SWC75
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1977-78
People couldn’t wait to see what the second year of the Louie and Bouie Show would bring. But there almost wasn’t a second year. Louis told Scott Pitoniak that he almost transferred before his sophomore season when his father died unexpectedly after surgery for lung cancer. “I never got to say goodbye. I went home the next day. It was the longest flight I ever had to take.” He thought of transferring to Xavier, in his hometown of Cincinnati. Per Mike Waters, Orr had considered transferring back home even as a freshman. “I remember my father telling my cousin, ‘He’s not going nowhere. He’s staying in Syracuse.’ I almost didn’t go. Then I decided to come back.” He joined the team for an exhibition tour of Italy. “It was a good bonding trip God is good.” Waters says that “Orr struggled with his father’s death for his entire sophomore year.” Pitoniak: “But the caring and concern of his teammates and coaches, along with the encouragement of his family, convinced him to return to Syracuse.” Louis: “Basketball helped me to focus on something positive. At practice and during games, it took my mind off my grief.”
Boeheim: “I got a call from Ron Grinker, who told me that Louis had gone home and was thinking about staying there, probably transferring to Xavier. It was nothing against Syracuse; he was just distraught about losing his father. I flew out there and told Louis: “Look, I think the best place for you is Syracuse. This will be your home.”...Yes, we would be a better team with Louis Orr. But I truly believed that the best option for him and for his future as an NBA player would be to stay at Syracuse. I believed it with all my heart. I had just lost my mother, at age 58, to leukemia and I talked to Louis about that. Eventually, with the help of his family, and Grinker, Louis decided to stay. He says to this day that it was the best decision for him.”
SU fans weren’t feeling any grief. The team lost the exciting but vertically challenged backcourt of Jimmy Williams and Larry Kelley but added 6-2 point man “Fast Eddie” Moss, 6-2 shooting guard Marty Headd from CBA, 6-11 giant Danny Schayes from Jamesville-DeWitt, and 6-6 forward Chris Jerebko. Chris would be a career reserve, scoring 249 points in 58 games, (4.3 per game). Danny spent the first three years of his career backing up Rosey Bouie, to the consternation of his Hall of Fame father, Dolph, then emerged as a quality big man in his senior season before going onto an incredibly long, (19 season) NBA career in a similar role. Moss and Headd would give us better size in the backcourt. Eddie would share the point guard spot with senior Ross Kindel, (also 6-2) in his freshman season and Hal Cohen (6-0) as a sophomore but started every game as a junior in 1979-80 and a sophomore in 1980-81. He wasn’t much of a scorer but he set up his teammates for many baskets and was a tenacious defender. Marty provided some offense off the bench in his first year, then started every game until breaking his wrist to end his collegiate career late in his senior season. He shot an amazing 54% from the field for his career, (there was no three point line but most of his shots would have come from there), and scored at least 12 points a game from his sophomore season onward. He sometimes found himself paired with Hal Cohen in the backcourt, causing someone to dub them the “Coneheadds” after the Saturday Night Live sketch. (It helped that Marty was prematurely bald.)
Coneheads:
Cohenheadds:
JB in “Bleeding Orange“: “Our team began to develop a personality, a tough, spirited ethos that was typified by a player like Marty Headd. Before one game, I mentioned that it was going to be a dogfight and all of a sudden Marty goes “Bow Wow Wow!” Everybody thought he was crazy. During a game at St. Bonaventure in 1979, Marty was in fact as sick as a dog but was playing really well. He kept throwing up into a towel on the bench and I kept putting him back in, (with his blessing, of course), with two instructions: Don’t stop making jump shots and don’t start vomiting on the court. He listened to both orders, through after the game he was severely dehydrated.”
Besides the Louie and Bouie show, the returning players were the forward tandem of Marty Byrnes and Dale Shackelford, guard Ross Kindel and reserves Bill Drew, Kevin James and Mark Cubit. Jim Boeheim decided he wanted Louis Orr in his starting frontcourt and shifted the 6-6 Shackleford into the starting backcourt to make room for him. That gave us a big starting line-up with the 6-11 Bouie, the 6-8 Orr, the 6-7 Byrnes, the 6-6 Shackleford and the 6-2 Kindel. Bring it on, Charlotte! Unfortunately we didn’t play them again until 1990. Orr: “I think that might have been our most talented team. We had Bouie, Shack, Ross Kindel and Marty Byrnes.”
Jim was maturing as a coach, as well. Again, from “Bleeding Orange”: “I was learning to utilize a player’s strength, figure out what he does best and put him in a position to succeed. If a player can’t do something, then don’t ask him to do it and then wonder why later why he couldn’t do it…I was learning, too, that I could juggle defenses. I always had that zone in my head – we played it in high school under Coach Blackwell, though it was more of a 1-2-2 than a 2-3 – but we used a lot of man-to-man, too, in those early years. It was all good -the team, the fan base, the arena, then conference.” Scott Pitoniak in “100 Things Syracuse Fan Should Know and Do before they Die” says Dick Blackwell “employed both the 2-3 and 2-1-2 zones about 30% of the time as an effective change of pace to the tenacious man-to-man defense Blackwell liked to employ. While playing at Syracuse, Boeheim played it some more, although coach Fred Lewis was a bigger proponent of full-court pressure. As an assistant coach under Roy Danforth, Boeheim’s study and execution of the zone continued. And when he became head coach at SU in 1976, he began using it more than his predecessor had.” My own recollection is that the 2-3 was the basic defense of the “Roy’s Runts” era, because we never had the size to take on the bigger teams man-for-man. But now Boeheim had the bigger athletes so he played more ‘man’ than Danforth had.
The team opened the year ranked #11 in both polls. As had happened the previous year, the team opened with a victory over an Ivy League team, beating Cornell 88-61 in Manley, then lost their second game, this time to Dayton on the road, 67-76. The Flyers shot 75% in the first half and bolted out to a 26-10 lead. By half time it was 51-33. The closest the visitors could get was within 7 points. Their star, 6-9 Erv Giddings, scored 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Jim Paxson had 14 points and 5 assists. JB: “We’ve got a lot of young guys who weren’t ready for a road game.” Bouie had a nightmare game, playing only 11 minutes after committing 3 fouls in the first 7:28. He was pulled by a disgusted Boeheim after missing the opening tip of the second half, (they had one then). He didn’t score and had two rebounds. “He didn’t do the job and didn’t look ready to play” said Boeheim. Assistant Rick Pitino said “He’s a young player. He needs to make a big play to get momentum.” Orr and Byrnes carried the team in Bouie’s absence with 23 points and 13 rebounds and 21 and 9, respectively. Louis was the only player to play 40 minutes – before many friends and relatives in his own state. Dayton reserve center Rich Montague came up to him after the game and shook his hand, telling him, “You’re a Baaad man! I don’t know why no one recruited you.” (Well, someone did.)
The Orange shook that off to win their next 11 games in a row, including a couple of very memorable triumphs. A 101-61 blow-out of Connecticut, (those were the days….), preceded the first ever Carrier Classic, (yes, it pre-dated the Dome). The real opponent was Michigan State with a player, Earvin Johnson, who was said to be one of the top recruits in the country. In the pre-tourney banquet, MSU coach Jud Heathcote shocked everyone with his candor when he said, “I can’t believe we’re here. I didn’t want to come here and play.” JB: “It was an indelible moment in the history of the rubber-chicken circuit. I wondered then when I would reach the point where I could say exactly what was on my mind.” That point was coming in very near future.
The preliminary round pitted the Spartans against Rhode Island, who had another top recruit, Sly Williams – who would turn out to be the better player? – while Orange took on hometown Lemoyne, (who would have made a good first-round CC opponent every year but it was just for the first one). Both teams won by nearly identical scores: 92-64 and 90-62 but the Spartans win was clearly the more impressive as Rhode Island was considered much better than D2 Lemoyne, (who they beat 84-57 in the consey). Syracuse.com: “Spartan guard Bob Chapman scored 30 points on 11-for-11 shooting, but all the praise was for Magic Johnson. "But how many 6-foot, 8-inch players contribute ELEVEN assists (and three steals). Herald-Journal sports writer Bob Snyder said of Johnson's performance: Johnson brings the ball upcourt, plays guard, high post, just about everywhere...No. 33 really is 'Magic.'"
