Who is the greatest PG in SU history? | Syracusefan.com

Who is the greatest PG in SU history?

Who is the greatest PG in SU history?

  • Total voters
    78
I mean... is there even a debate?

Sherman Douglas, by a landslide. I love the Pearl, and he was electric to watch. But he took games off, didn't play hard against the lesser teams on the schedule, and didn't play a lick of defense. In big games, there was nobody more clutch, but he didn't play with Sherman's relentless intensity. Sherman wanted to not only beat but to DESTROY every opponent we played.

Pearl may have "built" the Dome, but Sherman Douglas elevated the program to the next level. He set the NCAA record for assists in THREE YEARS, after barely playing his freshman season. He got us to the national championship game in his first year as a sophomore. He orchestrated some of the most exciting years of play in program history, and he went on to have a very solid pro career as a starting NBA point guard.

IMO, these two are on a level all to themselves when it comes to discussing all time program great point guards [and I know the younger fans will be pounding the Flynn /MCW drum], but even within this rarified pantheon of excellence, there is a huge stratification.

Sherman Douglas, no question, hands down.
 
RF2044 said:
I mean... is there even a debate?

Sherman Douglas, by a landslide. I love the Pearl, and he was electric to watch. But he took games off, didn't play hard against the lesser teams on the schedule, and didn't play a lick of defense. In big games, there was nobody more clutch.

Pearl may have "built" the Dome, but Sherman Douglas elevated the program to the next level. He set the NCAA record for assists in THREE YEARS, after barely playing his freshman season. He got us to the national championship game in his first year as a sophomore. He orchestrated some of the most exciting years of play in program history, and he went on to have a very solid pro career as a starting NBA point guard.

IMO, these two are on a level all to themselves when it comes to discussing all time program great point guards [and I know the younger fans will be pounding the Flynn /MCW drum], but even within this rarified pantheon of excellence, there is a huge stratification.

Sherman Douglas, no question, hands down.
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I agree. He was incredible and was the leader of those teams.
 
Eric15 said:
...and why?
Expand...
Sherm the General just over The Pearl imo. Why? Because for 3 straight yrs he averaged over 17 pts and 7 assists per game and he led us to a Title game and an elite 8. As a side note, i believe only two SU teams since the mid 80s have had all 5 starters averaging double digit pts per game- and BOTH those teams had Sherm as the pg. That is why he was THE General
 
RF2044 said:
I mean... is there even a debate?

Sherman Douglas, by a landslide. I love the Pearl, and he was electric to watch. But he took games off, didn't play hard against the lesser teams on the schedule, and didn't play a lick of defense. In big games, there was nobody more clutch, but he didn't play with Sherman's relentless intensity. Sherman wanted to not only beat but to DESTROY every opponent we played.

Pearl may have "built" the Dome, but Sherman Douglas elevated the program to the next level. He set the NCAA record for assists in THREE YEARS, after barely playing his freshman season. He got us to the national championship game in his first year as a sophomore. He orchestrated some of the most exciting years of play in program history, and he went on to have a very solid pro career as a starting NBA point guard.

IMO, these two are on a level all to themselves when it comes to discussing all time program great point guards [and I know the younger fans will be pounding the Flynn /MCW drum], but even within this rarified pantheon of excellence, there is a huge stratification.

Sherman Douglas, no question, hands down.
Expand...
But i will admit there was no individual player i got more excited to watch than the Pearl. He was something, he more than anyone made me fall in love w The Cuse
 
RF2044 said:
I mean... is there even a debate?

Sherman Douglas, by a landslide. I love the Pearl, and he was electric to watch. But he took games off, didn't play hard against the lesser teams on the schedule, and didn't play a lick of defense. In big games, there was nobody more clutch, but he didn't play with Sherman's relentless intensity. Sherman wanted to not only beat but to DESTROY every opponent we played.

Pearl may have "built" the Dome, but Sherman Douglas elevated the program to the next level. He set the NCAA record for assists in THREE YEARS, after barely playing his freshman season. He got us to the national championship game in his first year as a sophomore. He orchestrated some of the most exciting years of play in program history, and he went on to have a very solid pro career as a starting NBA point guard.

IMO, these two are on a level all to themselves when it comes to discussing all time program great point guards [and I know the younger fans will be pounding the Flynn /MCW drum], but even within this rarified pantheon of excellence, there is a huge stratification.

Sherman Douglas, no question, hands down.
Expand...
I was just a kid in the 80s. I would love to hear from more senior fans, how did JB do it? How did he recruit Addison, the Pearl, Sherm, Seikaly, Coleman, Thompson, Owens, etc etc to freezing Syracuse? I mean the talent in the roughly 5 year stretch from 86-91 has only been matched once at SU (2009-2014) imo. How did JB do it in those earlier days before SU was even close to the likes of UNC, IU, UL, UCLA? Was it just luck or who were the big recruiters back then w JB?
 
You can talk about importance, excitement, and many other things where Pearl may come out on top but as far as who did a better job playing PG at SU its quite obvious that Sherm did it better than any before or since and likely better than anyone ever will.
 
RF2044 said:
I mean... is there even a debate?

Sherman Douglas, by a landslide. I love the Pearl, and he was electric to watch. But he took games off, didn't play hard against the lesser teams on the schedule, and didn't play a lick of defense. In big games, there was nobody more clutch, but he didn't play with Sherman's relentless intensity. Sherman wanted to not only beat but to DESTROY every opponent we played.

