What 5 SU Basketball Players

[Trueblue25]

If playing today would make the most money off their likeness?

1. Pearl
2. Melo
3. G Mac
4. DC
5. Buddy

This was tougher to think about than I originally thought…

Editing to Pearl as #1.

Brooklyn alone may have made him a multi millionaire.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Pearl and DC were already getting paid by Bill Rapp.

 

[OrangeinDC]

If playing today would make the most money off their likeness?

1. Pearl
2. Melo
3. G Mac
4. DC
5. Buddy

This was tougher to think about than I originally thought…

Editing to Pearl as #1.

Brooklyn alone may have made him a multi millionaire.

Melo
Pearl
DC
Sherm
Hak

Big city guys will have an advantage if they're good based on numbers. But all the guys I listed will have a big city lean, statewide lean and nationwide recognition.

 

[Fat tire 13]

Scoop could outearn them all from a simple cameo in the next Geico commercial.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Dion. He’d find a way.

 

[OttoMets]

McNamara, Buddy Boeheim, Tyler Cooney, Trevor Lydon, and probably that Devendorf guy.

 

[cto]

I think it would be GMac.

1) He was here four years (meaning he was here with seven different classes).

2) All of Northeast PA would sign up for everything.

3) Fifteen years after he graduated, his jerseys are still top sellers.

 

[MikeSU02]

If playing today would make the most money off their likeness?

1. Pearl
2. Melo
3. G Mac
4. DC
5. Buddy

This was tougher to think about than I originally thought…

Editing to Pearl as #1.

Brooklyn alone may have made him a multi millionaire.

Melo was the coolest player in college that year. He would have had shoe money coming to him.

I don't know if his one year would have exceeded the other guy's multiple years, but for a single year? Melo would have crushed. He had an awesome look. Was the best player in college (don't care what anyone says) and was the coolest player in college.

Came from a major metropolitan area, won at Oak Hill, Mickey Ds MVP, etc etc. Headband. The inside/outside game. Cool name.

Definitely Melo for a single year.

 

[Briancuse]

Melo
Pearl
Gmac
Devo
Scoop

 

[TinyManInside]

Honestly I think McNamara would have made the most by a decent margin.

 

[Trueblue25]

Honestly I think McNamara would have made the most by a decent margin.

The citizens of Scranton would move mountains for G Mac it seemed like

 

[GreekFreak]

I think it would be Pearl and I don't think it would even be that close. Pearl was from NYC and was already a legend while in high school. His commitment to SU was covered as part of a national TV broadcast. There is no bigger market than NYC and he would have capitalized on that. He came to SU with real marketability right from the get go. He was in the Big East during its hay day and the conference owned the Northeast markets/population centers. He also had a personality and a smile that could light up a room.

 

[Trueblue25]

Think another darkhorse is Dion Waiters. Loca Philly legend who hangs will Meek Mill and like Pearl was often mentioned in rap songs while in collegr

 

[Trueblue25]

I think it would be GMac.

1) He was here four years.

2) All of Northeast PA would sign up for everything.

3) Fifteen years after he graduated, his jerseys are still top sellers.

I remember my whole middle school class huddled around a radio listening to GMac’s run in the big east tournament. Every teacher, all faculty and each student was glued to the game. I will never forget that. Think the joy he brought SU fans spanned multiple generations.

 

[HOFCeluck]

McNamara, Buddy Boeheim, Tyler Cooney, Trevor Lydon, and probably that Devendorf guy.

Im struggling to think of what those guys have in common. I know it’s SOMETHING, it just isn’t clicking for me. They’re all very cerebral, gritty, gym rat types who are sneaky athletic. Maybe one of those? I dont know, it’ll come to me.

 

[stone567]

I think it would be Pearl and I don't think it would even be that close. Pearl was from NYC and was already a legend while in high school. His commitment to SU was covered as part of a national TV broadcast. There is no bigger market than NYC and he would have capitalized on that. He came to SU with real marketability right from the get go. He was in the Big East during its hay day and the conference owned the Northeast markets/population centers. He also had a personality and a smile that could light up a room.

Completely agree

 

[stone567]

It would probably be among the 5 greatest to play at Syracuse:

Pearl
Coleman
Douglas
Anthony
Owens, Wallace or Moten

Personally, it was Pearl or Stevie Thompson.

