Random plays that stick with you

[Charbroil]

A regular season memory that does stick out to me was Gerry’s game winning 3 from the corner against Notre Dame in 2003. That was around the time that season I started believing they could be a really good team.

 

[dollarbill44]

Legit was going to say that. If we didn’t win that game, that would be in my head on a loop. Now I only think of it every time I see a bad call in the tourney

In other words, all the time. So many bad/non-calls so far.

 

[Cuse1055]

Hop throwing the full court pass to McNasty for the turnaround game winner at Nova. Literally the same play as Hill to Laettner the prior year.

 

[Cuse1055]

Also, not a play on the court, but senior day 96 when Otto got taken out in handcuffs for decking the clown haired student during the flag running.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Etan Thomas in the Dome blocking Rip Hamilton's short jumpers from just within the foul line, repeatedly, on his way to double digit blocks.

 

[tptcuse]

Dunk sequence at that St. John's game at MSG with Waiters and MCW.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Regular season game against Louisville in the Dome, late 80s.

Greg Monroe catches the ball on the wing, looks down to see where his feet are, takes a step back to get behind the arc, and nails it.

 

[realorange]

An oldie but far from goodie that fits this perfectly is Elmer Bennett in the dome in 1990. If you know you know. If you’re too young to know I’m pretty sure you can find it on YouTube

And then Digger doing a jig on the court afterwards.

 

[rrlbees]

Wich(man) way to the NIT.

 

[Dcuse]

People ., the rules were regular season games!

Wait, there were rules?

 

[tbonezone]

the last 2 seconds of the 1st half against quinn snyder and missouri. 2003.
gerry steals an inbounds pass and buries a trey right in front of Scorpio.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Hop throwing the full court pass to McNasty for the turnaround game winner at Nova. Literally the same play as Hill to Laettner the prior year.

On the exact same court! Only, our version was much tougher. They had a guy in front of Hop on the in bound, and McNasty wasn’t exactly a sharpshooter.

 

[PeteCalvin]

And then Digger doing a jig on the court afterwards.

Wasn’t that the game where ND shot like 45-48 from the FT line?

 

[sweetpea]

Regular season game against Louisville in the Dome, late 80s.

Greg Monroe catches the ball on the wing, looks down to see where his feet are, takes a step back to get behind the arc, and nails it.

Bringing up Greg Monroe, how about when he and Pearl were both freshman at St. John's. No shot clock and I think Pearl dribbled out like the final two minutes or so and got the ball to Greg for a jumper at the buzzer to win it. I think JB said something about not being allowed to come back to Syracuse if they hadn't won with his decision to run out the clock.

 

[PeteCalvin]

I know there are rules for this thread, but this did happen during the regular season. And it wasn’t on the court but very close to it.

I was at the Dome for the game against SJU where a couple very brave, and possibly very drunk, students swiped the SJU mascot head. I had a great view of the whole thing as the guy slowly made his way up to the blue velvet ropes, grabbed it while the cheerleaders were watching the court, ran past the ushers, then the blue curtain, like he was heading for a 90-yard TD after a fumble recovery. Then he cut up into the bleachers and bolted through the rows up to the far corner of the Dome and disappeared into history. The cheering for that play was as good as any in the game.

 

[MikeSU02]

Alley oop dunk to Damone in 2000 at the dome the year after UConn won it all and KEA and Jake V were still on UConn.

Capped off a huge run. Place was insane.

 

[SWC75]

Many plays already here that I and many other will remember. let's see who remembers this one:

We're playing BC in the Dome in the early 90's Our current head coach is driving the baseline along the the Syracuse side of the court, (meaning where our bench is). His right foot lands out of bounds by a about a foot on his drive. A ref comes running over pointing at it and puts his whistle in his mouth. but he doesn't blow it. Instead he turns to see what happens with the shot. Red misses it, BC gets the rebound and starts a fast break. The ref lets the whistle fall from his mouth and starts running downcourt. Many fans see this and some of the loudest boos I've ever heard in the Dome, (including mine) ensue. We all knew this guy waited to see if it would be to BC's advantage to make the call and when he didn't blow the whistle, we knew which side of the bread his butter was spread on.