How could Syracuse stop this guy? Syracuse hadn’t won a tournament of any kind since Jim was playing in his sophomore year in the Hurricane Classic, where he and Dave Bing had led the team to wins over Princeton and Bill Bradley and Miami and Rick Barry. They’d been in 15 tournaments since and seen someone else cut down the nets – and the MVP had always come from that team, (with one exception: Dave Bing had been MVP of the LA Classic – from the first round loser’s bracket of an 8 team tournament - back in ‘65-66).
SU’s defense was a team effort as Magic, at one time or another, had every Syracuse player guarding him, often with double and triple teams. He missed 9 of 14 shots and had 9 turnovers. He managed 12 points and 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Center Jay Vincent led the Spartans with 23 points and 6 rebs while Chapman scored 15 on 9 for 9 shooting from the line. Meanwhile Syracuse’ Marty Byrnes scored 18 points on 6 for 10 shooting from the field and 6 of 7 from the foul line, had 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Four of his teammates were also in double figures, Bouie and Cohen had 14 each, Shack 12 and Orr 12. All seven blocked shots in the game we by Syracuse, 3 by Bouie. State had 21 turnovers to SU’s 14 but the Spartans won the boards 29-31. SU was 21/28 from the foul line to 15/16 from the visitors and out-shot them from the field, 54-48%.
Syracuse bolted out to a 24-14 lead but could never extend it. By intermission it was 40-36. JB: “We should have had ‘em early. We just didn’t put ‘em away”. The Spartans tied it at 53 and at 55. “With the Orange on top 63-61 and 6:27 left on the clock, Boeheim chose the slow down tactic. JB: “We just weren’t doing that well against their zone at the time. We were up by two and wanted to kill the clock and rely on good foul shooting. But we got a little careless. They had Earvin at guard and we felt that we could take advantage of it. If we’d been smart, we could have run it down.” [Run out the whole 6:27 without either team scoring again?] With 1:35 seconds left the game was tied at 63. Hal Cohen was fouled and missed the front end of a 1 and 1. But Marty Byrnes swooped in to grab the rebound and was fouled. He then missed the front end of a one and one. This time Rosey Bouie swept in and grabbed the ball and “dropped it in the hoop” to make it 65-63. A Johnson alley-oop went awry and Cohen was fouled again. This time he made two shots. Snyder: “In the final 41 seconds, it was Orange free-throw shooting against Johnson’s 20-footers”, (which counted for 2 in those days). Bouie made two frees, Johnson a long jumper, Ross Kindle hit two frees, “again answered by Johnson to make it 71-67 with 18 seconds left”. Kindle made two more frees, Byrnes blocked Johnson’s final shot and Cohen scored a break-away lay-up to end it.
In the joyous celebration afterwards, things suddenly got a lot less joyous when it was announced Earvin Johnson was MVP. Jim Boeheim became incensed. “We’ve played in tournaments for 15 years Always, a player from the winning team is the MVP. This is typical. It only happens in Syracuse. People say we’re the best in the east and nobody from SU makes anything. When Bing played on the West Coast, he had 40 and 38 and he didn’t get MVP.” [Yes he did, coach.] The image Jim Boeheim had presented to the public to date was of a calm, smiling, well-spoken young coach. Then came an article written by Rob Lawin, the Post Standard beat reporter, entitled “A Perfect Case of No Class”. It described Boeheim marching up and down press row, angrily lecturing the reporters who had voted on the MVP award. Jim had thrown a rolled-up program at him. We’d never met this Jim Boeheim. Lawin: “"The incredible thing about the entire incident is that Boeheim's motive was laudable - he felt that one of his players had been shafted. But the manner in which he acted was classless, tasteless and immature."
The MSU Sports Information Director came up to Jim and asked “Wait a minute – didn’t you win the game? Jud Heathcote said that “I always think the MVP should come from the winning team.” Even soon to be ‘Magic’ Johnson said “I didn’t expect it. I was surprised a guy from Syracuse didn’t win it.”
Snyder: “It’s alright for Coach Boeheim to stand up for his players…But to verbally assault Central New York media members in anything other than private, one-on-one discussion is wrong. This vote and others were made without malice toward any player or team. They should have been accepted that way…. We hope success or failure in a vote such as this will never again result in such a tirade.“
The Post Standard ran an editorial saying “the decision of awarding the MVP was a difficult one. Johnson had the biggest reputation, but the Orange put together a "team effort all the way," making it hard to choose just one player. It also excused Boeheim saying his "outburst was understandable," and said Lawin's response "went overboard in his reaction." (Syracuse.com)
Scott Pitoniak: “Some point to that incident as the beginning of Boeheim’s occasionally tempestuous relationship with the media.” Boeheim’s response to that: “I see it as something else. To me, it marked the moment when it became clear that I would stand up for my players, in any and all circumstances, if I believed they were being short-changed.”
After squeaking by Colgate 99-50, (remember those days?), SU’s main rival of this period, St. Bonaventure came to town and went back home with their tails between their legs, 107-81. I recall my mother, who knew nothing about basketball, watching this game on TV with me for a few minutes and, seeing the Orange fastbreaking down the court, saying “Gee…they are good, aren’t they?” The Herald-Journal Box score was titled “Manley Massacre”. A 42 second 9-0 run broke open a 24-22 game. It was 50-37 at halftime and 57-44 in the second half as the margin kept building. All 13 scholarship players scored and SU shot 57% to 36% for the stunned Bonnies. Marty Byrnes scored 25 points on 11 for 14 shooting. Bona Coach Satalin: “He’s tough as hell. If he gets in the lane and it doesn’t go in, he’s on the line. It’s two points, one way or another.” Louis Orr had 18 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists. Moss scored 14 and Shackleford 11 on 5 for 7 shooting. Bouie had 8 points and 9 rebounds. The visitors Greg Sanders and Tim Waterman tried mightily to keep up with 29 and 25 points, respectively, but they got little help from their teammates. Syracuse had a 24-5 lead in assists. It was another high turnover game, which seems to have been more common in those days. SU was +6 at 20-26. The Bonnies won the boards, 46-44, which disappointed Boeheim since it was a strength of this team. “I was surprised to see the man-for-man. It was the first time this year so it was the first we were really able to utilize Eddie.”
The Orange blew by American U. 85-67 and Penn State 81-45, then took a notable trip out west to play in the Lobo Classic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was the home court of the highly successful New Mexico program that had eliminated our 1967 team in the NIT. Under Bob King, (175-89) and Norm Ellenberger (134-62) had made a previously unsuccessful program into one of the best in the region. And this team would be the schools best yet, in terms of record, (24-4). They were led by two 6-5 stars, Marvin Johnson and Michael Cooper, who scored 40ppg between them. 6-8 Willie Howard and 6-5 Phil Abeny scored 13 a game each and 5-10 Russell Saunders averaged 9.0. They were 6-1 at this point, having lost to Southern California and unranked, (they would wind up ranked 12th, leading the nation in scoring at 97.5). They wanted to take down the 8-1, 10th ranked Orangemen. The game was taking place in an arena called by fans “The Pit”, known for its large and loud crowds, who had established a tradition of standing and clapping until their team scored the first field goal, intended as a message to the opposition that the crowd didn’t expect that to take long. The Lobos’ record in The Pit since it opened was 147-28. Its capacity at more than 18,000, was one of the largest in the country. The fact that Albuquerque is 5,000 feet above sea level was an advantage for the home team that was used to the thin air. Boeheim called The Pit, “the noisiest arena I’ve ever been in.” As Bob Snyder said , “When you’d spent half your life in Manley, that’s saying something.”
New Mexico brushed aside Vermont, 104-81 in the semis behind 29 points from Cooper, pushing their scoring average to 110 points per game. Syracuse had a much tougher time with a much tougher opponent, Mississippi State, a team that would go 18-9 this year, and 13-5 in the SEC. They had a good big man of their own in 6-10 Ricky Brown. SU never trailed in the last 29 minutes of the game but couldn’t pull away either. They led 34-27 at the half and won 76-66. “In the difference was the Orange bench” said the Herald Journal.“ Jim Boeheim got 23 points out of his reserves while Mississippi State got only 9. Marty Byrnes had 20 points and 7 rebounds. Dale Shackleford and 13 and 11. Hal Cohen had his best game yet with 12 points and 7 assists. Louie and Bouie didn’t have big games, shooting 8 for 20 but they totaled 16 points and 14 rebounds. But Rosey’s “defensive game was intimidating, to say the least. State coach Ron Greene said “Bouie did a good job of intimidating us inside. He forced us to take shots we didn’t want to take.” Orr fouled out and suffered a split lip. “It’s hard to understand some of the calls.”
In the final, Syracuse got off to a good start, ignoring the clapping crowd to take a 23-14 lead, only to have the Lobos go on a 2-13 run to take a two point lead. They led 43-49 at the half. What did Jim Boeheim tell his team? “There are four things we need to do to win. We have to prevent penetration, control the boards, beat their press and control our offense. That’s what we did in the second half.” The Orange put up 53 points to 42 in that half for the win. They took the lead at 56-55 and again at 60-59. And 18-6 run appeared to give them control of the game at 78-65. But Cooper and Johnson wouldn’t let the Lobos lose and got the lead down to 1 at 92-91 with 38 seconds left. I recall Joel Mareiness saying how tired the SU players looked at this point, trying to hold on in this altitude. I braced myself for a loss.
But Hal Cohen made two free throws and Ross Kindel did the same after a Cohen steal and SU had one of its greatest victories, 96-91. Marty Byrnes had 20 points and 8 rebounds, giving him 40 and 15 for the two games. Who won MVP? Michael Cooper from the losing team! (Marty would later be briefly both Magic’s and Michael teammate on the Lakers. I wonder if the subject of the current location of MVP trophies ever came up.) With 20 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. JB: “Maybe they should make it the most crowd-pleasing. But, the way it is now, it’s not the MVP.” Johnson had 21 and four other Lobos were in double figures. Kindel had a career high 23 points. Orr had 16 points and 8 rebounds, Bouie 11 and 13. Shack added 12 points. Ellenberger: “We wanted to run, do a job on the boards, and keep up the tempo. But Syracuse took things away. They showed great pride and it wasn’t just pride that won the game. Its pride in a very successful program. They are certainly deserving of their high ranking. We lost to a very, very good team.”
Two years later, Ellenberger was fired because of a recruiting scandal that was dubbed “LoboGate”.
en.wikipedia.org
Meanwhile the SU cheer leaders had noted the Lobo fans tradition of standing and clapping for the first basket of each half and decided to try to get something similar started for the first game after the winter break, which was against LaSalle:
www.syracuse.com
We’ve been doing it ever since, although “we” seems now to consist of the long-time fans that still go to the games.
The team came home to face North Texas State, a mid-major having a 65-18 three year run, including 22-6 for this year. The Orange was mean to the Mean Green, jumping out to a 17-4 lead. But the visitors rallied to come withing 29-27 before Louis Orr’s “beautiful baseline reverse lay-in” sparked an SU response that led to a 58-41 halftime lead. NTS made another run in the second half to get within 88-81 but SU remained in control to the 94-84 finish. Charles McMillian scored 29 for the visitors and Melvin Davis 26 but they didn’t get enough help from their teammates. SU had five players in double figures, led by Dale Shackleford with 23, Orr with 18p/12r, Byrnes with 16, Cohen with 12 and Kindel with 11. Roosevelt Bouie was “a big target for the for the flu” but managed 8p/10r in just 18 minutes of play.
JB: “We just didn’t have a good second half of basketball. We played a real good first half and, if anything that’s when we expected a letdown. But they’re a team with a heck of a lot of talent. They’re the kind of team that can score a lot of points and tonight they played a pretty good zone. Our biggest problem is that, in order to prepare for the tournament (in New Mexico) we’ve only had two days off since the beginning of the season. We’re sort of over-basketballed.”
Next the Orange travelled to Penn State (83-77) and Pittsburgh, where their 11 game winning streak came to an end at 81-86, despite 30 points from Shack and 24 from Byrnes. The team returned home to face LaSalle and Temple in Manley. The Explorers, coached by Paul Westhead, (before he went to the Lakers), had one of the top players in the country in Michael Brooks (24.1p/11.5r) and Temple one of the better teams, (24-5). SU beat both of them, 106-96 and 91-66. Marty Byrnes took on Brooks, holding him to 9 points and 9 rebounds. Brooks fouled out with 10 minutes left but the Explorers still rallied from 16 down, (80-64), to within two at 92-90 with 3:38 to go before SU regained control. JB: “We finally did something good off the four corners.” Kevin James hit Shack inside for two. Kindle drew a charge and then drove the lane to score. Marty Headd hit a 25 footer. Westhead said “I’d never heard of him”. Nine different Orangemen scored, five in double figures. We also had a huge edge on the boards, 67-44, with three double-doubles (Shack 19/14, Bouie 18/14 and Byrnes 17/11). The newspaper archive had only the front page article on the Temple game, which said that Marty Byrnes had 21 points and Rosey Bouie 17. “The Owls, now 13-2, had difficulty handling the larger SU team and found themselves in foul trouble not long into the second half.”
The team then went on another road trip and, for the first time in the Jim Boeheim Era lost two games in a row. For a time there was a rivalry between SU and Rutgers, Jim Boeheim and Tom Young and 6-11 Rosey Bouie and 6-9 James Bailey, arguably the two best centers in the East. Bailey averaged 23.5 points and 9.4 rebounds that year. Bouie couldn’t match that, (10.5/8.8) but was the better shot blocker and defender. Rutgers didn’t score in the first 6 minutes of the game but Syracuse was unable to take advantage of it and fell behind 26-33 by halftime. The Orange managed to grab a brief lead at 47-46 but other than that, couldn’t get over the hump. Foul trouble deprived Syracuse of Byrnes, Shackleford and Headd. The first two led the Orange in scoring with 17 points. Bailey and Steve Hefele fouled out “at the very end” for Rutgers. The final was 73-77. JB had some choice words for the refs: “There are good players on both teams. This was a physical game and a big game for both. I thought the officials should have let more contact go by. They called every bump. They dominated the game and it took some of the skills away from the players.”
The Cuse then moved on to Virginia Tech and, again, it wasn’t their night. Tech had a solid program in those days under Don DeVoe and Charlie Moir. They were 19-8 this year and this was their biggest win of the season. The best I could find was a box score on the Tech site for this game. It was 31-34 at halftime and 40-53 in the second half. It was still another high turnover game. Tech had 21 but Cuse had 28! Marty Byrnes had 21 points and 9 rebounds but nobody else scored more than 12 points. Bouie and Shackleford both fouled out. Orr had 10p/9r. We missed 10 free throws. Were the wheels falling off?
The schedule slackened at this point. Siena was beaten 100-73. A trip to Morgantown to face a losing West Virginia team produced a 74-73 squeaker. The only thing I’ve been able to find on that game is that Marty Byrnes led SU with 17 points. Buffalo was crushed 113-66. Then came a trip to St. John’s, (Alumni Hall, where they’d won 179 of 208 games, not the Garden), to play a Louie Carnesecca team that would finish 21-7. In a brilliant defensive performance, (the Redmen, as they were known then, shot 32.8% from the field), SU won 77-65. Syracuse jumped out to another 17-4 lead but this time kept the pedal to the medal. The Johnnies star forward, George Johnson, had 23 points and 20 rebounds but they never got within 7 points. Byrnes got 20 points, Shack 18, Orr 14 and Bouie 13. SU shot 51.5%.
The regular season closed out with Fordham, a trip to Niagara, Boston College and Canisius. The only close game was the only road game. Niagara had been our biggest rival a decade before but we were moving away from them – except on this night. Byrnes hit a lay-up with 18 second left and Bouie blocked a five-footer with that many seconds left to seal it, 70-69.
SU now moved into the post-season with a 22-4 record. Their first opponent, in the ECAC playoffs at Rochester, we Jimmy Satalin’s St. Bonaventure team, who they had crushed in December in Manley by 26 points. The Bonnies were 18-7 and had a real star in 6-6 Greg Sanders, averaging 22 points and 6 rebounds a game. But they also had depth and balance with five double figure scorers in 6-0 Glenn Hagan (16), who had missed the game in Manley, 6-8 Delmar Harrod (12 points), 6-2 Nick Urzetta (12 points) and 6-9 Tim Waterman (10 points), as well as sixth man 6-6 Earl Belcher (7 points), Marty Headd’s former teammate at CBA in Syracuse. They were a formidable team and they showed it.
From Rob Lawin’s Post Standard article: “Both teams played extremely well, but on this night, Bona seemed a bit sharper, playing with its catalyst, superb 6 foot guard Glenn Hagan…Utilizing Hagan’s ability to go one-on-one, Bonaventure’s coach, Jim Satalin, spread his offense out at the very beginning of the game. Doubled-pumping, dipsy-doodling, between the legs and behind the back, Hagan scored six of the Bonnie’s first eight points as the visitors, (designated visitors because of their lesser record), broke out on top, 10-6.” But SU’s big front line of the 6-11 Bouie, 6-8 Orr, 6-7 Byrnes and 6-6 Shackleford started to dominate inside and the ‘home’ team took a 24-17 lead. But that would be their biggest lead of the game. Sanders and Harrod, who hit an amazing 11 of 13 shots, led the Bonnies back to a 36-39 lead, only that close because Louis Orr made a jumper at the buzzer.
Harrod scored 6 points in a row to push the lead to 42-47. Orr’s tap-in was ruled basket interference and Hagan hit a free throw to make it 42-48. But SU took the lead with a 7-0 run keyed by a couple of Hal Cohen jumpers. Back and forth the game went with Urzetta scoring 10 of his 14 points in a 6-minute stretch. Byrnes and Orr countering with big plays, Louis tying it at 64 by following his own miss at 5:37.
It was 66-68 when Eddie Moss stole a Hagan pass to Harrod and went the distance for as tying lay-up with 4:42 left. He was fouled and gave SU the lead at 69-68.
Both teams went conservative, (there was no shot clock), and scoring points became like squeezing the last toothpaste out of the tube. SU sat back in their 2-3 zone while the clock dwindled and the tension increased. Finally, with 23 seconds left, Satalin signaled for his team to “go”. “With about 17 seconds left, the ball went to Harrod, who immediately turned around and looped a 15 foot shot over the stretching Bouie…As it has in two previous situations this season, (one point wins over West Virginia and Niagara), the Orangemen pushed the ball downcourt, swung it around the perimeter and finally dished it off to Marty Byrnes at the top of the foul line, 10 feet away from the basket. But Byrnes left-handed floater amid three bodies bounced off the rim, rolling out of bounds as time expired.”
JB: “They got the ball right where we wanted them to take it. There it was 6-6, [actually 6-8] against 6-11. I don’t’ want Sanders or Hagan to beat us – and they didn’t. The guys who wound up beating us were Harrod and Urzetta.” JS: “We were supposed to take the first good shot – a 15 footer or a lay-up. But I really didn’t want to hold the ball that long. The shot didn’t come up for us. We just caught them by surprise with Harrod.” Playing defense with 4:42 left and giving up a 15 footer from the other team’s third leading scorer against a 6-11 shot blocker is pretty good defense. But it wasn’t enough on this occasion. (A brief New York Times article on the game describes Harrod’s shot as “a turn-around hook shot” A what?)
SU won the boards, 37-27 but the Bonnies out-shot us 47%-55%. The box score doesn’t have turnovers. Harrod scored 22 points, Sanders and Urzetta 14 each and Hagan 12 with just 2 assists, (only 8 assists were credited for the two teams in the game). Orr was our best player with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Bouie had 14/11 and Byrnes 17/8. Kindel was 0 for 5 and didn’t score. Belcher out-scored former teammate Headd 6-0.
Two side-bars: Greg Sanders had been arrested that day for shop-lifting but was bailed out to play in the game. The second was an article written by a young sports reporter describing the game that began like this: “Although there were those in the house who had warned against such talk, there was an honest pre-game feeling that among a goodly number of Orange followers that if Wednesday night’s basketball exercise at the Rochester War Memorial was a dance contest, Syracuse would be Tony Manero to St. Bonaventure’s Jerry Lewis.” Yes, Bud Poliquin was briefly on the staff of the Post Standard before moving on the San Diego. He returned here in 1984 as the sports editor of the Herald-Journal.
Even at 22-5 and ranked #18, there was significant angst among SU players and coaches that they might not be selected for the 32 team NCAA tournament. JB: “They can do anything they want. It’s going to be a committee decision and they can do whatever they want to do. We just have to wait.” Hal Cohen: “It’s frustrating….it’s frustrating. I hate to think we had a shot at playing in the NCAA’s and that now we might not. We’ve worked so hard and now it will be too bad if we don’t get to go anywhere.” Bouie: “I’m not accustomed to losing so I didn’t think it was possible that we might until that last shot. Now I’m like everyone else. I’ll just have to wait to see what the NCAA is going to do.”
They had nothing to worry about. Not only were the Orange chosen for the 32 team field but they were given a virtual walk-over in the first round, a 14-13 Western Kentucky team that had only made the field by winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. They’d gotten off to a 2-8 start and had played only two ranked teams, giving Michigan some trouble in the opener before losing 81-87 and getting handled by Maryland 78-91. They’d lost 63-80 to St. John’s, who we’d beaten 77-65, to LaSalle 64-78, who we’d beaten 106-96. Other losses had been to Memphis, Butler, Milwaukee, Eastern Kentucky (twice), Dayton, Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee and Austin Peay. Orange fans could be forgiven for looking past that to a possible rematch with Michigan State, who was paired with Providence. The other half of the Mideast bracket featured defending national champion Marquette and #1 ranked Kentucky, (who would win it this year). Take care of business and the Orange would be in there with the big boys.
Unfortunately, I found no article on this frustrating game. The various books I’ve collected avoid the subject. Scott Pitoniak blames the defeat on the “deleterious effects” of the St. Bonaventure loss. (The 1991 loss to Richmond seemed to be impacted by blowing a 16 point lead to Villanova in the Big East tournament a week before so he may be right). The only other writer to mention it is Bob Snyder, who notes that after Marty Byrnes was denied the Carrier Classic MVP, a sign appeared in the crowd at Manley saying “Boeheim 1 Media 0”. He then asks “Would the vote have been reversed after SU lost its opener to a less-than-overwhelming Western Kentucky team?” That’s it. Everybody wants to forget this game. I certainly remember it, at least how it ended. And I’ve found the box score.
It was comparable to the 1991 Richmond and 2005 Vermont games: a desultory performance that allows the underdog to stay into the game until it’s no longer a matter of who’s favored or why: just who is going to make the plays to win the game. 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.
I have two box scores: Orangehoops and Sports Reference:
www.sports-reference.com
Orangehoops has reversed the turnover and steal totals, crediting the Hilltoppers with 22 steals! That was actually 22 turnovers but we had more of them: 27, indicating what a sloppy game this was.
Bouie had 6 of them, (these are likely passes to him, which I think tend to be more the fault of the passer: we were probably trying to take advantage of a height advantage – they had no one over 6-7 and WKU was aware of our plan and cut off the passing lanes). Cohen, Kindal and Byrnes had 4. turnovers each. We were also out-rebounded by the shorter team, 39-41. Rosey Bouie gave it all he had with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 8 blocks. Marty had 21 points, but it should have been 23! Hal Cohen did have 23. Orr had 14/8. But Kindell ended his career in a funk, again going scoreless in 20 minutes while attempting just one shot. Dale Shackleford also had a bad game, fouling out in 15 minutes and scoring just 4 points.
Bouie: “We never seemed to have the success we should have had in the post-season. That team was a very good team. We felt we should have won.” Orr: “We should never have lost to them. They weren’t a bad team but we were coming off a tough loss to St. Bonaventure in the ECACs and I think maybe we weren’t ready to go.” The Hilltoppers were topped my Magic Johnson’s Michigan State team in the Sweet 16, 90-69. Then the Spartans were nipped by Kentucky, 52-49 in the Elite 8. The Wildcats went on to beat Duke for the national title.
Rosey finished the year averaging 10.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 3.0 blocks, 4.0 missed shots 1.0 missed free throws and 3.1 fouls per game for 14.4NP. while Louis averaged 12.8p, 7.8r, 1.3a, 5.2mfg, 0.6mft, 2.6pf for 13.5. Unlike 1976-77, I don’t have minutes played, so those numbers are down. Bouie played 25 minutes a game as a freshman and Orr 18. As in 1976-77 I don’t have steals, blocks, (except Bouie, from Orangehoops), or turnovers. Rosey’s per game numbers were virtually identical in the two seasons. Louis’s were similar except he played more minutes, starting all 28 games instead of just 2, so they all increased “with the tide”. The one difference is that Rosey shot 59% from the line rather than the uncharacteristic 83% he shot as a freshman.
Marty Byrnes ended his career averaging 16.3p/6.9r in his senior year, (Sports Reference has him at 19.9/8.4 but playing only 23 games: he played in all 28). He would have to be replaced. Junior Dale Shackleford averaged 14.1p/5.7r/3.0a. The team needed an upgrade over Ross Kindel, (7.3) and Hal Cohen (6.6) in the backcourt. Eddie Moss and Marty Headd would see more time in subsequent seasons.
