SWC75
Bored Historian
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In another thread, there was a discussion of whether this SU season was "memorable" or not. To me they are all memorable, for reasons both good and bad. I decided to do a sort of stream of consciousness thing summarizing my memories of each season of the Boeheim Era. I did it without using any prompt such as the media guide to help me remember things. There might be a mistake or two because of that but I wanted to explore my memories, not my sources of information.
1976-77 In our third game we beat Louisville at Louisville. That was huge because the Cardinals had been a national power for a decade and whenever we played them their superior size, speed and talent won out. But Now we have Louie and Bouie and nobody was messing with use. I remember Joel Mareiness' rapturous description of Cliff Warwell's winning lay-up, (and that Warwell left the team sometimes later, the first of our long list of transfers). I remember beating Tennessee at (or close to) their home court in the round of 32 in the NCAAs, the Louie and Bouie show beating the Ernie (Grunfled) and Bernie (king) show. Then the crushing disappointment of being easily handled by Charlotte, (then UNC Charlotte), a total unknown whose guards went 6-4 and 6-5 while ours were 5-9 5-11. it was the first time I realized that height matters in the backcourt.
1977-78 Jim Boeheim seemed a pleasant, smiling young coach until the local writers voted Ervin Johnson MVP over Marty Brynes in the first ever Carrier Classic, which SU won over the Spartans. Marty had 17 points and 9 rebs and helped hold Magic to 5 for 16 shooting. JB marched down press row, venting his rage over the injustice. Then we went 0-2 in the post season, losing in the ECAC playoffs by a point to St. Bonaventure and then in the NCAAs by the same margin to a mediocre Western Kentucky team. Marty Byrnes had tied it and was going to the line to win it when Billy packer started yelling at the refs that it was "continuation": and we don't do that in college. Marty stood at the line for 5 minutes before the refs reversed their call to a no-basket one and one. and then made one of two and we went home.
1978-79 Georgetown beat us in the ECACS with a little used reserve named Jeff Bulius, a 29% free throw shooter, going 13 for 16 down the stretch as we kept fouling him to get the ball back. We celebrated when Penn upset UNC, the regional favorite. Then we couldn't beat them either. The Quakers then got squashed by Michigan State on their way to the title. The first example of two phenomena that have recurred: thinking an upset helped us but not being able to take advantage of it and failing to get to the match-up we were looking forward to.
1979-80 We lose at Old Dominion on a basket after the buzzer that was allowed but win 21 of 22 to start the season and obtain a #2 ranking . We blow out our main rival, St. Bonaventure and the buzz circles around Manley than #1 DePaul is losing. We go home expecting to wake up #1 for the first time in school history. Sam Perkins was in the crowd and everyone was encouraging him to come to SU. But DePaul rallied to win, Perkins went to UNC and John Thompson came in the next week to close out the Dome. We lost to Iowa in the Sweet 16 when JB called for a press with a late lead. I've never seen him use it proactively since. The end of the Louie and Bouie Era and we never got back to the Final Four.
1980-81 Lousy regular season but a thrilling Big East Tournament title- the only one ever played in the Dome. We win in 3OTs over Nova on Leo Rautins' tip-in in the greatest game before the 6OT game. The NCAA snubs us because the Big East's bid wasn't automatic yet. But the momentum continues in the NIT, which meant something back then. We open the second half with 16 makes in a row vs. Michigan. loudest the Dome has ever been. The crowd crescendoed to a new level with each shot. But we lose the final when Nolan Richardson calls a time out and spends it with the refs who proceed to foul out 4/5 of our line-up. They forgot to foul out Eric Santifer who scores a career high 29 points to send it to overtime, where we lose by two. The announcers, (I think Digger was one), bemoan that such a great game was decided by the refs, not the players.
1981-82 Leo Rautins misses 7 games in the middle of the season, condemning us to a 16-13 record, worse of the JB era. But we did beat Georgetown, 75-70 in the first game vs. Patrick Ewing and Tony Bruin dunked in his face. That was the Michelle Munn game.
1982-83 We start out 11-0, which was a big deal at the time, We beat Houston as Tony Bruin and Clyde Drexler have a dunk contest. They wound loose again until Lorenzo Charles. then get crushed at UNC in a game where we got called for something like 34 fouls to 11 for them, 64-87. From that point on, we went 10-10. The season and the "Tri-captains Era" ends with bald headed "Granny Waiters" dunking home a couple of follow-shots for Ohio State that prevents us from getting to the Eastern Regionals in the Dome.
1983-84 The Pearl turns the Dome into his oyster. But he fouled out in Milwaukee vs. Marquette thanks to three charging calls. The BC shot. Billy Tubbs brings his Oklahoma team and his smart-ass comments into the Dome and beats us. Pearl is amazing vs. Nova in the BET and then comes the OT loss to Georgetown's national championship team in the final. Michael Graham and JB throws the chair.
1984-85 Pearl beats Georgetown in the Dome with his killer cross-over.
1985-86 We blow out a USC team in the Dome 102-68 that has both Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble on it before they transferred to Loyola Marymount. The USC coach says we have the bets team since the Walton Gang at UCLA. Seikaly and Addison get hurt in a game at Seton Hall and Pearl takes over, scoring about 25ppg the rest of the year. We lost to Notre Dame in a game where we attempt 18 free throws and they attempt 49. In the NCAA loss to Navy, (who we'd beaten by 22 in the Carrier Classic), it was 21-54. I still think this was one our best teams.
1986-87 Sherman Douglas is good, but he's no Pearl- until he puts 35 points on the board vs. Pitt in the BET. Dick Vitale saying that JR Reid would make Seikaly cry. Missed free throws and Keith Smart.
1987-88 We are finally ranked #1 - to start the season. We promptly lose to UNC in the Tip-off Classic, the same day as the West Virginia football game where we went 11-0. Then Arizona laughs their way past us in Alaska. We win the BET over Nova. The season ends with Sherman Douglas lying prone on the court during time outs with the flu as we lose to Rhode Island.
1988-89 Probably out greatest team. Douglas, Coleman, Thompson, Owens. A wonderful blow out of Indiana in the first pre-season NIT. Sherman's hike to Stevie on the fast break. But we can't beat Georgetown and Lose to Illinois in the NCAAs when they score a series of alley-oops, a strange way for Sherman Douglas to end his career.
1989-90 We again get a #1 ranking but this time we hold onto it for a few weeks. We go down to Georgetown and blow them out 95-76, our first ever win there. Coleman and Owens dominate Mourning and Motumbo. Then John Thompson gt tossed out of the Dome and we beat them again. Tony Scott tosses away any chance to beat Minnesota in the Sweet 16.
1990-91 One of our greatest regular season- our first solo Big East title. Billy Owens does it all, including beating Duke in the first Big East-ACC Challenge. Then we blow a 16 point lead to Nova in the first round of the BET and play like we are in shock the next week vs. Richmond.
1991-92 Probation is announced. Billy jumps to the pros. We struggle through the season but then beat the Hoyas to win the BET. UMASS beats us int he round of 32 in OT. A week later the refs apologize for flubbing a key out of bounds call. Thanks.
1992-93 We are on probation but fight our way to the BET final again, where Seton Hall crushes us 73-103.
1993-94 Adrian Autry ends his career with 30 points after halftime vs. Missouri but we lose in OT. We would have won in regulation of the refs hadn't discounted a shot he made from the floor in regulation.
1994-95 The real last game in the Dome, vs. George Washington. We lose that one, too, in OT, despite a miracle comeback led by Michael Lloyd. Lawrence Moten ends his great career in a strange way, holding the ball for a 5 second call in the BET vs. Providence despite JB, right in his line of sight, yelling for him to do something with the ball. Then he calls a timeout we don't have vs. Arkansas to turn victory into another overtime NCAA defeat.
1995-96 We get off to a great start, undefeated until UMASS handles us in Hawaii, (our only loss ever in that state). We win a miracle overtime game vs. Georgia in the NCAAs, upset Kansas in the regional final and give Kentucky all they can handle in the title game. Al McGuire dancing "The Cuse is in the House" We are down 5 with a minute left and fast breaking when Z Sims throws his only bad pass of the year. John Wallace fouls out and we lose by 9 to a team with that many future NBA players.
1996-97 With a team full of freshmen, we get blown out by Kentucky in Alaska and go on to a dismal, (by our standards) season, 19-13, ending in a loss to Florida State in the NIT in the Dome before 5,000 fans and a scoreboard that didn't work.
1997-98 We are unbeaten until Michigan rolls over us in Puerto Rico. Marius Janulis' shot. We wind up in a regional with Duke, UCLA and Michigan. pretty good company. Too good for us.
1998-99 We beat Bobby Knight for the second time in Maui, (not sure which seasons was the first) but JB insists that this is not a good team yet. He's right. We go 21-12 and lose to Doug Gottlieb's Oklahoma State team in an 8-9 game in the NCAAs. Incidentally, that's the only upset we suffered in then NCAAs between the Richmond game and the national championship.
1999-00 We open 19-0 and beat UCONN's defending national champs in the Dome. We lose to Michigan State in their own backyard in the NCAAs.
2000-01 We win the Great Alaska Shootout and have on of the all-time sessions on this board afterwards. But Kansas's rebounding is too much for us in the NCAAs.
2001-02 We win the Pre-season NIT again and then, after a bumpy ride, have a chance to win the post season NIT as well but show up in the wrong uniforms and lose to South Carolina in the semis.
2002-03 The sun sets Orange thanks to Melo but also GMAC, Pace and Edelin and Warrick's blocks, (and I think there were two) at the end.
2003-04 Reality sets in with an opening loss to our old friends, Charlotte, despite GMACs monster second half. Gerry them out-shots the entire BYU team to avoid a first round loss. We beat Maryland in the first ever pairing of the previous two national champs. We want a rematch with Connecticut in the regional final but Alabama gets in the way.
2004-05 We start out 20-1 and win the BET but then the guys decide to party before the Vermont game.
2005-06 A poor regular season, "highlighted" by the worst loss of the JB era at DePaul, 68-105. They just couldn't miss. Then GMAC's incredible run in the BET.
2006-07 We get snubbed by the NCAA as they stick Arkansas in and the NIT puts us in their slot.
2007-08 AO's backboard breaking slam at Midnight madness seemed like a good omen. Devo's injury in an early season blow-out win. Multiple losses to UMASS in the Dome, the second in the NIT after we had a 24 point lead.
2008-09 The incredible 6 overtime game. Blake Griffin in the NCAAs.
2009-10 My favorite team of recent years. Beating UNC in New York. Our first undisputed BE regular season champion and our first #1 ranked team in two decades. Game Day in the Dome. The two of everything team- two inside scorers, two outside scorers, at least two guys who can drive to the basket to score, two point guards. AO goes down, eliminating a big option. We barely lose to Butler who barely loses to Duke for the national title. I still think we win it with AO.
2010-11 18-0 start then a 0-19 start vs. Pitt. Four game losing streak. The over and back call vs. Marquette.
2011-12 An amazing 30-1 regular season we'll never seen the likes of again. Fab gets suspended, then unsuspended, then suspended again- just before the NCAAs. We lose in the Elite 8 to Ohio State in an over-officiated game.
2012-13 A regular seasons that seems to be going nowhere gets turned around in the BET. Seth Davis thinks we'll loose to Montana in the first round. We win by 43 and march to the Final Four playing fanatical defense.
2013-14 An incredible 25-0 start and #1 ranking. The wonderful game in the Dome vs. Duke. The buzzer-beater vs. Pitt. The miracle steal and fast break vs. NC State. The charge call vs. Duke and JB's reaction. Suddenly we can shoot and go down to the NC State in the ACCT and Dayton in the NCAAs.
I remember it all and it all mattered.
1976-77 In our third game we beat Louisville at Louisville. That was huge because the Cardinals had been a national power for a decade and whenever we played them their superior size, speed and talent won out. But Now we have Louie and Bouie and nobody was messing with use. I remember Joel Mareiness' rapturous description of Cliff Warwell's winning lay-up, (and that Warwell left the team sometimes later, the first of our long list of transfers). I remember beating Tennessee at (or close to) their home court in the round of 32 in the NCAAs, the Louie and Bouie show beating the Ernie (Grunfled) and Bernie (king) show. Then the crushing disappointment of being easily handled by Charlotte, (then UNC Charlotte), a total unknown whose guards went 6-4 and 6-5 while ours were 5-9 5-11. it was the first time I realized that height matters in the backcourt.
1977-78 Jim Boeheim seemed a pleasant, smiling young coach until the local writers voted Ervin Johnson MVP over Marty Brynes in the first ever Carrier Classic, which SU won over the Spartans. Marty had 17 points and 9 rebs and helped hold Magic to 5 for 16 shooting. JB marched down press row, venting his rage over the injustice. Then we went 0-2 in the post season, losing in the ECAC playoffs by a point to St. Bonaventure and then in the NCAAs by the same margin to a mediocre Western Kentucky team. Marty Byrnes had tied it and was going to the line to win it when Billy packer started yelling at the refs that it was "continuation": and we don't do that in college. Marty stood at the line for 5 minutes before the refs reversed their call to a no-basket one and one. and then made one of two and we went home.
1978-79 Georgetown beat us in the ECACS with a little used reserve named Jeff Bulius, a 29% free throw shooter, going 13 for 16 down the stretch as we kept fouling him to get the ball back. We celebrated when Penn upset UNC, the regional favorite. Then we couldn't beat them either. The Quakers then got squashed by Michigan State on their way to the title. The first example of two phenomena that have recurred: thinking an upset helped us but not being able to take advantage of it and failing to get to the match-up we were looking forward to.
1979-80 We lose at Old Dominion on a basket after the buzzer that was allowed but win 21 of 22 to start the season and obtain a #2 ranking . We blow out our main rival, St. Bonaventure and the buzz circles around Manley than #1 DePaul is losing. We go home expecting to wake up #1 for the first time in school history. Sam Perkins was in the crowd and everyone was encouraging him to come to SU. But DePaul rallied to win, Perkins went to UNC and John Thompson came in the next week to close out the Dome. We lost to Iowa in the Sweet 16 when JB called for a press with a late lead. I've never seen him use it proactively since. The end of the Louie and Bouie Era and we never got back to the Final Four.
1980-81 Lousy regular season but a thrilling Big East Tournament title- the only one ever played in the Dome. We win in 3OTs over Nova on Leo Rautins' tip-in in the greatest game before the 6OT game. The NCAA snubs us because the Big East's bid wasn't automatic yet. But the momentum continues in the NIT, which meant something back then. We open the second half with 16 makes in a row vs. Michigan. loudest the Dome has ever been. The crowd crescendoed to a new level with each shot. But we lose the final when Nolan Richardson calls a time out and spends it with the refs who proceed to foul out 4/5 of our line-up. They forgot to foul out Eric Santifer who scores a career high 29 points to send it to overtime, where we lose by two. The announcers, (I think Digger was one), bemoan that such a great game was decided by the refs, not the players.
1981-82 Leo Rautins misses 7 games in the middle of the season, condemning us to a 16-13 record, worse of the JB era. But we did beat Georgetown, 75-70 in the first game vs. Patrick Ewing and Tony Bruin dunked in his face. That was the Michelle Munn game.
