SWC75
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The final four was a dizzying anti-climax. Of course all teams who go to the Final Four go to win but I think everybody realized that for SU in 1975, the going was the real reward. Oh, there were dreams the magic might continue. After all, if we could beat North Carolina, we could beat Kentucky, (25-4), Louisville, (27-2), or maybe even UCLA, (26-3), couldn’t we? The site of Syracuse playing UCLA for the national title would have been an amazing thing, like sitting next to a movie star in a plane. But that doesn’t make YOU a movie star. When it didn’t happen, people were not precisely heartbroken. We treated those kids as heroes just as much as we did the kids of 2003. I remember going to the airport to greet the team and seeing the old lobby of the terminal wall-to-wall Orange. Danforth made a speech, as did some of the players. Everybody went home on a long-lasting high.
I remember Jerry Lucas being interviewed as an expert analyst before the Kentucky game, discussing all the players on each final four team. He seemed to sort of chuckle when discussing SU, (especially Earnie Seibert, who was the same height as Lucas but the resemblance ended there). The Wildcats, like the other three members of the final four, were a tall, strong and deep team. Their center, (Mike Phillips) was 6-11. Their power forward, Rick Robey was 6-10. They had another 6-10 guy on the bench. They also had a number of 6-5 types who could really play, including, Jackie Givens, the star of their eventual national title team from three years later, Kevin Grevey, who played in the NBA for several years, as well as James Lee, Bob Guyette, Jimmy Dan Connor and Mike Flynn. They played a rough, bullying brand of ball. The refs called 61 fouls in the game, which you might think would help SU but it did nothing to change the Wildcats style of play because they had so much depth. They played 14 players in that game, only one of whom fouled out despite 31 calls. SU had 30 fouls called on them and lost three guys, (Hackett, Seibert and Williams), while two other guys, Sease and Lee, were playing with four fouls at the end. We also got outrebounded, 40-57. The halftime score was 32-44 and the final 79-95. The dream was over but the reality was still pretty good.
More interesting was the consolation, or “National Third Place Game” vs. our old pals, the Cardinals of Louisville, who had been beaten by UCLA by a point, 74-75, in overtime in the other semi. They were as usual, tall, quick and athletic, led by Allen Murphy, Junior Bridgeman and Wesley Cox. They had a record of 27-3, the sort of record you expect a final four team to have, not 23-8 like SU’s. They threatened to blow SU back to Syracuse in the first half, building up leads of 11-28 and 24-42, (the halftime score was 26-42) . The dream season looked as if it was headed for an embarrassing finish.
But SU still had some magic in their hat. They used a furious press and half-court traps to force what became 33 turnovers by game’s end. SU ripped off eight straight to take a 66-65 lead with 6 minutes left. The game was back and forth from that point. (It reminded me of that long-ago game in the Quaker City Classic that had caused me to cry myself to sleep after an SU game for the first time.) SU had a 3 point lead with 1:48 left but Murphy and Bridgeman scored five straight to make it 76-78. Hackett tied it up after a pass from Kevin King with 37 seconds left. Rudy then grabbed a Louisville miss with 15 ticks on the clock and SU set up for the game winner. Williams missed a 10 footer. Rudy got the rebound again and passed it out to Lee, who now had a chance to sink both North Carolina and Louisville in the same fortnight. His jumper hit the rim and began rolling around and around and around…and out. The Cardinals never trailed in OT and won out, 88-96.
Hackett wound up with 28 points and 13 rebounds. For the five games in the tourney, he had 102/47. Our own Jimmy Lee can be found in the NCAA record book as the leading scorer of the 1975 NCAA tournament with 119 points. Chris Sease, something of a forgotten hero, had 64/34. Jimmy Williams had 49 points and perhaps half that many assists. Kevin King came off the bench for 45 more points. It was pretty good showing all around. At least the Orange got a front row-view of the end of the UCLA dynasty as John Wooden retired after beating Kentucky in the final, his 10th national title in 12 years.
I remember Jerry Lucas being interviewed as an expert analyst before the Kentucky game, discussing all the players on each final four team. He seemed to sort of chuckle when discussing SU, (especially Earnie Seibert, who was the same height as Lucas but the resemblance ended there). The Wildcats, like the other three members of the final four, were a tall, strong and deep team. Their center, (Mike Phillips) was 6-11. Their power forward, Rick Robey was 6-10. They had another 6-10 guy on the bench. They also had a number of 6-5 types who could really play, including, Jackie Givens, the star of their eventual national title team from three years later, Kevin Grevey, who played in the NBA for several years, as well as James Lee, Bob Guyette, Jimmy Dan Connor and Mike Flynn. They played a rough, bullying brand of ball. The refs called 61 fouls in the game, which you might think would help SU but it did nothing to change the Wildcats style of play because they had so much depth. They played 14 players in that game, only one of whom fouled out despite 31 calls. SU had 30 fouls called on them and lost three guys, (Hackett, Seibert and Williams), while two other guys, Sease and Lee, were playing with four fouls at the end. We also got outrebounded, 40-57. The halftime score was 32-44 and the final 79-95. The dream was over but the reality was still pretty good.
More interesting was the consolation, or “National Third Place Game” vs. our old pals, the Cardinals of Louisville, who had been beaten by UCLA by a point, 74-75, in overtime in the other semi. They were as usual, tall, quick and athletic, led by Allen Murphy, Junior Bridgeman and Wesley Cox. They had a record of 27-3, the sort of record you expect a final four team to have, not 23-8 like SU’s. They threatened to blow SU back to Syracuse in the first half, building up leads of 11-28 and 24-42, (the halftime score was 26-42) . The dream season looked as if it was headed for an embarrassing finish.
But SU still had some magic in their hat. They used a furious press and half-court traps to force what became 33 turnovers by game’s end. SU ripped off eight straight to take a 66-65 lead with 6 minutes left. The game was back and forth from that point. (It reminded me of that long-ago game in the Quaker City Classic that had caused me to cry myself to sleep after an SU game for the first time.) SU had a 3 point lead with 1:48 left but Murphy and Bridgeman scored five straight to make it 76-78. Hackett tied it up after a pass from Kevin King with 37 seconds left. Rudy then grabbed a Louisville miss with 15 ticks on the clock and SU set up for the game winner. Williams missed a 10 footer. Rudy got the rebound again and passed it out to Lee, who now had a chance to sink both North Carolina and Louisville in the same fortnight. His jumper hit the rim and began rolling around and around and around…and out. The Cardinals never trailed in OT and won out, 88-96.
Hackett wound up with 28 points and 13 rebounds. For the five games in the tourney, he had 102/47. Our own Jimmy Lee can be found in the NCAA record book as the leading scorer of the 1975 NCAA tournament with 119 points. Chris Sease, something of a forgotten hero, had 64/34. Jimmy Williams had 49 points and perhaps half that many assists. Kevin King came off the bench for 45 more points. It was pretty good showing all around. At least the Orange got a front row-view of the end of the UCLA dynasty as John Wooden retired after beating Kentucky in the final, his 10th national title in 12 years.
