The anticipation could be felt in the air last Monday as students filed into the gymnasium for Roosevelt Madness, marking the start of another basketball season at ERHS, a season hotly anticipated after the success of last year’s squads.

    The students vs. teachers basketball game highlighted the festivities. The students jumped out to an early lead, and held the advantage for most of the game, leading by as much as eight points. But the teachers hung in and mounted a comeback, taking a 25-21 lead with only a few minutes left in the contest.

    “It took teamwork,” commented Ms. Anne Koroknay on the teacher’s comeback, “not being ball hogs, passing the ball, and people taking shots.”

    The students would not go down easily though, cutting the teachers’ lead to two thanks to clutch shots by seniors Jawuan Brown and Charif Shell. Despite the students late surge the teachers gutted out a 28-26 victory, as senior Xavier Crandall’s last-second shot rolled off of the rim as the horn sounded.

    “For a second I thought it went in, but it just grazed off the rim and backboard,” said Crandall. “My emotions went from excited to disappointed in a matter of seconds.”

    Roosevelt Madness concluded with a lighthearted scrimmage among the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams, though the two teams will take center stage this winter, as both figure to yet again have stellar seasons.

    The boys’ team must replace a wealth of experience from last year’s state championship-winning squad, as head coach Brendan O’Connell graduated seven seniors.

   “We have a lot of guys who were on varsity last year, they just didn’t play a lot of minutes, and they’ll have to step up,” said O’Connell. “We’ve got some guys from JV, we’ve got some new guys, so some people are going to have to emerge.”

    But if recent history reveals anything, the Roosevelt faithful can be confident that this year’s team will be a playoff contender, a sentiment that Coach O’Connell shares as well.

    “I think we have a chance at the end of the year to be pretty good,” O’Connell said. “I think right now we’ve got some work to do, but I think we have the pieces, and we’ve got a chance to be right in the mix again to be one of the top teams in the county.”

    No such experience qualms exist on the girls’ end of the spectrum, as Coach Delton Fuller returns several key contributors from a squad that advanced to the state semifinals last season.

    “Kaila Charles stepped up big time in the semifinal game…and she was only a freshman. She’ll be a sophomore this year, so expect big things,” said Fuller. “Tolu Omokore is gonna be on the boards this year, dominating…Alannah Baiyina will step up, and as usual she’s a defensive juggernaut.”

    But despite the experience the Raiders return, the team knows that they cannot afford to overlook any games.

    “We’re not going to take any team lightly this year,” said Charles. “We don’t know what everyone’s got.”

    Time will tell what both basketball teams have got this season, as the madness has only just begun.