Almost exactly 10 years ago...

[jekelish]

I agree that Hodge wouldn't have helped us win the title, but I strongly disagree that Melo would have come in and played second fiddle. The cream rises, after all.

 

[Shermthegeneral]

I agree that Melo's talent would have out shined Hodge but it would have been like 2 cooks in a kitchen.

 

[IthacaMatt]

CTO,

I remember those days with the "Mole". I* also remember that Julius Hodge "supposedly" logined into the Syracuse hoops board and talked about how he wanted to go to Syracuse. He received an warm welcome from the board and everyone told him how great it would be for him to committ. Later after he commited, Hakim was the real prize and we all were glad to have him.

It is surprising looking back but Hodge would not have fit into the Syracuse style of basketball. I say this because he needed the ball way too much to be effective. I know at NCST, he was basically the only scoring threat/real player NCST had for a couple of years. Kind of remind me of free agency in baseball/basketball where a team spends way too much to get a star player and the supporting cast remaing is just not up to task. While he had a good senior year, I don't think he grew as a player like Warrick did at Syraciuse (improving every year).

That's revisionist history. Julius Hodge would have been a star at SU, and likely achieved more than he did at NC State (which included them beating us in the Dome, by the way ...). At that point in time, Julius Hodge looked like he had the potential to be the next Penny Hardaway, and Billy Edelin, who had befriended him on the AAU summer circuit, looked like the next Jason Kidd. Funny how things turn out.

As I recall, our insider on the Julius Hodge saga was Francis, who attended high school with him in NYC. Glad that Francis has stayed around all these years, and been such a great contributor to the board.

 

[IthacaMatt]

That may be one of the most depressing things I've ever seen in print. And hilarious.

Flash forward to Tobias Harris' announcement at the ESPN Fan Zone right before an SU game...

 

[orange79]

That's revisionist history. Julius Hodge would have been a star at SU, and likely achieved more than he did at NC State (which included them beating us in the Dome, by the way ...). At that point in time, Julius Hodge looked like he had the potential to be the next Penny Hardaway, and Billy Edelin, who had befriended him on the AAU summer circuit, looked like the next Jason Kidd. Funny how things turn out.

As I recall, our insider on the Julius Hodge saga was Francis, who attended high school with him in NYC. Glad that Francis has stayed around all these years, and been such a great contributor to the board.

There's no revisionism there. Everyone was pissed. All CTO is saying is that it worked out for the best.

 

[Fishy]

There are no 'must get' recruits once you hit a certain level.

You lose a Hodge, gain a Warrick, win a title.

 

[sufandu]

I remember Troy Weaver saying, "He can watch us in the final four," after Hodge's commitment. Great assistant and prophet.

 

[Francis03]

Wow with the DC2 madness I'm all late on this one. Anyway my first hand take on Hodge was quite interesting. As an High School Freshman my locker was practically next to his when he was a Junior. At the time there was no hype around him and he was pretty much an unknown. He went on to have a big season in which he led the team to a city championship. With all of that though, he was still being lightly recruited with only Rutgers showing major interest. One day he overhears me talking about SU ball with a friend and he asked me if I liked the Cuse? I said hell yeah lol how bout you? He said the Cuse were his favorite team and he wished that they would recruit him. Everybody knew once he played in the AAU's/summer camps that he would blow up. I was trying to find a good SU message board where I could pass this info along, because no way in hell was I going to post this on Syracuse.com I had good timing because eventually this site just started up and I figured it was a good place to share the info and put the good ole folks on to the player known as "Jules". Making a long story short, Hodge eventually blew up and it became a battle between SU and State. I never really felt confident that he was going to SU because I knew how Gary D gets down being one of the major players in the Adidas circle. It's funny because as Fishy mentioned being at the press conference, it was easy to know what the choice was. As Hodge carried the hats in a Adidas bag lol I knew right away that the Nike school wasn't going to be the choice and I wanted to walk away right then and there but I stayed to enjoy the show.

I remember when Hak committed and I asked Hodge if he heard about it? (The 2 played in an AAU game just months prior in which Hak's team won and he was named MVP of the tourney) Hodge looked and laughed at me, saying how Hak was trash and how SU fans are crazy if they think he was going to be better than him. Well 10 years later, Hak has an NCAA chip and a solid NBA career to his resume. While Hodge was last seen having his ankles broken by John Wall at an Carolina street ball tourney lol

 

[KaiserUEO]

we almost lost raoul duke for good in the chat that day. he was not a happy camper, had a whole bunch of monster dunk posts all lined up. we met up at a dive here in the City to discuss how the 'fab 4 which needed one more' would not be.

4 days later i stopped drinking on that binge.

3 days after that, raoul did.

i miss my youth....

 

[longtimefan]

we almost lost raoul duke for good in the chat that day. he was not a happy camper, had a whole bunch of monster dunk posts all lined up. we met up at a dive here in the City to discuss how the 'fab 4 which needed one more' would not be.

4 days later i stopped drinking on that binge.

3 days after that, raoul did.

i miss my youth....

What's up with Raoul these days?

 

['72 Orange]

Wow with the DC2 madness I'm all late on this one. Anyway my first hand take on Hodge was quite interesting. As an High School Freshman my locker was practically next to his when he was a Junior. At the time there was no hype around him and he was pretty much an unknown. He went on to have a big season in which he led the team to a city championship. With all of that though, he was still being lightly recruited with only Rutgers showing major interest. One day he overhears me talking about SU ball with a friend and he asked me if I liked the Cuse? I said hell yeah lol how bout you? He said the Cuse were his favorite team and he wished that they would recruit him. Everybody knew once he played in the AAU's/summer camps that he would blow up. I was trying to find a good SU message board where I could pass this info along, because no way in hell was I going to post this on Syracuse.com I had good timing because eventually this site just started up and I figured it was a good place to share the info and put the good ole folks on to the player known as "Jules". Making a long story short, Hodge eventually blew up and it became a battle between SU and State. I never really felt confident that he was going to SU because I knew how Gary D gets down being one of the major players in the Adidas circle. It's funny because as Fishy mentioned being at the press conference, it was easy to know what the choice was. As Hodge carried the hats in a Adidas bag lol I knew right away that the Nike school wasn't going to be the choice and I wanted to walk away right then and there but I stayed to enjoy the show.

I remember when Hak committed and I asked Hodge if he heard about it? (The 2 played in an AAU game just months prior in which Hak's team won and he was named MVP of the tourney) Hodge looked and laughed at me, saying how Hak was trash and how SU fans are crazy if they think he was going to be better than him. Well 10 years later, Hak has an NCAA chip and a solid NBA career to his resume. While Hodge was last seen having his ankles broken by John Wall at an Carolina street ball tourney lol

As a fellow St. Ray's alumnus I enjoyed your insight. I was disappointed at first when Hodge passed on SU, but it was his loss and our gain!

 

[rrlbees]

Wow with the DC2 madness I'm all late on this one. Anyway my first hand take on Hodge was quite interesting. As an High School Freshman my locker was practically next to his when he was a Junior. At the time there was no hype around him and he was pretty much an unknown. He went on to have a big season in which he led the team to a city championship. With all of that though, he was still being lightly recruited with only Rutgers showing major interest. One day he overhears me talking about SU ball with a friend and he asked me if I liked the Cuse? I said hell yeah lol how bout you? He said the Cuse were his favorite team and he wished that they would recruit him. Everybody knew once he played in the AAU's/summer camps that he would blow up. I was trying to find a good SU message board where I could pass this info along, because no way in hell was I going to post this on Syracuse.com I had good timing because eventually this site just started up and I figured it was a good place to share the info and put the good ole folks on to the player known as "Jules". Making a long story short, Hodge eventually blew up and it became a battle between SU and State. I never really felt confident that he was going to SU because I knew how Gary D gets down being one of the major players in the Adidas circle. It's funny because as Fishy mentioned being at the press conference, it was easy to know what the choice was. As Hodge carried the hats in a Adidas bag lol I knew right away that the Nike school wasn't going to be the choice and I wanted to walk away right then and there but I stayed to enjoy the show.

I remember when Hak committed and I asked Hodge if he heard about it? (The 2 played in an AAU game just months prior in which Hak's team won and he was named MVP of the tourney) Hodge looked and laughed at me, saying how Hak was trash and how SU fans are crazy if they think he was going to be better than him. Well 10 years later, Hak has an NCAA chip and a solid NBA career to his resume. While Hodge was last seen having his ankles broken by John Wall at an Carolina street ball tourney lol

Cool story. Thanks Francis.

 

[IthacaMatt]

There's no revisionism there. Everyone was pissed. All CTO is saying is that it worked out for the best.

No, the poster said that Hodge wouldn't have fit at SU. He would have fit our system just fine. He would have been a bigger star here than he was at NC State. Sure, Hak worked out better, but you don't have to say things about Hodge that aren't true.

And don't forget, Hak was handed a starting job as a frosh when Konecny bombed out, and he physically wasn't ready for the Big East. He got pushed around terribly his freshman year, while Hodge may have been the ACC rookie of the year (I'm too lazy to look it up...).

Hodge and Billy Edelin had great chemistry. Of course, Billy did get a championship here, but it didn't work out quite like everyone hoped.

 

[Faegan]

Any of these local kids have a presser like today, and for some reason my thoughts actually turn to the Damien Rhodes announcement. I'm trying to remember if we could see or hear it, or was it relayed by someone in a chat? I kind of think the latter?

 

[cto]

Wow with the DC2 madness I'm all late on this one. Anyway my first hand take on Hodge was quite interesting. As an High School Freshman my locker was practically next to his when he was a Junior. At the time there was no hype around him and he was pretty much an unknown. He went on to have a big season in which he led the team to a city championship. With all of that though, he was still being lightly recruited with only Rutgers showing major interest. One day he overhears me talking about SU ball with a friend and he asked me if I liked the Cuse? I said hell yeah lol how bout you? He said the Cuse were his favorite team and he wished that they would recruit him. Everybody knew once he played in the AAU's/summer camps that he would blow up. I was trying to find a good SU message board where I could pass this info along, because no way in hell was I going to post this on Syracuse.com I had good timing because eventually this site just started up and I figured it was a good place to share the info and put the good ole folks on to the player known as "Jules". Making a long story short, Hodge eventually blew up and it became a battle between SU and State. I never really felt confident that he was going to SU because I knew how Gary D gets down being one of the major players in the Adidas circle. It's funny because as Fishy mentioned being at the press conference, it was easy to know what the choice was. As Hodge carried the hats in a Adidas bag lol I knew right away that the Nike school wasn't going to be the choice and I wanted to walk away right then and there but I stayed to enjoy the show.

I remember when Hak committed and I asked Hodge if he heard about it? (The 2 played in an AAU game just months prior in which Hak's team won and he was named MVP of the tourney) Hodge looked and laughed at me, saying how Hak was trash and how SU fans are crazy if they think he was going to be better than him. Well 10 years later, Hak has an NCAA chip and a solid NBA career to his resume. While Hodge was last seen having his ankles broken by John Wall at an Carolina street ball tourney lol

Great story, Francis. I remember well your posts -- mainly because I couldn't believe you were a high school underclassman at the time. Your posts were so intelligent, newsy and right-on.

 

[Dadarules]

This was the first thing I remember from the board - thanks CTO! Absolutely great stories in this thread, thinking about back then also reminds me of Boca Doug.

 

[jekelish]

Yep, same for me. This is one of my first memories of the Syracusefan.com community. My earliest memory would probably be just reading the AOL group info when I was in high school about Winfred Walton (I didn't post back then, I was just some 16 year old kid on his dad's computer reading via dial-up). That was the first day I really felt like part of the Syracusefan community, though.

 

[rrlbees]

Yep, same for me. This is one of my first memories of the Syracusefan.com community. My earliest memory would probably be just reading the AOL group info when I was in high school about Winfred Walton (I didn't post back then, I was just some 16 year old kid on his dad's computer reading via dial-up). That was the first day I really felt like part of the Syracusefan community, though.

Winnie Walton. What could have been.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

I think the bigger question is if Hodge had committed, would Carmelo have still come to Syracuse?

Hodge was his decision in late 2000 and Carmelo committed in April or May 2001.

At the time of his commitment, Carmelo still only weighed 185 or so, so he and Hodge were very similar physically.

If Carmelo does not come because Hodge commits to SU, there is no NC in 2003.

So, Hakim as a consolation prize may be a nice story but the "non-get" of Hodge may have been the best miss ever.

I wonder if anyone has ever asked Carmelo if he still would have come to SU if Hodge had come here.

 

[CUSEBB1]

I drank HEAVY in them days. Probably why i am still banned.lol

 

[RoysRunts]

What about the Waffle House?

 

[SWC75]

And the other four were Forth, Pace, Edelin and Konecny. Edelin was considered the "prize" of the bunch.

I remember thinking that, after the Billy celuck era, we now had two bruisers in Forth and Konecny and nobody would push us around now!

 

[temery]

Well, I remembered a Maryland Mole somewhere in the musty archives of this board. But the rest of the story is accurate. My purpose in posting it was to show... that Hak was not a bad "consolation prize"

I have all the old boards, and chat transcripts saved on my old computer. I plan to set them up as an archive when I have the time.

 

[Toga]

I have all the old boards, and chat transcripts saved on my old computer. I plan to set them up as an archive when I have the time.

oooh

 

[SWC75]

I have all the old boards, and chat transcripts saved on my old computer. I plan to set them up as an archive when I have the time.

Are you going to blackmail us with them?