Is Vandy a must win?
- Thread starter Ranchdawg
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I was told by somebody on the team that for all of his faults, Bullard wanted to win and he actually just choked because he put too much pressure on himself, not because he was fixing the game. That was somebody defending their teammate obviously, but they weren't particularly complimentary of him otherwise so while they certainly could be wrong, didn't sound like it was just blind loyalty to a teammate.
Bullard may not have been the best teammate and he was no model citizen off the court, but he was not coached well in the game against Syracuse and certainly not mentored in life as well as he needed to be.
Gotta be some big regrets there.
Sure wish he could have kept it together, would have made a big difference the following year.
I'll never forget watching that Syracuse game and couldn't figure what the hell was going on. We were so great all season not turning the ball over especially on that run we made. Then KY wipes their asses with Syracuse after we had just whipped KY's *** in the SEC Tourney final.
Looking back at that box score, we had 6 free throws and made all 6. Syracuse had 24 and made 20. And we had 21 total turnovers, to their 5.
That WF team ended up #9 in the country, 2nd in the ACC that year. MSU was a total rebuild year. Malik's dad (Horatio Webster) was our best player. I had just moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina (formerly NCDawg13) and obtained season tix @ WF via my (ex) wife's job. SO, even though WF beat us, I had the chance to watch Tim Duncan play in college. ACC basketball blows away SEC basketball, easily. At least, back in the 90s.
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Sure seemed like our Coach, coaches, and our players were not prepared for that moment in terms of strategy or mental preparation. Everybody had a look of like "what the hell are we supposed to do now."
So weird after having such an incredible run to the Final Four.
Syracuse played a great game that day, but we were certainly capable of beating them.
There are several shots in the second half of Williams looking more resigned than resolute.
Maddening. The rematch with UK would have been so fun.
Bullard gets a bad rap for that game. Syracuse just outplayed us and we had no idea how to attack their zone. Bullard had a lot of turnovers, but he also had 8 assists and 11 points on only 9 shots. Dontae Jones was 2-8 from behind the line, and we got 0 points from our bench. We also only forced 5 turnovers by Syracuse all day. The whole team just played a little flat after everything they'd been through the last 3 weekends.
jumped out to an 8 point lead in the first 6 minutes, but it was tied 36-36 at halftime.
Did not realize that. I think dribbling the ball off his foot and out of bounds when there was no pressure on him defined that game in a lot of people's mind, including mine. That and their upper classman that stayed in school after a bad draft grade (John Wallace or something like that?) going off on us.
He did. Wallace also went off on UGA in the regional final. If I remember that game went to the last shot - might have been overtime, otherwise would have been three SEC teams in the final four.
Edited, beat UGA in overtime in the Sweet Sixteen. they beat Kansas in the Final.
I watched every home game we had that season. It was one my next to last semester and I had a great time. I think your take is more likely the way things actually happened. I don't buy all the conspiracy theories because I don't think Bullard was that smart. The was a great squad but they just had no idea what the hell they were doing in New York and Syracuse played their *** off. I think the next game was the most boring NCAA final I probably have ever seen in college and yes, we should've had a rematch with Kentucky... But that's the way things go. The way college basketball is run ands made now you're more likely to have a huge winning run at the craps tables at Caesars Palace in Vegas than get MSU that winning run that puts us back to the Final Four again.
I agree. I sat in my seats and actually cried after that game because I knew and still know we will never get back… especially with a chance to win it all. I sold out tickets the next day and stayed drunk until our Tuesday flight out. Selling those 2 tickets payed for the whole trip plus an extra $1k. But would all give it back if we could have won.
That first half… man I was a nervous wreck being up big and then being tied at the half. I still have my vhs tape of the game and have never watched it to this day.
It was neat as hell to go to any bar in NYC and see folks you knew… but also because every damn bartender knew about State and majority had picked us to win.
I still say that we should mythically claim 3 National Championships because of our stupid Governor. Like another school claims for football.
Bullard also shot over 40% from 3-point range in that game, too. That dumb myth about him fixing the game was always lunatic fan tin foil hat BS. Morons who couldn’t reconcile the fact that it was still actually possible for us to not win the national championship after the UK / UConn / Cincinnati games just wouldn’t shut up about it.
Him having 8 or 9 turnovers or whatever it was against an elite defense also shouldn’t have shocked anybody. Bullard was NOT a point guard and that team didn’t even have one. He was just forced into it due to lack of other options. But lack of a true PG was a weakness all season for that team.
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Interesting tidbit about that Final Four. It is the last Final Four to be played in an actual basketball arena. Every one since then has been played in a huge dome in order for the NCAA to sell 60-70,000 tickets.
I will never pay top dollar to watch a basketball game in a football stadium. Terrible viewing experience for 90% of the people there.
He wasn't a true point guard but it wasn't like he didn't have the handles for it.
Like a lot of teams, we just weren't ready for Boheims matchup zone. It wasn't exactly new, but I think he had just committed to doing zone full time that year or the year before and it let him really dial it in and add some wrinkles because that's all they practiced.
John Wallace was a big time college player. Not many stopped him.
I think the other guy you're thinking of was Otis Hill, who played really well in that postseason.