People couldn’t wait to see what the second year of the Louie and Bouie Show would bring. But there almost wasn’t a second year. Louis told Scott Pitoniak that he almost transferred before his sophomore season when his father died unexpectedly after surgery for lung cancer. “I never got to say goodbye. I went home the next day. It was the longest flight I ever had to take.” He thought of transferring to Xavier, in his hometown of Cincinnati. Per Mike Waters, Orr had considered transferring back home even as a freshman. “I remember my father telling my cousin, ‘He’s not going nowhere. He’s staying in Syracuse.’ I almost didn’t go. Then I decided to come back.” He joined the team for an exhibition tour of Italy. “It was a good bonding trip God is good.” Waters says that “Orr struggled with his father’s death for his entire sophomore year.” Pitoniak: “But the caring and concern of his teammates and coaches, along with the encouragement of his family, convinced him to return to Syracuse.” Louis: “Basketball helped me to focus on something positive. At practice and during games, it took my mind off my grief.”
Boeheim: “I got a call from Ron Grinker, who told me that Louis had gone home and was thinking about staying there, probably transferring to Xavier. It was nothing against Syracuse; he was just distraught about losing his father. I flew out there and told Louis: “Look, I think the best place for you is Syracuse. This will be your home.”...Yes, we would be a better team with Louis Orr. But I truly believed that the best option for him and for his future as an NBA player would be to stay at Syracuse. I believed it with all my heart. I had just lost my mother, at age 58, to leukemia and I talked to Louis about that. Eventually, with the help of his family, and Grinker, Louis decided to stay. He says to this day that it was the best decision for him.”
SU fans weren’t feeling any grief. The team lost the exciting but vertically challenged backcourt of Jimmy Williams and Larry Kelley but added 6-2 point man “Fast Eddie” Moss, 6-2 shooting guard Marty Headd from CBA, 6-11 giant Danny Schayes from Jamesville-DeWitt, and 6-6 forward Chris Jerebko. Chris would be a career reserve, scoring 249 points in 58 games, (4.3 per game). Danny spent the first three years of his career backing up Rosey Bouie, to the consternation of his Hall of Fame father, Dolph, then emerged as a quality big man in his senior season before going onto an incredibly long, (19 season) NBA career in a similar role. Moss and Headd would give us better size in the backcourt. Eddie would share the point guard spot with senior Ross Kindel, (also 6-2) in his freshman season and Hal Cohen (6-0) as a sophomore but started every game as a junior in 1979-80 and a sophomore in 1980-81. He wasn’t much of a scorer but he set up his teammates for many baskets and was a tenacious defender. Marty provided some offense off the bench in his first year, then started every game until breaking his wrist to end his collegiate career late in his senior season. He shot an amazing 54% from the field for his career, (there was no three point line but most of his shots would have come from there), and scored at least 12 points a game from his sophomore season onward. He sometimes found himself paired with Hal Cohen in the backcourt, causing someone to dub them the “Coneheadds” after the Saturday Night Live sketch. (It helped that Marty was prematurely bald.)
Coneheads:
JB in “Bleeding Orange“: “Our team began to develop a personality, a tough, spirited ethos that was typified by a player like Marty Headd. Before one game, I mentioned that it was going to be a dogfight and all of a sudden Marty goes “Bow Wow Wow!” Everybody thought he was crazy. During a game at St. Bonaventure in 1979, Marty was in fact as sick as a dog but was playing really well. He kept throwing up into a towel on the bench and I kept putting him back in, (with his blessing, of course), with two instructions: Don’t stop making jump shots and don’t start vomiting on the court. He listened to both orders, through after the game he was severely dehydrated.”
Besides the Louie and Bouie show, the returning players were the forward tandem of Marty Byrnes and Dale Shackelford, guard Ross Kindel and reserves Bill Drew, Kevin James and Mark Cubit. Jim Boeheim decided he wanted Louis Orr in his starting frontcourt and shifted the 6-6 Shackleford into the starting backcourt to make room for him. That gave us a big starting line-up with the 6-11 Bouie, the 6-8 Orr, the 6-7 Byrnes, the 6-6 Shackleford and the 6-2 Kindel. Bring it on, Charlotte! Unfortunately we didn’t play them again until 1990. Orr: “I think that might have been our most talented team. We had Bouie, Shack, Ross Kindel and Marty Byrnes.”
Jim was maturing as a coach, as well. Again, from “Bleeding Orange”: “I was learning to utilize a player’s strength, figure out what he does best and put him in a position to succeed. If a player can’t do something, then don’t ask him to do it and then wonder why later why he couldn’t do it…I was learning, too, that I could juggle defenses. I always had that zone in my head – we played it in high school under Coach Blackwell, though it was more of a 1-2-2 than a 2-3 – but we used a lot of man-to-man, too, in those early years. It was all good -the team, the fan base, the arena, then conference.” Scott Pitoniak in “100 Things Syracuse Fan Should Know and Do before they Die” says Dick Blackwell “employed both the 2-3 and 2-1-2 zones about 30% of the time as an effective change of pace to the tenacious man-to-man defense Blackwell liked to employ. While playing at Syracuse, Boeheim played it some more, although coach Fred Lewis was a bigger proponent of full-court pressure. As an assistant coach under Roy Danforth, Boeheim’s study and execution of the zone continued. And when he became head coach at SU in 1976, he began using it more than his predecessor had.” My own recollection is that the 2-3 was the basic defense of the “Roy’s Runts” era, because we never had the size to take on the bigger teams man-for-man. But now Boeheim had the bigger athletes so he played more ‘man’ than Danforth had.
The team opened the year ranked #11 in both polls. As had happened the previous year, the team opened with a victory over an Ivy League team, beating Cornell 88-61 in Manley, then lost their second game, this time to Dayton on the road, 67-76. The Flyers shot 75% in the first half and bolted out to a 26-10 lead. By half time it was 51-33. The closest the visitors could get was within 7 points. Their star, 6-9 Erv Giddings, scored 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Jim Paxson had 14 points and 5 assists. JB: “We’ve got a lot of young guys who weren’t ready for a road game.” Bouie had a nightmare game, playing only 11 minutes after committing 3 fouls in the first 7:28. He was pulled by a disgusted Boeheim after missing the opening tip of the second half, (they had one then). He didn’t score and had two rebounds. “He didn’t do the job and didn’t look ready to play” said Boeheim. Assistant Rick Pitino said “He’s a young player. He needs to make a big play to get momentum.” Orr and Byrnes carried the team in Bouie’s absence with 23 points and 13 rebounds and 21 and 9, respectively. Louis was the only player to play 40 minutes – before many friends and relatives in his own state. Dayton reserve center Rich Montague came up to him after the game and shook his hand, telling him, “You’re a Baaad man! I don’t know why no one recruited you.” (Well, someone did.)
The Orange shook that off to win their next 11 games in a row, including a couple of very memorable triumphs. A 101-61 blow-out of Connecticut, (those were the days….), preceded the first ever Carrier Classic, (yes, it pre-dated the Dome). The real opponent was Michigan State with a player, Earvin Johnson, who was said to be one of the top recruits in the country. In the pre-tourney banquet, MSU coach Jud Heathcote shocked everyone with his candor when he said, “I can’t believe we’re here. I didn’t want to come here and play.” JB: “It was an indelible moment in the history of the rubber-chicken circuit. I wondered then when I would reach the point where I could say exactly what was on my mind.” That point was coming in very near future.
The preliminary round pitted the Spartans against Rhode Island, who had another top recruit, Sly Williams – who would turn out to be the better player? – while Orange took on hometown Lemoyne, (who would have made a good first-round CC opponent every year but it was just for the first one). Both teams won by nearly identical scores: 92-64 and 90-62 but the Spartans win was clearly the more impressive as Rhode Island was considered much better than D2 Lemoyne, (who they beat 84-57 in the consey). Syracuse.com: “Spartan guard Bob Chapman scored 30 points on 11-for-11 shooting, but all the praise was for Magic Johnson. "But how many 6-foot, 8-inch players contribute ELEVEN assists (and three steals). Herald-Journal sports writer Bob Snyder said of Johnson's performance: Johnson brings the ball upcourt, plays guard, high post, just about everywhere...No. 33 really is 'Magic.'"
How could Syracuse stop this guy? Syracuse hadn’t won a tournament of any kind since Jim was playing in his sophomore year in the Hurricane Classic, where he and Dave Bing had led the team to wins over Princeton and Bill Bradley and Miami and Rick Barry. They’d been in 15 tournaments since and seen someone else cut down the nets – and the MVP had always come from that team, (with one exception: Dave Bing had been MVP of the LA Classic – from the first round loser’s bracket of an 8 team tournament - back in ‘65-66).
