Last trips home from the Dome

[SWC75]

On the sad drive home tonight, I started thinking about that annual ritual: the last drive home from the Dome each year. I’m assuming, (hopefully) that we are ”in” the NCAA tournament this year so there will be no NIT games. My next trip to the Dome will likely be six months from now for the first SU football game in the next academic year. The next time I’ll go to a ballgame, it will be a Syracuse Mets game. There will be no more worried looks at the weather reports, (I hate winter driving). No more guys with flashlights directing me to park in the worst space in the lot. No more long walks through the campus, saying high to Ernie Davis when I pass his statue. There will be still be security checks at the Mets games, over course. I’ll miss the lines at the cramped concession stands, joking with the ushers, the people in my section, shouting “Defense-Defense-DEFENSE!!!!

I wondered how many last trips home from the Dome had been happy ones over the years.

1981: We knocked off Big East Champion Boston College in the last regular season game, 90-86. For the only time the BET was in the Carrier Dome and we won it in a classic three OT game 83-80 over Villanova on Leo Rautins’ tip-in. That didn’t give us an automatic NCAA bid yet and we wound up in the NIT and won three straight home games, the last 91-76 blow-out of Michigan, a game where we made our first 16 shots of the second half, many of them what would now be three pointers. Those were three happy trips home.

1982: We lost the last regular season game to St. John’s 76-80 and to Bradley in the second round of the NIT 81-95.

1983: We beat 4th ranked Villanova in the last regular season game 79-70.

1984: We still played non-conference games during the conference season then and closed out the Dome schedule with a 68-64 win over Canisius.

1985: We beat Pitt, 80-72 in the last game at the Dome.

1986: We beat 12th ranked Georgetown 64-63. I remember the 65-63 game of the previous year where the Pearl hit the jumper to beat them. for some reason, I don’t remember the ’86 game at all.

1987: We crushed Boston College 87-63.

1988: We lost to Pitt 84-85.

1989: First of two memorable wins over Georgetown with similar scores to close out the Dome season, two games so similar I can’t remember which was which. One of them was the one where John Thompson got thrown out of the game. This one was 82-76 in OT. They were ranked #3.

1990: This one was 89-87 in OT. They were ranked #7

1991: We beat Georgetown for the third year in a row, 62-58. Them were the days!

1992: Oops, we lost to Villanova 56-76.

1993: We beat Pitt 78-74.

1994: We beat Georgetown again, 81-75 but it wasn’t as fun because they weren’t ranked. Naahh…it was just as fun.

1995: We crushed BC again 90-62.

1996: We beat Notre Dame 71-67.

1997: We lost to Pitt 63-65 and found ourselves in the NIT for the first time in 15 years, where we lost a game the players didn’t seem to want to be in, 67-82 to Florida State, a game so dull the scoreboard conked out. Attendance was about 5,000.

1998: Hey! We beat Georgetown in OT again 77-72!

1999: 4th ranked Connecticut had no problem with us, 58-70.

2000: We beat Notre Dame 73-71.

2001: Another OT win, 93-91 over St. John’s

2002: BC finally got us, 65-69.We won two NIT games, the last over our friends at Butler 66-65, in OT.

2003: We beat Rutgers 83-74, on our way to greater things.

2004: We beat #7 and eventual National champion Connecticut 67-56. As I recall Okafor didn’t play in that one.

2005: 15th ranked UCONN got us again 70-88.

2006: #4 Villanova beat us 82-92.

2007: They were unranked but the Wildcats got us again, 75-78. Shockingly, we wound up in the NIT despite a 22-10, (11-7) and beat South Alabama and San Diego State, (80-64) in the Dome.

2008: We whacked #21 Marquette 87-72 but wound up in the NIT again, where we beat Robert Morris and Maryland and built at 24 point second half lead on Massachusetts but somehow lost. I relaly thought we were going to finally win the NIT that year. The trip home was the worst I’ve had and the most comparable to tonight’s.

2009: We beat #13 Marquette 86-79 (OT)

2010: We were #1 but lost to Rick Pitino’s unranked Louisville team, 68-78.

2011: We crushed DePaul 107-59, gaining revenge for the 69-108 debacle of 2006.

2012: We beat Pitino and #19 Louisville 58-49.

2013: DePaul again, 78-57.

2014: We lost to Georgia Tech 62-67.

2015: Virginia 47-59. It wasn’t fun then, too.

2016: We handled NC State 75-66.

2017: We blew out Georgia tech 90-61 behind Andrew White’s 40 points but wound up in the NIT, where we beat UNC-Greensboro but lost to Mississippi 80-85.

2018: We beat Clemson 55-52.

2019: In our biggest blow-out home season ending loss, we lost to Virginia 53-79 in what ahd bene a close game for the first 25 minutes.

