Win or Lose - THANK YOU

[SimpsonElmwood]

I have been watching Northwestern BB since November 1985.

I went to games against Marathon Oil, Brown and the University of Chicago just to experience a win. My most vivid memory of NU BB college hoops in the 80s was Bill Foster calling timeout to (unsuccessfully) stop yet another run by a Big Ten opponent, like Iowa, Michigan State, Purdue. One of the greatest NU hoops feat of my generation was when Rocky Saviano pulled the water fountain off the wall in Bobb-McCulloch. I yearned for a competitive NU hoops team. How hard could it be to find 3 or 4 guys who could make that happen?

Pretty hard.

Foster, Byrdsong, KON, Carmody all came and went. Shon Morris, Jitim Young, Juice Thompson, Evan Eschmeyer, John Shurna and countless others were warriors in this cause.

And here we are. A new W-R. A home court advantage. 2 - and soon 3 - years in the NCAA Tournament in less than a decade. Has NU arrived?

To this point, 1 peak has yet to be approached by Northwestern Basketball. The Big Ten Basketball title game.

Let's take the next step in the journey today. Thank you 2023-24 Men's BB team for making our lives richer this fall and winter! Can't wait for this next chapter.

Go Cats!!!!!

 

[SmellyCat]

Marathon Oil. That takes me back. Wasn't there also a team called "Athletes in Action" or was that some kind of fever dream.

I started in 1989, and I can remember guys on that team like Lucius Reese, Todd Leslie, and Walker Lambiotte. And of course Rex Walters. I remember Kevin Nixon blocking the hell out of a Kendall Gill shot, Leslie hitting threes, and Lambiotte kicking a chair for some reason. And me hating Charles Howell. NU played Laettner/Hurley and Duke that year.

After everyone transferred, 1990 was tough, but it brought in Pat Baldwin and Kevin Rankin, who I thought would lead NU to the promised land. They did get to the NIT in 1994, and by then, it seemed like NU could do no better. And for 23 years, they didn't.

2017 was special. 2023 was special. EVERY time NU makes the tourney is special. I hope even if NU becomes a good team and it's expected every year, it remains special.

 

[Hungry Jack]

I'm not expecting to grow flowers in a desert, but I can live and breathe and see the Cats in wintertime.

In the B1G conference dreams stay with you like a lover's voice fires the mountainside.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

Athletes in Action was an actual opponent. IIRC it was Brian Ross who blocked the shot against Illinois. They even wrote about it in the Daily.

That Baldwin / Rankin team should have gone further. I also remember the health issues of Larry Gorman and Nick Knapp. The transfers of Nixon, Matt Moran, Geno Carlisle and the aforementioned Rex Walters. Much trauma indeed.

 

[Sec.112]

Pat Baldwin and Kevin Rankin, who I thought would lead NU to the promised land.

I'm still getting over the unrealized potential of Eschmeyer and Rankin with that group. But it was still a fun season.

 

[SmellyCat]

I'm not expecting to grow flowers in a desert, but I can live and breathe and see the Cats in wintertime.

In the B1G conference dreams stay with you like a lover's voice fires the mountainside.

I know what you were going for (good song!), and it has the right number of syllables, but I want to see the Cats play in *spring* time. They ended both of their NCAA berths on March 18. Next week, they'll get to finally play in the spring!

 

[TheC]

Marathon Oil. That takes me back. Wasn't there also a team called "Athletes in Action" or was that some kind of fever dream.

I started in 1989, and I can remember guys on that team like Lucius Reese, Todd Leslie, and Walker Lambiotte. And of course Rex Walters. I remember Kevin Nixon blocking the hell out of a Kendall Gill shot, Leslie hitting threes, and Lambiotte kicking a chair for some reason. And me hating Charles Howell. NU played Laettner/Hurley and Duke that year.

After everyone transferred, 1990 was tough, but it brought in Pat Baldwin and Kevin Rankin, who I thought would lead NU to the promised land. They did get to the NIT in 1994, and by then, it seemed like NU could do no better. And for 23 years, they didn't.

2017 was special. 2023 was special. EVERY time NU makes the tourney is special. I hope even if NU becomes a good team and it's expected every year, it remains special.

I remember that Duke game. I think it was the only time I saw WRA rocking in my four years outside of the one time CCC played a H.S. regional final game there when he was a kid.

The Duke game was nuts. I was a freshman who was working for NU's Sports Information department. I was with our A.D. running around because they hadn't printed enough tickets to deal with the walk-up crowd. We were in the basement taking tickets from past games and writing DUKE on them with magic marker so they could be sold!

The atmosphere was electric. Walker Lambiotte played his butt off and, quite literally, his chest. Apparently, he had a mole or something that got torn off during the game and he was bleeding all over his jersey like crazy. It looked like he had been shot. In the end, the team couldn't keep up with Duke, but I got to see Coach K's press conference and he was very complimentary.

