First cuse game you remember watching?

[IthacaMatt]

Your parents had a head start on the Summer of Love

Not to be an old fogey, but the summer of love was actually in 67.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Like you Jaxcuse, my first season with the OrangeMEN was in 1975, my freshman year. Orleans sang on the quad along with Peter Frampton haha.

My first year there was the year Jimmy B took the helm. The stars during my time were Louie and Bouie with some Marty Byrnes and Dale Shackleford in there as well. There was a guy named James Bailey who played I think for Rutgers who used to kill us.

All my basketball games including the Magic Johnson game were at Manley and Joe Morris was the star of the football team.

I participated in two 24 hour muscular dystrophy dance marathons on campus in Archbold. Remember those anyone?
Ah the memories.

I did one of those at Cornell - but not with my girlfriend (she wasn't interested). Wound up hooking up with someone else, causing her to break up with me. When you are that hormonal age, and you do something with a group of people until you are way past being tired, it has a strange bonding effect.

 

[senorpalmer]

I have distant memories of watching Danny Schayes, Leo Rautins, Marty Headd's distinguishable head during the 80-81 season in the Dome, unfortunately I cannot recall who against as I was all of about 6 years old. I was at the 82 BET at HCC, when SU lost to BC in the q-finals, but I couldn't tell you a single detail about the game from memory. First game I remember anything about and being in attendance for was the 84 Big East final against Gtown. Incredible thugs those Hoyas were. I still have the program from that tournament (and I've collected most of them since then), here was the SU roster page...

 

[Bill Orange]

I have distant memories of watching Danny Schayes, Leo Rautins, Marty Headd's distinguishable head during the 80-81 season in the Dome, unfortunately I cannot recall who against as I was all of about 6 years old. I was at the 82 BET at HCC, when SU lost to BC in the q-finals, but I couldn't tell you a single detail about the game from memory. First game I remember anything about and being in attendance for was the 84 Big East final against Gtown. Incredible thugs those Hoyas were. I still have the program from that tournament (and I've collected most of them since then), here was the SU roster page...

View attachment 2355

Uugh. Bad memories. Left Syracuse with the crew at 5:30am that Thursday, complete with 2 iced down cases of OV Splits, which were gone by the time we hit the Mass Pike. We played the first game and a key turnover (traveled the baseline after a timeout) by the Father of Andy cost us the game.

That was just a prelude of things to come. John Belushi died that night and a couple of our players ran afoul of Johnny Law at a party involving the Villanova Mascot.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

I took away a perverse pride and satisfaction from the 87 Indiana game, even though we didn't win. You may not remember, but Dick Vitale was screaming that the Final Four ought to be re-seeded, because Syracuse didn't deserve to play in the championship game. I forget who Indiana beat in their semifinal, but it was another blue blood program like North Carolina, if I recall correctly, while we got to play Providence.

So, I was pissed about that, and I remember how they openly mocked us in Sports Illustrated at the 75 Final Four, asking if we had recruited Ernie Siebert in a bar. The teams of Leo Rautins, Shack and Bruin were good, but underachieved a bit, and when we won that Big East tournament at the Dome in triple OT, it, too, was a fluke and the result of home court advantage and the Big East decided to never do that again (i.e. play on campus).

Then we get Pearl, we are all over ESPN and Big Monday. Al McGuire calls our games, loves the Pearl, and we become a national program - but then Pearl's last team craps out, losing at home on the Dome floor in the NCAAs (again, last time they would let THAT happen), he goes pro early (at a time when very few people did that) and here we are in rebuilding mode. Our star player is gone. When will we ever get another transcendant talent like that?

Greg Monroe and Howard Triche as starters. Sherman wasn't a legend yet. Coleman was still a skinny frosh until he brought down 19 boards in that game and became a legend himself. We thoroughly outplayed Saint Bobby Knight. Boeheim coached circles around him, literally changing defenses every couple possessions to keep them off balance at one point. We kicked their asses, and if it wasn't for Alford shooting lights out in the first half, we would have run them out of the building and the Keith Smart moment never would have happened.

