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Post by BBFran on Jan 3, 2018 15:22:53 GMT -6
Same with our games in Green Bay.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 3, 2018 15:34:44 GMT -6
Same with our games in Green Bay. So true! Remember the semifinal game ... was it three seasons ago? We beat what was supposed to be their greatest team ever on equal terms in their gym! Could there possibly have been a better feeling for a rival fan?! |
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Post by BBFran on Jan 3, 2018 17:20:00 GMT -6
I was at the '99 Rose Bowl, in attendance in '02 and '03 when Bo's first UW squads beat Michigan and Illinois to win their first B10 championship and first sole B10 championship in half a century, and was in LOS in Indy to watch UW beat Kentucky in the '15 FF. Was at the Milwaukee HL Champ game wins at the Arena against Butler and Detroit. Was at every game of the AL Champ Series and the World Series at County Stadium in '82.
Our '14 win over GB at the Resch is still, without a doubt, the greatest feeling I have ever had as a fan.
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Post by FTA1982 on Jan 3, 2018 17:52:04 GMT -6
I was at the '99 Rose Bowl, in attendance in '02 and '03 when Bo's first UW squads beat Michigan and Illinois to win their first B10 championship and first sole B10 championship in half a century, and was in LOS in Indy to watch UW beat Kentucky in the '15 FF. Was at the Milwaukee HL Champ game wins at the Arena against Butler and Detroit. Was at every game of the AL Champ Series and the World Series at County Stadium in '82. Our '14 win over GB at the Resch is still, without a doubt, the greatest feeling I have ever had as a fan. We don't see eye to eye on anything except for this. Probably the most satisfying victory I ever attended. Maybe it was my brother and I sitting in the middle of all GB fans. I stood on my chair with both fists in the air as time expired as a 32 yr old. |
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 3, 2018 18:13:44 GMT -6
How about the 2003 league championship win over Butler. Just 10 days earlier, I'd had one of the longest car rides of my life back from Indy after Avery Sheets hit the 3 to beat us at the buzzer for the regular season title at Hinkle.
On a chilly evening in early March, there was a buzz in the air for the rematch at The Arena that I hadn't witnessed since the Bucks and MU played there 15 years before.
Somehow, I got into the building an hour and a half before tipoff and who was out there shooting by himself but Clay Tucker, Horizon League Tournament MVP!
Man oh man, that was an AWESOME night! From crowds that numbered in the dozens under Ric Cobb to THAT! It's hard to describe!
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Post by Pantherholic on Jan 3, 2018 21:21:36 GMT -6
I fondly remember the Thursday/Saturday paired travel schedule. Memories of a lot of fun trips from back in those days. It's a shame you've stopped going to games considering the road schedule this year is VERY travel friendly. IUPUI on a Wednesday is the only bad date. I'll be going to Detroit/Oakland next month. Looking forward to seeing rundown dilapidated tired historic Calihan! |
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Post by Cactus Panther on Jan 3, 2018 23:01:02 GMT -6
Ah yes, the glory years!
I was at every one of the Panther games mentioned so far in this thread. But the three that provided the most emotional moments for me as a sports fan were the '03 loss against Notre Dame at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis and the 05' wins in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland that led to the Sweet 16 appearance.
Regarding '03, I still have a vivid memory of the view from my seat of Clay Tucker running down the game clock, then passing to an open Dylan Page under the bucket, only for Dylan to miss a would-be game winning layup just before the buzzer sounded. It was stunning - the greatest season in Panther history to that point, by far, was suddenly over. It resulted in a numb feeling that we would never have such an opportunity again.
Fortunately in '05, we did have the opportunity and for the first time, took advantage of it. Sitting in the middle of what seemed like thousands of tightly packed Panther fans (I vaguely recall our section being allotted only 750), it felt like we and the neutral fans cheering for the underdog took over the arena. The team played with such poise and pride en route to victories over Alabama and Boston College. We long suffering Panther fans had the feeling of relevance on the local, state and national stages, like never before. It was so cool to stay at the same hotel as the team and a lot of other Panther fans, celebrating the new-found success together. On the drive home, it seemed that the tires of the car never touched the pavement - it was such a natural high.
In retrospect, looking at where the program is today, all of this seems somewhat surreal.
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Post by BBFran on Jan 4, 2018 0:01:17 GMT -6
I fondly remember the Thursday/Saturday paired travel schedule. Memories of a lot of fun trips from back in those days. It's a shame you've stopped going to games considering the road schedule this year is VERY travel friendly. IUPUI on a Wednesday is the only bad date. I'll be going to Detroit/Oakland next month. Looking forward to seeing rundown dilapidated tired historic Calihan! Hope you enjoy them. Actually, the press of my professional obligations in November and, since then, a very long recovery from surgery has made it necessary for me to forego going to any games this season. I didn't even make it to the Kohl Center. I'm sure the AD misses me. Calihan is a dump like no other. It is also monstrously sad, as there is a courtside section of a few hundred seats that are never close to full, and thousands of empty seats above them. Spencer Haywood played there -- Once in a Great City. |
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Post by BBFran on Jan 4, 2018 0:06:12 GMT -6
Ah yes, the glory years! In retrospect, looking at where the program is today, all of this seems somewhat surreal. Exactly the same thing can be said if we go back no further than March of 2014. |
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Post by steveisback on Jan 4, 2018 10:21:48 GMT -6
My top three!!
*2003 Title Game also. The electricity in the arena was incredible. Our first chance to dance. Stood next to Nancy Zimpher as Bruce's daughter sang the anthem. Looked at Nancy and she had tears running down her face, not ashamed to say I choked up too. Then we jumped off to fast start particularly Clay and blew away Butler.
*2005 tourney game vs Boston College in Cleveland. We made the trip. Remember BC jumping out to 11-10 lead and Bruce called a time out. Looked at my wife and said, no worries, we are going to win this game. You could see it on the bench and in Pearls demeanor. Guy had a way of coaching where his teams did not seem uptight, self doubting, etc....they would play with abandon and freedom , confidence and run through a wall. NO choking or tentative play. That was what we lost and did not replace with Rob IMO. Bit game Bruce!!
*GB game at GB in 1992-93 season. Antrim vs Dick Bennett. We had already beat them here. Went up to GB, the oldl Brown County arena. The hics and yahoos were in fine form. A lot of racial crap thrown at Marc Mitchel. We put it right back in their faces and at one point thought he might have to go up in the stands, Would not have blamed him frankly. Sweet win. Can not believe we did not at least get NIT bid that year. All downhill from there until Bo and Bruce
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 4, 2018 11:19:33 GMT -6
Fortunately, we didn't play tentatively or choke during our wonderful 2014 run to the title. What a terrific job by Rob of rallying the team under some very trying circumstances.
By the time we reached the semifinals vs. GB, I had NO doubt that we were going to win the whole thing. J.O. was marvelous as he stormed his way to tournament MVP!
All of them are fantastic memories! The big picture is that the atmosphere with engaged, energized fan bases is now lost!
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Post by steveisback on Jan 4, 2018 13:15:29 GMT -6
One of worst memories is the year we played Butler with a packed house at home under Rob for title vs Brad Stevens. I remember how Butler was off that night and even so we were totally stiff, uptight and played a horrible game. If that was not a major choke job I do not know what was. You could just feel the vibes from the team, bench and coaching staff. Crowd energy evaporated early and nothing done to bring it back that night IMO. Will give credit where it was due though in 2014.....that lasted about one day as far as buzz and then the academic ban hit... brutal..apparently Rob had no involvement in that and totally not in any any responsibility...nor the low graduation rate vs HL as a whole up to that time. ..even so his response let us say was not exactly Trumanesque....have to respond also to Fran saying would not want Collins or Pearl as face of program. I would take Pearl over Jeter back in a heartbeat ...consider the following:
*Pearl did not recruit such great citizens as Leneal Harris, Kevin Johnson or Torre Johnson
*Do not recall any academic problems at either UWM or Southern Indiana...not sure about Tennessee
*Ok, the barbecue... I get it....Bruce did lie and that was REALLY bad
*Do not recall any recruiting issues at either Southern Indiana or UWM
*Auburn - we will see.....rush to judgement though in meantime?
Ok,,, like a couple Jeter Dead Enders have to confess to being a Pearl dead ender. Wonder if you polled the fan base though which coach they would rather have return..
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Post by A Statement By SHAUN on Jan 4, 2018 14:00:46 GMT -6
One of worst memories is the year we played Butler with a packed house at home under Rob for title vs Brad Stevens. I remember how Butler was off that night and even so we were totally stiff, uptight and played a horrible game. If that was not a major choke job I do not know what was. You could just feel the vibes from the team, bench and coaching staff. Crowd energy evaporated early and nothing done to bring it back that night IMO. Will give credit where it was due though in 2014.....that lasted about one day as far as buzz and then the academic ban hit... brutal..apparently Rob had no involvement in that and totally not in any any responsibility...nor the low graduation rate vs HL as a whole up to that time. ..even so his response let us say was not exactly Trumanesque....have to respond also to Fran saying would not want Collins or Pearl as face of program. I would take Pearl over Jeter back in a heartbeat ...consider the following: *Pearl did not recruit such great citizens as Leneal Harris, Kevin Johnson or Torre Johnson *Do not recall any academic problems at either UWM or Southern Indiana...not sure about Tennessee *Ok, the barbecue... I get it....Bruce did lie and that was REALLY bad *Do not recall any recruiting issues at either Southern Indiana or UWM *Auburn - we will see.....rush to judgement though in meantime? Ok,,, like a couple Jeter Dead Enders have to confess to being a Pearl dead ender. Wonder if you polled the fan base though which coach they would rather have return.. We certainly had reason to be optimistic in that game. We destroyed Butler at home earlier that year, and beat them at their place. That is why the championship game was tough to watch, knowing that we had beat them twice already. Especially the first half, we did not shoot well - I recall jarob McCallum missed 3 good looks from 3. A couple of those go in, and it is a totally different game. I recall the second half we heated up a bit, cut the lead to 4. Plus, Butler was amazing that year and had tons of experience in this high level games. So I'm not sure how much of the loss is Rob's fault. |
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Post by steveisback on Jan 4, 2018 14:04:22 GMT -6
Game was there for the taking
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Post by BBFran on Jan 4, 2018 15:28:07 GMT -6
Really Steve? I guess anybody could have beaten Butler that March. I mean, sure, that was their ninth straight win, but as I remember it, after beating us Butler completely collapsed. Three weeks later, in the last couple minutes of the national title game.
You would have had to have been one terrible coach to lose to Brad Stevens and Butler that March. A bum like Jamie Dixon. Or Bo Ryan. Or Billy Donovan. Or Shaka Smart.
Bruce Pearl coached in three HL champ games. Won two. Rob Jeter coached in three HL champ games. Won two. "Choke" quotient? Jeter lost to a national finalist. Pearl lost to a team that got crushed by 25 points in the first round.
But it is true that Jeter didn't paint his chest or stomp his feet at the right moments according to the coaches sitting in the 200 level. All the difference in the world right there, lol.
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