Unfortunately, I never got to see anything really like that again in my four years. The only thing that came close was when NU knocked off Illinois on a half-court buzzer beater my senior year. That was fun!! But nothing like what I see on tv in WRA today. I bet that must be incredible for those of you who get to witness it live.

 

[phatcat]

I go back further, to the 1980-81 squad that featured Roberson, Stack, et al. I actually got to enjoy some success a couple.of years later during the McGaw renovation, where we all bussed down to Alumni Hall for a team that went 7-2 at "home" and made the NIT.

Lots of bad basketball after that. Look at us now

 

[SmellyCat]

I remember that Duke game. I think it was the only time I saw WRA rocking in my four years outside of the one time CCC played a H.S. regional final game there when he was a kid.

The Duke game was nuts. I was a freshman who was working for NU's Sports Information department. I was with our A.D. running around because they hadn't printed enough tickets to deal with the walk-up crowd. We were in the basement taking tickets from past games and writing DUKE on them with magic marker so they could be sold!

The atmosphere was electric. Walker Lambiotte played his butt off and, quite literally, his chest. Apparently, he had a mole or something that got torn off during the game and he was bleeding all over his jersey like crazy. It looked like he had been shot. In the end, the team couldn't keep up with Duke, but I got to see Coach K's press conference and he was very complimentary.

Unfortunately, I never got to see anything really like that again in my four years. The only thing that came close was when NU knocked off Illinois on a half-court buzzer beater my senior year. That was fun!! But nothing like what I see on tv in WRA today. I bet that must be incredible for those of you who get to witness it live.

Ced Neloms!

Another thing I remember about the Duke game. Some NU fans were riding Alaa Abdelnaby hard and told him something I will not repeat here about his presumed country of origin and what he felt his occupation was. He turned around, all seven feet of him, and pointed at someone I knew, just saying, "YOU!" My friend was not the person who said the thing, but Abdelnaby joked after the game that he was actually from New Jersey, which is my favorite memory of that era of Duke basketball.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Ced Neloms!

Another thing I remember about the Duke game. Some NU fans were riding Alaa Abdelnaby hard and told him something I will not repeat here about his presumed country of origin and what he felt his occupation was. He turned around, all seven feet of him, and pointed at someone I knew, just saying, "YOU!" My friend was not the person who said the thing, but Abdelnaby joked after the game that he was actually from New Jersey, which is my favorite memory of that era of Duke basketball.

Thankfully God Shammgod never made it to Evanston for a game.

 

[DaCat]

I go back further, to the 1980-81 squad that featured Roberson, Stack, et al. I actually got to enjoy some success a couple.of years later during the McGaw renovation, where we all bussed down to Alumni Hall for a team that went 7-2 at "home" and made the NIT.

Lots of bad basketball after that. Look at us now

Me too. We had some good teams and a tantalizing taste of what success for NU hoops would look like. I sat in a McGaw Hall that was loud, especially the NIT game.

 

[EvanstonCat]

Marathon Oil. That takes me back. Wasn't there also a team called "Athletes in Action" or was that some kind of fever dream.

I started in 1989, and I can remember guys on that team like Lucius Reese, Todd Leslie, and Walker Lambiotte. And of course Rex Walters. I remember Kevin Nixon blocking the hell out of a Kendall Gill shot, Leslie hitting threes, and Lambiotte kicking a chair for some reason. And me hating Charles Howell. NU played Laettner/Hurley and Duke that year.

After everyone transferred, 1990 was tough, but it brought in Pat Baldwin and Kevin Rankin, who I thought would lead NU to the promised land. They did get to the NIT in 1994, and by then, it seemed like NU could do no better. And for 23 years, they didn't.

2017 was special. 2023 was special. EVERY time NU makes the tourney is special. I hope even if NU becomes a good team and it's expected every year, it remains special.

I think we went to school at the same time

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Ced Neloms!

Another thing I remember about the Duke game. Some NU fans were riding Alaa Abdelnaby hard and told him something I will not repeat here about his presumed country of origin and what he felt his occupation was. He turned around, all seven feet of him, and pointed at someone I knew, just saying, "YOU!" My friend was not the person who said the thing, but Abdelnaby joked after the game that he was actually from New Jersey, which is my favorite memory of that era of Duke basketball.

I seem to remember Neloms hitting a half court shot to beat Illinois during my time in Evanston. Thinking 91 or 92?

 

[SmellyCat]

I seem to remember Neloms hitting a half court shot to beat Illinois during my time in Evanston. Thinking 91 or 92?

1992. It was 46-43.

Next year when Illinois came to Evanston we tried to smuggle in a sign (when that was verboten) that said,
46-43, 'NUFF CED.

We were dorks, but I was proud of that.