I was born and raised in Syracuse, NY by parents who were both born and raised in the South (Alabama and North Carolina respectively). I fell in love with Syracuse Orange basketball, football, and its other sports as a kid in grade school/elementary school in the 1974-75 academic year. This column, which I am calling “My Personal ACC Vault,” will be my take on games the Orange has played against ACC schools both prior to and after joining the ACC. These game recollections aren’t intended to disrespect any players, coaches, mascots, or fan bases. It’s just one fan’s passionate take on games his favorite team played.
I remember my mother and father being concerned with me completing my homework and taking out the trash before this game was to be broadcasted on our Zenith floor model color television.
I was more concerned with how Syracuse was going to stop Phil Ford.
Five days prior, the Syracuse Orangemen (yes, that’s what the team was called then), survived and advanced to the “Sweet 16” of the 1975 NCAA basketball tournament, withstanding 25 points from Joe Bryant (Kobe’s father) to defeat the LaSalle Explorers 87-83 in overtime. This was a 32-team tournament at the time so three victories meant a team was going to the Final Four.
Victory number two was going to be difficult. Much more difficult. The North Carolina Tar Heels were the opponent for my Orangemen that evening of Thursday, March 20th, 1975. The game was in Providence, RI, site of the NCAA Eastern Regional semifinals and finals. The winner of this regional would advance to the Final Four.
I had seen the Tar Heels play more than a few times on Saturdays during the regular season. ACC games were televised in Syracuse as part of NBC’s national broadcasts then. North Carolina State was the defending national champion that season, having won the title in 1974. Maryland was in the league and an elite program. Clemson, Wake Forest, Virginia, and Duke rounded out the seven-team conference.
Syracuse during this time was an independent within the ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) umbrella. Five years later they became one of the seven original members of the Big East Conference. Acceptance into the ACC happened 34 years after that.
The legendary Dean Smith was the coach of the Tar Heels. North Carolina’s starters were Phil Ford and Brad Hoffman at guard, Walter Davis, Mitch Kupchak, and Tom LaGarde on the frontline. Kupchak averaged a double-double (18 pts, 10 boards per game), but to me Ford was the key. He was the quintessential point guard averaging 16 points and 5 assists per game. He could kill you with his passing and scoring, and he was already an expert at running the Tar Heels’ famous “Four corners Stall” offense. In those days, there was no shot clock in college basketball. If North Carolina had the lead say with about two minutes left in the game, they’d give the ball to Ford and he’d dribble out the clock by penetrating the hash mark and try to get past his defender, passing the ball to one of his teammates who would then pass the ball back to him if they weren’t wide open to take a layup, and he’d bring the ball back to near center court and start dribbling and passing again, running the game clock out or forcing the opposing team to foul him. He was a very good free throw shooter as well. That’s why I was concerned with Ford.
The Tar Heels finished second in the ACC regular season standings with an 8-4 record and won the ACC tournament that year by defeating NC State in the championship game to win the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Syracuse won the ECAC playoffs by beating Niagara in the championship game to get the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Syracuse was coached by Roy Danforth, and Jim Boeheim was his assistant. Danforth’s starters were Chris Sease and Rudy Hackett (22 points and nearly 13 rebounds per game) at forward; Earnie Seibert at center; Jimmy Williams and Jimmy Lee at guard.
I remember the city of Syracuse being so psyched up for this game. The community was electric as everyone I saw (including myself) wore Orange that day. I remember the teachers in my classes wore Orange sweaters and tee shirts. I even had a conversation with my gym teacher on what he thought Syracuse needed to do to win this game. He said, “play good defense, rebound the basketball, try to get Ford in foul trouble.”
North Carolina’s defensive strategy as it turned out in the game, was to double team Hackett whenever he got the ball.
the Tar Heel defense collapsed on him and he couldn’t do much of anything, often passing the ball back out of the post. The Tar Heels defensive strategy worked as they held Hackett to a season low six points and one rebound.
The first half was very competitive and close as the Tar Heels took a 42-41 lead into the locker room at halftime.
However, Syracuse’s two starting guards both first name’s being Jim, took up the slack for Hackett by shooting a combined 21 for 29 from the floor to tally a combined 43 points (Lee scored 24). This duo also got help from the bench in the person of Kevin King, who hurt North Carolina with 12 points in 23 minutes of playing time.
North Carolina’s guard tandem of Ford and Hoffman combined to score 44 points of their own (Ford was darn good with 24 points, 5 assists, and one steal) as the teams continued trading baskets. Ford made two free throws with less than a minute left to give the Tar Heels a 76-73 lead. Sease scored a basket to trim North Carolina’s lead to one point. Next, Ford’s inbound pass to Tom LaGarde went out of bounds. Syracuse got the ball back and got the ball into Hackett’s hands in the post. Double and triple teamed once again by the North Carolina defense, Hackett fired a pass out to Lee who swished an outside shot to give Syracuse a 77-76 lead. Syracuse converted another free throw as time ran out for a stunning 78-76 upset win over the Tar Heels.
Both teams put on one of the best shooting exhibitions I’ve ever seen in a game. Syracuse made 35 of their 60 shots from the floor, shooting an impressive 58.3% from the field. They shot better from the field than they did from the free throw line (only making 8 of 14 for 57.1%).
North Carolina converted 32 of the 49 shots they attempted from the field, shooting a sizzling 65.3% for the game. They also converted 80% of their free throws, making 12 out of 15. Where did the Tar Heels lose the game? One could point to the 25 turnovers they committed in the game. 20 of those turnovers were committed by their starters. Davis also got into foul trouble, eventually fouled out of the game, only attempted four shots, made two for four points. He was averaging over 16 points per game.
Syracuse went on to defeat the Kansas State Wildcats 95-87 in overtime to win the NCAA East Regional and advance to its first Final Four in program history as Hackett redeemed himself by scoring 28 points and pulling down 16 rebounds.
The city of Syracuse pretty much lost its mind after the conclusion of that game. People danced in streets, horns blew in my neighborhood and everyone ran into the street celebrating the victory! We were going to the Final Four!! Restaurants were packed, the local news stations did live interviews with fans who partied up through the night.
Syracuse lost to Kentucky 95-79 in the Final Four semifinals. They then lost to future Big East and future ACC foe Louisville in the Final Four third place/consolation game, 96-88. Louisville was in the Missouri Valley Conference then. The NCAA discontinued the third place/consolation game after the 1981 Final Four.
Although I was disappointed Syracuse didn’t win the National Championship, I was SO PROUD of what they did! That final four run opened possibilities of what this program could be, and that was very exciting!
Forty-three years later, this program has been to five more final fours, ranks sixth in all-time wins, and has a national championship on its resume. Yes, there have been violations the program has had to take punishments for. The same has happened to other programs as well. That’s unfortunate all the way around. Yet college basketball survives, and the sport only seems to continue to reinvent itself and grow.
It’s great being a Syracuse fan. It’s great being in the ACC.
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