Accepting nominations for the most unappreciated Oranges

[tee1222]

Baye Keita’s defense says put me in, coach.
Could have sworn he usurped the talented Rak Christmas when they were both freshmen. Things changed since then but he was certainly under appreciated.

 

[Fat tire 13]

Melvin Tuten

Made the most of his very brief career with one monstrous dunk!

Honorable mention to McNabb and Graves for moonlighting on the court

 

[rrlbees]

Greg Kohl’s and Bill Smith

 

[OrangeDW]

Melvin Tuten

Made the most of his very brief career with one monstrous dunk!

Honorable mention to McNabb and Graves for moonlighting on the court

Graves? When was that?

 

[OrangeDW]

In terms of star players: Lawrence Moten.

Maybe because he came right after the glory years where we were loaded every year and lived in the top 10, and he left right before we went to the NC game, and obviously the way his career ended was a heartbreaker.

But we still had solid teams in that era and he was a heck of a player for 4 years. All time leading scorer says a lot.

 

[hjf45]

Mike Lee, Dennis Duval

 

[syrBossHogg]

I think it's Flynn/Harris for me

Paul was a good college player that was a victim of his own hype coming into college
Flynn coming to SU allowed Scoop to recover from his early troubles/injuries and become a good college PG for the recent golden era of SU hoops.

But I also think, as crazy as it sounds, that Pearl/John Wallace are also a little under-appreciated for what they did to SU hoops.

 

[Fat tire 13]

Graves? When was that?

I was mistaken. He never officially played. I remember his name because there was a situation where he would have been a replacement if some players were suspended, but it never came to fruition

 

[Eric15]

Pretty much everyone from the '70s, for that matter.

I've always found it strange how we remember SU football players from the 60s and 70s in great detail, but for some reason completely ignore every SU basketball player from that era except Dave Bing.

 

[MSOrange]

Most unappreciated by the fans: Billy Owens - not considered Boeheim's best ever player only because SU lost to Richmond, but that loss wasn't on Billy who put up an efficient 22 & 8 (more points than Melo had in any tournament game, except the one against Texas).

Most unappreciated by the school: Rudy Hackett - Averaged 22 & 13 on a final four team. Why isn't his number retired? Why?

Agree especially after reading that recent thread about Owens. Um so Billy Owens wasn't that good? ummm ok

 

[Briancuse]

John Gillon’s probably a hero to us if he grew through the program, or wasn’t a part of a painfully underachieving squad

Had that team won more than it should have the shot to beat Duke would have been that much greater.

 

[moqui]

i'll have a (todd) cheese burgan deluxe with a side of shaky potatoes, please

 

[MSOrange]

In terms of star players: Lawrence Moten.

Maybe because he came right after the glory years where we were loaded every year and lived in the top 10, and he left right before we went to the NC game, and obviously the way his career ended was a heartbreaker.

But we still had solid teams in that era and he was a heck of a player for 4 years. All time leading scorer says a lot.

Yes! Somehow our leading scorer is underappreciated but it's true. His game probably doesn't translate as well to today's game since he wasn't a great 3 point shooter. But he made them when they counted. He just always seemed to move to the right place and be in great position. We would have been in trouble his freshman year if he didn't come out of nowhere.

 

[Vshukla]

i'll have a (todd) cheese burgan deluxe with a side of shaky potatoes, please

I was thinking of Burgan as well. The guy is top 20 all time in scoring, rebounding, and steals.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I was thinking of Burgan as well. The guy is top 20 all time in scoring, rebounding, and steals.

Whoa, really?

I really liked Burgan, but I wouldn't have guessed that at all.

 

[RF2044]

Craig Forth

Brandon Triche

Z

Scoop

 

[OrangeDW]

Yes! Somehow our leading scorer is underappreciated but it's true. His game probably doesn't translate as well to today's game since he wasn't a great 3 point shooter. But he made them when they counted. He just always seemed to move to the right place and be in great position. We would have been in trouble his freshman year if he didn't come out of nowhere.

I remember having a college b-ball magazine that predicted Cuse to go like 15-15 that season. And if Moten wasn’t an unexpected instant star, that might’ve been right? Or close? If I recall, we pulled out quite a few close wins. Dave Johnson could definitely be on this list too.

 

[Trueblue25]

Feel like the least mentioned player on the board is Michael Carter Williams too. You hear G mac, Flynn, Devo etc all the time. Not the rookie of the year though

 

[Vshukla]

Whoa, really?

I really liked Burgan, but I wouldn't have guessed that at all.

Yup, I was a little surprised as well but according to Orangehoops.org:

Burgan is tied with Bouie for 20th in points (and only 4 points behind Brandon Triche).

Burgan is 20th in total rebounds and ahead of folks like Roberson, Rakeem, and Terrance Roberts.

He is 12th in steals, with an average of 1.5/game.

Burgan played less games than others due to limited PT his freshman year and a suspension his Jr. year. His numbers would be a bit better with an additional 10 or so games.

I think the disciplinary suspension hurt his reputation a bit.

 

[OrangeDW]

Yup, I was a little surprised as well but according to Orangehoops.org:

Burgan is tied with Bouie for 20th in points (and only 4 points behind Brandon Triche).

Burgan is 20th in total rebounds and ahead of folks like Roberson, Rakeem, and Terrance Roberts.

He is 12th in steals, with an average of 1.5/game.

Burgan played less games than others due to limited PT his freshman year and a suspension his Jr. year. His numbers would be a bit better with an additional 10 or so games.

I think the disciplinary suspension hurt his reputation a bit.

The suspension plus that team being our first NIT team in forever. And Burgan didn’t really have a great junior year statistically. Coming off the solid soph year and great final 4, I think expectations were higher.

Solid senior year though.

 

[NateW]

i'll have a (todd) cheese burgan deluxe with a side of shaky potatoes, please

I rewatched the 96 Final in quarantine. He was ballin hard for much of that game. He looked like a budding superstar. Never fully came to fruition but he was a very skilled player.

 

[OrangeDW]

I rewatched the 96 Final in quarantine. He was ballin hard for much of that game. He looked like a budding superstar. Never fully came to fruition but he was a very skilled player.

He was a favorite target of Sims’ alley-oops.

I really miss the alley-oop.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I would think Paul Harris, Craig Forth, Justin Thomas or the walkon who gave us big minutes in the big second round win over Michigan State who’s name I don’t even recall.

 

[NateW]

Jeremy McNeil in the 03 run...

Ok St game stands on its own.

But an incredibly active and productive 13 mins in the Final has always stood out to me on my rewatches. He left everything on the floor.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Sims
Hill
Schayes