SU’s defense was a team effort as Magic, at one time or another, had every Syracuse player guarding him, often with double and triple teams. He missed 9 of 14 shots and had 9 turnovers. He managed 12 points and 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Center Jay Vincent led the Spartans with 23 points and 6 rebs while Chapman scored 15 on 9 for 9 shooting from the line. Meanwhile Syracuse’ Marty Byrnes scored 18 points on 6 for 10 shooting from the field and 6 of 7 from the foul line, had 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Four of his teammates were also in double figures, Bouie and Cohen had 14 each, Shack 12 and Orr 12. All seven blocked shots in the game we by Syracuse, 3 by Bouie. State had 21 turnovers to SU’s 14 but the Spartans won the boards 29-31. SU was 21/28 from the foul line to 15/16 from the visitors and out-shot them from the field, 54-48%.
Syracuse bolted out to a 24-14 lead but could never extend it. By intermission it was 40-36. JB: “We should have had ‘em early. We just didn’t put ‘em away”. The Spartans tied it at 53 and at 55. “With the Orange on top 63-61 and 6:27 left on the clock, Boeheim chose the slow down tactic. JB: “We just weren’t doing that well against their zone at the time. We were up by two and wanted to kill the clock and rely on good foul shooting. But we got a little careless. They had Earvin at guard and we felt that we could take advantage of it. If we’d been smart, we could have run it down.” [Run out the whole 6:27 without either team scoring again?] With 1:35 seconds left the game was tied at 63. Hal Cohen was fouled and missed the front end of a 1 and 1. But Marty Byrnes swooped in to grab the rebound and was fouled. He then missed the front end of a one and one. This time Rosey Bouie swept in and grabbed the ball and “dropped it in the hoop” to make it 65-63. A Johnson alley-oop went awry and Cohen was fouled again. This time he made two shots. Snyder: “In the final 41 seconds, it was Orange free-throw shooting against Johnson’s 20-footers”, (which counted for 2 in those days). Bouie made two frees, Johnson a long jumper, Ross Kindle hit two frees, “again answered by Johnson to make it 71-67 with 18 seconds left”. Kindle made two more frees, Byrnes blocked Johnson’s final shot and Cohen scored a break-away lay-up to end it.
In the joyous celebration afterwards, things suddenly got a lot less joyous when it was announced Earvin Johnson was MVP. Jim Boeheim became incensed. “We’ve played in tournaments for 15 years Always, a player from the winning team is the MVP. This is typical. It only happens in Syracuse. People say we’re the best in the east and nobody from SU makes anything. When Bing played on the West Coast, he had 40 and 38 and he didn’t get MVP.” [Yes he did, coach.] The image Jim Boeheim had presented to the public to date was of a calm, smiling, well-spoken young coach. Then came an article written by Rob Lawin, the Post Standard beat reporter, entitled “A Perfect Case of No Class”. It described Boeheim marching up and down press row, angrily lecturing the reporters who had voted on the MVP award. Jim had thrown a rolled-up program at him. We’d never met this Jim Boeheim. Lawin: “"The incredible thing about the entire incident is that Boeheim's motive was laudable - he felt that one of his players had been shafted. But the manner in which he acted was classless, tasteless and immature."
The MSU Sports Information Director came up to Jim and asked “Wait a minute – didn’t you win the game? Jud Heathcote said that “I always think the MVP should come from the winning team.” Even soon to be ‘Magic’ Johnson said “I didn’t expect it. I was surprised a guy from Syracuse didn’t win it.”
Snyder: “It’s alright for Coach Boeheim to stand up for his players…But to verbally assault Central New York media members in anything other than private, one-on-one discussion is wrong. This vote and others were made without malice toward any player or team. They should have been accepted that way…. We hope success or failure in a vote such as this will never again result in such a tirade.“
The Post Standard ran an editorial saying “the decision of awarding the MVP was a difficult one. Johnson had the biggest reputation, but the Orange put together a "team effort all the way," making it hard to choose just one player. It also excused Boeheim saying his "outburst was understandable," and said Lawin's response "went overboard in his reaction." (Syracuse.com)
Scott Pitoniak: “Some point to that incident as the beginning of Boeheim’s occasionally tempestuous relationship with the media.” Boeheim’s response to that: “I see it as something else. To me, it marked the moment when it became clear that I would stand up for my players, in any and all circumstances, if I believed they were being short-changed.”
After squeaking by Colgate 99-50, (remember those days?), SU’s main rival of this period, St. Bonaventure came to town and went back home with their tails between their legs, 107-81. I recall my mother, who knew nothing about basketball, watching this game on TV with me for a few minutes and, seeing the Orange fastbreaking down the court, saying “Gee…they are good, aren’t they?” The Herald-Journal Box score was titled “Manley Massacre”. A 42 second 9-0 run broke open a 24-22 game. It was 50-37 at halftime and 57-44 in the second half as the margin kept building. All 13 scholarship players scored and SU shot 57% to 36% for the stunned Bonnies. Marty Byrnes scored 25 points on 11 for 14 shooting. Bona Coach Satalin: “He’s tough as hell. If he gets in the lane and it doesn’t go in, he’s on the line. It’s two points, one way or another.” Louis Orr had 18 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists. Moss scored 14 and Shackleford 11 on 5 for 7 shooting. Bouie had 8 points and 9 rebounds. The visitors Greg Sanders and Tim Waterman tried mightily to keep up with 29 and 25 points, respectively, but they got little help from their teammates. Syracuse had a 24-5 lead in assists. It was another high turnover game, which seems to have been more common in those days. SU was +6 at 20-26. The Bonnies won the boards, 46-44, which disappointed Boeheim since it was a strength of this team. “I was surprised to see the man-for-man. It was the first time this year so it was the first we were really able to utilize Eddie.”
The Orange blew by American U. 85-67 and Penn State 81-45, then took a notable trip out west to play in the Lobo Classic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was the home court of the highly successful New Mexico program that had eliminated our 1967 team in the NIT. Under Bob King, (175-89) and Norm Ellenberger (134-62) had made a previously unsuccessful program into one of the best in the region. And this team would be the schools best yet, in terms of record, (24-4). They were led by two 6-5 stars, Marvin Johnson and Michael Cooper, who scored 40ppg between them. 6-8 Willie Howard and 6-5 Phil Abeny scored 13 a game each and 5-10 Russell Saunders averaged 9.0. They were 6-1 at this point, having lost to Southern California and unranked, (they would wind up ranked 12th, leading the nation in scoring at 97.5). They wanted to take down the 8-1, 10th ranked Orangemen. The game was taking place in an arena called by fans “The Pit”, known for its large and loud crowds, who had established a tradition of standing and clapping until their team scored the first field goal, intended as a message to the opposition that the crowd didn’t expect that to take long. The Lobos’ record in The Pit since it opened was 147-28. Its capacity at more than 18,000, was one of the largest in the country. The fact that Albuquerque is 5,000 feet above sea level was an advantage for the home team that was used to the thin air. Boeheim called The Pit, “the noisiest arena I’ve ever been in.” As Bob Snyder said , “When you’d spent half your life in Manley, that’s saying something.”
New Mexico brushed aside Vermont, 104-81 in the semis behind 29 points from Cooper, pushing their scoring average to 110 points per game. Syracuse had a much tougher time with a much tougher opponent, Mississippi State, a team that would go 18-9 this year, and 13-5 in the SEC. They had a good big man of their own in 6-10 Ricky Brown. SU never trailed in the last 29 minutes of the game but couldn’t pull away either. They led 34-27 at the half and won 76-66. “In the difference was the Orange bench” said the Herald Journal.“ Jim Boeheim got 23 points out of his reserves while Mississippi State got only 9. Marty Byrnes had 20 points and 7 rebounds. Dale Shackleford and 13 and 11. Hal Cohen had his best game yet with 12 points and 7 assists. Louie and Bouie didn’t have big games, shooting 8 for 20 but they totaled 16 points and 14 rebounds. But Rosey’s “defensive game was intimidating, to say the least. State coach Ron Greene said “Bouie did a good job of intimidating us inside. He forced us to take shots we didn’t want to take.” Orr fouled out and suffered a split lip. “It’s hard to understand some of the calls.”
