OT: Best pickup games vs CBB/Pro athlete stories...

[JDubbin]

Ooo ok maybe I’m right then.
Crazy stuff though.

It's interesting, I remember it being when I was high school age, but it could have been when I was at SU... and I was just running at Thorden then. Wow, crazy to think if that was the case. Who knows

 

[TinyManInside]

i watched him play against my old high school while I was in college, when he transferred to SU, i told everyone that we were getting michael jordan. not knocking the guy but no one saw him vs UNC and thought "incredible athleticism" but when you see him against batavia high, you think he's engineered in superhero laboratory

Blackwell never had that 'extra gear' to rev up his game to the next level. He was an incredible pickup player and practice player, but he could never really adjust to the higher intensity level that somes with playing in real games.

That era had 2 guys like that - Jason Hart was an all-time practice player great too. I sat in the stand at Manley and watched him make 44 of 50 three pointers in a drill with Mike Hopkins after practice once. He rarely missed shots during scrimmages. I never really understood why his shooting form would break down when he was playing in real games... I think he just always rushed his shots.

One of the things about the championship team was that they had guys who could actually turn it up a notch in real games. Pace, Warrick, Edelin... all guys who could respond to the higher intensity level, and who often looked better in games than in practice.

 

[shermstheman]

In the 80’s played pick up a couple of times at a park in DC. Had a buddy who was white as am I, met three other white dudes and were shooting around. Some walk ons from Georgetown show up, it’s the JT era so they are all black. They challenge us to a game. One of them asked, “should we go shirts vs. skins”? Cracked me up.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Jeremy McNeil always used to be in the Flanagan gym at SU. When you're 6'3" 180 pounds the guy was like the Shaq of pickup games during my era. He dunked every time he could when he touched it.

 

[ebucklewis]

i watched him play against my old high school while I was in college, when he transferred to SU, i told everyone that we were getting michael jordan. not knocking the guy but no one saw him vs UNC and thought "incredible athleticism" but when you see him against batavia high, you think he's engineered in superhero laboratory

I’m about 6’3” and he was so much bigger and quicker than I am it was pretty funny. I distinctly remember him coming down the lane to do a slam and I also remember not wanting to get in his way, because I wanted to watch - And I was guarding him. JB would’ve benched me forever.

 

[JDubbin]

Hopefully not this Stackhouse:
Five years ago, Larry Stackhouse went to a CBA game. The 19-year-old's never been seen since

10 years later and Larry Stackhouse Jr. still has not been found

This article mentioned that Stackhouse dropped out of Corcoran and loved basketball. I don’t know if it’s him obviously, but man this has me thinking, what a shame

 

[OrangeDW]

Very loose SU connection story that I just thought of...

When I was in 7th grade, we moved to Greensboro, NC. There was a pro basketball player(overseas) named Cal Ferguson who recently moved into the apartment complex that we lived in. Having no fear or shame whatsoever, of course my brother, friend and myself went and knocked on his door to ask him if he wanted to go play basketball with us. Amazingly he actually did. He was like 6’10-6’11. At some point we told him we were from Syracuse, and he said something like “we played y’all in the tournament!” He had played at Georgia Southern and he said they played Syracuse in the tournament in ‘87 a little before he got to college. I remember him talking about Derrick Coleman and Stevie Thompson.

He would come to the nearby outdoor court with us quite a few times. He was trying to expand his shooting range, and we would rebound for him while he jacked 3’s, and he would “play” pickup games with us. Great guy.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

In highschool, we played Utica Proctor at our place to open the season (basketball). They had Will Smith. Will was built like a brickhouse even at 17/18 years of age. Being that I was 5 inches shorter and probably literally 120 lbs lighter at the time, I wasn't matched up with him.

Our fans were "clever" like all student sections and were yelling things like "Gettin Jiggy With it." There was a stop in play, the chanting was going on, and Will just turns around, points up to the student section and proceeds to dance for 5-10 seconds. He definitely won over our crowd with that one.

Also Utica Proctor related. I remember going to their place, I was a Jr at the time, on varsity and we were watching the JV game before us. And there was this 7th grade kid just KILLING our team. I think he went for just over 30. Granted, our JV team was not very good that season, but I was very impressed with him. It was Josh Wright. If only he could have had 1/4 of that production while at SU.

Played against Will Smith on the football field. He absolutely demolished me on several plays. Only time I've ever taken myself out. I was convinced I was going to die that day.

I also remember Utica Proctor had really good looking cheer leaders. Like, distractingly so.

 

[Newhouser]

In highschool, we played Utica Proctor at our place to open the season (basketball). They had Will Smith. Will was built like a brickhouse even at 17/18 years of age. Being that I was 5 inches shorter and probably literally 120 lbs lighter at the time, I wasn't matched up with him.

