Week 1.5 of season-specific reminiscing— 2001-2002

[phillydad]

Season ended, fittingly, losing to Temple in the NIT consolation game in mismatched jerseys and shorts.

 

[DinoFan15]

The second year of my life as a fan. I believe Etan, Damone Brown and Ryan Blackwell may have been the guys we lost from the previous year (could be wrong), and the team that year had been really good so as a young fan I expected to also be really good the next year. I remember that being the case for quite a while that season, and then at the end it was just a massive collapse. Obviously I now know that there were all these personal issues and rumors which killed the team.

Either this year or the prior year I went to my first ever Cuse game, the dedication of Jim Boeheim Court against Georgetown. I remember feeling like the refs jobbed us, as we lost the game. I think that was 2001-2002, but could be wrong.

 

[DinoFan15]

I know this is maybe a little bit OT, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if DeShaun hadn’t gone off the rail and returned to Syracuse for his senior season alongside Melo and company. Does a DeShaun who isn’t a distraction become a key compliment to Melo, Warrick and McNamara? Or would it have thrown us off?

 

[Cheriehoop]

I know this is maybe a little bit OT, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if DeShaun hadn’t gone off the rail and returned to Syracuse for his senior season alongside Melo and company. Does a DeShaun who isn’t a distraction become a key compliment to Melo, Warrick and McNamara? Or would it have thrown us off?

How could we have ever had a better team with Deshaun on it that year? Definitely addition by subtraction.

 

[MSOrange]

I know this is maybe a little bit OT, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if DeShaun hadn’t gone off the rail and returned to Syracuse for his senior season alongside Melo and company. Does a DeShaun who isn’t a distraction become a key compliment to Melo, Warrick and McNamara? Or would it have thrown us off?

I don't see a role on that team that Deshaun would be happy enough with not to be a distraction.

 

[JDubbin]

Here's a 2001 memory: being in the Nottingham Road Peter's around Christmastime and bumping into: Shumpert, Deshaun, some girl, and Craig Forth.

Craig Forth was holding a gallon of skim milk and looked like the most miserable guy on the face of the Earth.

This was before I knew about the Shump/Deshaun stuff, I don't even know if it was the same girl, but in hindsight that memory has always amused me.

Hey, when you've got no car and need milk, sometimes you've gotta tolerate some bad shopping companions.

Peter’s was my job in high school! Good times. I remember loading groceries into the vehicles of player’s like Shumpert & Blackwell thinking “huh, these are really nice rides for college students...” Haha.

 

[Ryand877]

Peter’s was my job in high school! Good times. I remember loading groceries into the vehicles of player’s like Shumpert & Blackwell thinking “huh, these are really nice rides for college students...” Haha.

I go to that store all the time (Now Tops)-live like two minutes from there lol.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Peter’s was my job in high school! Good times. I remember loading groceries into the vehicles of player’s like Shumpert & Blackwell thinking “huh, these are really nice rides for college students...” Haha.

Peter's was for people!

 

[Brian Orange]

In maybe 2006ish back before I went to bed at 9:30 every night, we were out at some bar in Armory Square and Shumpert was there. I feel like he was really hoping for people to recognize him, but for some reason not many people did. So my buddy and I went up to him to be nice and said "hey Shump, can we get a picture with you?" and the guy that was with him said "nah, no pictures" like it was Lebron or something. I guess when you play for Fortitudo Pallacanestro in Bologna, Italy that means you're too cool for school.

Wow that's unbelievable. No pictures. Get out of here with that crap.

 

[Brian Orange]

My junior year. Got off to a nice start. I remember the big wins at The Garden (Deshaun actually played really well in the finals I think).

Bernie taking over. We lost to NC State at home. Terrible performance.

Late in the year we had a real nice win at Notre Dame. That was probably the only post Christmas highlight.

Bad home losses to Georgetown and BC at the end of the year. PS - we didn't even get 30,000 for the GTown game which was the JB naming of the court game. I remember both of those games were either at Noon or sometime like that and the night before I saw Celuck and Ethan Cole at Faegan's. Not good.

We won at Richmond in the NIT in March. I remember it being such a nothing game but Hakim played well and it felt like we won the national title or something since we were at their gym, etc. It was a small clue of things to come I think.

 

[Cheriehoop]

My junior year. Got off to a nice start. I remember the big wins at The Garden (Deshaun actually played really well in the finals I think).

Bernie taking over. We lost to NC State at home. Terrible performance.

Late in the year we had a real nice win at Notre Dame. That was probably the only post Christmas highlight.

Bad home losses to Georgetown and BC at the end of the year. PS - we didn't even get 30,000 for the GTown game which was the JB naming of the court game. I remember both of those games were either at Noon or sometime like that and the night before I saw Celuck and Ethan Cole at Faegan's. Not good.

We won at Richmond in the NIT in March. I remember it being such a nothing game but Hakim played well and it felt like we won the national title or something since we were at their gym, etc. It was a small clue of things to come I think.

Hakim mentioned in a long interview I saw a while ago that Richmond NIT game ended up so important for him, that the seniors didn’t care at all and he got a chance to show what he could do. He said it was all a matter of confidence and it was that game that he realized that he belonged at SU and could be as a real contributor going forward.

 

[jncuse]

That team fit the exact profile of a team that would get lit up in the NIT. And yet it made to the NIT final four.
Did guys like Forth, Duany, Warrick and Pace get more run in that tournament setting them up for the next year? I can see the scores, but can't get the boxscores here.

2001-02 Syracuse Orange Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Also, looking at the records of those teams we started 16-2 against, that was a somewhat empty record.