In the final, Syracuse got off to a good start, ignoring the clapping crowd to take a 23-14 lead, only to have the Lobos go on a 2-13 run to take a two point lead. They led 43-49 at the half. What did Jim Boeheim tell his team? “There are four things we need to do to win. We have to prevent penetration, control the boards, beat their press and control our offense. That’s what we did in the second half.” The Orange put up 53 points to 42 in that half for the win. They took the lead at 56-55 and again at 60-59. And 18-6 run appeared to give them control of the game at 78-65. But Cooper and Johnson wouldn’t let the Lobos lose and got the lead down to 1 at 92-91 with 38 seconds left. I recall Joel Mareiness saying how tired the SU players looked at this point, trying to hold on in this altitude. I braced myself for a loss.
But Hal Cohen made two free throws and Ross Kindel did the same after a Cohen steal and SU had one of its greatest victories, 96-91. Marty Byrnes had 20 points and 8 rebounds, giving him 40 and 15 for the two games. Who won MVP? Michael Cooper from the losing team! (Marty would later be briefly both Magic’s and Michael teammate on the Lakers. I wonder if the subject of the current location of MVP trophies ever came up.) With 20 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. JB: “Maybe they should make it the most crowd-pleasing. But, the way it is now, it’s not the MVP.” Johnson had 21 and four other Lobos were in double figures. Kindel had a career high 23 points. Orr had 16 points and 8 rebounds, Bouie 11 and 13. Shack added 12 points. Ellenberger: “We wanted to run, do a job on the boards, and keep up the tempo. But Syracuse took things away. They showed great pride and it wasn’t just pride that won the game. Its pride in a very successful program. They are certainly deserving of their high ranking. We lost to a very, very good team.”
Two years later, Ellenberger was fired because of a recruiting scandal that was dubbed “LoboGate”.
New Mexico Lobos men's basketball - Wikipedia
Why do Syracuse basketball fans stand and clap to start games? The answer can be found in 1977
Before the start of every basketball game, Syracuse fans stand and clap until the Orange scores its first basket. But where did the tradition come from?
The team came home to face North Texas State, a mid-major having a 65-18 three year run, including 22-6 for this year. The Orange was mean to the Mean Green, jumping out to a 17-4 lead. But the visitors rallied to come withing 29-27 before Louis Orr’s “beautiful baseline reverse lay-in” sparked an SU response that led to a 58-41 halftime lead. NTS made another run in the second half to get within 88-81 but SU remained in control to the 94-84 finish. Charles McMillian scored 29 for the visitors and Melvin Davis 26 but they didn’t get enough help from their teammates. SU had five players in double figures, led by Dale Shackleford with 23, Orr with 18p/12r, Byrnes with 16, Cohen with 12 and Kindel with 11. Roosevelt Bouie was “a big target for the for the flu” but managed 8p/10r in just 18 minutes of play.
JB: “We just didn’t have a good second half of basketball. We played a real good first half and, if anything that’s when we expected a letdown. But they’re a team with a heck of a lot of talent. They’re the kind of team that can score a lot of points and tonight they played a pretty good zone. Our biggest problem is that, in order to prepare for the tournament (in New Mexico) we’ve only had two days off since the beginning of the season. We’re sort of over-basketballed.”
Next the Orange travelled to Penn State (83-77) and Pittsburgh, where their 11 game winning streak came to an end at 81-86, despite 30 points from Shack and 24 from Byrnes. The team returned home to face LaSalle and Temple in Manley. The Explorers, coached by Paul Westhead, (before he went to the Lakers), had one of the top players in the country in Michael Brooks (24.1p/11.5r) and Temple one of the better teams, (24-5). SU beat both of them, 106-96 and 91-66. Marty Byrnes took on Brooks, holding him to 9 points and 9 rebounds. Brooks fouled out with 10 minutes left but the Explorers still rallied from 16 down, (80-64), to within two at 92-90 with 3:38 to go before SU regained control. JB: “We finally did something good off the four corners.” Kevin James hit Shack inside for two. Kindle drew a charge and then drove the lane to score. Marty Headd hit a 25 footer. Westhead said “I’d never heard of him”. Nine different Orangemen scored, five in double figures. We also had a huge edge on the boards, 67-44, with three double-doubles (Shack 19/14, Bouie 18/14 and Byrnes 17/11). The newspaper archive had only the front page article on the Temple game, which said that Marty Byrnes had 21 points and Rosey Bouie 17. “The Owls, now 13-2, had difficulty handling the larger SU team and found themselves in foul trouble not long into the second half.”
The team then went on another road trip and, for the first time in the Jim Boeheim Era lost two games in a row. For a time there was a rivalry between SU and Rutgers, Jim Boeheim and Tom Young and 6-11 Rosey Bouie and 6-9 James Bailey, arguably the two best centers in the East. Bailey averaged 23.5 points and 9.4 rebounds that year. Bouie couldn’t match that, (10.5/8.8) but was the better shot blocker and defender. Rutgers didn’t score in the first 6 minutes of the game but Syracuse was unable to take advantage of it and fell behind 26-33 by halftime. The Orange managed to grab a brief lead at 47-46 but other than that, couldn’t get over the hump. Foul trouble deprived Syracuse of Byrnes, Shackleford and Headd. The first two led the Orange in scoring with 17 points. Bailey and Steve Hefele fouled out “at the very end” for Rutgers. The final was 73-77. JB had some choice words for the refs: “There are good players on both teams. This was a physical game and a big game for both. I thought the officials should have let more contact go by. They called every bump. They dominated the game and it took some of the skills away from the players.”
The Cuse then moved on to Virginia Tech and, again, it wasn’t their night. Tech had a solid program in those days under Don DeVoe and Charlie Moir. They were 19-8 this year and this was their biggest win of the season. The best I could find was a box score on the Tech site for this game. It was 31-34 at halftime and 40-53 in the second half. It was still another high turnover game. Tech had 21 but Cuse had 28! Marty Byrnes had 21 points and 9 rebounds but nobody else scored more than 12 points. Bouie and Shackleford both fouled out. Orr had 10p/9r. We missed 10 free throws. Were the wheels falling off?
The schedule slackened at this point. Siena was beaten 100-73. A trip to Morgantown to face a losing West Virginia team produced a 74-73 squeaker. The only thing I’ve been able to find on that game is that Marty Byrnes led SU with 17 points. Buffalo was crushed 113-66. Then came a trip to St. John’s, (Alumni Hall, where they’d won 179 of 208 games, not the Garden), to play a Louie Carnesecca team that would finish 21-7. In a brilliant defensive performance, (the Redmen, as they were known then, shot 32.8% from the field), SU won 77-65. Syracuse jumped out to another 17-4 lead but this time kept the pedal to the medal. The Johnnies star forward, George Johnson, had 23 points and 20 rebounds but they never got within 7 points. Byrnes got 20 points, Shack 18, Orr 14 and Bouie 13. SU shot 51.5%.
The regular season closed out with Fordham, a trip to Niagara, Boston College and Canisius. The only close game was the only road game. Niagara had been our biggest rival a decade before but we were moving away from them – except on this night. Byrnes hit a lay-up with 18 second left and Bouie blocked a five-footer with that many seconds left to seal it, 70-69.
SU now moved into the post-season with a 22-4 record. Their first opponent, in the ECAC playoffs at Rochester, we Jimmy Satalin’s St. Bonaventure team, who they had crushed in December in Manley by 26 points. The Bonnies were 18-7 and had a real star in 6-6 Greg Sanders, averaging 22 points and 6 rebounds a game. But they also had depth and balance with five double figure scorers in 6-0 Glenn Hagan (16), who had missed the game in Manley, 6-8 Delmar Harrod (12 points), 6-2 Nick Urzetta (12 points) and 6-9 Tim Waterman (10 points), as well as sixth man 6-6 Earl Belcher (7 points), Marty Headd’s former teammate at CBA in Syracuse. They were a formidable team and they showed it.
From Rob Lawin’s Post Standard article: “Both teams played extremely well, but on this night, Bona seemed a bit sharper, playing with its catalyst, superb 6 foot guard Glenn Hagan…Utilizing Hagan’s ability to go one-on-one, Bonaventure’s coach, Jim Satalin, spread his offense out at the very beginning of the game. Doubled-pumping, dipsy-doodling, between the legs and behind the back, Hagan scored six of the Bonnie’s first eight points as the visitors, (designated visitors because of their lesser record), broke out on top, 10-6.” But SU’s big front line of the 6-11 Bouie, 6-8 Orr, 6-7 Byrnes and 6-6 Shackleford started to dominate inside and the ‘home’ team took a 24-17 lead. But that would be their biggest lead of the game. Sanders and Harrod, who hit an amazing 11 of 13 shots, led the Bonnies back to a 36-39 lead, only that close because Louis Orr made a jumper at the buzzer.
Harrod scored 6 points in a row to push the lead to 42-47. Orr’s tap-in was ruled basket interference and Hagan hit a free throw to make it 42-48. But SU took the lead with a 7-0 run keyed by a couple of Hal Cohen jumpers. Back and forth the game went with Urzetta scoring 10 of his 14 points in a 6-minute stretch. Byrnes and Orr countering with big plays, Louis tying it at 64 by following his own miss at 5:37.
It was 66-68 when Eddie Moss stole a Hagan pass to Harrod and went the distance for as tying lay-up with 4:42 left. He was fouled and gave SU the lead at 69-68.
Both teams went conservative, (there was no shot clock), and scoring points became like squeezing the last toothpaste out of the tube. SU sat back in their 2-3 zone while the clock dwindled and the tension increased. Finally, with 23 seconds left, Satalin signaled for his team to “go”. “With about 17 seconds left, the ball went to Harrod, who immediately turned around and looped a 15 foot shot over the stretching Bouie…As it has in two previous situations this season, (one point wins over West Virginia and Niagara), the Orangemen pushed the ball downcourt, swung it around the perimeter and finally dished it off to Marty Byrnes at the top of the foul line, 10 feet away from the basket. But Byrnes left-handed floater amid three bodies bounced off the rim, rolling out of bounds as time expired.”
JB: “They got the ball right where we wanted them to take it. There it was 6-6, [actually 6-8] against 6-11. I don’t’ want Sanders or Hagan to beat us – and they didn’t. The guys who wound up beating us were Harrod and Urzetta.” JS: “We were supposed to take the first good shot – a 15 footer or a lay-up. But I really didn’t want to hold the ball that long. The shot didn’t come up for us. We just caught them by surprise with Harrod.” Playing defense with 4:42 left and giving up a 15 footer from the other team’s third leading scorer against a 6-11 shot blocker is pretty good defense. But it wasn’t enough on this occasion. (A brief New York Times article on the game describes Harrod’s shot as “a turn-around hook shot” A what?)
SU won the boards, 37-27 but the Bonnies out-shot us 47%-55%. The box score doesn’t have turnovers. Harrod scored 22 points, Sanders and Urzetta 14 each and Hagan 12 with just 2 assists, (only 8 assists were credited for the two teams in the game). Orr was our best player with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Bouie had 14/11 and Byrnes 17/8. Kindel was 0 for 5 and didn’t score. Belcher out-scored former teammate Headd 6-0.
Two side-bars: Greg Sanders had been arrested that day for shop-lifting but was bailed out to play in the game. The second was an article written by a young sports reporter describing the game that began like this: “Although there were those in the house who had warned against such talk, there was an honest pre-game feeling that among a goodly number of Orange followers that if Wednesday night’s basketball exercise at the Rochester War Memorial was a dance contest, Syracuse would be Tony Manero to St. Bonaventure’s Jerry Lewis.” Yes, Bud Poliquin was briefly on the staff of the Post Standard before moving on the San Diego. He returned here in 1984 as the sports editor of the Herald-Journal.
Even at 22-5 and ranked #18, there was significant angst among SU players and coaches that they might not be selected for the 32 team NCAA tournament. JB: “They can do anything they want. It’s going to be a committee decision and they can do whatever they want to do. We just have to wait.” Hal Cohen: “It’s frustrating….it’s frustrating. I hate to think we had a shot at playing in the NCAA’s and that now we might not. We’ve worked so hard and now it will be too bad if we don’t get to go anywhere.” Bouie: “I’m not accustomed to losing so I didn’t think it was possible that we might until that last shot. Now I’m like everyone else. I’ll just have to wait to see what the NCAA is going to do.”
They had nothing to worry about. Not only were the Orange chosen for the 32 team field but they were given a virtual walk-over in the first round, a 14-13 Western Kentucky team that had only made the field by winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. They’d gotten off to a 2-8 start and had played only two ranked teams, giving Michigan some trouble in the opener before losing 81-87 and getting handled by Maryland 78-91. They’d lost 63-80 to St. John’s, who we’d beaten 77-65, to LaSalle 64-78, who we’d beaten 106-96. Other losses had been to Memphis, Butler, Milwaukee, Eastern Kentucky (twice), Dayton, Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee and Austin Peay. Orange fans could be forgiven for looking past that to a possible rematch with Michigan State, who was paired with Providence. The other half of the Mideast bracket featured defending national champion Marquette and #1 ranked Kentucky, (who would win it this year). Take care of business and the Orange would be in there with the big boys.
Unfortunately, I found no article on this frustrating game. The various books I’ve collected avoid the subject. Scott Pitoniak blames the defeat on the “deleterious effects” of the St. Bonaventure loss. (The 1991 loss to Richmond seemed to be impacted by blowing a 16 point lead to Villanova in the Big East tournament a week before so he may be right). The only other writer to mention it is Bob Snyder, who notes that after Marty Byrnes was denied the Carrier Classic MVP, a sign appeared in the crowd at Manley saying “Boeheim 1 Media 0”. He then asks “Would the vote have been reversed after SU lost its opener to a less-than-overwhelming Western Kentucky team?” That’s it. Everybody wants to forget this game. I certainly remember it, at least how it ended. And I’ve found the box score.
It was comparable to the 1991 Richmond and 2005 Vermont games: a desultory performance that allows the underdog to stay into the game until it’s no longer a matter of who’s favored or why: just who is going to make the plays to win the game. 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.
I have two box scores: Orangehoops and Sports Reference:
Syracuse vs Western Kentucky March 11 1978
Boxscore from the Syracuse Orangemen versus Western Kentucky NCAA Tournament game, which the Hilltoppers won in overtime 87-86.
www.orangehoops.org
Western Kentucky vs. Syracuse Box Score (Men), March 11, 1978 | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Western Kentucky vs. Syracuse Box Score (Men), March 11, 1978
www.sports-reference.com
Bouie had 6 of them, (these are likely passes to him, which I think tend to be more the fault of the passer: we were probably trying to take advantage of a height advantage – they had no one over 6-7 and WKU was aware of our plan and cut off the passing lanes). Cohen, Kindal and Byrnes had 4. turnovers each. We were also out-rebounded by the shorter team, 39-41. Rosey Bouie gave it all he had with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 8 blocks. Marty had 21 points, but it should have been 23! Hal Cohen did have 23. Orr had 14/8. But Kindell ended his career in a funk, again going scoreless in 20 minutes while attempting just one shot. Dale Shackleford also had a bad game, fouling out in 15 minutes and scoring just 4 points.
Bouie: “We never seemed to have the success we should have had in the post-season. That team was a very good team. We felt we should have won.” Orr: “We should never have lost to them. They weren’t a bad team but we were coming off a tough loss to St. Bonaventure in the ECACs and I think maybe we weren’t ready to go.” The Hilltoppers were topped my Magic Johnson’s Michigan State team in the Sweet 16, 90-69. Then the Spartans were nipped by Kentucky, 52-49 in the Elite 8. The Wildcats went on to beat Duke for the national title.
Rosey finished the year averaging 10.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 3.0 blocks, 4.0 missed shots 1.0 missed free throws and 3.1 fouls per game for 14.4NP. while Louis averaged 12.8p, 7.8r, 1.3a, 5.2mfg, 0.6mft, 2.6pf for 13.5. Unlike 1976-77, I don’t have minutes played, so those numbers are down. Bouie played 25 minutes a game as a freshman and Orr 18. As in 1976-77 I don’t have steals, blocks, (except Bouie, from Orangehoops), or turnovers. Rosey’s per game numbers were virtually identical in the two seasons. Louis’s were similar except he played more minutes, starting all 28 games instead of just 2, so they all increased “with the tide”. The one difference is that Rosey shot 59% from the line rather than the uncharacteristic 83% he shot as a freshman.
Syracuse Orangemen Basketball 1977-1978
Summary of the 1977-1978 Syracuse Orangemen Basketball season, led by stars Marty Byrnes, Dale Shackleford, Roosevelt Bouie and Louis Orr, and coached by Jim Boeheim.
orangehoops.org
Marty Byrnes ended his career averaging 16.3p/6.9r in his senior year, (Sports Reference has him at 19.9/8.4 but playing only 23 games: he played in all 28). He would have to be replaced. Junior Dale Shackleford averaged 14.1p/5.7r/3.0a. The team needed an upgrade over Ross Kindel, (7.3) and Hal Cohen (6.6) in the backcourt. Eddie Moss and Marty Headd would see more time in subsequent seasons.
