A Question for Veteran Fans

[Col. Bleep]

Meaning people whose recollection of Orange basketball includes a time before we had a national championship.

Perhaps back to '91 & Richmond...'88 & Rhode Island...maybe even '78 & Western Kentucky.

Deep down...didn't we all suspect this ride was really too good to be true?
That 2003 was an aberration?
That something would go wrong this year?

As Shakespeare said about fate, "Our wills and fates do so contrary run..."
Or, put another way, to be an Orange fan is to expect debacle.
Now we fight against longer odds...a place we're used to being.

 

[dasher]

No. Not at all. And I go back to all of that. The WKU debacle was my sr year. There isn't some karma that is against us. That is crazy.

 

[44PRIDE]

Losing to Rhode Island sucked bad...

 

[Noexcuse]

Meaning people whose recollection of Orange basketball includes a time before we had a national championship.

Perhaps back to '91 & Richmond...'88 & Rhode Island...maybe even '78 & Western Kentucky.

Deep down...didn't we all suspect this ride was really too good to be true?
That 2003 was an aberration?
That something would go wrong this year?

As Shakespeare said about fate, "Our wills and fates do so contrary run..."
Or, put another way, to be an Orange fan is to expect debacle.
Now we fight against longer odds...a place we're used to being.

It's not like we are Red Sox fans . . . . though as I think about it there are some similarities . . . .

 

[cuseguy]

I had SU losing in the Sweet 16 before Fab went south.

This program is a built for the regular season.

 

[bpo57]

Meaning people whose recollection of Orange basketball includes a time before we had a national championship.

Perhaps back to '91 & Richmond...'88 & Rhode Island...maybe even '78 & Western Kentucky.

Deep down...didn't we all suspect this ride was really too good to be true?
That 2003 was an aberration?
That something would go wrong this year?

As Shakespeare said about fate, "Our wills and fates do so contrary run..."
Or, put another way, to be an Orange fan is to expect debacle.
Now we fight against longer odds...a place we're used to being.

I didn't think it was too good to be true because the team is very good but my 40 years of watching SU has taught me that we generally make huge runs in the NCAAs when it is not completely expected and we tend to flame out when hopes are high. That alone had me a bit concerned. At least the very high expectations have been taken away now that Fab is out.

 

[dollarbill44]

I go back to '78. Graduated SU in '91. I don't think I ever let my mind go to those places until last week. Late last week I was feeling (only a faint feeling) like 1988 might get repeated this year, but I don't think I really felt like it would. Now, I'm not so sure.

I'm still trying to get my head around this Melo news, so I may not actually be thinking straight.

 

[Col. Bleep]

No. Not at all. And I go back to all of that. The WKU debacle was my sr year. There isn't some karma that is against us. That is crazy.

You, sir, are a better man than I.
Or maybe just an optimist.

 

[djcon57]

If 2003 didn't happen...I'd probably would've been in a period of isolation for 3 weeks.

Since 2003 did happen...I'll shake this off by tomorrow. Still pissed though.

 

[Col. Bleep]

I didn't think it was too good to be true because the team is very good but my 40 years of watching SU has taught me that we generally make huge runs in the NCAAs when it is not completely expected and we tend to flame out when hopes are high. That alone had me a bit concerned. At least the very high expectations have been taken away now that Fab is out.

I agree that Boeheim's teams do tend to overachieve when he doesn't have great talent ('96 the best example).
That may be due to his coaching style and the types of players we typically attract.
The flip side is we often underachieve with big talent.

 

[jcuse44]

Did not see this coming, and did not think 2003 was a surprise either. I think Dion could do what melo did in 2003, to be honest i think Dion at his best is better than Melo was at that point.

 

[LennX6]

I had SU losing in the Sweet 16 before Fab went south.

This program is a built for the regular season.

Considering 67 of the 68 tournament teams go home with a L, aren't they all built for the regular season?

 

[br801]

Did not see this coming, and did not think 2003 was a surprise either. I think Dion could do what melo did in 2003, to be honest i think Dion at his best is better than Melo was at that point.

It's been a pretty crazy day. I must be hallucinating.

 

[moqui]

Deep down...didn't we all suspect this ride was really too good to be true?

- yes, I always thought this squad was a bit overrated

That 2003 was an aberration?

No, Boeheim is a great coach and has built a great program, with a couple of breaks he could be sitting on 3 titles

That something would go wrong this year?

Until the brackets came out, I didn't think this was a team that could make the Final Four and maybe not even breach the Sweet 16 wall, but other than an early exit, no, I didn't think anything extraordinary would "go wrong" this year.