Poetry in Moten..

[bballbeadle]

We lost to them the year after Arkansas won the championship. UCLA beat Arkansas in 95. Missouri beat us in 94 when Red went for 30 in the second half of the overtime loss.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Memory is a funny thing.

 

[Owens guy]

nevermind... i can see moten calling the TO in the video at 20 seconds. quick whistle though. and what a demonstrative way to call the TO. it was almost like the ref was over emphasizing the to call to prove a point.

That referee was Tim Higgins - not one of my favorites to say the least.

 

[Owens guy]

Moten was a player that was never one of my favorites - he wasn't flashy, he didn't have highlight dunks and didn't often show emotion on the court. But Moten was one the most classy, important and underrated players in Syracuse history.

Moten was so smooth and effective when scoring. It was like he didn't decide what move he was going to make to score until seeing how his defender was playing him.

I remember countless outside jumpers that Moten would take when Syracuse most needed a basket. It seemed like every Moten shot would hit the front of the rim, bounce off the backboard then slowly roll on the rim into the basket.

You could count on 15 to 25 points from Moten EVERY game and he never dominated the ball or forced shots.

RIP Poetry. You will never be forgotten.

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[Eric15]

Lawrence Moten was the SWC of Syracuse basketball. Or SWC was the Lawrence Moten of Syracusefan.com.

Non-controversial, consistent, universally liked and respected, and you probably took them for granted.

 

[Cusefan69]

Awful news. RIP

What the hell? Just popped onto the hoops board to see what is new and find this bad news. Oh man. Crazy. Moten was so smooth. My dad, brother and I enjoyed watching him every season. Rest in peace.

 

[OHIORANGES]

Condolences to the family.
I feel bad for any of our current fans that never had a chance to see him play. He was poetry. He always seemed to be in the right place. He had the touch. Super smooth.

 

[Scott11]

he made 1/2 ft's to put it in OT. Lucious JAackson was the emotional 1. i still have never known who called it or didnt. but the whole 2 min is saying it was Lucious Jackson

I literally felt sick watching this again.

Moten earned everything he got and was the embodiment of the type of player our program should be about.

 

[JKinUtah]

I can’t add anything that hasn’t already been said, but this one hurts for many reasons. He was only a year ahead of me in our time in the hill, and just one of the smoothest, coolest players ever. A legend gone far too soon.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I loved how he smoothly glided along the baseline and would score so often. I don’t know how he found creases in defenses to just lay it in so smoothly so often.

 

[rottweiler44]

We shared the same 4 years on campus. Is/was and always will be my favorite Syracuse player. The word didn't exist back then, but kids today would say he had "aura". You would see him out and around on campus, at 44's, OC, always classy. He kind of came out of nowhere in his recruiting class (maybe JB knew). In my opinion he deserves a ton of credit in Syracuse basketball for bridging the probation years to the '96 Final Four, and then later to 2003. RIP

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

No, it was Moten.

The announcers initially indicated that Luke Jackson called it, because he was the one who fell on the ball and was fighting for possession with the Arkansas players, but it was Moten.

Really too bad -- poor ending to a magnificent career. Always felt like that mistake made some in the fanbase view him less favorably, which is unfair IMO.

As I recall, he had a bit of a brain fart in the BET that year, as well. Maybe a 5 second call?

 

[Cheriehoop]

As I recall, he had a bit of a brain fart in the BET that year, as well. Maybe a 5 second call?

Didn’t he have a bald spot for a while playing at SU, I remember feeling badly hearing (don’t know if it was true) that it was from stress? It did seem to go away.

 

[atlanticuse]

We shared the same 4 years on campus. Is/was and always will be my favorite Syracuse player. The word didn't exist back then, but kids today would say he had "aura". You would see him out and around on campus, at 44's, OC, always classy. He kind of came out of nowhere in his recruiting class (maybe JB knew). In my opinion he deserves a ton of credit in Syracuse basketball for bridging the probation years to the '96 Final Four, and then later to 2003. RIP

I used to eat dinner with him at Kimmel.
We watched the Joe Carter world series home run (him + Otis Hill + someone else I can't remember maybe Lazarus Sims.

 

[br801]

Billy Owens

Here’s a celebration of the homecoming of a truly genuine brother and lifelong friend, my man Lawrence “Poetry in Motion” Moten. He is one of the realest souls I’ve ever had the honor to know. My...

www.facebook.com

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[Stevenson]

My favorite Moten game was the Big Monday game in 1994 against UConn in the Dome. UConn was extremely good that year with Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall and Ray Allen. We won 108-95 and Moten dropped 31 points and had 10 rebounds.

We sat right next to the visitors tunnel and 11 year old me may have gotten a tongue lashing from my Dad and Grandpa for throwing a small chunk of jumbo pretzel at Donny Marshall on a dare.

Syracuse 108, Connecticut 95 - Syracuse University Athletics

Connecticut vs Syracuse (2/1/94 at Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY) Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Connecticut vs Syracuse ...

cuse.com

I was at that game. First hoops game I came back to after graduating in 88

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[sufandu]

I always tell people that Moten’s TO might be the thing people remember about that game, but the most amazing forgotten play was what happened right before the infamous time out. Luke Jackson had probably the most memorable steal in SU history, diving and intercepting the inbounds pass by Scotty Thurman. He hugged that ball and went into the fetal position waiting for a whistle. Unfortunately, the one he heard wasn’t for a foul. Arkansas was so stunned by the steal I think they would have just watched the clock run out.

We wouldn’t have even been in a position to win that game without Moten, so he gets a pass. Fate stepped in and resulted in an unfortunate ending. Much like now.

God, I loved the way he played the game. I still can’t believe he’s gone so young.

For whatever reason I don't remember much from that game. It's weird how some things stick in your head and others don't.

 

[Day2]

As I recall, he had a bit of a brain fart in the BET that year, as well. Maybe a 5 second call?

Yeah, I was at that game. First round vs. Providence. Also went to OT. We had a chance to win it with about 10 seconds left and Moten just froze.

It’s unfortunate that his last BET and NCAAT games ended that way. Wasn’t representative of him as a player.

 

[JonB]

Article includes video interview with Mike Hopkins who is in Australia with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Great stories. Poetry didn’t have to say much. He spoke with how he played, and how he treated people. There will never be another Lawrence Moten. He was so great. Those of us that got to watch him come in as probably the lowest ranked recruit in that class to being the best player in the class and the best scorer in school history was something to witness. It really was like watching an artist out there.

 

[JonB]

My favorite Moten game was the Big Monday game in 1994 against UConn in the Dome. UConn was extremely good that year with Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall and Ray Allen. We won 108-95 and Moten dropped 31 points and had 10 rebounds.

Syracuse 108, Connecticut 95 - Syracuse University Athletics

Connecticut vs Syracuse (2/1/94 at Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY) Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Connecticut vs Syracuse ...

cuse.com

I mean, what else is there to say?