Very annoying that Michigan State was preseason top ten that year and proceeded to lose all of their marquis games before playing us.
Aside from 03 and 18 our wins over them always seem to depreciate.
I remember our win against them in 2011 at MSG was a big win. Think we were both ranked top 10. Rick Jackson dominated Draymond Green.
Yes it was a big win when they were top ten at the time.
By March when they were 19-15, in the bottom half of the big ten and out of the tourney in the first round? Not so much.
That Butler game was so frustrating because due to injury, JB decided to have Wes try to post up and play back to the basket, as opposed to what he’d been doing all year long! It was totally out of character and they just couldn’t get in sync.I remember being pretty down on Cuse’s chances after AO got hurt in the Big East Tourny. The dominating performance over Gonzaga gave me hope that they were still a national championship caliber team.
Then the Butler game...still haunts me.
About to throw on the National Championship game from 2003. Should have at least one more since then.
So don't kill me for this, but I actually sat down and watched the game for the first time since high school (I was a freshman when SU won). Some of the observations I noted that really stood out was:
- How they actually moved their feet on defense. Everyone from the 1 to the 5 was active in the zone. The psychological aspect of it was enormous. KU did not want to shoot from the perimeter.It wasn't a stand and observe the ball movement defense like it was this season.
- Secondly, it was a truly a tale of two halves for McNamara. As dramatic of a 180 I've seen in a game of that magnitude.
- Third, the narrative that Kansas would have won if they made free throws isn't a fair one. KU was 66% at the line the entire 2002-03 campaign. Their poor shooting in the Championship game was not an anomaly.
- Lastly, the banner in the Dome that only has Melo and Boeheim (IIRC?) needs to be redone and feature the entire team. Edelin, Pace, Duany and Forth were all key contributors to that win. That should be accurately reflected.
I believe you are incorrect. As I was watching that game, I think the ref called the foul on Melo.It's funny, I just finished watching the 2003 Elite Eight game vs Oklahoma. It's been a while since I've seen it... I totally forgot the ridiculousness of random goon Jozsef Szendrei running down court & shoulder checking Melo out of bounds... to a no call. They blew the whistle & stopped the play... & gave the ball back to Oklahoma to inbound. The ref was running behind the play too & had a clear sight line to what happened. Watching it back I'm floored nothing was called, it was pretty egregious & unprovoked. I can't believe I didn't remember it either, haha.
More than that. If Kansas had made 5 more free throws, they would have scored 5 less pts. They got the miss and scored a field goal at least 5 times.Thank you for the bullet point about FT shooting! It always pisses me off when people make that excuse.
And it’s not like Syracuse shot well from the free throw line in that game. They had less attempts (so less overall misses) but missed several big ones down the stretch or the game never would’ve been in doubt. So it works both ways.
Wow that Michigan game I remember as a really really young kid.Whoever morvil11 is on YouTube just added a bunch of 80s and 90s SU games including games against Michigan, the Kentucky game from 1994 and the Alabama game from 1996 that I was asking about. Whoever morbil11 is THANK YOU!
That Butler game was so frustrating because due to injury, JB decided to have Wes try to post up and play back to the basket, as opposed to what he’d been doing all year long! It was totally out of character and they just couldn’t get in sync.
Butler’s perimeter D was so good, and they got away with so much hand checking, that losing AO forced JB to try that tactic, which failed miserably!
Still, that team was so good, we almost pulled it off and came away w/ the win!
This. Made my day. I haven't seen this game since I was 11 years old. I remember a lot of Autry excellence and Rick Pitino quoted as calling his team's performance a "farce."
Cuse beating Iverson in the Dome.
1996 Georgetown at Syracuse.