Week 3 of season-specific reminiscing -- 1997-98

[Eric15]

This was another solid Sweet 16 year. Burgan and Janulis were seniors alongside sophs Hart, Blackwell and Etan. This was a "get back to normal year" after the debacle of 96-97. Did anyone here...

-attend that early season tourney in Puerto Rico?
-attend the BET for Blackwell's buzzer beater vs. St Johns?
-attend the Iona first round NCAA game when Marius hit a go-ahead three at the top of the key with 1 second left? (a legendary SU tourney moment that for some reason gets somewhat forgotten about)

Some annoying memories from this season: Keith Friel, playing St Johns in the Dome in front of about 5k fans due to a massive blizzard, and going down like 20-0 to start a game vs. Providence. But we played a great Duke team very tough in the Sweet 16 and finished strong. And I remember Allen Griffin having a coming out party vs UConn in the BET final which I believe we led by about 9 points very late.

 

[Ryand877]

I remember that Providence game very well. Like you said we were down like 20-0 (I want to say 17 but it doesn't matter) and we tried to come back, but couldn't overcome it. Not a whole lot to say about that year, remember it well. Two highlights as you said were the Blackwell buzzer beater and Janulis shot to beat Iona.

 

[Eric15]

 

[Eric15]

Starts at 1:15:15

 

[OttoMets]

I remember thinking that Michigan must be a Final Four team after they crushed us in San Juan. Robert Traylor, Louis Bullock, Maceo Baston, others. They had a complete team. Then I want to say they had a worse year than SU did. Weird.

The St. John's game was a fun memory. Along with 20,000 fans, the refs couldn't get to the game on time and tip was delayed. Carl Eilenberg invited everyone to move closer to the court, so my dad and I moved from our 7th-row seasons behind the basket to a couple first-row seats behind SU's bench. Some guy who sat near us was giving it to the refs as they warmed up and Rick Hartzell came over and yelled at him. Guy didn't offer a peep after that. It was hilarious.

I think Zendon Hamilton hit the game-winning basket that night, Felipe Lopez had one of his many duds against us but young Etan could not handle Hamilton. We actually played pretty well otherwise, think Todd Burgan had a good game. And I've never seen it snow harder than that, ever.

The Providence game was miserable. The crowd was standing and clapping through the under-16:00 timeout.

Our season opener against Asheville was at exactly the same time as the football team's game against Pitt. Quinton Spotwood had a last-minute go-ahead touchdown in the snow. I'm not sorry I skipped the hoops game to see that on TV.

 

[Eric15]

This was one of only three SU teams of the past 25 years where we had the same starting lineup the entire season. The others were 2003 and 2016.

 

[RF2044]

I attended the St. John's blizzard game. That was crazy -- very hard getting up to the Dome that night.

My two main memories of the season was how we dismantled New Mexico in the NCAA tournament to get to the second weekend. They had a terrific big man [Kenny Thomas?], but they were baffled by the zone.

I was very much looking forward to playing Duke the following weekend. Really thought we matched up better than how it turned out. My second memory was being out of town for work on the night of the Duke game, and having to go to a lousy "sports bar" chain called Chammp's to watch the game outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Got in early to grab a table, and I was pleased that they had a wall of TVs plus numerous TVs above the bar, etc. But I had to ask the server 10 times to get the game on [he indicated that he couldn't get it on until the game started], so I was climbing the walls -- and we ended up missing the first five minutes of the game while he took his time with other tables. Then, midway through the second half the television changed the channel on the TV we were watching to Rugrats, which was a Nickelodeon kid's show. I got pretty angry--not out of control or anything, but told the waiter to get it changed back ASAP, that we'd spent a $150+ tab after coming there specifically to see the game, etc. When he dragged his feet, I demanded to talk to the manager The manager then came over and asked us to leave, at which point I did get out of control. : )

The folly of youth...

 

[Eric15]

I always felt that Marius was too unselfish. He was a career 40% shooter from deep (which I'm sure in part can be attributed to his cautious shot selection), but during his time with us I always desperately wanted more three point shots from him and less from Burgan and Hart.

 

[RF2044]

I always felt that Marius was too unselfish. He was a career 40% shooter from deep (which I'm sure in part can be attributed to his cautious shot selection), but during his time with us I always desperately wanted more three point shots from him and less from Burgan and Hart.

I think that Janulis was an underrated player. Quality depth guy, had a good feel for the game, adequate defender / hard worker, etc.