After that game (during which I drank about 20 beers - literally - and did not get drunk, due to the excess amount of adrenaline flowing through my body), I felt like we truly could take on anybody, and beat anybody. There would be no more BS from punks like Vitale (how wrong was I about that??), but that we belonged among the elite. Like Knight said to Boeheim, "you'll be back" - I felt like he meant it, and I knew it to be true.

So that game never quite hurt me the way it hurt a lot of other fans, because I felt like that was the day we truly arrived as a program. And boy, did we go on a hell of a run from there.

This is how I remember the evolution of the program as well. From regional threat, to regional power after the '75 FF, onto BE power and national threat in the early 80's up to the '87 runner up finish. Finally JB regarded as a great coach after the '96 run, and becoming a national power with the stepped up recruiting and '03 NC.

 

[CiceroCuse]

Oh, that's a tough memory. But for any real fan, if you were told by your maker that your last memory would be a Big East tournament at the Garden, I think a lot of us would take that.

Absolutely. I talked with him an hour before he died and how great the weekend was so he definitely went out with a smile on his face.

 

[newmexicuse]

I took away a perverse pride and satisfaction from the 87 Indiana game, even though we didn't win. You may not remember, but Dick Vitale was screaming that the Final Four ought to be re-seeded, because Syracuse didn't deserve to play in the championship game. I forget who Indiana beat in their semifinal, but it was another blue blood program like North Carolina, if I recall correctly, while we got to play Providence.

So, I was pissed about that, and I remember how they openly mocked us in Sports Illustrated at the 75 Final Four, asking if we had recruited Ernie Siebert in a bar. The teams of Leo Rautins, Shack and Bruin were good, but underachieved a bit, and when we won that Big East tournament at the Dome in triple OT, it, too, was a fluke and the result of home court advantage and the Big East decided to never do that again (i.e. play on campus).

Then we get Pearl, we are all over ESPN and Big Monday. Al McGuire calls our games, loves the Pearl, and we become a national program - but then Pearl's last team craps out, losing at home on the Dome floor in the NCAAs (again, last time they would let THAT happen), he goes pro early (at a time when very few people did that) and here we are in rebuilding mode. Our star player is gone. When will we ever get another transcendant talent like that?

Greg Monroe and Howard Triche as starters. Sherman wasn't a legend yet. Coleman was still a skinny frosh until he brought down 19 boards in that game and became a legend himself. We thoroughly outplayed Saint Bobby Knight. Boeheim coached circles around him, literally changing defenses every couple possessions to keep them off balance at one point. We kicked their asses, and if it wasn't for Alford shooting lights out in the first half, we would have run them out of the building and the Keith Smart moment never would have happened.

After that game (during which I drank about 20 beers - literally - and did not get drunk, due to the excess amount of adrenaline flowing through my body), I felt like we truly could take on anybody, and beat anybody. There would be no more BS from punks like Vitale (how wrong was I about that??), but that we belonged among the elite. Like Knight said to Boeheim, "you'll be back" - I felt like he meant it, and I knew it to be true.

So that game never quite hurt me the way it hurt a lot of other fans, because I felt like that was the day we truly arrived as a program. And boy, did we go on a hell of a run from there.

So why has this changed ????

 

[cuseinseattle]

I was born 1979. My great uncle was a professor at Syracuse for a really long time and my Uncle went there from 68-72. He was a proud alumni and always watched the basketball games and loved the program. Not a die hard fan that knows every player but the guy that is proud to have gone there and will tell people about it and watches all of the games when they are on. I think I was like 5 or 6 when I watched a game with him. I can't remember who against but it was the 86-87 season with Sherman and I loved the fast paced exciting style and thought the orange uniforms were cool. So my uncle and I would talk about the team every time I saw him and I picked them as my team. I passed him by pretty quickly and he would come to me for details on recruiting and who was going to good after I would say about 8th grade.

 

[albanyorange]

Apparently, Joyce and I are among the dinosaurs on this board. I grew up in Syracuse. First game I saw was in the old Jefferson Street Armory. Think it was Jon Cincebox and Vinnie Cohen playing for the Cuse. I'm doing this without researching it. Anyway, it had t be around 1957 or so.

Apparently, Joyce and I are among the dinosaurs on this board. I grew up in Syracuse. First game I saw was in the old Jefferson Street Armory. Think it was Jon Cincebox and Vinnie Cohen playing for the Cuse. I'm doing this without researching it. Anyway, it had t be around 1957 or so.

As i said about colgate game in 65 but have been coming to following football since early 50 s when my uncles brought me to games from Endicott when i was early teenager.

 

[orange79]

Not to be an old fogey, but the summer of love was actually in 67.

Yikes - my bad. That means they were actually lagging behind...

 

[Texas Otto]

First game attended in person 76 team vs. Niagara in the ECAC Upstate championships

 

[orangecuse]

I'm not sure of the first game I attended. I have to assume that it was around '76 0r '77. The first one I remember was 1/17/79 when SU beat Siena 144-92. I remember people singing (maybe along with the band) Beat Siena to the chorus of My Sharona. I loved the Manley Zoo. The So What, Who Cares..., I believe the fans also through streamers or something onto the court when SU scored their first basket. We had season tickets up near the top of section B. I moved to Syracuse when I was in 3rd grade and sat next to Danforth's daughter in class. She moved that summer down to New Orleans when Roy got the job at Tulane.

My first attended game was the aforementioned Siena one. I was a grade schooler, we transferred in from Cleveland Ohio...my dad worked at the Fisher Guide GM Plant in Salina...landed some great seats (from a vendor) whom to this day still occasionally provides a family member with section 123 seats in the Dome. I specifically recall Dale S and some of his great dunks...along with the Zoo's loud and repetitive chanting of Siena Sucks!

 

[IthacaMatt]

Like you Jaxcuse, my first season with the OrangeMEN was in 1975, my freshman year. Orleans sang on the quad along with Peter Frampton haha.

My first year there was the year Jimmy B took the helm. The stars during my time were Louie and Bouie with some Marty Byrnes and Dale Shackleford in there as well. There was a guy named James Bailey who played I think for Rutgers who used to kill us.

All my basketball games including the Magic Johnson game were at Manley and Joe Morris was the star of the football team.

I participated in two 24 hour muscular dystrophy dance marathons on campus in Archbold. Remember those anyone?
Ah the memories.

I saw that Orleans show on the Quad. I was still in HS, went with some friends, and some nice young college chicks gave us beers. Frampton must have been another show, because I certainly would have remembered if they played together.

 

[IthacaMatt]

So why has this changed ????

Because he feels that he can make enough adjustments out of the zone that it functions as a number of different defenses - trap in the corners, tighten up around the foul line area to guard the post, extend out on 3 point shooters, scramble / attack the point guard when he crosses half court. The zone has become an amoeba defense.

 

[mark79]

I saw that Orleans show on the Quad. I was still in HS, went with some friends, and some nice young college chicks gave us beers. Frampton must have been another show, because I certainly would have remembered if they played together.

Haha, maybe so... the older I get the more it starts to blend together. Funny that you were there too! I was a freshman living on the fifth floor of Booth Hall.

 

[HakAttack]

First game on TV was probably an early 00' affair, 2000 or 2001 ESPN televised home game in the dome. I just remember how BIG it looked on TV, and there was a guy on SU named Preston Shumpert who was really really good. I also remember the old school white unis with SYRACUSE across the chest, like the ones that the 03' team wore.

That would make it my sophomore or junior year of high school. I didn't really start getting into SU hoops until the 03' team went on their magical run. By then I'd already accepted an offer to attend Syracuse, and I remember having a TON of pride that the school where I was going next year just won the national championship.

First game in the Dome? Whatever the first game of the 03-04 season was. I had season tickets for all four years as an undergrad, and two years as a grad student. I've been to so many games in the Dome, both as a student and in the last few years as an alumni, that I take for granted the fact that CUSE nation is across the US, and many people have never been to a game before.