15 years ago, 34,616

[PauliePeppas]

Unforgettable. Actually maybe it was since I was blacked out by about 2 pm

 

[Jasoncuse]

That team was great, just so many options. They simply played so well together and did everything well.

It's a shame we never got the opportunity to play at full strength in the tourney.

 

[Millhouse]

Great game, great crowd, great win.
And my daughter was born.

Sat a mile away, got really drunk, good times

 

[NKR1978]

I just loved that feeling of like a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon BET game at the Garden -- it felt so carefree. You're skipping out of school or work to watch it. It would always start with footage of a million yellow cabs driving down the street, and then pan over to JB getting out of a bus looking grumpy to walk into MSG. Those were the days.

In some ways I actually enjoyed the BET more than the NCAA Tournament.

I used to love finagling ways to leave early for the afternoon games. My firm didn't care but I had to get my work done. I'd get judges to take cases scheduled for the afternoon in the morning. Work things out so that we could cancel an afternoon conference. That was fun.

I know a lot of old timers love the 80s Big East, and that was definitely special, but Louisville era was pretty great too. And it was one of those things where we all knew how great it was and appreciated it. All good things...

 

['72 Orange]

This was my first basketball game at the Dome. Prior to that the last game (on campus) was in Manley during my Senior year 71-72. I brought my three adult sons to this game and spent the pregame in Faegans watching teams clad in blue (Kansas, Kentucky) losing to teams clad in orange (Okla St., Tenn). I took that as a good omen! It was a great bonding experience for us as I had just lost my wife to cancer the prior Fall. One of the most impressive wins and sporting environments I have had the privilege of attending until the Duke game 4 years later!

 

[Nicknack]

If anyone wants an entertaining read from the past, here is our board taking pleasure in UConn's "appearing" collapse as a program back in 2021. We obviously didn't know what was coming.

Uconn - one tournament win in 7 years!

 

[HakAttack]

I have a framed panoramic picture of this game over my desk in my home office. I look at it every day.

What made that game extra exciting is that we were ranked #4 going in, but #1 Kansas, #2 Kentucky and #3 Purdue incredibly all lost earlier in the day. So we knew if we won, we would probably be #1 for the first time in 20 years.

I bought a framed copy from the in-Dome store. It was hanging on the wall and they made up a price on the spot because I wanted it.

 

[ROCcuse]

I bought a framed copy from the in-Dome store. It was hanging on the wall and they made up a price on the spot because I wanted it.

Sounds like a Shirt World tactic . . .

 

[OttoMets]

Purdue didn't lose until Sunday.

I don't remember what I had for dinner tonight. But I do remember that.

 

[FrancoPizza]

In some ways I actually enjoyed the BET more than the NCAA Tournament.

Very true. We often didn’t get bounced early unless we were a high seed… ironic.

 

[djorange1989]

I could not stand Bob Knight as a human but he knew his hoops and he was on this team early when we won the NIT preseason, I remember him saying there may not be a better team than Syracuse in the country and I don’t think we were even ranked until after we won that tourney

 

[ROCcuse]

I was in my junior year at Colgate at the time and my gf and her friend from Mt. Holyoke were visiting that weekend because she knew how important the game was to me.

We drove up without tickets, found a place to park by a bar around 2 hours before tip off.

My mind is hazy, but I remember it being a small/narrow place, just a long wood bar and just a dozen or so two person tables along it.
It was an older crowd and they didn't let the place get too overcrowded.
Wish I could remember what bar it was but I was a Syracuse noob at the time.
I just remember it wasn't too far down the Hill/not too far off the beaten path.

They had the volume on.
I'm probably the outlier here, but one thing I actually miss when attending a live game is the commentary, as long as it's not say Jay Williams or Gus Johnson...

A couple offered us tickets up in the nosebleeds at some point, but we decided to stay at the bar.

Just an amazing game and experience watching there with some other diehard fans, even though we weren't in the Dome.

And you could see just how dominant we could be that year.

 

[pattycuse]

One of my all time favorite Dome games. My wife and I were on vacation somewhere (I can’t even remember where anymore) and flew back early to make sure we were at that game. Insane atmosphere.

It’s hard to fathom how far we’ve fallen…