Flickr/MattCC716

The lineup for this year’s Orange Madness was announced recently and frankly, it doesn’t touch what last year’s had in store. The annual event that celebrates the start of the basketball season will take place on Friday, October 12th. Fans will be able to preview both the Women’s and Men’s basketball teams about a month before the season actually begins.

Last season featured some of the greatest players in Syracuse Basketball history. Derrick Coleman, Carmelo Anthony and Hakim Warrick were all in attendance and some legends even played in a scrimmage. The scrimmage ended up just being a cool offensive display and a defensive nightmare, but it was still awesome seeing all those guys back in Syracuse. 

This year’s event will be quite a bit different. I was excited to hear that Scoop Jardine would return to host. He is certainly a fan favorite here on the hill. But I was somewhat confused by the decision to have Jasmine Jordan, student and daughter of Michael Jordan, co-host the event.

I’ve seen Jasmine at a few games in the Dome, but I’ve never seen her yell or cheer. In fact, she seems pretty quiet. For those of you who don’t know, news broke last season that Jasmine and Scoop were in a relationship. I don’t know what the status of that relationship is now, but I would imagine that it had something to do with the decision. 

Some students weren’t happy with the decision to have Jasmine Jordan host. The following tweet is from a student who may or may not be the famous Orange Man in the student section at games:

It’s a pretty valid question. Why did the athletic department choose her? Is it a ploy to get Michael Jordan to give a boatload of money to the program? Will MJ be a surprise guest at Orange Madness? I guess we won’t really know until the time comes. Until then, I’m left scratching my head.