Steve Edelson's column
In today's Press. I thought it was well done and to the point..a snappy re-cap of Calloway's 20 years at MU and the fact MU men's hoops reached its highest level yet with its NCAA performances last season. Any comments on Steve's article? Post them here and he will see them.
I have a question for you - what MU men's basketball game either turned the program around and or established it at the D1 level. Here are my nominees:
First win over then mighty (by NEC standards) FDU in 87-88 at home..before then, MU couldn't even compete successfully in the NEC. A big 3 by Calloway in the last minute helped seal the deal.
The same year: the win at Miami or the one over Marist and Rick Smits.
The win over Rider in '96 to earn MU's first D1 NCAA berth.
The overtime win at home in '97 over Charles Jones and LIU.
Pick what game you think was the most important and why. You may add any others as well.
e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
I have a question for you - what MU men's basketball game either turned the program around and or established it at the D1 level. Here are my nominees:
First win over then mighty (by NEC standards) FDU in 87-88 at home..before then, MU couldn't even compete successfully in the NEC. A big 3 by Calloway in the last minute helped seal the deal.
The same year: the win at Miami or the one over Marist and Rick Smits.
The win over Rider in '96 to earn MU's first D1 NCAA berth.
The overtime win at home in '97 over Charles Jones and LIU.
Pick what game you think was the most important and why. You may add any others as well.
e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
posted by Tony Graham at 10:41 AM
6 Comments:
I am going to start withy my own comment here by saying..I realize many of you were not following MU hoops back in its ""earlier'' days sooooo..just go ahead and venture an opinion anyway. There are no right or wrong answers here of course. Just opinions. I will offer my own pick of the most important game later on these comments.
I have only been following this team for the last few years, the first game I ever "saw" was the loss against Duke. However, I attended Monmouth and became a crazed fan during that time. Over the last few years a few games stick out in my head. Obviously the play-in game win over Hampton in my opinion should be considered the best win because it was techinically an NCAA tournament win and also showed that Monmouth is in fact too good for the play-in game. Also, last year's win at the Great Alaskan Shootout was a great win over Souther Illiniois (however their performance following that game in Alaska was a bit of a disgrace). However, the most exciting wins over the last few years have to be Marques' last second shot over St. Peter's two years back, Marques' game winning drive to win at the last second in the 1st round of the NEC tourney two years back, Mike Shipman's half-court miracle last year and both of the FDU wins last year. For me, it's always sweeter when it's FDU losing.
Not to take anything aways from the team's accomplishments in recent years because there have been many but do you think this team is really better than some of the early D1 teams. For those following for a while guys like Mason McBride, Karl Townes, Derrick Thomas, Fernando Saunders, etc. could play. They just never got the team over the hump.
I'm not sure the NEC is as strong as it used to be - some players had NBA runs (Carry Scurry, Mike Izzoluni from SFP, Alex Blackwell) and others like Jamie Latney and Damari Riddick where awfully good.
Anyway, look forward to another good season and appreciate the nice work on the blog
PS - best moment at Boylan gym - Harrie Garris late game slam dunk over Marist.
Your comment has considerable merit. NEC with FDU, Marist, RMU...remember Loyola Md? was tough in late 80's...into early 90's including that SFPA club ..
Then Rider teams became the standard of excellence for a while and league peaked again in 96 when MU won the final over Rider and MSM and Marist went to the NIT.....Frankly NEC probably hasn't been as strong overall since.
This year's MU team, though, could - repeat could - be MU's best on the D1 level. Right now I would rate the '96 team as MU's top D1 club though we'll never know about Alex Blackwell's senior year team (91-92)because of the injuries that wrecked that season.
Yes..Harrie's dunk may be the all-time D1 crowd pleasing moment at Boylan Gym
For having been around for past 19 seasons, many games come to mind as turning points in the program. Since the move to D1, the program has been cyclical. Therefore, I'd rather point out a few games that could be construed as a turning point of the program: the first true sign of D1 competitiveness - '87-'88 MU 64, FDU 60; ultimate peak in the Calloway/Blackwell era - 12/28/92 - MU 60, Rice 59; new era's end of rebuilding - Drexel 90, MU 72 (ability to come back from a 40+ deficit at half and score 55 points in 2nd half began the dominant play of the Girlado/Albano era; mid-nineties peak - 1996 NEC tournament (Miracle at Marist & Title win); new era's end of rebuilding - 12/1/1999 MU win over Drexel (true coming out party for Rahsaan Johnson); turning point to dominance - 2/4/2001 MU 86, SF NY 79; coming out party on the national stage - 2001 Hawaii Pacific Tournament Semifinals MU 81, Vanderbilt 67 (first, and I believe still only, win by any NEC team over an SEC opponent). This can further be bolstered by the SIU victory at the Shootout and the Boston College game in the Virgin Islands.
As far as what is the best team in the program's history (not including the potential of this year's squad), I'd have to agree that the 1996 squad is the best.
Excellent job on your part. One of the games you have mentioned is my own personal, turning point game (TBA).
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