Dave Bing. I was at SU during basketball's wilderness years when we set the NCAA record for consecutive losing games. To get Dave Bing right after than season was amazing, especially since it happened simultaneously with the opening of Manley.
That says it all. We have a history of bringing in great players. Imagine we are a good and rising program and the most exciting player in the country goes on national tv with Al Mcguire and says he is going to syracuse. That was excitement.In your years of being a Syracuse University sports fan, what basketball recruit had you the most excited? (Whether he panned out or not).
Be honest.
The recruit I was most excited about in my 15 years of being a fan (began watching games at 5 or 6)...
was none other than thee Rakeem Christmas.
Why?
He was an excitingly athletic big guy with a name that you could just see in the NBA or leading a championship team.
Did it pan out that way?
WE DON'T KNOW YET.
I was also extremely excited for Dion Waiters, Dashonte Riley and Paul Harris.
Ashton Broyld
I was most excited when Billy Edelin committed. When you land a solid point you've got a good chance to draw other quality players... I was similarly impressed when Ennis committed. I didn't know he'd excel the way he did and his stay would be so short. If he would have stayed and played, he would have been an attractor of other talent. Instabiliity at the point is not a plus for recruiting.Paul Harris
But how much excitement did that create at the time? The Nationals were sill in town and they were the basketball team that represented this city to the country. And football was king on the hill. And freshmen were not eligible for he wouldn't be on the varsity for 2 years.
How excited were you when Dave Bing decided to come to Syracuse?
Anthony Harris and Laz Sims are why JB never offered Micheal Brown (from CNS) of Providence. JB told Brown's HS coach that he had an All American freshman back court. (At least that is what the coach told me.)Billy Owens
Anthony Harris (i remember going to his first game against Marathon Oil and wondered who the kid with the high socks - who proceeded to drop like 19 that game-was)
John Wallace
Winfred Walton
Carmelo
Harris
Dion
Richardson
As I have been told, CTO, the crowd would leave after the freshman game, and not watch the varsity.Don't rewrite my life for me. I was at SU in the early '60s, and you weren't. The basketball team was the laughing stock of the campus. No one went to games. I had been a huge basketball fan in high school, and I was so disappointed by the apathy at SU. Then we heard we were getting this fabulous player from DC, and then he arrived. No one went to games in the previous year. A HUGE crowd showed up for Dave Bing's first freshman game... and the crowds grew with each succeeding game. He had an incredible impact on interest in the program. Trust me. It created serious excitement. I am sorry Alibrat doesn't post here any more. He would confirm it.