What all time Syracuse recruit were you most excited about? Be honest.

[pfister1]

1. Pearl
2. Billy Owens
3. Derrick Coleman
4. Winfred Walton
5. John Wallace
6. Fab Melo
7. DC II (His was the only announcement I actually took time out of my day to watch live on the internet)

I don't recall the excitement around the Melo commitment. Did his standing in the rankings grow after he committed?

 

[Oakland]

Billy O

 

[SWC75]

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.

I trust you and wasn't trying to re-write your life. I was asking you, as someone who had been there, what the impact of Bing's arrival was and I'm glad to have found out. Thank you.

 

[Cowtown]

And count me as another who never bought into the Paul Harris hype. A two guard with no shot whose strength is man to man defense? Sounds like a fit to me!

Does anyone else think Harris was just a means to an end - as in, Jonny Flynn?

 

[samspann1]

Does anyone else think Harris was just a means to an end - as in, Jonny Flynn?

Actually, prevailing thought was that Flynn was offered a scholly as an inducement for Harris to commit. Those of us who had seen Flynn play knew that he was legit, though.

 

[Cowtown]

Actually, prevailing thought was that Flynn was offered a scholly as an inducement for Harris to commit. Those of us who had seen Flynn play knew that he was legit, though.

Harris was already at SU when Flynn committed though, as I recall.

 

[samspann1]

Harris was already at SU when Flynn committed though, as I recall.

Flynn accepted SU's offer before Harris did.

 

[Cowtown]

Flynn accepted SU's offer before Harris did.

Okay, obviously I didn't know that, thanks.

 

[newmexicuse]

A single - recruit - probably Pearl, but for me the biggest excitement was a recruiting class.

Probably our best - ever - DC, Stevie, Duncan, Hughes, & Roe - DC the #1 recruit in the country & two other concensus Top 15 kids in Stevie and Earl plus another Top 50 kid in Keith.

 

[sutomcat]

Mine was probably Roosevelt Bouie.

At the time, we struggled mightily to get big men and had been using 6'5 guys who struggled to score 6 PPG or 6'9 275 pound guys who also struggled to score 6 PPG.

He was the first quality big guy of the JB era. He came from Kendall, NY, right about halfway between Syracuse and St Bonaventure and his recruitment was an all out war with the Bonnies. Who know what might have happened had he decided to go to Olean? My understanding is that he would have done just that had Roy Danforth not left SU abruptly to go to Tulane (Rosie liked JB a lot more than Slick Roy).

It was the first official indication that James Arthur Boeheim might have been a good choice as the new Syracuse basketball coach.

 

[OHIORANGES]

[basketball recruit had you the most excited? (Whether he panned out or not).

It was Billy Owens.

The day he was scheduled to announce I called ESPN long distance to see if anything had been reported.
While on the phone with them he announced and I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day

 

[Subob1]

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.

I am not Alibrat but, I was a frosh with Dave Bing. It is very difficult to describe Bing. Tommy Heinson called him the Michael Jordan of his era. Yes, he was that good. He turned a moribund basketball program to the hottest thing on campus. We would arrive two hours early in dead winter to get seats on the wooden track around the raised floor, hack and cough from the dust of the dirt floor just to watch warmups. I watched Bing play All Pro NBA guard Hal Greer one on one in the spring of his freshman year in Thorden Park. It was a draw. He was that good.

I have read many of the other threads on this topic and taking this opportunity to respond to comments. Billy Owens was never the number one recruit. Alonzo Mourning was the number one consensus recruit that year. Billy shared the number 2 spot with Shawn Kemp as I recall.

I saw Derrick Coleman at the SU summer camp between his junior and senior year. He was nearly unknown. Bernie was running the camp and I asked who the tall skinny kid with with biggest hands I'd ever seen. Bernie told me it was DC and he was the best player in the country. SU was in a recruiting war that year with Michigan over Terry Mills the consensus number one player in the country. JB said publicly he was happy with whomever committed first. We got DC as the consolation prize and JB and company was ecstatic. And, Coleman was the true number 1 recruit just not recognized by the pundits.

Pearl came in as the consensus number 1. I don't think we had any other recruits come in as the consensus number 1 besides him. I think he was the most anticipated in my memory.

 

[Shawn91111]

Billy Owens

 

[CusefanATL]

John Wallace, because he stayed with us even with probation looming...

Wallace Walton Melo Donte Greene Fab Melo and Mccullough

 

[Eric15]

I think Winifred Walton might be the most commonly misspelled name of anyone ever associated with SU hoops.

 

[OttoMets]

Anthony Harris
Wallace
Winfred Walton
Rock Lloyd
Eric Williams
Edelin
Konecny
Roberts
Nichols
Watkins
Donte
DaShonte Riley
Fab
Carter-Williams

There was a frustrating stretch starting in 1996 when I thought we were a decent power forward away from being a very good team. The four recruits I was most excited about (Walton, Williams, Konecny, Roberts) didn't even play a total of six seasons, much less lead us to great heights. The unheralded and under-recruited power forward who started most of four seasons toward the end of that era ended up having an excellent career, though.

 

[Frozen]

I think Winifred Walton might be the most commonly misspelled name of anyone ever associated with SU hoops.

Carmello Anthony
Johnny Flynn

 

[OttoMets]

Carmello Anthony
Johnny Flynn

Gerry Cooney.

 

[Eric15]

Roberts

I remember being so excited about Roberts after his first exhibition. He looked like a young Derrick Coleman.

 

[OttoMets]

I remember being so excited about Roberts after his first exhibition. He looked like a young Derrick Coleman.

I would love to see the tape of that game, because that echoes my memory. He looked like our next All-America. It'd be interesting to see if he showed basketball skills that we never saw again or if we were just wowed by his athleticism.

I anticipated that entire 2007 class ending up more accomplished than the 1990 class. Swing and a miss.

 

[pulaski74]

anyone remember fred saunders, transfer from louisiana tech ragin cajuns? only had radio to listen to(no tv coverage). he was much anticipated and turned out to b a decent player, but the buzz was at that time the cajuns were quite good for a time

 

[RoysRunts]

Rodney Walker 1st Parade AA, Then Tony Bruin

 

[sufandu]

I had very high hopes for Mike Jones.

Also remember believing that Glenn Sekunda was going to be really, really good for us.

I remember a friend telling me Jones was the real deal after the first preseason scrimmage.

 

[stuckinbig11]

Owens

 

[Waltdods]

I would say Walton also. That's when I first started following SU recruiting, and that, in a roundabout way, led me to the AOL board that had so many of the posters here. I never posted there (I was like 15 or something), but since that's the recruit that really elevated my fandom to the next level, he's got to be the guy.

I have basically the same experience, down to reading the AOL boards for the first time as a teenager during the Walton recruitment (I have an oddly specific memory of going on AOL from my aunt's house to read about Walton.)

Part of the reason Walton is so definitively the answer for me (and I suspect others) is that the debacle was a learning experience: I have been much more wait-and-see on recruits since then, including with Melo. There was so much excitement about him (I'm sure magnified because I was 15 or whatever) and then literally nothing came of it.