I left out Bing, because colleges were so different back then.

 

[cto]

I think it would be Pearl and I don't think it would even be that close. Pearl was from NYC and was already a legend while in high school. His commitment to SU was covered as part of a national TV broadcast. There is no bigger market than NYC and he would have capitalized on that. He came to SU with real marketability right from the get go. He was in the Big East during its hay day and the conference owned the Northeast markets/population centers. He also had a personality and a smile that could light up a room.

No way it would have been Pearl. NYC at that time would not have been a big consumer of SU stuff. St. John's was a top five school throughout Pearl's time at SU (remember Chris Mullen and Walter Berry?), and they had a big fan base. Not to mention the Yankees, the Mets, the Giants, the Jets, the Knicks, the Nets, the Rangers, the Islanders, and some random European soccer teams. A Syracuse basketball player wouldn't have much of a chance in that jungle of fanbases.

GMac would have had Upstate NY, NEPA, and the worldwide SU fanbase to himself. GMac would win by a huge margin.

 

[asj410]

Can't believe Billy Celuck hasn't been mentioned yet.

 

[stone567]

No way it would have been Pearl. NYC at that time would not have been a big consumer of SU stuff. St. John's was a top five school throughout Pearl's time at SU (remember Chris Mullen and Walter Berry?), and they had a big college fan base. Not to mention the Yankees, the Mets, the Giants, the Jets, the Knicks, the Nets, the Rangers, the Islanders, and some random European soccer teams. A Syracuse basketball player wouldn't have much of a chance in that jungle of fanbases.

GMac would have had Upstate NY, NEPA, and the worldwide SU fanbase to himself. GMac would win by a huge margin.

I disagree completely. GMac was a regional player, who was dwarfed by Melo and had to compete with Warrick. Other than Syracuse and Scranton, no one cared. Pearl was a sensation, who dazzled the northeast and the Big East. And quite frankly, Pearl was a better player. Pearl could have cleaned up during 3 Big East Tournaments. As a student at SU at the time (which I was), I would have bought his merchandise. In the early 2000's, I would have bought Carmelo's merchandise (and Warrick for that matter) before GMac.

 

[NateW]

Ennis woulda made a fortune in his year

 

[OttoMets]

I disagree completely. GMac was a regional player, who was dwarfed by Melo and had to compete with Warrick. Other than Syracuse and Scranton, no one cared. Pearl was a sensation, who dazzled the northeast and the Big East. And quite frankly, Pearl was a better player. Pearl could have cleaned up during 3 Big East Tournaments. As a student at SU at the time (which I was), I would have bought his merchandise. In the early 2000's, I would have bought Carmelo's merchandise (and Warrick for that matter) before GMac.

Agree that Pearl was huge in New York and throughout the Northeast, regardless of team rooting interests. Guy was marketable.

Ennis woulda made a fortune in his year

Really? I don't think I ever heard the kid talk. Nice, unflashy player and person. How well that'd translate to endorsements I don't know.

 

[NateW]

Really? I don't think I ever heard the kid talk. Nice, unflashy player and person. How well that'd translate to endorsements I don't know.

Well we were 24-0 coming off the heels of potentially our best handful of years that combined regular season dominance and tournament success. We had just been to the final four. I recall the hype on him being quite loud.

That was the season where ESPN basically updated us daily on the comings and going’s of all the top 5 frosh in the country of which Ennis was one. The internet was making #11 Ice Man t-shirts…. To keep us undefeated he hit a half court shot at the buzzer to win the game against one of our biggest rivals and he sushed the mouthy Oakland Zoo brats right after he did it.

Sounds pretty flashy to me.

 

[OttoMets]

Well we were 24-0 coming off the heels of potentially our best handful of years that combined regular season dominance and tournament success. We had just been to the final four. I recall the hype on him being quite loud.

That was the season where ESPN basically updated us daily on the comings and going’s of all the top 5 frosh in the country of which Ennis was one. The internet was making #11 Ice Man t-shirts…. To keep us undefeated he hit a half court shot at the buzzer to win the game against one of our biggest rivals and he sushed the mouthy Oakland Zoo brats right after he did it.

Sounds pretty flashy to me.

OK, that was a totally baller sequence of events.

I still remember him as a low-key, workmanlike kind of player. But it's true, he was getting some good pub with the winning streak and high profile of the team.