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

[TinyManInside]

Winfred Walton.

 

[RF2044]

Winfred Walton.

Ugh... just seeing that name in print hurts my soul.

What a waste.

 

[newmexicuse]

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?

Somebody older than me out there !!!

 

[rrlbees]

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

Yep, I remember him. Played a few years in the NBA. I think Phoenix drafted him.

 

[Subob1]

Yep, I remember him. Played a few years in the NBA. I think Phoenix drafted him.

I think he transferred after the Coach Press Maravich got fired for not having his son on the roster anymore.

 

[moqui]

I was just slightly too young to understand what Pearl committing meant, so the first one for me would be DC. Owens, Wallace, Walton, Melo

Recently, I thought Paul Harris was going to be in that lineage himself. I was also super excited about Tiki Mayben.

 

[JohnCuse44]

Probably Dajuan Coleman

 

[dollarbill44]

Billy Owens, Billy Edelin, Billy Celuck (j/k, actually Paul Harris).

 

[SWC75]

I think he transferred after the Coach Press Maravich got fired for not having his son on the roster anymore.

Fred Saunders came from Southwestern Louisiana, not Louisiana Tech. (SWL is now Louisiana Lafayette.) Press and Pete Maravich were at Louisiana State.

 

[SWC75]

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.

Could you compare the reaction to Bing's decision to come here, (not what he did here: his decision to come here) to that of the Pearl? That's what I was asking of CTO above. I don't have a memory of that myself, (I wasn't following basketball then). I suspect it produced less excitement than the Pearl's decision simply because SU basketball a the time of Bing's decision wasn't as important to the school or the community as it was when the Pearl announced.

 

[JOC44]

Paul Harris, then Billy Owens, then Pearl Washington.

 

[Subob1]

Could you compare the reaction to Bing's decision to come here, (not what he did here: his decision to come here) to that of the Pearl? That's what I was asking of CTO above. I don't have a memory of that myself, (I wasn't following basketball then). I suspect it produced less excitement than the Pearl's decision simply because SU basketball a the time of Bing's decision wasn't as important to the school or the community as it was when the Pearl announced.

Sorry, I didn't respond to you question. Answer: Not even close. Only a few people realized in 1962 what Bing's commitment meant to SU basketball's future. Only after he was here and the buzz grew to a roar did fans fill Manley. Everybody knew about the "Pearl", the reaction was huge. By then the PS was following BB recruiting and ran stories about the Pearl. The Big East was emerging as a powerhouse and had its own media tub thumpers focusing attention on high school recruiting. I don't think the PS had a beat writer for SU BB in 1962. Only the DO covered Bing's arrival.

I found out through a source that Pearl had verballed and called the PS beat writer whose name now escapes me. Rick somebody and they had several writers at work (probably SU interns) covering Pearl's recruitment as the major sports story at the time. My recollection is the story was made even bigger because there were three incredibly talented NYC guards in a three way recruitment battle which drew tremendous national attention. Mark Jackson, Kenny Smith and the Pearl. St John's and SU were in a death struggle for the Pearl with the consolation prize being Jackson, not so shabby. My recollection Boeheim said he would go with the first one to commit. I think Smith was a lock for Smith very early on but was still being pursued by everyone. The three guards drew huge media attention with Dean Smith, Lou Carnesseca and Jim Boeheim slugging it out for them. I was living in Albany at the time and an Albany TV station played a clip of Pearl's highlights during the recruitment process because he was such a national phenom. Point being it was a huge story with major national attention. Pearl was not only the number 1 recruit he was SU's first really "national" recruit. His decision gave SU huge legitimacy as a national power recruiting school not just a regional recuiting power. Hope that is more responsive. CTO must have a better memory than I and she may be able to fill in anything I got wrong or left out.

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/thr...rl-washington-syracuse-orange-ncaa-basketball

 

[kirbivore]

Winfred Walton. The first top 5 guy after probation. Wallace was highly regarded but not that high.

 

[obliterata]

#31

 

[Marsh01]

The pearl