Pearl may have "built" the Dome, but Sherman Douglas elevated the program to the next level. He set the NCAA record for assists in THREE YEARS, after barely playing his freshman season. He got us to the national championship game in his first year as a sophomore. He orchestrated some of the most exciting years of play in program history, and he went on to have a very solid pro career as a starting NBA point guard.

IMO, these two are on a level all to themselves when it comes to discussing all time program great point guards [and I know the younger fans will be pounding the Flynn /MCW drum], but even within this rarified pantheon of excellence, there is a huge stratification.

Sherman Douglas, no question, hands down.
Expand...

Im young, but I know that Sherm and Pearl were in a different class than the recent guys. Some people may say "But Flynn/MCW only stayed 2 years. If they stayed all 4 years they would be considered the best."

My answer to that is that all of the big programs have guys that leave. MCW/Flynn would be compared to John Wall, Anthony Davis, etc. and it would all even out.
 
Jack Hall said:
I was just a kid in the 80s. I would love to hear from more senior fans, how did JB do it? How did he recruit Addison, the Pearl, Sherm, Seikaly, Coleman, Thompson, Owens, etc etc to freezing Syracuse? I mean the talent in the roughly 5 year stretch from 86-91 has only been matched once at SU (2009-2014) imo. How did JB do it in those earlier days before SU was even close to the likes of UNC, IU, UL, UCLA? Was it just luck or who were the big recruiters back then w JB?
Expand...

4 letters

ESPN
 
This goes back to the poll on the Legends of Syracuse. In my opinion Pearl was more legendary than Sherm but Sherm was the better PG. I remember the first time I saw Sherm. It was in a pre-season scrimmage in New Hartford, back when they did those type of things. I was there to see Pearl of course. Then I saw how this Douglas guy played in the scrimmage, even against Pearl and I thought to myself, "man this guy is gonna be good too". I had no idea then how good he would become. The only reason some of us on the board know "Spingarn High".
 
I was just looking at Sherms assist numbers the other day! They are staggering! No one will ever catch him!
 
Jack Hall said:
So are you saying Newhouse School of Public Communications had something to do w it? Indirectly ;-)
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Sure it did but the players that were mentioned were not there for the academics thats for damn sure.
 
Marsh01 said:
Sure it did but the players that were mentioned were not there for the academics thats for damn sure.
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Well i guess what i was asking was- were there a bunch of SU guys working at espn in the 80s? I was too young then, i am not even sure we got espn at our house
 
sabach said:
This goes back to the poll on the Legends of Syracuse. In my opinion Pearl was more legendary than Sherm but Sherm was the better PG. I remember the first time I saw Sherm. It was in a pre-season scrimmage in New Hartford, back when they did those type of things. I was there to see Pearl of course. Then I saw how this Douglas guy played in the scrimmage, even against Pearl and I thought to myself, "man this guy is gonna be good too". I had no idea then how good he would become. The only reason some of us on the board know "Spingarn High".
Expand...

And the funny thing about that was that he was our Plan C at point guard that recruiting year. The big debate was over who we were going to land -- Boo or Pooh? As in Pooh Richardson, who ultimately went to UCLA, and Boo Harvey, who went to St. John's via San Jacinto junior college. Both big time recruits that we'd targeted to replace the Pearl, but both of whom semi-balked at the prospect of having to come sit behind him for a year [and obviously, Harvey also had academic issues].

Douglas was under recruited. Playing in DC, he wanted to go to Georgetown but they showed zero interest, and he didn't have any other major offers. He was all set to go to Old Dominion when Syracuse got involved late. I don't know if this is 100% true, but I've heard that Bing played a role, as a Spingarn HS alum, and helped put Sherman on the coaching staff's radar.

The rest is history. The underrecruited kid came here, benefitted from playing against Pearl every day in practice his first year, and then put on a three year show the likes of which our program has never seen. I remember when Pearl declared for the NBA, being insanely worried about he dropoff, that Sherman Douglas wouldn't have the chops to take his place and perform at a high level, etc.

Oops.

Best point guard ever, and my favorite all time player in program history. His jersey number is the "20" in my handle.
 
Jack Hall said:
I was just a kid in the 80s. I would love to hear from more senior fans, how did JB do it? How did he recruit Addison, the Pearl, Sherm, Seikaly, Coleman, Thompson, Owens, etc etc to freezing Syracuse? I mean the talent in the roughly 5 year stretch from 86-91 has only been matched once at SU (2009-2014) imo. How did JB do it in those earlier days before SU was even close to the likes of UNC, IU, UL, UCLA? Was it just luck or who were the big recruiters back then w JB?
Expand...
Four letters - ESPN
 
Jack Hall said:
I was just a kid in the 80s. I would love to hear from more senior fans, how did JB do it? How did he recruit Addison, the Pearl, Sherm, Seikaly, Coleman, Thompson, Owens, etc etc to freezing Syracuse? I mean the talent in the roughly 5 year stretch from 86-91 has only been matched once at SU (2009-2014) imo. How did JB do it in those earlier days before SU was even close to the likes of UNC, IU, UL, UCLA? Was it just luck or who were the big recruiters back then w JB?
Expand...

The dome; the Big East at its apex and, as Marsh correctly points out, ESPN...
 
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