By my count we are thus 29-17 in my last rides home in games that actually were the last Dome game or games where I must have thought so. That’s not such a bad record.

 

[OttoMets]

The weeknight losses are somehow more depressing, I think. Pitt in 1997 stands out for me: beat an inferior team and likely clinch an NCAA bid, or lose and stay right on the shaky part of the bubble. The loss was a frustrating end to a frustrating year.

But this Virginia loss was a lot more fun than 2015. Not only does SU get to keep playing in some postseason tournament(s), but we got to watch an historic shooting performance.

In 2010 that Louisville loss was on the road, by the way. Senior Night was when we clinched the Big East championship over St. John's, two nights after the Nova game, in our first game at #1. That should've been a very happy drive home.

 

[OttoMets]

On the sad drive home tonight, I started thinking about that annual ritual: the last drive home from the Dome each year. I’m assuming, (hopefully) that we are ”in” the NCAA tournament this year so there will be no NIT games. My next trip to the Dome will likely be six months from now for the first SU football game in the next academic year. The next time I’ll go to a ballgame, it will be a Syracuse Mets game. There will be no more worried looks at the weather reports, (I hate winter driving). No more guys with flashlights directing me to park in the worst space in the lot. No more long walks through the campus, saying high to Ernie Davis when I pass his statue. There will be still be security checks at the Mets games, over course. I’ll miss the lines at the cramped concession stands, joking with the ushers, the people in my section, shouting “Defense-Defense-DEFENSE!!!!

I wondered how many last trips home from the Dome had been happy ones over the years.

1981: We knocked off Big East Champion Boston College in the last regular season game, 90-86. For the only time the BET was in the Carrier Dome and we won it in a classic three OT game 83-80 over Villanova on Leo Rautins’ tip-in. That didn’t give us an automatic NCAA bid yet and we wound up in the NIT and won three straight home games, the last 91-76 blow-out of Michigan, a game where we made our first 16 shots of the second half, many of them what would now be three pointers. Those were three happy trips home.

1982: We lost the last regular season game to St. John’s 76-80 and to Bradley in the second round of the NIT 81-95.

1983: We beat 4th ranked Villanova in the last regular season game 79-70.

1984: We still played non-conference games during the conference season then and closed out the Dome schedule with a 68-64 win over Canisius.

1985: We beat Pitt, 80-72 in the last game at the Dome.

1986: We beat 12th ranked Georgetown 64-63. I remember the 65-63 game of the previous year where the Pearl hit the jumper to beat them. for some reason, I don’t remember the ’86 game at all.

1987: We crushed Boston College 87-63.

1988: We lost to Pitt 84-85.

1989: First of two memorable wins over Georgetown with similar scores to close out the Dome season, two games so similar I can’t remember which was which. One of them was the one where John Thompson got thrown out of the game. This one was 82-76 in OT. They were ranked #3.

1990: This one was 89-87 in OT. They were ranked #7

1991: We beat Georgetown for the third year in a row, 62-58. Them were the days!

1992: Oops, we lost to Villanova 56-76.

1993: We beat Pitt 78-74.

1994: We beat Georgetown again, 81-75 but it wasn’t as fun because they weren’t ranked. Naahh…it was just as fun.

1995: We crushed BC again 90-62.

1996: We beat Notre Dame 71-67.

1997: We lost to Pitt 63-65 and found ourselves in the NIT for the first time in 15 years, where we lost a game the players didn’t seem to want to be in, 67-82 to Florida State, a game so dull the scoreboard conked out. Attendance was about 5,000.

1998: Hey! We beat Georgetown in OT again 77-72!

1999: 4th ranked Connecticut had no problem with us, 58-70.

2000: We beat Notre Dame 73-71.

2001: Another OT win, 93-91 over St. John’s

2002: BC finally got us, 65-69.We won two NIT games, the last over our friends at Butler 66-65, in OT.

2003: We beat Rutgers 83-74, on our way to greater things.

2004: We beat #7 and eventual National champion Connecticut 67-56. As I recall Okafor didn’t play in that one.

2005: 15th ranked UCONN got us again 70-88.

2006: #4 Villanova beat us 82-92.

2007: They were unranked but the Wildcats got us again, 75-78. Shockingly, we wound up in the NIT despite a 22-10, (11-7) and beat South Alabama and San Diego State, (80-64) in the Dome.

2008: We whacked #21 Marquette 87-72 but wound up in the NIT again, where we beat Robert Morris and Maryland and built at 24 point second half lead on Massachusetts but somehow lost. I relaly thought we were going to finally win the NIT that year. The trip home was the worst I’ve had and the most comparable to tonight’s.

2009: We beat #13 Marquette 86-79 (OT)

2010: We were #1 but lost to Rick Pitino’s unranked Louisville team, 68-78.

