Who is the greatest PG in SU history?

[MGP]

The only reason some of us on the board know "Spingarn High".

or Mr. Bing

 

[Eric15]

Two votes for Pearl! It's not a shutout!

 

[dasher]

Two votes for Pearl! It's not a shutout!

Sherm

 

[Shark58]

1- Sherm was a better player
2- Pearl is the "greatest pg in SU history
3- I didn't vote

 

[HoustonCuse]

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

Dude, you really need to hit up netflix and watch the Big East 30 for 30. Your questions are shocking.

 

[sabach]

or Mr. Bing

Wow. I don't think I ever knew that and if I once did, I forgot. Well, thank you Spingarn. You gave us two of the greatest ever to wear the Orange.

 

[stuckinbig11]

Sherman

 

[Shenexon]

Sherm is the standard by which all other point guards are measured...

 

[Jack Hall]

Dude, you really need to hit up netflix and watch the Big East 30 for 30. Your questions are shocking.

I am well aware of big east history, but not only did we have to compete against the uclas, iu, ul, uncs of the world in recruiting, but within the Big East we had to go up against gtown, stj, and villa in their prime. Gtown won the natl championship in 84, we didnt have one yet. Vill and stj got to a FF before JB did. Those are some tough recruiting battles and yet look at the talent from 86-91.

 

[RF2044]

I am well aware of big east history, but not only did we have to compete against the uclas, iu, ul, uncs of the world in recruiting, but within the Big East we had to go up against gtown, stj, and villa in their prime. Gtown won the natl championship in 84, we didnt have one yet. Vill and stj got to a FF before JB did. Those are some tough recruiting battles and yet look at the talent from 86-91.

The Dome -- a unique venue in college basketball that was bigger than any other arena -- played a huge factor. Landing a player like Pearl also brought us a lot of exposure. Playing on ESPN against many of those top teams in the BE that you mentioned made us a national player, and HS prospects grew up watching us on TV and dreaming about playing in rivalry games like that, in the largest on-campus facility in college basketball.

That said, some of the players fell into our laps. Seikaly was the son of alums, and he arrived at campus unrecruited, then walked into the basketball office to try to walk on. Seriously. Sherman Douglas is another guy who fell into our laps. He was slated for Old Dominion, and we only recruited him after losing out on two other highly touted PG prospects [and I think The General only came onto our radar after Dave Bing, who was an alum of the HS Sherm attended, made the staff aware of him].

My dad rode on a plane with JB when JB was returning from recruiting Rafael Addison. They struck up a brief conversation, and JB told him that "we just landed an NBA player."

 

[jekelish]

I cannot freaking believe this thread. I was literally just this morning starting work on an article comparing Pearl and Sherm with this exact premise.

Damn you, Eric15

 

[General20]

Obviously I voted for my board namesake, but I have to say I am surprised the vote is so lopsided. I expected it to be close to 50/50, and I suspect RF's well written post in favor of Douglas at the beginning of this thread has something to do with his landslide advantage.

From my perspective, Douglas left Syracuse as the schools all time leader in points and steals, and the nation's all time leader in assists, and he did it in 3 years at a time when almost everybody stayed 4 years. You can't ask for much more than that from a point guard.

As vague as the term is, he was also perhaps Syracuse's biggest "winner." He would do anything to gain an advantage, and he lead Syracuse to a title game and an elite 8 appearance because of it.

From a fan perspective, there is no doubt in my mind he was the most fun basketball player to watch I have ever seen on any level of basketball.

 

[NKR1978]

I cannot freaking believe this thread. I was literally just this morning starting work on an article comparing Pearl and Sherm with this exact premise.

Damn you, Eric15

Don't worry, Syracuse.com will appropriate it soon enough.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I feel like Pearl's impact was more off the court than on...his reputation coming in was huge for the perception of our program.

...But we only won the regular season once, never the BET, and got to one sweet sixteen with Pearl.

 

[cuseincincy]

And here I thought I was creating a good poll.

You want a good poll? Ask who the 3rd best PG in Syracuse history was. Moss, Autry, Hart, GMac, Flynn, MCW, Ennis, Jardine, Sims? Could lead to some great debate and a discussion of does years played matter? Best career? Best season?

 

[Eric15]

I suspect RF's well written post in favor of Douglas at the beginning of this thread has something to do with his landslide advantage.

RF was not around - busting out words like pantheon and stratification.

 

[RF2044]

RF was not around - busting out words like pantheon and stratification.

