SWC75
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Roy’s Runts
Bill Smith then left for a brief NBA career. At this point the team really became a bunch of runts. Bob Dooms, a 6-5 220 pounder, took over at center. He was a triple threat. He didn’t score much, didn’t rebound much, (at least not like Bill Smith), and couldn’t pass. But he hustled for 40 minutes and got in the way on defense, (kind of like McForth but without the blocks). Mike Lee and Mark Wadach had as many rebounds as Dooms. Lee, a smooth player who had a knack for finding weaknesses in the defense, dropped in 18 points a game. A newcomer, Dennis “Sweet D” Duval, joined Greg Kohls in a wonderful backcourt. Sweet D put on a globetrotters routine before the game and continued it after the opening tip, scoring 16 a game. But “Kid” Kohls was the star of the team. He was dead-eye shooter, (43%, mostly from long range) and scored 748 points in 1971-72, 26.7 per game, behind only Bing’s 28.4 in 1965-66 in the SU record book. Everybody on the team was between 6-1 and 6-5. Everybody hit the boards. Everybody handled the ball. Everybody hustled after it. Everybody scored some, (even Dooms averaged 8ppg). Nobody on the bench averaged even three points a game. Amazingly, Roy’s Runts turned out to be better than Roy’s Runts plus one.
Another 6-0 start was again ended by American U, the team from Washington DC that SU feared most in those days. Then came another encounter with the Louisville Cardinals, who had just hired John Wooden’s top assistant, Denny Crum. SU went down hard, 81-103, in the opening round of the Holiday festival in New York. In the consolation round we beat a mediocre Duke team, 74-72, one of those scores that looks better on the resume now than it did then. The Orange was 11-3 at the break, then played three overtime games of four when play resumed. The third of these three games is the one I will never forget.
Digger Phelps used his one 26-3 year to get the Notre Dame job. But he left behind most of the players who had created that record for new coach Hal Wissel. It was big test for SU, which still was trying to capture national attention. This was my freshman year at SU and I had gotten an early indication of the struggle our community had for recognition. I lived on the seventh floor of Booth Hall. One Saturday morning, I was in the lobby of our floor, looking out over the seeming vast expanse of Syracuse NY. A friend from New York City wandered by and asked me how I was going to spend my day. I told him I might go down city. He asked what flight I was taking. In those days, we weren’t “the ‘Cuse”. We were Syracuse, New York, the state being necessary to designate us from the Syracuses in Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Utah, and, I suppose, Sicily. Beating Fordham would put a small dent in that perception and I walked the mile down to Manley to see if we could do it.
SU led almost the entire game, just had they had in that first game I’d seen five years before against St. John’s. And, just as happened in that game, the big bad team from New York City pulled ahead in the final minute. The Rams had no Sonny Dove but it sure looked like they were going to win. In the grand tradition, SU fans got up in droves to leave. I admit I did too, but I lingered at the door, starring back at the court, which in those days was constructed right on top of the dirt floor the football team used for indoor practice sessions. The vibrations of the players and heat generated by the fans sent fine particles of dirt and dust flowing up to the rafters. The lights illuminated this and created something approximating a dream sequence. SU had somehow gotten back within a single point but there were only a couple of seconds left and a Fordham player was at the line for a one-and-one. He missed. Somebody ripped the ball down for SU and rifled it to midcourt, where a pass was made to a driving Chuck Wichman- the “scrub” who had destroyed Niagara the year before. Wichman made a running lay-up at the buzzer and what was left of the crowd stormed the court. I ran out into the parking lot shouting “WE WON!!! WE WON!!!!”. People looked at me as if I were crazy. They were right but so was I. Chuck Wichman never scored more than 6 points in a game in his career but no one who remembers that era will ever forget him.
SU immediately lost the next game at Pitt but won its last 8 regular season games to finish at 21-5. But in those restrictive days, that just sent them back to the NIT. There they beat Davidson in the opener, 81-77. The Wildcats had been a national power under Lefty Driesell in the late 60’s. His assistant, Terry Holland, kept the tradition going for a couple of years before moving onto the ACC at Virginia. After that, the Davidson program faded into obscurity. (Until Steph Curry showed up.) But it was a good win back then. Then came the great challenge of the season.
Driesell had moved onto Maryland, where he vowed to turn the program into “The UCLA of the East”, (this was news to Dean Smith). He had used his confidence and charm to recruit a large, talented and deep class, including 6-11 Tom McMillen, 6-9 Len Elmore, 6-8 Jim O’Brien, with 7-0 Mark Cartwright coming off the bench. The Terps front line averaged 6-10, ours 6-3. SU’s only chance was to hit a high percentage of its outside shots. Instead, we proceeded to miss 30 of our first 33 shots. But Maryland wasn’t very sharp either and the best they could mange was 20-35 halftime lead.
Slowly, SU chipped away at that lead, and improbably, was still in the game at the end. Here SU’s strengths- quickness, ball handling, taking and making good shots, came into play. I think we got it down to one and had the ball at one point. Friends had advised me to stop listening to that old geezer, Joel Mareiness, and tune into WAER to listen to the hotshot young announcer they had there. I remember Bob Costas shouting into the mike “Make a good pass, Bobby-PLEASE!!!!” when Dooms wound up with the ball. Unfortunately, it all slipped away and Maryland pulled away to win, 65-71. They went onto crush Jacksonville and Niagara to win the tournament. SU was easily its closest call. We’d beaten the Purple Eagles easily during the regular season. Not for the first time, it seemed we were in the wrong bracket. I ran into my New York City friend, (one of many at SU), and found him muttering “The NIT! We could have WON the NIT”. That was as high as our ambitions could reasonably rise in those days.