1982-83 We start out 11-0, which was a big deal at the time, We beat Houston as Tony Bruin and Clyde Drexler have a dunk contest. They wound loose again until Lorenzo Charles. then get crushed at UNC in a game where we got called for something like 34 fouls to 11 for them, 64-87. From that point on, we went 10-10. The season and the "Tri-captains Era" ends with bald headed "Granny Waiters" dunking home a couple of follow-shots for Ohio State that prevents us from getting to the Eastern Regionals in the Dome.
1983-84 The Pearl turns the Dome into his oyster. But he fouled out in Milwaukee vs. Marquette thanks to three charging calls. The BC shot. Billy Tubbs brings his Oklahoma team and his smart-ass comments into the Dome and beats us. Pearl is amazing vs. Nova in the BET and then comes the OT loss to Georgetown's national championship team in the final. Michael Graham and JB throws the chair.
1984-85 Pearl beats Georgetown in the Dome with his killer cross-over.
1985-86 We blow out a USC team in the Dome 102-68 that has both Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble on it before they transferred to Loyola Marymount. The USC coach says we have the bets team since the Walton Gang at UCLA. Seikaly and Addison get hurt in a game at Seton Hall and Pearl takes over, scoring about 25ppg the rest of the year. We lost to Notre Dame in a game where we attempt 18 free throws and they attempt 49. In the NCAA loss to Navy, (who we'd beaten by 22 in the Carrier Classic), it was 21-54. I still think this was one our best teams.
1986-87 Sherman Douglas is good, but he's no Pearl- until he puts 35 points on the board vs. Pitt in the BET. Dick Vitale saying that JR Reid would make Seikaly cry. Missed free throws and Keith Smart.
1987-88 We are finally ranked #1 - to start the season. We promptly lose to UNC in the Tip-off Classic, the same day as the West Virginia football game where we went 11-0. Then Arizona laughs their way past us in Alaska. We win the BET over Nova. The season ends with Sherman Douglas lying prone on the court during time outs with the flu as we lose to Rhode Island.
1988-89 Probably out greatest team. Douglas, Coleman, Thompson, Owens. A wonderful blow out of Indiana in the first pre-season NIT. Sherman's hike to Stevie on the fast break. But we can't beat Georgetown and Lose to Illinois in the NCAAs when they score a series of alley-oops, a strange way for Sherman Douglas to end his career.
1989-90 We again get a #1 ranking but this time we hold onto it for a few weeks. We go down to Georgetown and blow them out 95-76, our first ever win there. Coleman and Owens dominate Mourning and Motumbo. Then John Thompson gt tossed out of the Dome and we beat them again. Tony Scott tosses away any chance to beat Minnesota in the Sweet 16.
1990-91 One of our greatest regular season- our first solo Big East title. Billy Owens does it all, including beating Duke in the first Big East-ACC Challenge. Then we blow a 16 point lead to Nova in the first round of the BET and play like we are in shock the next week vs. Richmond.
1991-92 Probation is announced. Billy jumps to the pros. We struggle through the season but then beat the Hoyas to win the BET. UMASS beats us int he round of 32 in OT. A week later the refs apologize for flubbing a key out of bounds call. Thanks.
1992-93 We are on probation but fight our way to the BET final again, where Seton Hall crushes us 73-103.
1993-94 Adrian Autry ends his career with 30 points after halftime vs. Missouri but we lose in OT. We would have won in regulation of the refs hadn't discounted a shot he made from the floor in regulation.
1994-95 The real last game in the Dome, vs. George Washington. We lose that one, too, in OT, despite a miracle comeback led by Michael Lloyd. Lawrence Moten ends his great career in a strange way, holding the ball for a 5 second call in the BET vs. Providence despite JB, right in his line of sight, yelling for him to do something with the ball. Then he calls a timeout we don't have vs. Arkansas to turn victory into another overtime NCAA defeat.