Our fans were "clever" like all student sections and were yelling things like "Gettin Jiggy With it." There was a stop in play, the chanting was going on, and Will just turns around, points up to the student section and proceeds to dance for 5-10 seconds. He definitely won over our crowd with that one.

Also Utica Proctor related. I remember going to their place, I was a Jr at the time, on varsity and we were watching the JV game before us. And there was this 7th grade kid just KILLING our team. I think he went for just over 30. Granted, our JV team was not very good that season, but I was very impressed with him. It was Josh Wright. If only he could have had 1/4 of that production while at SU.

I thought Josh wright was better than Paulus in high school

 

[EastCoast2]

Between high school, AAU, and pickup games, I played against or with:

• Andray Blatche
• Andy Rautins
• Greg Paulus
• Brandon Triche
• Jimmer Fredette
• Kemba Walker

No crazy stories, they were all just... very, very good at basketball. I always got a kick when people said Rautins wasn't athletic. In high school he tried to catch an alley-oop and almost hit his head. Paulus would pull up from 40 feet and drain it at will, and seemed like he got a triple double every game. Blatche shouldn't have been allowed to play in high school, almost unfair with his size and skillset at that age. You always knew Triche would be a star, JD even called him up to varsity as an 8th grader for sectionals, if I recall, and he held his own. If he never tore his ACL, I really wonder if he would have gotten a bigger offer like UNC and gone there. He was unbelievable as a sophomore/junior pre-injury. Not playing for a while made him drop in the rankings.

 

[OrangeDW]

Between high school, AAU, and pickup games, I played against or with:

• Andray Blatche
• Andy Rautins
• Greg Paulus
• Brandon Triche
• Jimmer Fredette
• Kemba Walker

No crazy stories, they were all just... very, very good at basketball. I always got a kick when people said Rautins wasn't athletic. In high school he tried to catch an alley-oop and almost hit his head. Paulus would pull up from 40 feet and drain it at will, and seemed like he got a triple double every game. Blatche shouldn't have been allowed to play in high school, almost unfair with his size and skillset at that age. You always knew Triche would be a star, JD even called him up to varsity as an 8th grader for sectionals, if I recall, and he held his own. If he never tore his ACL, I really wonder if he would have gotten a bigger offer like UNC and gone there. He was unbelievable as a sophomore/junior pre-injury. Not playing for a while made him drop in the rankings.

I remember watching Triche at Manley Field House in the sectional finals as a sophomore and being blown away at how good he was.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

Maurice Brown? Big kid from Henniger that went to Rutgers, I believe. Not sure if he actually played there?

Marquis Walker? Played WR for Michigan.

Yup.

 

[tbonezone]

i once played a pro am golf tourney in hilton head . i knew it wasn't exactly a top shelf affair or else my donation was way too small when my tee off flight included local celebrities johnny tom (orthopedic surgeon) and hotel lounge entertainer cyrus ray billy. also unfortunately for us the shemale cher impersonator in the crew in front of us left high heel boot divots all over the green. very tricky putting. cher was paired with what appeared to my eyes to be a gypsy ,a tramp and a thief.
if only i could turn back time.

 

[Millhouse]

Blackwell never had that 'extra gear' to rev up his game to the next level. He was an incredible pickup player and practice player, but he could never really adjust to the higher intensity level that somes with playing in real games.

That era had 2 guys like that - Jason Hart was an all-time practice player great too. I sat in the stand at Manley and watched him make 44 of 50 three pointers in a drill with Mike Hopkins after practice once. He rarely missed shots during scrimmages. I never really understood why his shooting form would break down when he was playing in real games... I think he just always rushed his shots.

One of the things about the championship team was that they had guys who could actually turn it up a notch in real games. Pace, Warrick, Edelin... all guys who could respond to the higher intensity level, and who often looked better in games than in practice.

Hart was too volatile and intense. Didn't hurt on defense but it did on offense

 

[orangefog]

I played a pick up game with Lazarus Sims after his senior season. He did whatever he wanted. No crazy stories about it. I just remember the day because I lost my wallet that day.

 

[Millhouse]

Between high school, AAU, and pickup games, I played against or with:

• Andray Blatche
• Andy Rautins
• Greg Paulus
• Brandon Triche
• Jimmer Fredette
• Kemba Walker

No crazy stories, they were all just... very, very good at basketball. I always got a kick when people said Rautins wasn't athletic. In high school he tried to catch an alley-oop and almost hit his head. Paulus would pull up from 40 feet and drain it at will, and seemed like he got a triple double every game. Blatche shouldn't have been allowed to play in high school, almost unfair with his size and skillset at that age. You always knew Triche would be a star, JD even called him up to varsity as an 8th grader for sectionals, if I recall, and he held his own. If he never tore his ACL, I really wonder if he would have gotten a bigger offer like UNC and gone there. He was unbelievable as a sophomore/junior pre-injury. Not playing for a while made him drop in the rankings.

