SWC75
Bored Historian
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The End and the Beginning
The only things I remember about the 1975-76 season is how it began and how it ended. Hackett and Lee were gone, replaced by Marty Byrnes and Dale Schackleford, (the original “Shack”). Seibert, Sease and Williams filled out the starting line-up Kevin King, Kevin James, Ross Kindell and Bob Parker were still coming off the bench. Schackleford was our first freshman starter. Two other touted frosh were Bill Keys and Reggie Powell. They because the first Orange hoopsters to bug out due to lack of playing time, a problem that would be common in the coming years but also a sign of the depth and talent that was suddenly coming to SU. The big news was the visit of the Russian national team, just three years after the Munich Olympics.
They were a big, strong team, with NBA-type size and experience. Their center, Vladimir Tkachenko, was 7-2 260. Chris Sease said he couldn’t believe how big Tkachenko was. But he had some friends, five of whom were over 6-8. The local newspaper referred to their front line as “The Iron Curtain”, (where did they get that?). I wondered, however, whether those Russians had ever played in a place like Manley Field house, which had gained a reputation as perhaps the biggest “pit” in the country.
The refs were not intimidated, giving Chris Sease 3 fouls in the first five minutes and putting him on the bench for 25 minutes. Without Lee, SU just didn’t have enough of a perimeter game to beat a huge team like this. Marty Byrnes knifed through the tall timber for 17 points on 8 for 14 shooting but it wasn’t enough, as SU lost, 58-71. I remember one of the Russian players called Syracuse “The most arrogant team we’ve played”, whatever that meant.
SU was having a pretty good season through mid-February with an 18-4 record. The only nationally-ranked team SU had played was Jerry Tarkanian’s Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV, who blew us out of the Steel Bowl tournament in Pittsburgh, 83-105. The 23rd game that year was against Rutgers, who was on an amazing run that would send them into the final four undefeated. They handled SU at home, 80-93, the first of four straight losses to end the regular season, three of them by double figures. After rallying to again win the ECACs, SU was paired against Texas Tech, not normally noted as basketball power. But they had a brawny 6-9 center named Rickey Bullock and a 6-7 kid from Buffalo named Mike Russell that we couldn’t handle underneath. SU went down with a thud, 56-69, almost the same score the Russians had beaten us by. The resulting 20-9 record was not far from the 23-9 of the year before but the season was totally different.
The trip to the final four had made Roy Danforth a hot property and at this point Tulane made an offer to the Syracuse Coach, who had played his collegiate ball under Fred Lewis at nearby Southern Mississippi. Danforth decided to take the job, not realizing perhaps that a job like the one at Syracuse might be not a stepping stone but rather the kind of thing one jumps TO. After some discussion and rumors of various coaches being selected to replace him, the University decided to offer the job to Jim Boeheim, Danforth’s long -time assistant who at the time was interviewing with the University of Rochester. I recall seeing a giddy Boeheim being interviewed at the Rochester airport, allowing as how he’d rather have the Syracuse job.
Late in the season a series of articles started appearing in the papers about what seemed like an amazing recruiting class for SU. There were articles on New York State’s leading scorer, (35ppg), Hal Cohen of Canton, NY. Another was on Cliff Warwell, who had grown up in New York City and moved upstate to Kandor, NY to average 30+ himself. Then there was Roosevelt Bouie, a big (6-10), athletic shot blocking center of the type we’d never had before, (Bill Smith being primarily an offensive player) from Kendall, NY, near Rochester. Finally there was a “sleeper”, a 6-8 kid from Cincinnati named Louie Orr everybody seemed to think was too skinny. A big question was whether these guys would come here, now that we had a coaching change. They all did, and they turned the program into something it had never really been before: a powerhouse.