Then there's the end of the upset loss to Western Kentucky in 1978 NCAA tournament, which I described in my series on "The Louie and Bouie Show":

The game went into overtime and we were down 85-87. We got the ball, (I seem to remember this was unexpected, probably a steal), and just had time for a desperate fast break. Marty Byrnes got the ball and drove to the basket. A Hilltopper defender wanted to make sure he couldn’t score a basket and came down with a karate chop across his arms while forcing him out of bounds to the right of the backboard. Marty was strong enough to break through the guy’s tackle and force up a prayer of a shot, probably just trying to make sure he’d go to the basket for two shots rather than one.

But the prayer was answered. The ball somehow kissed off the glass and made a beeline for the rim, went around and fell in. 87-87. With the referee’s whistle, Marty was going to the line to make one free throw with 1 second left to win the game and send SU to the Sweet 16 where Magic Johnson awaited. Then Billy Packer, who was doing the game for NBC, started shouting at the refs “This isn’t the NBA – there’s no continuation!”. He kept at it and the refs huddled for several minutes debating the call, leaving Marty on the line waiting for the ball. (He probably should have gone back to the bench, clearing his mind.) Packer’s voice could be heard over the local radio broadcast, (I remember Joel Mareiness commenting on it), demanding that the refs change their call. Finally the refs announced that Marty had been fouled before he got the shot off, that the score was 84-86 and that Marty had a one and one. Marty, a 69% foul shooter, made the first to make it 86-87 but the second rimmed out and bounced out of bounds off of multiple hands. The clock went to 00:00 and the second season of the Louie and Bouie show was over.

I’ve never really forgiven Packer for this, (although I’ve always respected his analytical way of calling a game). But the refs didn’t have to cave into him, either. We’ve had a number of heartbreaking defeats over the years, (“Manley Field House is closed”, Keith Smart, Walter Berry, Arkansas, etc.), but this one hurts because we were screwed. Still, the game should never have come down to that. We should have won this game by 15-20 points. You’ve got to take care of business and we didn’t.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I know there are rules for this thread, but this did happen during the regular season. And it wasn’t on the court but very close to it.

I was at the Dome for the game against SJU where a couple very brave, and possibly very drunk, students swiped the SJU mascot head. I had a great view of the whole thing as the guy slowly made his way up to the blue velvet ropes, grabbed it while the cheerleaders were watching the court, ran past the ushers, then the blue curtain, like he was heading for a 90-yard TD after a fumble recovery. Then he cut up into the bleachers and bolted through the rows up to the far corner of the Dome and disappeared into history. The cheering for that play was as good as any in the game.

I remember that well. They took the headress right off his head (they were redmen back then) and ran out behind the old blue curtain, up the stairs never to be seen again. I had a birds eye view sitting behind the visitors bench. I know SJU people were still looking for it years later. Never got it back that I know of.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Jeremy McNeil, a career sub 50% free throw shooter, making two free throws in the final minute to tie Pitt, then making a put-back to beat them at the buzzer in the Dome.

 

[crv1728]

Many plays already here that I and many other will remember. let's see who remembers this one:

We're playing BC in the Dome in the early 90's Our current head coach is driving the baseline along the the Syracuse side of the court, (meaning where our bench is). His right foot lands out of bounds by a about a foot on his drive. A ref comes running over pointing at it and puts his whistle in his mouth. but he doesn't blow it. Instead he turns to see what happens with the shot. Red misses it, BC gets the rebound and starts a fast break. The ref lets the whistle fall from his mouth and starts running downcourt. Many fans see this and some of the loudest boos I've ever heard in the Dome, (including mine) ensue. We all knew this guy waited to see if it would be to BC's advantage to make the call and when he didn't blow the whistle, we knew which side of the bread his butter was spread on.