1995-96 We get off to a great start, undefeated until UMASS handles us in Hawaii, (our only loss ever in that state). We win a miracle overtime game vs. Georgia in the NCAAs, upset Kansas in the regional final and give Kentucky all they can handle in the title game. Al McGuire dancing "The Cuse is in the House" We are down 5 with a minute left and fast breaking when Z Sims throws his only bad pass of the year. John Wallace fouls out and we lose by 9 to a team with that many future NBA players.
1996-97 With a team full of freshmen, we get blown out by Kentucky in Alaska and go on to a dismal, (by our standards) season, 19-13, ending in a loss to Florida State in the NIT in the Dome before 5,000 fans and a scoreboard that didn't work.
1997-98 We are unbeaten until Michigan rolls over us in Puerto Rico. Marius Janulis' shot. We wind up in a regional with Duke, UCLA and Michigan. pretty good company. Too good for us.
1998-99 We beat Bobby Knight for the second time in Maui, (not sure which seasons was the first) but JB insists that this is not a good team yet. He's right. We go 21-12 and lose to Doug Gottlieb's Oklahoma State team in an 8-9 game in the NCAAs. Incidentally, that's the only upset we suffered in then NCAAs between the Richmond game and the national championship.
1999-00 We open 19-0 and beat UCONN's defending national champs in the Dome. We lose to Michigan State in their own backyard in the NCAAs.
2000-01 We win the Great Alaska Shootout and have on of the all-time sessions on this board afterwards. But Kansas's rebounding is too much for us in the NCAAs.
2001-02 We win the Pre-season NIT again and then, after a bumpy ride, have a chance to win the post season NIT as well but show up in the wrong uniforms and lose to South Carolina in the semis.
2002-03 The sun sets Orange thanks to Melo but also GMAC, Pace and Edelin and Warrick's blocks, (and I think there were two) at the end.
2003-04 Reality sets in with an opening loss to our old friends, Charlotte, despite GMACs monster second half. Gerry them out-shots the entire BYU team to avoid a first round loss. We beat Maryland in the first ever pairing of the previous two national champs. We want a rematch with Connecticut in the regional final but Alabama gets in the way.
2004-05 We start out 20-1 and win the BET but then the guys decide to party before the Vermont game.
2005-06 A poor regular season, "highlighted" by the worst loss of the JB era at DePaul, 68-105. They just couldn't miss. Then GMAC's incredible run in the BET.
2006-07 We get snubbed by the NCAA as they stick Arkansas in and the NIT puts us in their slot.
2007-08 AO's backboard breaking slam at Midnight madness seemed like a good omen. Devo's injury in an early season blow-out win. Multiple losses to UMASS in the Dome, the second in the NIT after we had a 24 point lead.
2008-09 The incredible 6 overtime game. Blake Griffin in the NCAAs.
2009-10 My favorite team of recent years. Beating UNC in New York. Our first undisputed BE regular season champion and our first #1 ranked team in two decades. Game Day in the Dome. The two of everything team- two inside scorers, two outside scorers, at least two guys who can drive to the basket to score, two point guards. AO goes down, eliminating a big option. We barely lose to Butler who barely loses to Duke for the national title. I still think we win it with AO.
2010-11 18-0 start then a 0-19 start vs. Pitt. Four game losing streak. The over and back call vs. Marquette.
2011-12 An amazing 30-1 regular season we'll never seen the likes of again. Fab gets suspended, then unsuspended, then suspended again- just before the NCAAs. We lose in the Elite 8 to Ohio State in an over-officiated game.
2012-13 A regular seasons that seems to be going nowhere gets turned around in the BET. Seth Davis thinks we'll loose to Montana in the first round. We win by 43 and march to the Final Four playing fanatical defense.
2013-14 An incredible 25-0 start and #1 ranking. The wonderful game in the Dome vs. Duke. The buzzer-beater vs. Pitt. The miracle steal and fast break vs. NC State. The charge call vs. Duke and JB's reaction. Suddenly we can shoot and go down to the NC State in the ACCT and Dayton in the NCAAs.
I remember it all and it all mattered.