His issue was that he happened to play at the same time as Ray Allen / Kerry Kittles -- those guys really overshadowed him.

 

[HOFCeluck]

We were rolling against Notre Dame by double digits early. Then Keith Friel happens and next thing you know we lost by twenty.

 

[BlackSquirrels]

Some good memories from that season. I was in attendance for the Blackwell buzzer beater vs. St. John's as well as the drought to open the game against PC. That was the longest I can remember standing waiting for the first FG of a half.

Here's a story I heard through the grapevine that I think happened during that PC game. PC played a triangle and two with players assigned to Burgan and Janulis for much of the game.

SU was flummoxed so JB called a TO to get things under control. During the break, he grabbed his marker and whiteboard and said something to the effect of, "Marius, you stand over here in corner. Todd, you stand out by the S near the sideline. You other three just have to score. That's all there is to it."

From what I remember, Etan went from being nearly unplayable as a freshman to a monster shot blocker and dunker as a soph. (Hopefully Jalen Carey can make a similar leap in production.)

That team's offense was decent but if a team had someone who could handle Burgan, things got sluggish. It's pretty telling that in the St John's highlight Burgan stumbled trying to get to the basket and thankfully shoveled the ball off to Blackwell for the winning J. In the Iona highlight, Burgan actually kept his feet and got packaged, but he picked he picked up the loose ball and passed it to Janulis.

I've searched YouTube a few times for the Syracuse/Iona highlights because I couldn't remember Al McGuire's call of the final shot. Now I remember.

"Ya gotta know where he is!"

 

[OrangeDW]

I don’t know why but I don’t remember much at all from that season in terms of specific games or moments.

I remember the team, it’s players, and how they played extremely well. I know I watched the majority of those games. But only the New Mexico and Duke games, Blackwell’s BET shot, Janulis’s Iona shot, and Griffin’s BET breakout stand out to me, and all of that was postseason.

 

[cuseinseattle]

I was a freshman in college on the west coast and living in the dorms with no cable tv. It was hard to watch games. I would listen to every game on internet radio but I swear it would start buffering and I would lose 6 seconds and be like what the hell is happening. I had my neighbor back home taping in the games and he would mail them to me on VHS. Great guy like a 3rd grandfather to me. He is like 90 years old now and my mom claims he hardly remembers people. I was just home 2 weeks ago and from a distance he yells, Hey Aaron how is cuse looking this year. I walk up and the first thing he says is remember when I used to tape those games for you. My mom couldn't believe it.

 

[sutomcat]

Some good memories from that season. I was in attendance for the Blackwell buzzer beater vs. St. John's as well as the drought to open the game against PC. That was the longest I can remember standing waiting for the first FG of a half.

Here's a story I heard through the grapevine that I think happened during that PC game. PC played a triangle and two with players assigned to Burgan and Janulis for much of the game.

SU was flummoxed so JB called a TO to get things under control. During the break, he grabbed his marker and whiteboard and said something to the effect of, "Marius, you stand over here in corner. Todd, you stand out by the S near the sideline. You other three just have to score. That's all there is to it."

From what I remember, Etan went from being nearly unplayable as a freshman to a monster shot blocker and dunker as a soph. (Hopefully Jalen Carey can make a similar leap in production.)

That team's offense was decent but if a team had someone who could handle Burgan, things got sluggish. It's pretty telling that in the St John's highlight Burgan stumbled trying to get to the basket and thankfully shoveled the ball off to Blackwell for the winning J. In the Iona highlight, Burgan actually kept his feet and got packaged, but he picked he picked up the loose ball and passed it to Janulis.

I've searched YouTube a few times for the Syracuse/Iona highlights because I couldn't remember Al McGuire's call of the final shot. Now I remember.

"Ya gotta know where he is!"

My biggest memory from that season was watching Burgan with the ball, late in a half or the end of the game, in key situations, with almost no time on the shot clock. He would dribble out by the top of the key, doing loopy slow spins. I don't think he ever scored in those situations and rarely was able to even force an awful shot. Guard stole it from him all the time, sometimes he fell down and he traveled a lot. Painful to watch.

He was a good player put in a role he wasn't good enough to fill. We had a lot of pieces that year but we didn't have a guy who could get a bucket in key situations that year and it killed us.

