espn hardwood classics

[tbonezone]

been showing a lot of orange past few days. yesterday uconn and today the hoyas. feb 1989 on air right now.
derrick coleman, billy owens, stevie thompson, sherm douglas and dave johnson on the court together right now. most talented orange quintet ever to put 10 sneakers on the same court ? all were fantastic players .

 

[HakAttack]

been showing a lot of orange past few days. yesterday uconn and today the hoyas. feb 1989 on air right now.
derrick coleman, billy owens, stevie thompson, sherm douglas and dave johnson on the court together right now. most talented orange quintet ever to put 10 sneakers on the same court ? all were fantastic players .

Andy Rautins, Brandon Triche, Wes Johnson, Arinze Onuaku & Rick Jackson would like a word.

 

[RF2044]

been showing a lot of orange past few days. yesterday uconn and today the hoyas. feb 1989 on air right now.
derrick coleman, billy owens, stevie thompson, sherm douglas and dave johnson on the court together right now. most talented orange quintet ever to put 10 sneakers on the same court ? all were fantastic players .

That '89 team gets my vote as the most talented [pound-for-pound] team in program history.

 

[RF2044]

Andy Rautins, Brandon Triche, Wes Johnson, Arinze Onuaku & Rick Jackson would like a word.

I love those players, and I loved that team. But I think they'd get handled by the '89 squad.

 

[realorange]

Andy Rautins, Brandon Triche, Wes Johnson, Arinze Onuaku & Rick Jackson would like a word.

Good but not even close.

 

[Doc5120]

I love those players, and I loved that team. But I think they'd get handled by the '89 squad.

I was taking his post as sarcasm. My God, I hope it was sarcasm! Those '89 guys would annihilate them.

 

[HakAttack]

I was taking his post as sarcasm. My God, I hope it was sarcasm! Those '89 guys would annihilate them.

I didn’t mean it as sarcasm, and to be frank, I think the 2012 team that went 34-3 and lost one game in the regular season is by far the most talented team we’ve ever had. 89’ team included.

 

[Doc5120]

I didn’t mean it as sarcasm, and to be frank, I think the 2012 team that went 34-3 and lost one game in the regular season is by far the most talented team we’ve ever had. 89’ team included.

I think the 2012 is certainly better than 2010. But I think '89 is an all time great SU team. 4 of those 5 guys played in the NBA. It's hard for me to picture any SU team being able to play with that team, but I agree 2012 would probably be the closest.

 

[br801]

Andy Rautins, Brandon Triche, Wes Johnson, Arinze Onuaku & Rick Jackson would like a word.

Great group, but that '89 team had three transcendent college players who went on to have very good to great NBA careers.

 

[pfister1]

I didn’t mean it as sarcasm, and to be frank, I think the 2012 team that went 34-3 and lost one game in the regular season is by far the most talented team we’ve ever had. 89’ team included.

Not even close.

At the time he graduated Sherm was the NCAA Career Assist Leader (#6 All Time SU scorer / #1 All Time SU Assists)
At the time he graduated DC was top 20 All time NCAA Career Rebound Leader (#2 All Time SU scorer / #1 All Time SU Rebounds)
Owens was arguably the best all around player we've had (In 3 years #12 All Time SU Scorer / #9 All Time Rebounder/ #15 Assists)
Thompson #7 All Time SU Scorer
Johnson #16 All Time SU Scorer
Not to mention Matt Roe hitting 47% from the 3 point line.

But the obvious differentiator is that the 89 team had a young Tony Scott on the bench. Game, set, match.

 

[SWC75]

The 2010 team is my all time favorite SU team, (that didn't win a national championship). I even liked them better than the 2012 team that had our all-time best record. But neither had as much raw ability as the teams of the late 80's, (pick one, although 1988-89 was probably the peak.) They wouldn't have been blown out but they weren't as good.

 

[tbonezone]

as noted all 5 players are in syracuse's top 20 all time point scorers . in their best seasons they averaged :
billy owens 23.3, sherman 18.2 , stevie t 18 , DJ 19.8 , and DC 16.9. (not to mention douglas led the ncaa in assists and coleman in rebounds.) that's a lot of fire power right there. best team is always debatable . best 5 players i don't think it's even close.

 

[Eric15]

Why did that uber-talented 1989 team only go 10-6 in a relatively underwhelming Big East that year? Honestly curious, I was only 7 years old.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Why did that uber-talented 1989 team only go 10-6 in a relatively underwhelming Big East that year? Honestly curious, I was only 7 years old.

View attachment 116902

No outside shooting and no dominant center. Probably the most athletic team we’ve ever had though.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Not even close.

At the time he graduated Sherm was the NCAA Career Assist Leader (#6 All Time SU scorer / #1 All Time SU Assists)
At the time he graduated DC was top 20 All time NCAA Career Rebound Leader (#2 All Time SU scorer / #1 All Time SU Rebounds)
Owens was arguably the best all around player we've had (In 3 years #12 All Time SU Scorer / #9 All Time Rebounder/ #15 Assists)
Thompson #7 All Time SU Scorer
Johnson #16 All Time SU Scorer
Not to mention Matt Roe hitting 47% from the 3 point line.

But the obvious differentiator is that the 89 team had a young Tony Scott on the bench. Game, set, match.

And transfer LeRon Ellis sitting out his mandatory year. Imagine if he was eligible that year? Solves the center problem.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Why did that uber-talented 1989 team only go 10-6 in a relatively underwhelming Big East that year? Honestly curious, I was only 7 years old.

View attachment 116902

GTown had Mourning and Mutombo, and still hacked the crap out of teams. And we hit our typical mid-season slump I think. And, as already stated, we had very little consistency from the arc outside of Roe.

 

[81South]

College basketball was so different back then. Our 89 team ranks up towards our all time best. They had amazing talent but so did many other big east teams. Those were the days where guys almost always played 4 years.

We struggled to shoot the rock at times but that team was amazing in transition, they were great at rebounding and they could defend. And when they had th chip on their shoulder you better watch out. I still have nightmares about the elite 8 game vs Illinois.

No way in hell does the 2010 or 2012 team beat them.

 

[malpearl31]

GTown had Mourning and Mutombo, and still hacked the crap out of teams. And we hit our typical mid-season slump I think. And, as already stated, we had very little consistency from the arc outside of Roe.

Their performance in winning the pre-season NIT that year was so good... put an epic beat down on Indiana in the final at MSG - the same Indiana team that went on to win the Big 10 that year. That team was soooo good...

 

[HakAttack]

Why did that uber-talented 1989 team only go 10-6 in a relatively underwhelming Big East that year? Honestly curious, I was only 7 years old.

View attachment 116902

I was waiting for someone to bring that up. I was too lazy to look it up but if you’re that good individually, then why isn’t your conference record a reflection of that? A 10-6 conference record to me ends any discussion of being in the running for best team in program history.

Looking at the conference record reveals to me, why the 2012 team is the best we’ve ever had.

They only lost THREE times all season, and went undefeated at home in a conference that sent 9 teams to the dance. So clearly they were playing better competition than the 89’ team.

Some of y’all are focusing too much on what those guys did individually instead of how good the team was.

If we’re talking best TEAM that SU ever assembled, it’s the 2012 team, and it’s not close.

If we’re talking about the best team of PLAYERS that SU has had, then yes, the 89’ team should be at the top of that discussion.

Big difference though. I still take the 12’ team H2H.

 

[HakAttack]

as noted all 5 players are in syracuse's top 20 all time point scorers . in their best seasons they averaged :
billy owens 23.3, sherman 18.2 , stevie t 18 , DJ 19.8 , and DC 16.9. (not to mention douglas led the ncaa in assists and coleman in rebounds.) that's a lot of fire power right there. best team is always debatable . best 5 players i don't think it's even close.

I’m not arguing that point. I just don’t think best team of PLAYERS and overall best TEAM are mutually exclusive in this case.

 

[RF2044]

I was waiting for someone to bring that up. I was too lazy to look it up but if you’re that good individually, then why isn’t your conference record a reflection of that? A 10-6 conference record to me ends any discussion of being in the running for best team in program history.

Looking at the conference record reveals to me, why the 2012 team is the best we’ve ever had.

They only lost THREE times all season, and went undefeated at home in a conference that sent 9 teams to the dance. So clearly they were playing better competition than the 89’ team.

Some of y’all are focusing too much on what those guys did individually instead of how good the team was.

If we’re talking best TEAM that SU ever assembled, it’s the 2012 team, and it’s not close.

If we’re talking about the best team of PLAYERS that SU has had, then yes, the 89’ team should be at the top of that discussion.

Big difference though. I still take the 12’ team H2H.

Just curious--and I don't mean this in a disrespectful manner-- how old are you? Because the opinion you're expressing makes me guess that you weren't around to see the 1989 team.

That team made the elite 8, and came close to making the final four. They were the best TEAM we've had--not just a collection of talented, individual components--even if the record alone doesn't establish that. And that's a pretty poor barometer to base everything on, given how different the college game is now compared to what it was then, when you had stars staying 3 and sometimes all 4 years.

And I love the 2012 squad. And the 2010 squad.

But when you weren't around to see DC, you don't know what he was. Or how incredible Sherman Douglas was. Or how superlatively talented Billy Owens was. And how versatile that group was, and how well they did just about everything other than shoot threes. Holy smokes -- hard to believe that was nearly 30 years ago.

 

[HakAttack]

Just curious--and I don't mean this in a disrespectful manner-- how old are you? Because the opinion you're expressing makes me guess that you weren't around to see the 1989 team.

That team made the elite 8, and came close to making the final four. They were the best TEAM we've had, even if the record alone doesn't establish that. And that's a pretty poor barometer to base everything on, given how different the college game is now compared to what it was then, when you had stars staying 3 and sometimes all 4 years.

And I love the 2012 squad. And the 2010 squad.

But when you weren't around to see DC, you don't know what he was. Or how incredible Sherman Douglas was. Or how superlatively talented Billy Owens was. And how versatile that group was, and how well they did just about everything. Holy smokes -- hard to believe that was nearly 30 years ago.

That's totally fair to ask. I'm 32, class of 07' and while I caught a few Preston Shumpert-era Cuse games on TV while I was in high school, I wasn't a fan of the team until I got to the hill in 03-04. I've seen the grainy video clips and DC was a man amongst boys. Sherman was an 80's version of CP3.

But again, I just struggle to see how the 89' team is the best we've ever had when we had a team in the 12' squad that played in a much stronger era of college basketball where there was (and still is) so much more parity than just a few powerhouse teams at the top.

 

[cuseinseattle]

Just curious--and I don't mean this in a disrespectful manner-- how old are you? Because the opinion you're expressing makes me guess that you weren't around to see the 1989 team.

That team made the elite 8, and came close to making the final four. They were the best TEAM we've had--not just a collection of talented, individual components--even if the record alone doesn't establish that. And that's a pretty poor barometer to base everything on, given how different the college game is now compared to what it was then, when you had stars staying 3 and sometimes all 4 years.

And I love the 2012 squad. And the 2010 squad.

But when you weren't around to see DC, you don't know what he was. Or how incredible Sherman Douglas was. Or how superlatively talented Billy Owens was. And how versatile that group was, and how well they did just about everything other than shoot threes. Holy smokes -- hard to believe that was nearly 30 years ago.

Yes. What he said. I was 10 and thought we would always have guys like DC and the general.

 

[realorange]

That's totally fair to ask. I'm 32, class of 07' and while I caught a few Preston Shumpert-era Cuse games on TV while I was in high school, I wasn't a fan of the team until I got to the hill in 03-04. I've seen the grainy video clips and DC was a man amongst boys. Sherman was an 80's version of CP3.

But again, I just struggle to see how the 89' team is the best we've ever had when we had a team in the 12' squad that played in a much stronger era of college basketball where there was (and still is) so much more parity than just a few powerhouse teams at the top.[/QUOTE]
Whoa. Stop right there.
The quality of the competition that the 89 team played against was much tougher than the 12 team had. That's the reason you can't say 12 is the best because they only lost 3 games. The 12 team playing in 89 would likely have had at least 6-8 losses.

 

[81South]

That's totally fair to ask. I'm 32, class of 07' and while I caught a few Preston Shumpert-era Cuse games on TV while I was in high school, I wasn't a fan of the team until I got to the hill in 03-04. I've seen the grainy video clips and DC was a man amongst boys. Sherman was an 80's version of CP3.

But again, I just struggle to see how the 89' team is the best we've ever had when we had a team in the 12' squad that played in a much stronger era of college basketball where there was (and still is) so much more parity than just a few powerhouse teams at the top.

I would debate strongly that the 2012 era of college basketball was not stronger at the top than the 80s for the reasons RF mentioned...almost no one left early for the draft then. The top teams back then were loaded with upper class men who were athletic and absolute men in terms of their builds. And the teams had amazing chemistry from playing together for so long.

One can spend hours watching our games from those days on YouTube. I really do encourage our younger fans to do so and you might gain a greater appreciation for those teams and our history.

Unfortunately for the 89 Team DC was going on a bad back and god we were bad closing out games on the FT line.