The Georgetown Rivalry: Same as it ever was.

[DoctorBombay]

Firstly, yesterday was a stark reminder of a time that I'd honestly thought the SU program had moved beyond. Namely, the penchant to come up small in huge settings, and especially against Georgetown.
I'm from the generation that saw "Manley Fieldhouse is officially closed", the emnity that because the GT-SU rivalry, and the early JB years where he simply "couldn't win the big one".
Yesterday brought all that back in folds!
In 2010 the Wes/Andy team was playing Nova before a record crowd for the BE reg season championship. I had a twinge of "big game" apprehension, because I fully expected SU to "spit the bit", and was prepared to face that eventuality. We of course won the game and I thought to myself, maybe we've gotten over that kinda persistant road-bump...as a program.
Yesterday, against that foe, under those circumstances, restored my doubts to new heights, unfortunately.
We may hold the overall lead in the GT-SU series, but Georgetown ALWAYS wins the bigger matchups, the ones that count the most, the ones we can't ever have back.
We'll never get over JTII, and now we can add the 84' BET, GMac's last game loss to Nova, Walter Berry's block of Pearl, and now this BE series finale at the Dome before 35000+ to that long, maddening list.
It saddens me to no end but the truth is the truth. More often then not, we come up small in big games.
GMac single-handedly wins the BET, and we flame out in the 1st Round. By contrast, Kemba wins the BET the same way, and UConn goes on to take the whole enchilada.
Bitter, upsetting, perplexing....all that, and more.
I rant often against the "Syracuse Inferiority Complex" that sometimes surfaces on this board, but at times like these, it almost becomes understandable.
Again, I'm not saying we're not worthy of our stature or that other programs don't lose big games. I'm saying that I have seen US do so on a fairly consistent basis, for over 30 years now.
Some of it is to be expected, but its seemed to happen more against that team (Georgetown), then against anyone else...and that just sucks!
End rant.

 

[OttosBestFriend]

Firstly, yesterday was a stark reminder of a time that I'd honestly thought the SU program had moved beyond. Namely, the penchant to come up small in huge settings, and especially against Georgetown.
I'm from the generation that saw "Manley Fieldhouse is officially closed", the emnity that because the GT-SU rivalry, and the early JB years where he simply "couldn't win the big one".
Yesterday brought all that back in folds!
In 2010 the Wes/Andy team was playing Nova before a record crowd for the BE reg season championship. I had a twinge of "big game" apprehension, because I fully expected SU to "spit the bit", and was prepared to face that eventuality. We of course won the game and I thought to myself, maybe we've gotten over that kinda persistant road-bump...as a program.
Yesterday, against that foe, under those circumstances, restored my doubts a new heights, unfortunately.
We may hold the overall lead in the GT-SU series, but Georgetown ALWAYS wins the bigger matchups, the ones that count the most, the ones we can't ever have back.
We'll never get over JTII, and now we can add the 84' BET, GMac's last game loss to Nova, Walter Berry's block of Pearl, and now this BE series finale at the Dome before 35000+ to that long, maddening list.
It saddens me to no end but the truth is the truth. More often then not, we come up small in big games.
GMac single-handedly wins the BET, and we flame out in the 1st Round. By contrast, Kemba wins the BET the same way, and UConn goes on to take the whole enchilada.
Bitter, upsetting, perplexing....all that, and more.
I rant often against the "Syracuse Inferiority Complex" that sometimes surfaces on this board, but at times like these, it almost becomes understandable.
Again, I'm not saying we're not worthy of our stature or that other programs don't lose big games. I'm saying that I have seen US do so on a fairly consistent basis, for over 30 years now.
Some of it is to be expected, but its seemed to happen more against that team (Georgetown), then against anyone else...and that just sucks!
End rant.

If I'm being honest, I was a kid on Long Island and rooting for St. Johns when Berry blocked Pearl in the BET.

Didn't become a 'Cuse fan 'til I enrolled a few years later.

 

[Halfmooncuse]

Was this JB's last big one? (as in the "can't win the Big One" mantra).

 

[OrangeDW]

Disagree. How many "big ones" has Georgetown beaten us in since the 80's? We beat them in the 92 BET finals, beat them in the 2006 BET semifinals, beat them to win the Big East in 1990, and have beaten them probably 70% of the time since the 80's ended.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Disagree. How many "big ones" has Georgetown beaten us in since the 80's? We beat them in the 92 BET finals, beat them in the 2006 BET semifinals, beat them to win the Big East in 1990, and have beaten them probably 70% of the time since the 80's ended.

