My first taste of Syracuse hoops in the NCAA Tournament came right after I turned 18 years old, in 1991 as a second-semester freshman enrolled at the Harvard of Central New York. (Yeah, I was young. As a 4-year-old, I was promoted from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten midway through the year. Apparently, I was a master at fitting round pegs into round holes. Or maybe I just didn't piss my pants as much as the other kids.)
Anyway, that freshman year we averaged over 29,000 fans per game — about 150% the capacity of Madison Square Garden — in the Carrier Dome. Ranked as high as No. 4 with Billy Owens — up there with Alonzo Mourning and LaPhonso Ellis as the greatest college players I've ever seen live — we were seeded second in the 1991 NCAA Tournament against Richmond.
We lost. The first team to lose to a 15-seed. It was devastating.
There's nothing in sports quite like watching a NCAA Tournament game on the campus of one of the participants. Unlike in New York, a megalopolis so diverse that it seems no event can truly grip the city, campuses like SU are squarely focused on the games. The bars are packed, the sound is cranked and everyone — I mean everyone — is rooting for the home team.
Man, I'm glad I wasn't in Syracuse on Friday night. 'Cause I've been there. I remember, after the final buzzer, walking into the hall of our dorm and seeing people slowly bouncing into the walls like punch-drunk boxers. But I imagine it's only the freshmen and sophomores. The juniors and seniors have a different perspective.
Those upperclassmen lived the dream. Something I never experienced, and something I never will: a men's basketball national championship delivered as a student. Syracuse won only three NCAA Tournament games in my four years, half as many as the then-Orangemen won in the 2003 title run alone.
Two of the biggest reasons we lost Friday night were two of the biggest reasons we won in 2003: Hakim Warrick had 10 turnovers and Gerry McNamara shot 4-of-18. Posters in the SU forum are going nuts over the officiating. I thought the hanging-on-the-rim technical on Terrence Roberts was an absolute joke, but I also saw a Vermont team that, despite heaving several air-balls, played some good defense and didn't give G-Mac room to breathe. Big ups to them. Beat UConn one week; lose to Vermont the next. Que cera, cera.
And credit those guys for winning in 2003, else I would not be able to type. Then again, college hoops takes on a different perspective when you're 32 and not 18.
Now you other 62 teams who are gonna lose, hurry up and bite the dust so I don't feel so bad.
Other Sports Links:
• Q&A on McGwire's Steroids Testimony — The guy's a fraud, of that I have no doubt. Big Mac's not the only one, but he's a fraud. I never really drank the McGwire Kool-Aid; I always thought he was some kind of science experiment, but I did experience live one of his most-memorable achievements. I stood on Fenway Park's right-field roof as a media member (FOXSports.com producer) when McGwire belted 13 home runs in the opening round of the 1999 Home Run Derby during the All-Star Game festivities. Each shot looked like it was rocket-propelled, and the Citgo sign seemed to cringe with every blast. I remember standing near Keith Olbermann, who was sitting on a FOX Sports Net makeshift set, cheering with his shoes off like a little kid. But I guess it was all bogus. As I heard someone say on Friday, McGwire's only talent was power. He was a one-tool player, and that tool was illegally enhanced.
• Surrender of a Bashed Brother — Skip Bayless writes about the demise of Mark McGwire's legacy and makes a really good point about Rafael Palmerio — "Either Canseco or Palmeiro is really lying." Still not sure why Curt Schilling was so upset with Canseco. If Ketchup Sock wasn't in the same clubhouses and doesn't himself know the absolute truth, why would he discredit the source? Shouldn't he, as new Steroid Czar, be equally upset with McGwire for providing worthless answers to his new Congressional buddies? Where's the backlash against athletes who dodge questions? Ya know, if it's such a serious issue and all.
• Colon Absorbs Another Pounding — A funny Orange County Register headline that appeared in this month's Maxim. Or maybe it was Stuff. They're all the same anyway.
• Will Perdue a Better Rebounder Than Shaquille O'Neal? — Basketball-Reference.com indexes all-time leaders for Rebound Rate, a stat that measures a player's efficiency in grabbing available rebounds. Note that Rebound Rate is studied only since 1974, so don't have a heart attack when you see Felton Spencer at 64, while Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell appear nowhere.
• Yankees Alternate Covers for EA Sports MVP Baseball 2005 — Not a Manny Ramirez fan? Join the club. Print out these homemade covers and slip 'em over that dude's ugly mug.
Everyone thinks 'Melo when they think about that title two years ago, and obviously he was brilliant, but having picked them in all of my pools that season, I'll never forget how intricate the barrage of treys G-Mac nailed in the first half of the title game (as a frosh) and that fantastic block Warrick came up with in the same game (as a soph) were in me pulling in nearly a grand over those three weeks. (Obviously you'll never forget those either...)
Filling out my bracket this year, I couldn't get those guys out of my head, and I kept thinking about how they're easily the most impossible duo to rattle in college basketball. There was no way any team could hold them both down in a single game... right? So once again I penciled them in to run off six.
Fuck. Everyone I've talked to or been around tonight has drilled Warrick and G-Mac, and with good reason... I'm certainly not an expert on Syracuse basketball, but I'm willing to wager that was the worst game either of them have had since they stepped foot on campus. But it's not like poise and confidence were questionable with these guys... it took a dynamite outing by Vermont to expose panic, doubt, and insecurity on a team I never thought could lose its composure. Vermont was in their shorts and in their heads all night long... I think you've gotta give more credit to them than blame the Orange. That was an unreal performance.
My call: Next up for Vermont is a major let-down game. If they play like they did tonight they can play with anyone... but when your coach makes reference to being happy with a "split" right after the win... you know they've already done everything they came to do.
Posted by RP at March 19, 2005 7:21 AM