Syracuse Basketball: Top 3 most exciting on fast break in Jim Boeheim era
By Thomas Clark
2. Sherman Douglas, 1985-89.
Looking back, it’s amazing to think how lucky Syracuse fans were to enjoy two point guards back-to-back with the abilities and flair of Dwayne Washington and Sherman Douglas.
During Pearl’s junior year, I remember going to watch Syracuse hoops practices at Manley and the Carrier Dome and seeing this small, freshman, backup guard bother him up and down the court. Syracuse fans never really thought much of that freshman guard, he wasn’t highly recruited and our eyes were on The Pearl.
But then we got to know “The General”: Sherman Douglas.
After Pearl left before his senior year, Douglas took control of the team at the start of the 1986-87 season. It was a hard act to follow, but Douglas brought Syracuse to new heights: Its first Final Four and championship game of the Boeheim era.
The General’s teams, for his sophomore-senior years, always finished the season ranked in the top 10.
Douglas was the best passer and leader in Syracuse history. He set the all-time collegiate record for assists in a college career with 960 (later broken), and the Syracuse records for points scored, 2,060 (also later broken), and most assists in a game (22).
He was thrilling on the fast break, using some of the moves he learned from Pearl, mixed with his own unique confidence and court vision.
But the thing he’ll be remembered for most is the alley-oops. He didn’t invent the most exciting play in basketball, but it sure seemed like it.
The dynamic weapons at his disposal at Syracuse: forwards Stephen Thompson, Derrick Coleman, Billy Owens, and center Rony Seikaly, were beneficiaries of Douglas’ deft touch.
Whether in a fast break situation or a half-court set, The General would loft the ball to the rim, those thoroughbreds went up and got it, dunked with authority, and Syracuse was simply the best show on Earth.
I love Chris Paul, and he’s great at serving up alley-oops, especially during the LA Clippers “Lob City” run, but I’m sorry, Sherman Douglas is the all-time king.
Douglas went on to a solid 12-year career in the NBA and his uniform number 20 was retired to the Carrier Dome rafters in 2005.
Please watch this between-the-legs hike of the ball to a streaking Stevie Thompson, against Indiana (the team that edged us for the title in 1987) to start the 1988 season. Listen to announcer Dick Vitale. This is how we all felt for three years watching Douglas: