At tonight’s men’s basketball game, the “Apprentice”-like competition The Big Shot will conclude as finalists Ryan Amos and Mark McDonough see if their creativity has paid off. All week, the competitors’ final task has been to create a campaign designed to generate a buzz around campus to drive students to the game. Amos, the last member of the red team, launched his “X=M^3” campaign, while McDonough of the blue team made the first move in his campus-wide “Hill-top-oly” game Wednesday. If you missed the events of this week, here’s a recap of the campaigns so fans will know which competitor to support tonight.

X=M^3

“Since our goal was to create campus buzz, my flyers had people asking ‘what the hell does that mean?’” Amos said, explaining his red flyers that have been hanging around campus since Monday. While some students might have seen the flyers as an advertisement for a “Math-lete” competition, Amos said his goal in creating the equation was to peak campus interest. The X in the equation came the word excitement. M to the third power meant Moody Madness Movement.

“I figured that the main reason that people don’t come to basketball games is because they would rather go to a party and get drunk,” Amos said. Because of this, Amos created new flyers with the equation later in the week, inviting students to a “Party at Moody.” Amos will even hand out red cups at the game for students to use after the game. The cups, he added, will have numbers

on the bottom of them which will coincide with the raffle Amos will hold at the game. The final member of the red team even dressed up like one of the red cups on Wednesday.

Hill-top-oly

The Hill-top-oly buzz officially hit campus Wednesday morning, leaving the entire student body searching for 1,000 silver eggs that covered the main quad.

McDonough invented the Hill-top-oly game for his final task in the competition. Hill-top-oly is SMU version of America’s favorite board game, Monopoly.

With the $300 budget that each competitor was allotted, McDonough wanted to shock the campus.

“My goal is to catch the students off guard. I don’t think many of them are going to head to campus expecting to see 1,000 silver eggs all over the ground,” he said.

Students collected the silver eggs, which contained game pieces similar to the classic board game Wednesday.

The Hill-top-oly game includes several different ways to win. First, students can simply win instantly by showing up to the game. Second, students can collect Hill-top-oly game properties of the same color that complete the property sequence. Each complete property sequence will enter them into a grand prize drawing. Students can also win with the silver game piece. Those with only game pieces will be entered to win in another grand prize drawing, however, students must be present at the game to win.

“I have four hours between my classes. I’m going to spend the whole time just looking for eggs. That way I can find as many eggs as possible and for maybe just once in my life I’ll have some good luck and win,” student Meagan McHone said.

Approximately 25 instant prizes will be dispersed between the 1,000 silver eggs. The instant prizes will include gift certificates to local restaurants and possibly parking ticket dismissals from the SMU police department.

“I think it’s the most effective way yet to create excitement at the SMU men’s basketball games. One thousand silver eggs covering the campus will certainly create a huge buzz among students,” student Monica Mehra said.

Judging the winners

Each Big Shot finalist will be judged by a panel of judges from the Athletic Marketing department, including Susan Tinsley, Shawn Heilbron, Judy Foxman, Stephanie DuPual and Kemberli Sanderson. The finalists will have the opportunity to meet with the panel of judges immediately after the game to answer questions and provide feedback on the results of their plan. The finalists will then be judged on their overall performance and not just attendance numbers.

“I’m not just looking forward to the results, but to everything. I can’t wait to see the eggs all over campus and all the fliers being put out. I just want to see how much buzz they actually create,” said Tinsley, the athletic department’s community coordinating marketer.

The Big Shot will be revealed at halftime of the final home men’s basketball game Saturday at Moody Coliseum at 7 p.m.