Ha ha!

 

[Eric15]

You want a good poll? Ask who the 3rd best PG in Syracuse history was. Moss, Autry, Hart, GMac, Flynn, MCW, Ennis, Jardine, Sims? Could lead to some great debate and a discussion of does years played matter? Best career? Best season?

Do it up, my friend. I won't steal your thunder. That would definitely be a solid debate.

 

[cuseincincy]

Do it up, my friend. I won't steal your thunder. That would definitely be a solid debate.

Honestly I love the Sherm/Pearl debate. It's like Christie Brinkley vs Cheryl Tiegs, Steak vs. Lobster, Cake vs. Brownies. I was an acquaintance of both of them. Did many a shot with both of them. They both had smiles that wouldn't quit. Biggest difference between the two in that regard was that Pearl always paid! Sherm was more like just another student you met on campus and partied with. Pearl was a great guy too, but he was "The Pearl". Always was and always will be. Whenever Pearl would enter a place a murmur would go through the crowd..."Pearl's here...did you here Pearl's here...hey man, Pearl's here, better get up to the bar."

 

[Meatball56]

You want a good poll? Ask who the 3rd best PG in Syracuse history was. Moss, Autry, Hart, GMac, Flynn, MCW, Ennis, Jardine, Sims? Could lead to some great debate and a discussion of does years played matter? Best career? Best season?

Removing Sherm and Pearl, for one season - Sims in '96. So much fun to watch. Made everyone so much better.

 

[General20]

You want a good poll? Ask who the 3rd best PG in Syracuse history was. Moss, Autry, Hart, GMac, Flynn, MCW, Ennis, Jardine, Sims? Could lead to some great debate and a discussion of does years played matter? Best career? Best season?

MCW would have been if he stayed 4 years, but I think Autry had a pretty good combination of offense and defense. I'd give it to him or Jardine who I think is underrated and was not the point guard on two #1 seeds by accident.

How about best shooting guard under Boeheim. That might get interesting too. Moten had the best career,Thompson was the best athlete, Devendorf was unstoppable offensively, Waiters only had one good year, but I think he was the best guard in the country that year and you can't say that about any of the other players. Push comes to shove I'd take Rautins senior year over anybody else.

 

[MikeSU02]

Pearl is a legend, but Sherm was the better PG, as others have said.

For a college PG, Sherm was absolutely the guy you wanted to hand the keys to. There are a million reasons why that Indiana loss stings so bad, but Sherm not getting a chip is one of the major ones, for me.

 

[Conrad13]

I was young when he played but I just remember how much Douglas controlled the flow of a game. That's why I think that Ennis's best comparison was to Douglas.

Of course there were the alley oops. He would sort of casually toss the ball up and I'd wonder what was going on and then one of our forwards would sky up to dunk it. Most of the time, you can see an alley oop coming from a mile a way, but on Sherman Douglas led teams they would come out of nowhere.

My other great memory is going to his last game at the Dome. He was known as being kind of a sullen guy in the NBA, but when he came back out of the tunnel with his shirt off after the game, the crowd went nuts and he had a a smile that I could see from the cheap seats on the other side of the Dome.

 

[Jack Hall]

I was young when he played but I just remember how much Douglas controlled the flow of a game. That's why I think that Ennis's best comparison was to Douglas.

The other thing of course were the alley oops. He would sort of casually toss the ball up and I'd wonder what was going on and then one of our forwards would sky up to dunk it. Most of the time, you can see an alley oop coming from a mile a way, but on Sherman Douglas led teams they would come out of nowhere.

Yep, our fast break may never be as good again...

 

[MikeSU02]

MCW would have been if he stayed 4 years, but I think Autry had a pretty good combination of offense and defense. I'd give it to him or Jardine who I think is underrated and was not the point guard on two #1 seeds by accident.

How about best shooting guard under Boeheim. That might get interesting too. Moten had the best career,Thompson was the best athlete, Devendorf was unstoppable offensively, Waiters only had one good year, but I think he was the best guard in the country that year and you can't say that about any of the other players. Push comes to shove I'd take Rautins senior year over anybody else.

I would give third best PG to Autry.

Best SG, for me, would be Moten.

Funny story - waiting in line to get into a club during spring break in Panama City when I was a college student I started talking about Cuse with whomever I was in line with. The kid in front of me asks if we went to Cuse/were fans of bball team and then goes on like a five minute rant about how he loved Moten and used the term "Poetry in Moten" at least 17 times.