John Wallace we owe him

[Orangeyes]

We all owe John a ton of thanks for his courage in chosing SU in an unsettled time in our basketball history. Kansas wanted him but he chose us. John carried an otherwise ordinary team on his back all the way to the final game of the season in 1996. But for some questionable calls, SU could have sprung a major upset over a team full of NBA prospects. On a personal level John is right up there with Hakim, Hop and Melo as being fan friendly. The next time you see him say hello, he will treat you like he has known you his whole life.

Here he is with Dan Tortora

 

[pfister1]

Someone should package up the first two minutes of Wallace's interview and send it to all of our recruits.

 

[MG44]

Absolutely agree with everything you said. John Wallace is the Man!

 

[Orangeyes]

The interviewer, Dan Tortora, is the next best thing to Danny Parkins. He's not quite there but he's pretty close. I would like to see him get a two hour slot during the week. He fills in from time to time for the other hosts and has his own gig on weekend mornings. He stays with SU topics more than any of the other talking heads.

 

[OttoMets]

John Wallace saved the Syracuse basketball program. No understating it. without his (four-year) commitment, we're circling the drain in the late-1990s.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

The interviewer, Dan Tortora, is the next best thing to Danny Parkins. He's not quite there but he's pretty close. I would like to see him get a two hour slot during the week. He fills in from time to time for the other hosts and has his own gig on weekend mornings. He stays with SU topics more than any of the other talking heads.

Never heard the guy before but if he wants to become anything, he needs to show a little more objectivity. For a minute there, I thought he was going to ask John Wallace to marry him. Besides that, it was a real nice fluff piece.

 

[Orangeyes]

For a minute there, I thought he was going to ask John Wallace to marry him. quote]
Not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

[SUOrange44]

This thread is right on the money...Wallace needs to have his jersey retired. Had he wavered in his commitment, who knows which direction the program would have headed.

Will always be a huge fan of JW...the run to the title game against Kentucky was so much fun to watch.

SUOrange44

 

[swish7]

We all owe John a ton of thanks for his courage in chosing SU in an unsettled time in our basketball history. Kansas wanted him but he chose us. John carried an otherwise ordinary team on his back all the way to the final game of the season in 1996. But for some questionable calls, SU could have sprung a major upset over a team of full of NBA prospects. On a personal level John is right up there with Hakim, Hop and Melo as being fan friendly. The next time you see him say hello, he will treat you like he has known you his whole life.

Here he is with Dan Tortora

I love J-dubs because back when I was delivering Domino's Pizza for a living, he gave me a decent tip.

 

[orangehomer]

i just wanted to agree with this, i have bumped into john a couple of times in situations where he had no requirement to be friendly, and in those cases he was beyond nice. the same for other players i have met, ryan blackwell, allen griffin, that is the limit of my exposure.

 

[ORANGEsPHK]

John Wallace is one of my all time favorite Orangemen ... yes, OrangeMEN, that's what we were once upon a time. The run to the championship game against Pitino's club was epic, was on the edge of my seat for the entire run.

What a great player to represent SU.

 

[OrangeMuskyFish]

mmmm, love John, but I give Moten the cred for saving us. Not only did his first three years set the stage before JW really joined him as a star for his senior year, but the way he came out of nowhere and did it almost from day one was crazy. To this day that one brain fart of a decision really changed how his story is remembered.

 

[Syracuse1957]

We all owe John a ton of thanks for his courage in chosing SU in an unsettled time in our basketball history. Kansas wanted him but he chose us. John carried an otherwise ordinary team on his back all the way to the final game of the season in 1996. But for some questionable calls, SU could have sprung a major upset over a team full of NBA prospects. On a personal level John is right up there with Hakim, Hop and Melo as being fan friendly. The next time you see him say hello, he will treat you like he has known you his whole life.

Here he is with Dan Tortora

Absolutely one of the top players we have ever had the good fortune to land. Personality to match his talent...

 

[realorange]

My wife and I were at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs the summer that John was practicing with the USA team(?). They had an outdoor display of sorts and John happened to be there. Remember that he was uncertain whether he would come back for his senior year. We told him that everyone wanted him to come back and the Dome wouldn't be the same without him. He was very appreciative of our feelings. He didn't say he would, but you had the sense he had made up his mind to return. As everyone has said, he is genuinely a very nice guy.

 

[CuseinNYC]

mmmm, love John, but I give Moten the cred for saving us. Not only did his first three years set the stage before JW really joined him as a star for his senior year, but the way he came out of nowhere and did it almost from day one was crazy. To this day that one brain fart of a decision really changed how his story is remembered.

I was thinking the same. JW was huge, but Moten really kept us afloat when we were in a lot of trouble. I can't imagine where the program would be if Moten had gone to MD or anywhere else.

 

[OttoMets]

I was thinking the same. JW was huge, but Moten really kept us afloat when we were in a lot of trouble. I can't imagine where the program would be if Moten had gone to MD or anywhere else.

Both were very important (actually everyone on those teams who contributed to wins was really important). In my eyes, though, that Final Four season in 1996 was the most important part of the bridge from pre-probation SU to the present.

Without Wallace, not only would that Final Four likely not have happened, but I think 1995-1996 would've been a lot closer to the 19-13 year of '96-'97. Before Moten graduated, we had ok talent. After he and Lloyd and Jackson left, we had little other than Wallace. Without Wallace, we'd have been a ~.500 team for two years in a row; that would likely have had a significant effect on recruiting going forward.

Both were huge, though, and we'd have lost a ton of games without both of them.

(No worries about Moten at Maryland, though. Their athletic department pushed hard to admit him, but the admissions people won out. He was there for the taking, and Boeheim had one of his best diamonds in the rough.)