Then there's the end of the upset loss to Western Kentucky in 1978 NCAA tournament, which I described in my series on "The Louie and Bouie Show":

The game went into overtime and we were down 85-87. We got the ball, (I seem to remember this was unexpected, probably a steal), and just had time for a desperate fast break. Marty Byrnes got the ball and drove to the basket. A Hilltopper defender wanted to make sure he couldn’t score a basket and came down with a karate chop across his arms while forcing him out of bounds to the right of the backboard. Marty was strong enough to break through the guy’s tackle and force up a prayer of a shot, probably just trying to make sure he’d go to the basket for two shots rather than one.

But the prayer was answered. The ball somehow kissed off the glass and made a beeline for the rim, went around and fell in. 87-87. With the referee’s whistle, Marty was going to the line to make one free throw with 1 second left to win the game and send SU to the Sweet 16 where Magic Johnson awaited. Then Billy Packer, who was doing the game for NBC, started shouting at the refs “This isn’t the NBA – there’s no continuation!”. He kept at it and the refs huddled for several minutes debating the call, leaving Marty on the line waiting for the ball. (He probably should have gone back to the bench, clearing his mind.) Packer’s voice could be heard over the local radio broadcast, (I remember Joel Mareiness commenting on it), demanding that the refs change their call. Finally the refs announced that Marty had been fouled before he got the shot off, that the score was 84-86 and that Marty had a one and one. Marty, a 69% foul shooter, made the first to make it 86-87 but the second rimmed out and bounced out of bounds off of multiple hands. The clock went to 00:00 and the second season of the Louie and Bouie show was over.

I’ve never really forgiven Packer for this, (although I’ve always respected his analytical way of calling a game). But the refs didn’t have to cave into him, either. We’ve had a number of heartbreaking defeats over the years, (“Manley Field House is closed”, Keith Smart, Walter Berry, Arkansas, etc.), but this one hurts because we were screwed. Still, the game should never have come down to that. We should have won this game by 15-20 points. You’ve got to take care of business and we didn’t.

Packer was always a douche. I remember watching a Louisville game in the early 80s and milt Wagner had a breakaway and did a 360 slam. Al Maguire was thrilled, Billy Packer went on and on about how ridiculous and dangerous the play was, and how Wagner could have cost his team two points. I never liked him after that!

 

[Brooky03]

A regular season memory that does stick out to me was Gerry’s game winning 3 from the corner against Notre Dame in 2003. That was around the time that season I started believing they could be a really good team.

I was at that game for my birthday with my dad and a friend. We were in the corner where he hit the shot from in a weird little 3 or 4 seat row that we had to ourselves. It was awesome!

 

[two3zone]

Fab 360 dunk, we were #1, dominating everyone and just curb stomped Nova at Nova.

 

[Orangezoo]

Alley oop dunk to Damone in 2000 at the dome the year after UConn won it all and KEA and Jake V were still on UConn.

Capped off a huge run. Place was insane.

My favorite game I was at in the Dome second to the win over Pitt in the title year. Atmosphere that night was insane.

 

[Orangezoo]

Fab 360 dunk, we were #1, dominating everyone and just curb stomped Nova at Nova.

Speaking of random Fab moments…I’ll add Fab trying to do his Dirk imitation hitting deep jumpers vs UConn in the dome

 

[crv1728]

So many positive plays!
Hakim's. block, pearl's half court shot, GMAC single handedly winning the Big East tourney, Sherm's hike. One I haven't seen mentioned is Red Bruin dunking straight over Patrick Ewing.
A negative that I can't forget is a game in 84 or 85 where we were beating BC by a point with just a few seconds to go. BC inbounded to Michael Adams who took it just past midcourt and heaved it. The shot wasn't close, but Andre Hawkins (never our most nimble big man) went running up to Adams, then bowled him over. Foul called. Adams made the free throws and BC won the game. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory!