March to Madness

By: Steven Pham

Graphic by: Sebastian Turso

Wichita, KS. - Sunrise Madness is taking place Saturday, Oct. 23 at 6:00 p.m. at Sunrise Christian Academy, 5500 E. 45th Street N. Bel Aire, KS 67220. Much like KU's Late Night, Madness kicks off the season and comes with a special guest. Sunrise Hoops will introduce the players who will perform in the three-point and dunk contest to showcase what fans can expect in the upcoming season.

Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr. will be part of the Madness. TumTum is a former student-athlete at Sunrise and member of the Bahama's senior national FIBA team. In 2015, he made a final-four appearance as a member of the Michigan State Spartans and worked with the Phoenix Suns in 2018. You can expect to see his jersey retired.

Madness begins at 6 p.m. with postgraduate player introductions and postgraduate team scrimmage. Around 6:30 p.m., graduates of October's Sunrise basketball camp for kids in kindergarten to eighth grade will help introduce the Sunrise elite team. The next event will be a three-point contest. There will be two rounds with six contestants. After the first round the six get cut down to the top three, then the final round will crown the winner. Following the three-point contest, four contestants will compete in a dunk contest.

The elite team will scrimmage before Tum Tum’s retirement ceremony commencement. This event is going to be memorable for Tum Tum’s retirement but also provides a sneak peek into what the upcoming season can look like for Sunrise.

Will Sunrise rebound after finishing second in the nation? Does this fresh team have what it takes to win it all? We'll find out what they are made of at this year's Madness!

Here are links to last year’s Madness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7PI9Hx4h1M

https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18071279719246174/