On Oct. 16, Florida Atlantic’s fourth annual Paradise Madness commenced at 7 p.m. to introduce their 2024-25 men’s and women’s basketball teams. 

The event consisted of raffle prizes for students, a chance to win a free scooter, free t-shirts, three-point shootout, women’s basketball skill challenges and a men’s dunk contest. The night also included spectacular performances from Owl’s band, cheer team and dance team.

Starting off the night, the men’s and women’s teams introduced each player. Following them were the head coaches, John Jakus for the men’s team and Jennifer Sullivan for the women’s. They both gave a small speech centered around their excitement for the upcoming season. The rest of the staff was introduced as well.

The volume of the fans’ support grew louder as the announcer got all of the fans, cheerleaders and dancers involved in the “swag surf” to bring the energy up for the challenges that were starting shortly.

“Honestly, I love the event so far. I love how hype it is and I love how the women’s coach got everybody involved. And I think both teams have really good chemistry and are gonna excel and you know do really good this season” said Celine De la Rosa, a freshman majoring in interdisciplinary studies with pre-law.

Kicking off the excitement came four guards from the women’s team, Kristina Godfrey, Erin Rodgers, Jada Moore and Stefanie Ingram, who competed in a skills challenge against one another. The objective: dribble around the palm trees to go up for a layup and then head back down the court through the palm trees to shoot for the most points.

The first round had Godfrey and Rodgers facing off with Godrey as the winner. The second round, Moore and Ingram went head to head with Moore ending as the winner. 

“I think this season has a lot to do with, you know, just playing as a team. We really value family, and I feel like that’s just going to translate into every game very well,” Rodgers said.

For the third and final round, the two winners from the previous rounds competed against each other. Rodgers took the title as champion for the women’s skills challenge.

Cheers quickly came from the crowd and a standing ovation for the women’s team, who were able to show off their technical skills, as well as their shooting abilities and create anticipation for their season to start soon.

“I mean with the new team, the sky’s the limit like I really believe in everyone, every piece we’ve brought in. I think we’re gonna be really talented,” said Moore.

The following event was the combined 3-point shootout where the men’s and women’s teams picked three players each to be separated into two teams to face off against each other.  The blue team included forward Maria Myklebust and guards KyKy Tandy and Sydney Mains, while the white team included forward Max Langenfeld and guards Ta’Ziah Jenks and Mya Perry. In the first round, Myklebust and Janks went up against each other with Janks taking the first win for the white team at 10-8. 

Tandy and Langenfeld kicked off the next round by a back-to-back shootout ending with Tandy winning for the white team again, 27-26. For the final round of the challenge, Mains and Perry faced off and Mains kept a high lead and took the final win for the blue team, 40-36. After the blue team’s win, the crowd closer to their side won free shirts that were thrown to the fans by the cheerleaders.

“I think we’re gonna have a really good year. Probably the most talented team we’ve had this far in terms of opposition. I think we’ve got a really strong player at the point guard position, great backup of that position as well, two great scoring returners, we got a lot of depth and size, so I’m really excited,” said head coach Sullivan.

To continue the night, the men’s team participated in a dunk contest with guard Devin Vanterpool and forwards Kaleb Glenn and Tre Carroll. Each dunk was rated by the coaches and judges picked from the stands.

Vanterpool dunked first and got a total of 33 points from the judges. Glenn was next with 47 points from the judges on his dunk. To follow up, Carroll received 42 points from the judges’ table. Vanterpool placed last and did not make it to the second round. 

Glenn and Carroll faced off for the last round and Carroll won with an insane dunk by jumping over a student’s head getting him straight 10s from the judges.

After finishing up all of the challenges, both the cheer and dance team took the floor and put on an amazing performance for the fans before heading into the men’s 20-minute scrimmage. 

“The key is that we get these guys to love each other off the court and then buy into the overall plan on the court. It’s been shocking how much they care about each other. We can just keep them there while the rest of the world does their own thing, I think we’ll be just fine,” said first-year FAU men’s head coach Jakus.

Following the challenges, the men’s team was placed into blue and white teams to face off in a competitive match.  The Blue team had Glenn, Carroll, Tandy, center Mantas Kocanas and guard Leland Walker. The white team had Vanterpool, forward Baba Miller, center Matas Vokietaitis and guards Ken Evans Jr., and Niccolo Moretti. 

“What I’m hoping to get out of this season is to win. That’s really all I want to do this year,” said Walker.

Vokietaitis won against Kocanas in jump ball, getting the white team the ball first and took it straight to the net for a layup making it 2-0. They maintained the lead until Kocanas made a 3-point jump shot making it 8-8. The white team took the lead back with Vanterpool’s 3-pointer following a turnover. 

Following that play, the white team maintained a lead of over 10 points for the rest of the game. Even while down, Glenn got 12 points throughout the scrimmage and played a highly competitive game. 

However, Vokietatis continued to keep his team up in the lead with foul shots and many rebounds with a total of 16 points, as well as Moretti with nine assists throughout the scrimmage. The scrimmage ended with a score of 60-36 and a win for the white team.

“I think we’re definitely ready. We’ve been working so hard since June, since we all got together, putting in a lot of work as a team and individually. Like we’ve all gotten extra work done, so I think we’re ready and excited to start the season off,” said Miller. 

The first exhibition game for the women’s team is Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. against the University of Fort Lauderdale Eagles. The first exhibition game for the men’s team is Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. against the Saint Leo University Lions.

Molly O’Flynn is a contributing writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories email her at [email protected] or DM her on Instagram @molly_oflynn_.