience was everything he expected.\n"(Hoosier Hysteria) was exhilarating. I really enjoyed myself," he said. "It was just another juice, an adrenaline rush. I'm ready to roll."\nThe 3-point contest was the next event of the evening and senior guard Marshall Strickland led all shooters, hitting 15 of 25 attempts. Freshman guard Joey Shaw followed with 14.\nStrickland was victorious 14-8 over Shaw, who got little rest between rounds because he was the first round's final shooter. Senior women's team guard Cyndi Valentin went on to beat Strickland in the finals, 14-12, and earn her third title.\nThe spot shot competition followed, where Vaden and freshman forward Kimberly Roberson ran away with the competition, scoring 42 points. White and senior forward Jenny DeMuth were the next closest duo with a tally of 32.\nVaden and Roberson triumphed 30-25 in the final round, but White was unafraid to show his range, successfully stepping out to the 3-point line numerous times.\n"Me and Jenny would have won -- we got a little fatigued at the end," White said. "I hit a couple of (3-pointers). I've been working on it this summer. I'm trying to show you all a little something new."\nThe dunk contest closed the night out. In the first round, Killingsworth drew tens across the board for his first-round slam -- a windmill after grabbing the ball mid-air from senior guard Lewis Monroe's hands.\nAfter two attempts of drawing straight eights, Killingsworth again garnered all tens in the final round, giving him a share of the dunk title with Ratliff.\n"I had a lot of fun," he said. "This night is for the fans"