I guess I had a contrary reaction. I first became a fan back in 1970-71, when making the N.I.T. was a big deal and we were rarely on TV. To me, in 1987 we were still only a few years removed from being "just a regional" program. When we made that run to the Final, in the year following Pearl leaving early for the pros, and especially the way we dominated portions of that game against Indiana - well, for me, even though we lost, that was the first time that I felt like we could be a national powerhouse, and not just a good Eastern school. It wasn't like we were a one-trick pony just because of the Pearl. We could remain among the elite.
I felt like game was our arrival, and it was only through a lot of luck that a revered program like Indiana, with Coach Bob Knight, beat us. We were the better team, and everyone saw it. Until the 2003 championship, despite us actually losing the 1987 final, that game was one of my all-time favorites, right alongside our revenge against Indiana in the Pre-Season N.I.T. the following year (or was it a year later...?), when Pearl made the famous "hike" pass between his legs to Stevie Thompson, when we blew them out, and even the championship game loss in '96 to Kentucky.
Of course, you'd always rather have the national championship, but that was the beginning of us being as good a team as anybody else in America. And we stayed that way for about 5 more years, until the probation, and then clawing our way back to being good again, behind Lawrence Moten, and then John Wallace. So for me, 1987 was an important marker on the road. Everybody in America was watching Syracuse basketball that night, and they all came away impressed.