Therein lies the rub- GTown has won arguably, the 2-3 biggest games in this rivalry, ie: Manley, 84 BET, & yesterday. So what if we won all the games in the interim? Those were the biggest ones in the rivalry. It's like us winning a reg season game vs a BET ship or a FF bid- we all know what's more important.

 

[OrangeDW]

Therein lies the rub- GTown has won arguably, the 2-3 biggest games in this rivalry, ie: Manley, 84 BET, & yesterday. So what if we won all the games in the interim? Those were the biggest ones in the rivalry. It's like us winning a reg season game vs a BET ship or a FF bid- we all know what's more important.

Why is the 84 BET any more important than the 92 BET where we beat them?

And why is yesterday's game any more important, than the 2006 BET semifinals in our magical run, or the 1990 regular season final with the BE title on the line?

 

[Shenexon]

In terms of our rivalry with Georgetown, we lost some big battles but we won the war. I like where we're going much more than where they are headed. We definitely came out better over the long history of the rivalry. They had the upper hand when JT II was GT's coach but it was different after he quit.

I wanted to win yesterday and am saddened we couldn't win the last BE GT-SU matchup in the dome. However, SU and GT have parted ways, with SU getting the better draw. We can still close out the BE in style, with opportunities against Marquette, Louisville, and Georgetown again. Tough games for sure, but with the potential to make this a memorable season.

 

[OttoMets]

I thought beating us in the Big East in 2000 (when we were the 1 seed) was a huge win for them - got us sent to the Midwest to play Michigan State.

 

[gilardino]

you do realize we play hoyas again macrh 9th?

 

[BuffOrange]

Therein lies the rub- GTown has won arguably, the 2-3 biggest games in this rivalry, ie: Manley, 84 BET, & yesterday. So what if we won all the games in the interim? Those were the biggest ones in the rivalry. It's like us winning a reg season game vs a BET ship or a FF bid- we all know what's more important.

Would you consider Manley or yesterday 2 of the 2-3 biggest if we had won?

 

[DoctorBombay]

In terms of our rivalry with Georgetown, we lost some big battles but we won the war. I like where we're going much more than where they are headed. We definitely came out better over the long history of the rivalry. They had the upper hand when JT II was GT's coach but it was different after he quit.

I wanted to win yesterday and am saddened we couldn't win the last BE GT-SU matchup in the dome. However, SU and GT have parted ways, with SU getting the better draw. We can still close out the BE in style, with opportunities against Marquette, Louisville, and Georgetown again. Tough games for sure, but with the potential to make this a memorable season.

OK- this I can agree with. The war has been won by us, but dammit if the many wounds that were inflicted weren't of the worst kind.
Look, I'm not saying we won't get another shot at GTown, the battles will continue- and to quote one John Blutarsky; "It ain't over till we say its over"! However, the flashbacks I experienced yesterday came from a deep, dark place- one that'd been scarred by traumatic sports memories from my youth. Heck, I didn't realize how much it would hurt to lose until the game was finally over!
Us "Old Heads" HATE GTown with a fanatical passion. Nova, Pitt, UConn or anyone else doesn't come close. Any loss would've been easier, then another loss to GTown. :bang:

 

[orangedave]

OK- this I can agree with. The war has been won by us, but dammit if the many wounds that were inflicted weren't of the worst kind.
Look, I'm not saying we won't get another shot at GTown, the battles will continue- and to quote one John Blutarsky; "It ain't over till we say its over"! However, the flashbacks I experienced yesterday came from a deep, dark place- one that'd been scarred by traumatic sports memories from my youth. Heck, I didn't realize how much it would hurt to lose until the game was finally over!
Us "Old Heads" HATE GTown with a fanatical passion. Nova, Pitt, UConn or anyone else doesn't come close. Any loss would've been easier, then another loss to GTown. :bang:

I too am an "Old Head" - possibly older than you but I looked at yesterday's game as just another in a long string against an old rival. To me it was not made any bigger by having a record size crowd.
Also, the Manley game, in my opinion, was not a BIG game going in. Most of our fans probably didn't even know who Georgetown was. It became a BIG game in retrospect because of JT II's statement and a great rivalry was born.

 

[kirbivore]

2006 SU: Gmac was obviously injured for the NCAA game. They were grossly over seeded as a 5 playing an equally under seeded TAMU. The Aggies were favored by Vegas at tip off. Also the 2011 storz team had a much better supporting cast for Walker.