Bill Smith then left for a brief NBA career. At this point the team really became a bunch of runts. Bob Dooms, a 6-5 220 pounder, took over at center. He was a triple threat. He didn’t score much, didn’t rebound much, (at least not like Bill Smith), and couldn’t pass. But he hustled for 40 minutes and got in the way on defense, (kind of like McForth but without the blocks). Mike Lee and Mark Wadach had as many rebounds as Dooms. Lee, a smooth player who had a knack for finding weaknesses in the defense, dropped in 18 points a game. A newcomer, Dennis “Sweet D” Duval, joined Greg Kohls in a wonderful backcourt. Sweet D put on a globetrotters routine before the game and continued it after the opening tip, scoring 16 a game. But “Kid” Kohls was the star of the team. He was dead-eye shooter, (43%, mostly from long range) and scored 748 points in 1971-72, 26.7 per game, behind only Bing’s 28.4 in 1965-66 in the SU record book. Everybody on the team was between 6-1 and 6-5. Everybody hit the boards. Everybody handled the ball. Everybody hustled after it. Everybody scored some, (even Dooms averaged 8ppg). Nobody on the bench averaged even three points a game. Amazingly, Roy’s Runts turned out to be better than Roy’s Runts plus one.
Another 6-0 start was again ended by American U, the team from Washington DC that SU feared most in those days. Then came another encounter with the Louisville Cardinals, who had just hired John Wooden’s top assistant, Denny Crum. SU went down hard, 81-103, in the opening round of the Holiday festival in New York. In the consolation round we beat a mediocre Duke team, 74-72, one of those scores that looks better on the resume now than it did then. The Orange was 11-3 at the break, then played three overtime games of four when play resumed. The third of these three games is the one I will never forget.
Digger Phelps used his one 26-3 year to get the Notre Dame job. But he left behind most of the players who had created that record for new coach Hal Wissel. It was big test for SU, which still was trying to capture national attention. This was my freshman year at SU and I had gotten an early indication of the struggle our community had for recognition. I lived on the seventh floor of Booth Hall. One Saturday morning, I was in the lobby of our floor, looking out over the seeming vast expanse of Syracuse NY. A friend from New York City wandered by and asked me how I was going to spend my day. I told him I might go down city. He asked what flight I was taking. In those days, we weren’t “the ‘Cuse”. We were Syracuse, New York, the state being necessary to designate us from the Syracuses in Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Utah, and, I suppose, Sicily. Beating Fordham would put a small dent in that perception and I walked the mile down to Manley to see if we could do it.
SU led almost the entire game, just had they had in that first game I’d seen five years before against St. John’s. And, just as happened in that game, the big bad team from New York City pulled ahead in the final minute. The Rams had no Sonny Dove but it sure looked like they were going to win. In the grand tradition, SU fans got up in droves to leave. I admit I did too, but I lingered at the door, starring back at the court, which in those days was constructed right on top of the dirt floor the football team used for indoor practice sessions. The vibrations of the players and heat generated by the fans sent fine particles of dirt and dust flowing up to the rafters. The lights illuminated this and created something approximating a dream sequence. SU had somehow gotten back within a single point but there were only a couple of seconds left and a Fordham player was at the line for a one-and-one. He missed. Somebody ripped the ball down for SU and rifled it to midcourt, where a pass was made to a driving Chuck Wichman- the “scrub” who had destroyed Niagara the year before. Wichman made a running lay-up at the buzzer and what was left of the crowd stormed the court. I ran out into the parking lot shouting “WE WON!!! WE WON!!!!”. People looked at me as if I were crazy. They were right but so was I. Chuck Wichman never scored more than 6 points in a game in his career but no one who remembers that era will ever forget him.
SU immediately lost the next game at Pitt but won its last 8 regular season games to finish at 21-5. But in those restrictive days, that just sent them back to the NIT. There they beat Davidson in the opener, 81-77. The Wildcats had been a national power under Lefty Driesell in the late 60’s. His assistant, Terry Holland, kept the tradition going for a couple of years before moving onto the ACC at Virginia. After that, the Davidson program faded into obscurity. (Until Steph Curry showed up.) But it was a good win back then. Then came the great challenge of the season.
Driesell had moved onto Maryland, where he vowed to turn the program into “The UCLA of the East”, (this was news to Dean Smith). He had used his confidence and charm to recruit a large, talented and deep class, including 6-11 Tom McMillen, 6-9 Len Elmore, 6-8 Jim O’Brien, with 7-0 Mark Cartwright coming off the bench. The Terps front line averaged 6-10, ours 6-3. SU’s only chance was to hit a high percentage of its outside shots. Instead, we proceeded to miss 30 of our first 33 shots. But Maryland wasn’t very sharp either and the best they could mange was 20-35 halftime lead.
Slowly, SU chipped away at that lead, and improbably, was still in the game at the end. Here SU’s strengths- quickness, ball handling, taking and making good shots, came into play. I think we got it down to one and had the ball at one point. Friends had advised me to stop listening to that old geezer, Joel Mareiness, and tune into WAER to listen to the hotshot young announcer they had there. I remember Bob Costas shouting into the mike “Make a good pass, Bobby-PLEASE!!!!” when Dooms wound up with the ball. Unfortunately, it all slipped away and Maryland pulled away to win, 65-71. They went onto crush Jacksonville and Niagara to win the tournament. SU was easily its closest call. We’d beaten the Purple Eagles easily during the regular season. Not for the first time, it seemed we were in the wrong bracket. I ran into my New York City friend, (one of many at SU), and found him muttering “The NIT! We could have WON the NIT”. That was as high as our ambitions could reasonably rise in those days.
