They met the public, they scrimmaged for about 10 minutes, had a slam-dunk contest and they even won a dance contest. But can they win basketball games?
Appalachian State's men's basketball team will find out Friday when it hosts Division II Mars Hill in an exhibition game at the Holmes Center. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.
The Buzz Peterson era part II begins with a roster that has been riddle with injuries and illness. Forward Andre Williamson, and center Tyler Webb did not participate in Mountaineer Madness Thursday night because they have the H1N1 virus. Three other Mountaineers, Ike Butts, J.R. Archer and Ryann Abraham, have also had the virus during fall workouts.
Two others, Josh Hunter and Butts, returned from knee surgery. Butts played for the first time Thursday during the Mountaineers' 10-minute scrimmage.
"It felt all right," Butts said. "I got to run on it a little bit tonight. I'm still not as confident as I want to be, but it's getting better."
"We're going to run (Butts) a little bit against Mars Hill and see how he does and put him in spurts here and there."
Peterson put the Mountaineers through a 90-minute practice earlier Thursday, so when the team scrimmaged at the Madness event, Peterson wanted them to put on a decent show without getting hurt.
"It wasn't something to watch tape on by no means," he said. "I told them just don't get injured. If somebody goes in for a layup, leave him alone. But also play good and solid and don't give up anything easy. I think they spent more time getting their dance routine down."
Peterson said he was not exactly sure who would start against the Lions, a member of the South Atlantic Conference. Appalachian State returns 11 players from the 2008-09 roster that finished 13-18 overall, 9-11 in the Southern Conference.
Donald Sims and Marcus Wright will see most of the time at point guard, especially since Abraham will miss the game because of the flu.
"There's been a couple of guys out," senior guard Kellen Brand said. "It's important to us to get that taken care of instead of the middle of the season when we're down, so we don't want that."
Brand said even with the injuries and illnesses, the Mountaineers are ready to play somebody else.
"We're ready," he said. "It's going to be exciting and it's going to be fun to come back to the Holmes Center to lace them up for another game."
"I think we're ready," added Butts. "It's preseason and all, but I think we're ready to go out there and get things started."
Peterson said he would like to see a big crowd attend games this season, which officially begins Nov. 13 at home against UNC Wilmington. The Mountaineers play four home games in November, including dates against Lees-McRae (Nov. 17), Morgan State (Nov. 28) and a Nov. 30 showdown with Winthrop.
Winthrop visits the Holmes Center after beating the Mountaineers in Rock Hill, S.C. in the BracketBusters event.
"I know winning will cure a lot of things," Peterson said. "Before we get there, we need to make it loud and everything. We'll try in the future to get some good opponents to come in here for home games. This is a big place and we need to get in as many bodies as we can."
Sims was the leading scorer in the scrimmage, which ended in a 16-16 tie, with eight points. Newcomer Omar Carter, a transfer from Charleston Southern, added seven points. Carter and Anthony Breeze, a transfer from Coastal Carolina, must sit out the season because of NCAA transfer rules, but can practice with the team.
Jeremi Booth won the slam-dunk contest, out-dueling Breeze in the finals. Basketball manager Ryan Goodson put on a dribbling display, which was then aided by Butts and Archer, a former Watauga standout.
The men's basketball team also won a dance contest against the women's team and members of the ASU wrestling team.