2011: We crushed DePaul 107-59, gaining revenge for the 69-108 debacle of 2006.

2012: We beat Pitino and #19 Louisville 58-49.

2013: DePaul again, 78-57.

2014: We lost to Georgia Tech 62-67.

2015: Virginia 47-59. It wasn’t fun then, too.

2016: We handled NC State 75-66.

2017: We blew out Georgia tech 90-61 behind Andrew White’s 40 points but wound up in the NIT, where we beat UNC-Greensboro but lost to Mississippi 80-85.

2018: We beat Clemson 55-52.

2019: In our biggest blow-out home season ending loss, we lost to Virginia 53-79 in what ahd bene a close game for the first 25 minutes.

By my count we are thus 29-17 in my last rides home in games that actually were the last Dome game or games where I must have thought so. That’s not such a bad record.

Few more corrections (these stick with me, I feel the same way you do about Senior Day).

We closed at home with Georgetown in 2000 before a two-game road swing; Notre Dame was later that week and St. John's closed it out with a frustrating loss. Georgetown was a big crowd but kind of a snoozer (they stunk and SU's offense had fallen off with Tony Bland having hit his midseason wall). But we won, which we didn't do against them in New York two weeks later.

St. John's was away in 2001 (Allen Griffin's triple-double game). I think we closed at home with Pitt on a weeknight.

Okafor did play in 2004, but not as well as Craig Forth did.

2005's Senior Day was against Providence - big rout, big scoring game from Warrick, and Boeheim's 700th win. One of my favorite underrated Dome games. Then they went to Storrs to end the regular season and got crushed.

The Nova game in 2007 was on the road and was very frustrating, because we'd gotten them in the Dome in a very well-played game and led for a lot of this one. Our last Dome game was against Georgetown on a weeknight, where we played just about perfectly against the top-ten, Final Four-bound team, crushed them, and in just about everyone's opinion sealed up an NCAA bid.

Marquette in 2009 was in Milwaukee (good win sealed with a late-game driving layup by Rautins). Senior Night was against Rutgers -- the Paul Harris self-alley-oop-and-eat-a-fan's-popcorn game. Lotta fun, but not the most memorable maybe.

 

[bballbeadle]

Yes, the last walk/drive home from the Dome. What an awful way for the seniors to go out! Yet, there is hope. Might we redeem ourselves in the ACCT? Where will we end up in the NCAA? Which team will show? There is hope, but also worry and a soupçon of weary cynicism.

I hope that next year WE will be the team with the sharpshooters that will be like a knife in the belly of our opponents. This morning, my gut still aches.

 

[SWC75]

Few more corrections (these stick with me, I feel the same way you do about Senior Day).

We closed at home with Georgetown in 2000 before a two-game road swing; Notre Dame was later than week and St. John's closed it out with a frustrating loss. Georgetown was a big crowd but kind of a snoozer (they stunk and SU's offense had fallen off with Tony Bland having hit his midseason wall). But we won, which we didn't do against them in New York two weeks later.

St. John's was away in 2001 (Allen Griffin's triple-double game). I think we closed at home with Pitt on a weeknight.

Okafor did play in 2004, but not as well as Craig Forth did.

2005's Senior Day was against Providence - big rout, big scoring game from Warrick, and Boeheim's 700th win. One of my favorite underrated Dome games. Then they went to Storrs to end the regular season and got crushed.

The Nova game in 2007 was on the road and was very frustrating, because we'd gotten them in the Dome in a very well-played game and led for a lot of this one. Our last Dome game was against Georgetown on a weeknight, where we played just about perfectly against the top-ten, Final Four-bound team, crushed them, and in just about everyone's opinion sealed up an NCAA bid.

Marquette in 2009 was in Milwaukee (good win sealed with a late-game driving layup by Rautins). Senior Night was against Rutgers -- the Paul Harris self-alley-oop-and-eat-a-fan's-popcorn game. Lotta fun, but not the most memorable maybe.

This is what I get for posting at 2:25AM. It's hard to see those little "at"s through bleary eyes.

I did it because I felt i needed some catharsis before hitting the pillow, (and I'm retired so i can sleep late).

I'll throw one back at you: Allen Griffin's triple double was in the Pitt game. he scored 31 vs. St. John's, (and I remember an unbelievable block, two feet above the hoop).

Allen Griffin

 

[Alsacs]

On the sad drive home tonight, I started thinking about that annual ritual: the last drive home from the Dome each year. I’m assuming, (hopefully) that we are ”in” the NCAA tournament this year so there will be no NIT games. My next trip to the Dome will likely be six months from now for the first SU football game in the next academic year. The next time I’ll go to a ballgame, it will be a Syracuse Mets game. There will be no more worried looks at the weather reports, (I hate winter driving). No more guys with flashlights directing me to park in the worst space in the lot. No more long walks through the campus, saying high to Ernie Davis when I pass his statue. There will be still be security checks at the Mets games, over course. I’ll miss the lines at the cramped concession stands, joking with the ushers, the people in my section, shouting “Defense-Defense-DEFENSE!!!!