You could see it the next season. In the center of the action was Bouie, like a great fish leaping from the sea, blocking shots, dunking the ball and grabbing rebounds. Meanwhile, Orr, moving like an eel, would slide around and through the defense for scores and rebounds. Warwell, (another guy who left due to playing time), and Cohen had more limited contributions off the bench. Byrnes, Schackleford and Williams completed an impressive starting line-up.
All though these years I have described, two teams kept blocking Syracuse’s path with their superior size, talent and depth. Louisville beat us 71-75 in 1967, 81-103 in 1972, and 88-96 in 1975. Maryland had our number in 1972, 65-71 and 76-91 then 75-91 a year later. They were just too big and too deep for SU’s scrappers to stay with for 40 minutes. But now we were ready to go head to head with them.
SU played the Cardinals on their home court in the third game of the 1976-77 season and the Terps on their home court in the ninth game. The Orange beat the Cardinals, who had the nation’s top freshman in Darrell Griffith, when one of our freshman, Cliff Warwell, scored on a twisting lay-up in the final seconds. (I still remember Joel Mareiness going nuts describing it.) Maryland, whom we have never defeated to this day, [but have twice since I originally wrote this], ended SU’s 8 game season opening winning streak, 85-96 in their Maryland Invitational. But the key was that SU was no longer outclassed by these teams. When we played them it was no longer David and Goliath but instead a battle of national powers. SU went on to begin the Boeheim era with a sparking 26-4 mark and a #6 final ranking in the polls. Not only had we arrived, but we looked like we belonged there.
About this time, the politicians finally got together with university officials and agreed to construct the Carrier Dome. Just as Manley Field House was created to support the football program but benefited the basketball program a good deal more, so the Dome, which was created for football, became the #1 college basketball arena in the country, assuring that SU would be a powerhouse for years to come. An Adman named Bill Rasmussen had an idea for a 24 hour cable TV sports network that would come to be called ESPN. And Providence coach Dave Gavitt was getting some minds to meet together and form a conference that would come to be called the Big East. The UCLA era was over and it was now possible to dream the impossible dream and think of actually winning the national championship. It seemed just around the corner.
It was looonnng corner…..
The only things I remember about the 1975-76 season is how it began and how it ended. Hackett and Lee were gone, replaced by Marty Byrnes and Dale Schackleford, (the original “Shack”). Seibert, Sease and Williams filled out the starting line-up Kevin King, Kevin James, Ross Kindell and Bob Parker were still coming off the bench. Schackleford was our first freshman starter. Two other touted frosh were Bill Keys and Reggie Powell. They because the first Orange hoopsters to bug out due to lack of playing time, a problem that would be common in the coming years but also a sign of the depth and talent that was suddenly coming to SU. The big news was the visit of the Russian national team, just three years after the Munich Olympics.
They were a big, strong team, with NBA-type size and experience. Their center, Vladimir Tkachenko, was 7-2 260. Chris Sease said he couldn’t believe how big Tkachenko was. But he had some friends, five of whom were over 6-8. The local newspaper referred to their front line as “The Iron Curtain”, (where did they get that?). I wondered, however, whether those Russians had ever played in a place like Manley Field house, which had gained a reputation as perhaps the biggest “pit” in the country.
The refs were not intimidated, giving Chris Sease 3 fouls in the first five minutes and putting him on the bench for 25 minutes. Without Lee, SU just didn’t have enough of a perimeter game to beat a huge team like this. Marty Byrnes knifed through the tall timber for 17 points on 8 for 14 shooting but it wasn’t enough, as SU lost, 58-71. I remember one of the Russian players called Syracuse “The most arrogant team we’ve played”, whatever that meant.
SU was having a pretty good season through mid-February with an 18-4 record. The only nationally-ranked team SU had played was Jerry Tarkanian’s Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV, who blew us out of the Steel Bowl tournament in Pittsburgh, 83-105. The 23rd game that year was against Rutgers, who was on an amazing run that would send them into the final four undefeated. They handled SU at home, 80-93, the first of four straight losses to end the regular season, three of them by double figures. After rallying to again win the ECACs, SU was paired against Texas Tech, not normally noted as basketball power. But they had a brawny 6-9 center named Rickey Bullock and a 6-7 kid from Buffalo named Mike Russell that we couldn’t handle underneath. SU went down with a thud, 56-69, almost the same score the Russians had beaten us by. The resulting 20-9 record was not far from the 23-9 of the year before but the season was totally different.
The trip to the final four had made Roy Danforth a hot property and at this point Tulane made an offer to the Syracuse Coach, who had played his collegiate ball under Fred Lewis at nearby Southern Mississippi. Danforth decided to take the job, not realizing perhaps that a job like the one at Syracuse might be not a stepping stone but rather the kind of thing one jumps TO. After some discussion and rumors of various coaches being selected to replace him, the University decided to offer the job to Jim Boeheim, Danforth’s long -time assistant who at the time was interviewing with the University of Rochester. I recall seeing a giddy Boeheim being interviewed at the Rochester airport, allowing as how he’d rather have the Syracuse job.
Late in the season a series of articles started appearing in the papers about what seemed like an amazing recruiting class for SU. There were articles on New York State’s leading scorer, (35ppg), Hal Cohen of Canton, NY. Another was on Cliff Warwell, who had grown up in New York City and moved upstate to Kandor, NY to average 30+ himself. Then there was Roosevelt Bouie, a big (6-10), athletic shot blocking center of the type we’d never had before, (Bill Smith being primarily an offensive player) from Kendall, NY, near Rochester. Finally there was a “sleeper”, a 6-8 kid from Cincinnati named Louie Orr everybody seemed to think was too skinny. A big question was whether these guys would come here, now that we had a coaching change. They all did, and they turned the program into something it had never really been before: a powerhouse.
You could see it the next season. In the center of the action was Bouie, like a great fish leaping from the sea, blocking shots, dunking the ball and grabbing rebounds. Meanwhile, Orr, moving like an eel, would slide around and through the defense for scores and rebounds. Warwell, (another guy who left due to playing time), and Cohen had more limited contributions off the bench. Byrnes, Schackleford and Williams completed an impressive starting line-up.
All though these years I have described, two teams kept blocking Syracuse’s path with their superior size, talent and depth. Louisville beat us 71-75 in 1967, 81-103 in 1972, and 88-96 in 1975. Maryland had our number in 1972, 65-71 and 76-91 then 75-91 a year later. They were just too big and too deep for SU’s scrappers to stay with for 40 minutes. But now we were ready to go head to head with them.
SU played the Cardinals on their home court in the third game of the 1976-77 season and the Terps on their home court in the ninth game. The Orange beat the Cardinals, who had the nation’s top freshman in Darrell Griffith, when one of our freshman, Cliff Warwell, scored on a twisting lay-up in the final seconds. (I still remember Joel Mareiness going nuts describing it.) Maryland, whom we have never defeated to this day, [but have twice since I originally wrote this], ended SU’s 8 game season opening winning streak, 85-96 in their Maryland Invitational. But the key was that SU was no longer outclassed by these teams. When we played them it was no longer David and Goliath but instead a battle of national powers. SU went on to begin the Boeheim era with a sparking 26-4 mark and a #6 final ranking in the polls. Not only had we arrived, but we looked like we belonged there.
About this time, the politicians finally got together with university officials and agreed to construct the Carrier Dome. Just as Manley Field House was created to support the football program but benefited the basketball program a good deal more, so the Dome, which was created for football, became the #1 college basketball arena in the country, assuring that SU would be a powerhouse for years to come. An Adman named Bill Rasmussen had an idea for a 24 hour cable TV sports network that would come to be called ESPN. And Providence coach Dave Gavitt was getting some minds to meet together and form a conference that would come to be called the Big East. The UCLA era was over and it was now possible to dream the impossible dream and think of actually winning the national championship. It seemed just around the corner.
It was looonnng corner…..