See how we ran

[SWC75]

I had Accurater over to watch the Duke game last Saturday. Before the game I showed him an old VHS tape I have about the first ten years of the Big East. He was no living here at that period and missed the Pearl Washington- Sherman Douglas Derrick Coleman- Billy Owens- Rony Seikaly Stevie Thompson years an d he was dazzled by all the spectacular plays they made, especially the pear and Sherman's "hike to Stevie vs. Indiana. Of course it was a highlight film and everything they did worked. But I couldn't help but notice that I hadn't seen plays like that in along time.

I decided to see what was on You Tube from that period.

Here's a highlight clip of the Pearl:

He's one of The General, but much of it is NBA highlights, (dig that hook shot!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwy915OTHsI

He's a 10 minute SU "Dunk Tape":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X__21Q_uZCU

And here's a bit more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIfaQlW-A1U

 

[rrlbees]

Always love watching Pearl videos. My all time favorite player. Ball seemed attached to his hand with a string. One of the best cross overs ever. Loved watching him break Gtown ankles.

The Dome is the House the Pearl built.

 

[SWC75]

Always love watching Pearl videos. My all time favorite player. Ball seemed attached to his hand with a string. One of the best cross overs ever. Loved watching him break Gtown ankles.

The Dome is the House the Pearl built.

I used to call him "triple no- YES!". He'd dribble toward 2-3 defenders and my instinct would be that he should hold up, not try and force things. But he's not listening to me. No...no...no...YES!

 

[pearl31]

Always love watching Pearl videos. My all time favorite player. Ball seemed attached to his hand with a string. One of the best cross overs ever. Loved watching him break Gtown ankles.

The Dome is the House the Pearl built.

 

[LGO85]

I wish I was old enough to see the man in person. Looked like a much simpler, but better time for college bball.

 

[Marsh01]

Pearl was my first basketball crush. Man i so enjoyed watching him play

 

[OrangeTarheel]

I have never watched that many clips of Pearl at one time. One word to describe teams trying to defend him ... helpless. His ball handling was amazing.

 

[HakAttack]

Always love watching Pearl videos. My all time favorite player. Ball seemed attached to his hand with a string. One of the best cross overs ever. Loved watching him break Gtown ankles.

The Dome is the House the Pearl built.

Tim Hardaway, who has one of the one of the best crossovers ever...the UTEP 2 Step, has gone on record as saying he learned parts of his from Pearl Washington's crossover.

 

[bballbeadle]

Why do you torment us with bygone days? I thought you liked us!

 

[SWC75]

Why do you torment us with bygone days? I thought you liked us!

Torment? I had fun watching those clips.

 

[CaptainJ]

Torment? I had fun watching those clips.

I felt pain just reading the thread title before opening it. I remember when we ran and I'm still feeling the withdrawal symptoms. I know it's against TOS on here to long for an occasional press, but some nice outlet passes on occasion shouldn't be out of the question.

 

[AlaskaSU]

my classic memory of Pearl is how he could bring the ball up court linking crossovers all the way one after another without any hesitation. Way ahead of his time. I did not follow the NBA then but it always seemed to me that he must have gotten screwed by the Nets.

 

[LGO85]

my classic memory of Pearl is how he could bring the ball up court linking crossovers all the way one after another without any hesitation. Way ahead of his time. I did not follow the NBA then but it always seemed to me that he must have gotten screwed by the Nets.

You can see it in the videos. It's amazing. He just dribbled through handfuls of defenders like they weren't there.

 

[JAXCUSE]

my classic memory of Pearl is how he could bring the ball up court linking crossovers all the way one after another without any hesitation. Way ahead of his time. I did not follow the NBA then but it always seemed to me that he must have gotten screwed by the Nets.

He didn't stay in elite NBA physical condition.

Always felt that's why he didn't last in the league.

 

[domestu]

What a great era for college hoops.

It is close to a two hour drive up to the Dome and I started off buying tickets for four or five big games every year. After Pearl came to Syracuse, I had to switch over to season tickets. It is incredible how much our attendance exploded when he was here. And the insanity of those crowds back then was off the charts. Bands playing behind the curtain before the game and thousands partying an hour before a tipoff.

The style of play and the intensity of the games were so exciting in those days. We had some great teams in the 80s and we went up against some great opponents in the Dome during that decade. There are a lot of good teams in college hoops today but with all of the stars leaving early for the NBA, we are never going to see the type of great teams we once did.

Now college basketball has 3-point shots, a shot clock and two free throws after ten fouls, and the scoring is the lowest it has been since 1950.

Go Cuse! Crush the Cavaliers!

 

[Niastri]

What a great era for college hoops.

It is close to a two hour drive up to the Dome and I started off buying tickets for four or five big games every year. After Pearl came to Syracuse, I had to switch over to season tickets. It is incredible how much our attendance exploded when he was here. And the insanity of those crowds back then was off the charts. Bands playing behind the curtain before the game and thousands partying an hour before a tipoff.

The style of play and the intensity of the games were so exciting in those days. We had some great teams in the 80s and we went up against some great opponents in the Dome during that decade. There are a lot of good teams in college hoops today but with all of the stars leaving early for the NBA, we are never going to see the type of great teams we once did.

Now college basketball has 3-point shots, a shot clock and two free throws after ten fouls, and the scoring is the lowest it has been since 1950.

Go Cuse! Crush the Cavaliers!

The intensity of games is very good these days. If you watch an NBA game vs a crappy college game, you know which level if intensity is higher. The kids just care more! Some of them are just happy to be out there.

Every part of college ball is better than the NBA, complete with the officiating. I have found myself the first to complain about the bad calls we have had to suffer... But the NBA is so bad that it makes the game unwatchable for me. I am a pretty big Celtics fan, and I couldn't even watch a regular season game between my Celts and the Anthony led Knicks after about a quarter. This is the state of the NBA

 

[two3zone]

my classic memory of Pearl is how he could bring the ball up court linking crossovers all the way one after another without any hesitation. Way ahead of his time. I did not follow the NBA then but it always seemed to me that he must have gotten screwed by the Nets.

The Nets got screwed by Pearl when he ended up being twice the man they drafted.

 

[SWC75]

What a great era for college hoops.

It is close to a two hour drive up to the Dome and I started off buying tickets for four or five big games every year. After Pearl came to Syracuse, I had to switch over to season tickets. It is incredible how much our attendance exploded when he was here. And the insanity of those crowds back then was off the charts. Bands playing behind the curtain before the game and thousands partying an hour before a tipoff.

The style of play and the intensity of the games were so exciting in those days. We had some great teams in the 80s and we went up against some great opponents in the Dome during that decade. There are a lot of good teams in college hoops today but with all of the stars leaving early for the NBA, we are never going to see the type of great teams we once did.

Now college basketball has 3-point shots, a shot clock and two free throws after ten fouls, and the scoring is the lowest it has been since 1950.

Go Cuse! Crush the Cavaliers!

I think the three pointer hurt the game. It used to not matter where you attempted a jump shot as long as you were open and within your range. Players kept moving to try to get open and defenders has to chase them where ever they went. Now guys just park themselves out at the three point line, waiting for their teammates to get them the ball. That or they drive to the basket to try to dunk the ball. it's a much more static game now. Where is all the movement?

 

[SWC75]

I remember talking with the a friend in the mid-80's about the three great athletes we had in town at that time. It was Pearl Washington in basketball, Tim Green in football and the Chiefs had the #1 prospect in baseball, Tony Fernandez. We wondered who would have the longest and most successful professional career.

The Pearl was a shocking flop, lasting only three years. The Nets gave up on him when he wasn't even the best Dwayne Washington on the team, (Duane Washington from Middle Tennessee State was better) Timmy had a solid 8 years NFL career. He was kind of a tweener: not really a lineman, not really a linebacker. Tony Fernandez became a respected major league player but never a real star. He played 17 years for 7 different teams, fielding his position well, batting .288 with good speed and some extra base power. He's most remembered for letting one go through the wickets that allowed the Florida Marlins to beat Tony's Cleveland Indians in the 11th inning of game seven of the 1997 World Series. Nonetheless, he was the one who had the best pro career. All three were great when they were here and it wa sa pleasurte to be able to see them play so many times..

 

[Cheriehoop]

I remember hearing he didn't have a great work ethic, wasn't much into running the set plays which coupled with a suspect outside shot doesn't enamor him to the NBA. 6 years after he left the NBA he suffered the seizure where the peach-sized brain tumor was discovered requiring life saving surgery and subsequent chemo treatments. Who knows if or when that may have started affecting him. I remember people who saw him run sprints etc say how slow he was and was one of the only players they ever saw who was ten X as fast dribbling than he was running.

I loved watching defenders play scared against him worrying about being made to look the fool. They'd back up almost tripping over backwards and still find themselves half out of bounds or watching his back as he scored. He just couldn't be pressed and he was a master at using the backboard.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Thank you for the insight. Its the one that makes the most sense. He had too much talent to have been a flop.

 

[Guinness]

I felt pain just reading the thread title before opening it. I remember when we ran and I'm still feeling the withdrawal symptoms. I know it's against TOS on here to long for an occasional press, but some nice outlet passes on occasion shouldn't be out of the question.

I feel you. I love Ennis but I miss us being a team that really pushed the ball and the tempo. We were like a mini, east coast version of showtime in the Pearl/Douglas years.

 

[dollarbill44]

I feel you. I love Ennis but I miss us being a team that really pushed the ball and the tempo. We were like a mini, east coast version of showtime in the Pearl/Douglas years.

My freshman year was '87-'88. The team that year could put up tremendous point totals. The number of dunks per game would probably blow the minds of the younger board members on here. I remember someone used to keep track of dunks in the games with signs, like the K's for strikeouts in baseball games. I seem to recall that they were at 10 or 12 dunks in the Michigan game. It was really incredible how quickly that team could go up and down the court.

It was a great time to be an SU sports fan, with the undefeated football team, the high-flying hoops team and the Gait bros, et al on the Lax team.

 

[No Hoyas]

"Olive head" was great.
Too many younger fans dont realize the skills he had beyond "the shot" against BC

 

[BludOrange]