 

[OttoMets]

My biggest memory from that season was watching Burgan with the ball, late in a half or the end of the game, in key situations, with almost no time on the shot clock. He would dribble out by the top of the key, doing loopy slow spins. I don't think he ever scored in those situations and rarely was able to even force an awful shot. Guard stole it from him all the time, sometimes he fell down and he traveled a lot. Painful to watch.

He was a good player put in a role he wasn't good enough to fill. We had a lot of pieces that year but we didn't have a guy who could get a bucket in key situations that year and it killed us.

When Todd Burgan and Jason Hart are the two key cogs in your offense, it can be a tough slog. Either was good for a 4-15 shooting night at any given time.

(That Burgan loopy thing at the top of the key was one of those classic SU player tics -- like Tyler Lydon's pump fake and, come to think of it, Todd Burgan's pump fake -- where you'd say 'OK, might as well pack it in now, we're not getting anything good out of this possession' and be proven right about 99% of the time.)

If I remember correctly, Blackwell was a star in practice the previous year and the staff thought he'd play more of a go-to role. Still, the team improved hugely from 1997.

 

[Eric15]

Here is the 1998 BET Final. We lost a tough game, but it was a great performance by Allen Griffin worth watching.

 

[RF2044]

My biggest memory from that season was watching Burgan with the ball, late in a half or the end of the game, in key situations, with almost no time on the shot clock. He would dribble out by the top of the key, doing loopy slow spins. I don't think he ever scored in those situations and rarely was able to even force an awful shot. Guard stole it from him all the time, sometimes he fell down and he traveled a lot. Painful to watch.

He was a good player put in a role he wasn't good enough to fill. We had a lot of pieces that year but we didn't have a guy who could get a bucket in key situations that year and it killed us.

I thought what you describe above with Burgan was even more exacerbated the year before. At least this squad had some other guys who could put the ball in the basket.

Man, he was polarizing. Very frustrating player to watch.

 

[OttoMets]

Here is the 1998 BET Final. We lost a tough game, but it was a great performance by Allen Griffin worth watching.

The textbook example of the Burgan move described by Tom occurs at 1:00:20. One-point lead, shot clock dwindling, slow dribble, slow dribble, airball.

 

[cusefan88]

I was in elementary school in CNY at this time. IIRC the principal came on the PA system to say Cuse won on a late-three (day-game then?)

That is what it's like growing up here.

 

[OrangeDW]

I was in elementary school in CNY at this time. IIRC the principal came on the PA system to say Cuse won on a late-three (day-game then?)

That is what it's like growing up here.

I was in Florida, missing school - because my dad wanted to take a vacation to Florida when spring training was going on.

Iona game was not televised down there, but they cut to it at the end. Those days where every single NCAA tourney game wasn’t on were frustrating. I missed GMac’s 43 point game against BYU in 2004 because I was in Florida for college spring break.

 

[OrangeDW]

The textbook example of the Burgan move described by Tom occurs at 1:00:20. One-point lead, shot clock dwindling, slow dribble, slow dribble, airball.

Yeah. Loved Burgan as a role player in ‘96. He was solid as a secondary scorer. Could knock down the spot up 3, could be a secondary ball handler, could go up and get the alley-oops. But he wasn’t cut out to be the go to guy that you give the ball to when the chips are down and have him create. He didn’t have that level of ability.

 

[MSOrange]

I was in Florida, missing school - because my dad wanted to take a vacation to Florida when spring training was going on.

Iona game was not televised down there, but they cut to it at the end. Those days where every single NCAA tourney game wasn’t on were frustrating. I missed GMac’s 43 point game against BYU in 2004 because I was in Florida for college spring break.

It really is amazing how many of our NCAA games I've never seen because of living in GA back in the days when they only were on CBS.

 

[Ryand877]

I was in elementary school in CNY at this time. IIRC the principal came on the PA system to say Cuse won on a late-three (day-game then?)

That is what it's like growing up here.

It was for sure. I remember watching and hoping the game wouldn’t go too long cause I had to get to work at night at the mall. Cuse won, saw the whole game, and I made it to work on time lol.

 

[OttoMets]

I was in elementary school in CNY at this time. IIRC the principal came on the PA system to say Cuse won on a late-three (day-game then?)

That is what it's like growing up here.

Yep, I was in Earth Science, saw the last shot but remember little else. Thinking it was a 12:20 type of game.

 

[Eric15]

I feel like Burgan and Kris Joseph and CJ Fair were all similar in the sense that they flourished as 2nd or 3rd scoring options, but just aren't ideal for being alpha-dog high-volume shooters.