I wondered how many last trips home from the Dome had been happy ones over the years.

1981: We knocked off Big East Champion Boston College in the last regular season game, 90-86. For the only time the BET was in the Carrier Dome and we won it in a classic three OT game 83-80 over Villanova on Leo Rautins’ tip-in. That didn’t give us an automatic NCAA bid yet and we wound up in the NIT and won three straight home games, the last 91-76 blow-out of Michigan, a game where we made our first 16 shots of the second half, many of them what would now be three pointers. Those were three happy trips home.

1982: We lost the last regular season game to St. John’s 76-80 and to Bradley in the second round of the NIT 81-95.

1983: We beat 4th ranked Villanova in the last regular season game 79-70.

1984: We still played non-conference games during the conference season then and closed out the Dome schedule with a 68-64 win over Canisius.

1985: We beat Pitt, 80-72 in the last game at the Dome.

1986: We beat 12th ranked Georgetown 64-63. I remember the 65-63 game of the previous year where the Pearl hit the jumper to beat them. for some reason, I don’t remember the ’86 game at all.

1987: We crushed Boston College 87-63.

1988: We lost to Pitt 84-85.

1989: First of two memorable wins over Georgetown with similar scores to close out the Dome season, two games so similar I can’t remember which was which. One of them was the one where John Thompson got thrown out of the game. This one was 82-76 in OT. They were ranked #3.

1990: This one was 89-87 in OT. They were ranked #7

1991: We beat Georgetown for the third year in a row, 62-58. Them were the days!

1992: Oops, we lost to Villanova 56-76.

1993: We beat Pitt 78-74.

1994: We beat Georgetown again, 81-75 but it wasn’t as fun because they weren’t ranked. Naahh…it was just as fun.

1995: We crushed BC again 90-62.

1996: We beat Notre Dame 71-67.

1997: We lost to Pitt 63-65 and found ourselves in the NIT for the first time in 15 years, where we lost a game the players didn’t seem to want to be in, 67-82 to Florida State, a game so dull the scoreboard conked out. Attendance was about 5,000.

1998: Hey! We beat Georgetown in OT again 77-72!

1999: 4th ranked Connecticut had no problem with us, 58-70.

2000: We beat Notre Dame 73-71.

2001: Another OT win, 93-91 over St. John’s

2002: BC finally got us, 65-69.We won two NIT games, the last over our friends at Butler 66-65, in OT.

2003: We beat Rutgers 83-74, on our way to greater things.

2004: We beat #7 and eventual National champion Connecticut 67-56. As I recall Okafor didn’t play in that one.

2005: 15th ranked UCONN got us again 70-88.

2006: #4 Villanova beat us 82-92.

2007: They were unranked but the Wildcats got us again, 75-78. Shockingly, we wound up in the NIT despite a 22-10, (11-7) and beat South Alabama and San Diego State, (80-64) in the Dome.

2008: We whacked #21 Marquette 87-72 but wound up in the NIT again, where we beat Robert Morris and Maryland and built at 24 point second half lead on Massachusetts but somehow lost. I relaly thought we were going to finally win the NIT that year. The trip home was the worst I’ve had and the most comparable to tonight’s.

2009: We beat #13 Marquette 86-79 (OT)

2010: We were #1 but lost to Rick Pitino’s unranked Louisville team, 68-78.

2011: We crushed DePaul 107-59, gaining revenge for the 69-108 debacle of 2006.

2012: We beat Pitino and #19 Louisville 58-49.

2013: DePaul again, 78-57.

2014: We lost to Georgia Tech 62-67.

2015: Virginia 47-59. It wasn’t fun then, too.

2016: We handled NC State 75-66.

2017: We blew out Georgia tech 90-61 behind Andrew White’s 40 points but wound up in the NIT, where we beat UNC-Greensboro but lost to Mississippi 80-85.

2018: We beat Clemson 55-52.

2019: In our biggest blow-out home season ending loss, we lost to Virginia 53-79 in what ahd bene a close game for the first 25 minutes.

By my count we are thus 29-17 in my last rides home in games that actually were the last Dome game or games where I must have thought so. That’s not such a bad record.

2005 our last home game was against Providence.
It was Warrick/Pace/Forth Senior Day and we got JB’s 700th career win.
I remember that,
That UConn game was on Big Monday.

 

[adk(roc)CUSE]

Really cool list, I love reading stuff like this. Thanks!