Syracuse Basketball: Ranking best, worst moments in March Madness
By Neil Adler
Elation in The Big Easy
It’s 2001, and my first NCAA Tournament after departing the Hill isn’t an auspicious one, as the No. 5 seed ‘Cuse is blown out in the round of 32 by the No. 4 seed Kansas. Hey, we’ll get the Jayhawks when it truly counts, so all good.
Woo-hoo, Syracuse advances to the Final Four in 2002! Oh wait, it’s the NIT, not the Big Dance.
Most folks will correctly assess that I’m a weird dude for saying this, and that’s legit, but April 7, 2003, will forever amount to one of the finest days in my life. The third-seeded Orange, despite a handful of tight spots on its ride to the national-title tilt versus second-seeded Kansas, is cruising in the first 20 minutes.
I’m watching this contest, nervously, at the apartment which I share with my brother in Maryland. Our parents have dinner with us and see the initial stanza, and then they head home. The ‘Cuse boasts a sizable intermission edge, but I fully admit that the final 20 minutes will prove excruciating. That’s the Syracuse way.
The Jayhawks, of course, trim the deficit. The lead becomes barely recognizable. Is this 1987 all over again? My poor brother, he can’t even watch the ending, so he goes upstairs to his room.
The Orange does almost everything conceivable to lose. Missed free throws. Turnovers. Bad shot selection. Complacency. I could go on and on and on.
My anxiety level is through the roof. But then THE BLOCK arrives from power forward Hakim Warrick. And so does the inaugural NCAA championship for the ‘Cuse and boss Jim Boeheim. Once the outcome is upon us, I scream as I’ve never screamed before.
My brother may not have witnessed the ending, but he knows the result. Syracuse exacts revenge on Kansas, and I don’t sleep a wink that night. Totally worth it.