I never realized just how fast basketball players are until I saw paulus look reasonably fast as a qb for SU. Against other big time guards, forget it.

 

[cuseattle]

I played a pick up game with Lazarus Sims after his senior season. He did whatever he wanted. No crazy stories about it. I just remember the day because I lost my wallet that day.

Looking back, it might have been Laz.

 

[AlaskaSU]

I rode the bench on a great intramural bb team that lost to a team comprised of all Cuse active football players by 2 pts (bad reffing) at Archibold. We trash talked them all game. Most of out team were grad students who were ex-college basketball players. A year after graduation I had a roommate that was a starting D-1 guard. We played a lot of one on one. I could never stop him but I scored my fair share. I learned two things: the offensive player always has the advantage and always shoot on your way down from the apex of your jump - gives you an extra second to adjust your shot.

 

[OburgOrange]

One of my good friends was his best man in his wedding. He's a good dude. He's got us tickets to see him play more than a few times.

Who?

 

[tbonezone]

I played a pick up game with Lazarus Sims after his senior season. He did whatever he wanted. No crazy stories about it. I just remember the day because I lost my wallet that day.

laz picked your pocket ? literally ??? why the dodger do doubt pawned it at faegans.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Picking up from the great stories in the Zion thread, I remember the two times I ran in Archbold vs Div 1 players.
Was playing full court back when i had a decent handle and quickness, when in walk Erich Santifer, Red Bruin, Ron Payton, and Rick Harmon (had to look him up). Luckily they played fair and put two on each squad, but i remember Santifer just wanting to run run run all game & Red Bruin just dunking relentlessly every time the ball was lobbed within 10 ft of the hoop. They literally ran full speed and NEVER got tired! Managed one game, faked an ankle injury & watched from the sidelines as my dream of an nba future was brutally exposed! lol
2nd time was when a tall “older” guy was in Archbold dominating games left & right. Nobody knew who he was, but I found out later it was Kevin King who played on the ‘75 Final Four team.
Needless to say, back then the athletic gap between a college scholarship athlete and “regular” schmoes like us, was like the Grand Canyon. Can’t imagine what it’d be like today!

Lax, soccer, didn’t matter. I was pretty much the fastest kid on the field.

Then we played J-D and I tried to chase Scott Schwedes down from behind on a clear. Piece of cake, right?

There is fast and then there is 4.4.

Dude made me look like I was running in quicksand.

 

[orangefog]

Looking back, it might have been Laz.

laz picked your pocket ? literally ??? why the dodger do doubt pawned it at faegans.

I made up the wallet part, I thought it would be funny.

 

[cuseattle]

I made up the wallet part, I thought it would be funny.

I'm gullible. Should have known it was too easy.

 

[cuseattle]

Sometimes the interwebs don't lend themselves to subtleties.

 

[Doc5120]

I've shared this story in a couple of other threads in the past, but figured it'd be worth it again...

I got to play ball against James Thues and Jeremy McNeil at Archbold once after the basketball season was over. My friend, whose nickname was literally "Big Man" (6'6, 270 or so), was guarding McNeil (who is essentially a physical freak of nature). First play, McNeil gets fed the ball in the post, he does a couple of back down dribbles and goes straight up and 2 hand crams it on my friend like Shaq on Dudley... it was both magnificent and hilarious, we were rolling on the floor.

Bonus story:
Does anyone remember a highly skilled high school hooper from Syracuse with the last name Stackhouse? For some reason, I think he went to Corcoran, but I can't remember (I believe the story was he was highly recruited but never made it due to grade issues or the like). I grew up around Westcott St, so I used to run at Thornden all the time. Was out hooping one day and this Stackhouse dude was running with my team, he was a BALLER. In the midst of the run, two kids on the opposing team were talking smack saying Stackhouse couldn't dunk in game. Next possession, I swing it to him at the top, he crosses over one of the idiots talking to him, drives down the lane and just smashes home a dunk in spectacular fashion... the whole rim, backboard, foundation of the hoop was rocking back and forth seemingly forever. I've never seen this before... but after he dunked it (the game was still going) he called timeout, walked off the court, got in his car and left. One of the best basketball moments I've ever been a part of, job accomplished

Jason Stackhouse. He went to Corcoran. He was a year ahead of me. We played against him (I had a front row seat on the bench) as I only saw minutes in garbage time that year. He could really play. Their entire starting 5 that year was extremely talented.