 

[Cheriehoop]

That team fit the exact profile of a team that would get lit up in the NIT. And yet it made to the NIT final four.
Did guys like Forth, Duany, Warrick and Pace get more run in that tournament setting them up for the next year? I can see the scores, but can't get the boxscores here.

2001-02 Syracuse Orange Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Also, looking at the records of those teams we started 16-2 against, that was a somewhat empty record.

Game by game stats:

2001-02 Men's Basketball Schedule - Syracuse University Athletics

The official 2001-02 Men's Basketball schedule for the Syracuse University Orange

cuse.com

 

[HOFCeluck]

That team fit the exact profile of a team that would get lit up in the NIT. And yet it made to the NIT final four.
Did guys like Forth, Duany, Warrick and Pace get more run in that tournament setting them up for the next year? I can see the scores, but can't get the boxscores here.

2001-02 Syracuse Orange Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Also, looking at the records of those teams we started 16-2 against, that was a somewhat empty record.

At the time we thought Michigan State was better than they really were.

 

[SUFan44]

Junior year for me...

Remember going to the Dome wanting to kick the snot out of Julius Hodge. Instead, I walked back to my house on the Westcott-side of Clarendon, over the hill, and began chugging shots after that performance. Yuck.

Then, later that year, went to the Tennessee game in Knoxville. Have family near there. We were expected to beat them pretty good with a Top 10 team. Instead, I left with Rocky Top ringing in my ears.

Did go to one of the NIT games at the Dome that year. What a weird situation. There might have been 5,000 people in the stands. Remember that the freshmen were getting a lot of playing time.

In looking at that roster... James Thues was getting big-time minutes. Where did that kid end up? Wasn't good enough but he showed some flashes and had a couple good games.

After three seasons trending downward (Freshman Year -- Sweet 16 & hopes of a national title wiped out by Mo Pete; Sophomore Year - Terrible loss in NCAA's to much better Kansas team), nobody could have expected what was to come.

Thank you Carmelo, Gerry, et al.

 

[Ryand877]

Junior year for me...

Remember going to the Dome wanting to kick the snot out of Julius Hodge. Instead, I walked back to my house on the Westcott-side of Clarendon, over the hill, and began chugging shots after that performance. Yuck.

Then, later that year, went to the Tennessee game in Knoxville. Have family near there. We were expected to beat them pretty good with a Top 10 team. Instead, I left with Rocky Top ringing in my ears.

Did go to one of the NIT games at the Dome that year. What a weird situation. There might have been 5,000 people in the stands. Remember that the freshmen were getting a lot of playing time.

In looking at that roster... James Thues was getting big-time minutes. Where did that kid end up? Wasn't good enough but he showed some flashes and had a couple good games.

After three seasons trending downward (Freshman Year -- Sweet 16 & hopes of a national title wiped out by Mo Pete; Sophomore Year - Terrible loss in NCAA's to much better Kansas team), nobody could have expected what was to come.

Thank you Carmelo, Gerry, et al.

I think Thues transferred to Detroit-Mercy.

 

[RF2044]

Incredibly frustrating year -- team absolutely imploded. Hard to believe that we won a NC the following season, given how badly things went off the rails in just about every imaginable way. I'd forgotten [or more accurately, repressed] the goofiness about Konecny, Edelin, etc. given the bigger rock dysfunction that occurred that year.

My lasting recollection from that sh*zpile of a season was playing our home game against Pitt. Just to frame up the context, this was at the very beginning of when they just owned us -- the front end of the Howland [and later Dixon] era, where we just didn't seem to match up well with their style of play.

What makes this game memorable is that I was living in Cleveland at the time, but was in NY to go skiing with some friends at Ellicotville. Game was on Sunday, so I opportunistically snuck off to watch the game, but had to drive around to find a bar that would actually show the game on TV. After making 4 or 5 stops where they couldn't [or wouldn't] put the game on , I ended up landing at some roadside dive bar off of a two-lane highway, where the bar tender suggested he might be able to tune in the game. By now, the game is well into the first half.

Bar tender proceeds to take his sweet ass time getting the game turned on, during which I'm pissed because I'm not only missing the game, but also wasting valuable time if I need to move on to yet another location to view the game. Even on a Sunday, the bar is packed with west southern tier townies, none of whom gave a rats ass about the game [typical]. And to top it all off, Pitt proceeded to curb stomp us again, setting off the dreaded February swoon that wrecked what had started out as a promising season.

Year couldn't end soon enough.

 

[OrangeDW]

That team fit the exact profile of a team that would get lit up in the NIT. And yet it made to the NIT final four.
Did guys like Forth, Duany, Warrick and Pace get more run in that tournament setting them up for the next year? I can see the scores, but can't get the boxscores here.

2001-02 Syracuse Orange Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Also, looking at the records of those teams we started 16-2 against, that was a somewhat empty record.

I remember Shumpert had like 36 against Butler in the NIT at the Dome. There was maybe 6,000 people there and it was rocking! Everybody there was standing the last 10 minutes and overtime, going wild on every Orange hoop. Diehards only.

Warrick is the one I remember getting an increased role in the NIT. I remember him having big games against St. Bonaventure and Richmond in particular.

I feel like Duany got solid run all year long.

Can’t say I remember Pace doing any more or less.

 

[Ryand877]

I also remember Butler had this player who was a good shooter named Miller. Everytime he would score , the PA announcer would say “Its Miller Time “.

 

[Eric15]

I remember Shumpert had like 36 against Butler in the NIT at the Dome. There was maybe 6,000 people there and it was rocking!

I love the SU fans who attend NIT games. Those are my people.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I went to almost every home game in 2001-2002 and then 2002-2003. That was an interesting contrast.