Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: Tell me about the DePaul game in the 80s
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OhioCatFan
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Posted: 1/12/2017 12:12 AM
ou1982 wrote:expand_more
I recall that a Columbus TV sportscaster led into the story that night with something like "Even though each member of the DePaul basketball team could beat each member of the Ohio University team in one-on-one...". He took a lot of heat for that remark. He wrapped up the story with "I bet they're partying in Athens tonight". He was absolutely correct on that account! I was doing my best to contribute to that effort.

It wasn't Jimmy Crum was it? He was a big OSU homer.
No, it wasn't Jimmy Crum. Though he was normally a big OSU homer, he always talked well of us, because he was an OHIO graduate. I remember one time when we player OSU in basketball he wore a scarlet and grey blazer and a green and white tie, and pointed out to his audience that he was a Bobcat and a Buckeye, or words to that effect. With that color combination he may also have been color blind. :-) The man we are talking about was considerably younger than Crummy Jim, as we affectionately called him.
giacomo
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Posted: 1/12/2017 4:24 PM
I came in that weekend to see my then girlfriend and now my wife of 32 years. The Saturday game before the DePaul game was against Ron Harper and Miami. I recall being impressed with him.
OU_Country
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Posted: 1/12/2017 4:47 PM
giacomo wrote:expand_more
I came in that weekend to see my then girlfriend and now my wife of 32 years. The Saturday game before the DePaul game was against Ron Harper and Miami. I recall being impressed with him.
Ron Harper was a fantastic player. My uncle used to work in Oxford. I went to see Miami & Ron Harper as a pretty young kid.


Aside from commenting on giacomo's thought - this is a great thread! Great stories and memories.
SBH
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Posted: 1/12/2017 5:18 PM
That had to be Harper's freshman year because I saw him play three years beyond my graduation in 83. No?
Ted Thompson
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Posted: 1/12/2017 6:13 PM

SBH wrote:expand_more
That had to be Harper's freshman year because I saw him play three years beyond my graduation in 83. No?

 

He was a freshman in 1982-83.

bornacatfan
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Posted: 1/12/2017 6:50 PM
Moving to Chicago in the summer of 75 I was on the other side of Depaul. We were going to games at Alumni and later the Rosemont Horizon. Corzine was there and then came the long line of stars with Aguirre, Cummins, COrbin and many others I followed through HS and then on to Depaul. Meyer had been around since my Pops was playing. Jeff's assertion RE Meyer was correct. I remember him in the local newcasts running down Ohio and though I thought Coach was pretty good I thought it rather unbecoming to comment that way. DePaul was pretty awesome back then so it was surprising that OHIO handed them a loss. Still shaking my head that Joey, Molinari and subsequent coaches let that program go so far down the hole.

Used to love watching them and it is sad to see where they are presently. Going back through Basketball Reference and reliving moments seeing Notre dame and Digger, UCLA at the Horizon 2 blocks from the apartment, the intercity wars with Loyola and Alfredrick Hughes, Providence in Alumni Gym along with Dayton, Creighton, Bradley of the MVC, SLU, Butler, X and Dusquesne of the EAA and the other teams making up the old Midwest City and Metro leagues. DePaul gave me lots of fun back then.....with a HS Coach that played at Miami with Charlie and a Grammie that went to Miami I was raised on Redskins. I did not have much ties to OHIO...so my memory was from the other side of the fence....and I vividly remember the Chicago press/media and Coach was not very becoming in their treatment of OHIO.

Shabby, you asked for what we remembered. That's a view from the North that may shed some light from the other side. Thanks for asking. Gave me quite a thrill to revisit where I was with hoops living in Chicago with my girlfriend's father assiduously following DePaul and his hero,Bobby Knight, who had recruited a local kid named Quinn Bucker, at the time.
Last Edited: 1/13/2017 12:59:45 AM by bornacatfan
cathead
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Posted: 1/13/2017 12:18 AM
Harper , yes impressive - I saw him take 2 steps to the hoop from the top of the key - for maybe his only 2 points( - that game vs Ohio, courtesy of Eddie Hicks up his a** the entire game .
Jeff McKinney
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Posted: 1/13/2017 1:51 AM
My recollection is that Miami upset the Bobcats in that Saturday game before the DePaul game. I was there for that loss in front of a huge crowd. Unfortunately was not able to attend the DePaul game and listened to the late Dick Schorr's call on radio.
oldkatz
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Posted: 1/13/2017 7:10 AM
cathead wrote:expand_more
Harper , yes impressive - I saw him take 2 steps to the hoop from the top of the key - for maybe his only 2 points( - that game vs Ohio, courtesy of Eddie Hicks up his a** the entire game .
Ron Harper may still have bad dreams about Eddie Hicks' defense. He may have been the best defender ever to wear the green and white.
Off topic a bit, but remember the Harper-Dan Palombizio match up at the MAC tourney in Toledo....Harper telling him pre-game that he show who was the conference player of the year and torched Ball State. Old guy memory workin' here!
bobcatsquared
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Posted: 1/13/2017 8:10 AM
Man, the MAC used to have some star power. Through the 1980s and 1990s, maybe even earlier. Not so much since.
OUcats82
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Posted: 1/13/2017 9:23 AM
Did DePaul do a good job of keeping a lot of Cook County/Chicagoland talent local to play for them during this era?
MedinaCat
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Posted: 1/13/2017 9:30 AM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
My recollection is that Miami upset the Bobcats in that Saturday game before the DePaul game. I was there for that loss in front of a huge crowd. Unfortunately was not able to attend the DePaul game and listened to the late Dick Schorr's call on radio.
Sorry for the thread drift...IMO, the best Bobcat road upset was Harper's senior year. Packed house at Millet Hall. Rich Stanfel sinks two FTs with a second left to win it. His FT % that year was .333.
Last Edited: 1/13/2017 9:32:33 AM by MedinaCat
OU_Country
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Posted: 1/13/2017 12:28 PM
bobcatsquared wrote:expand_more
Man, the MAC used to have some star power. Through the 1980s and 1990s, maybe even earlier. Not so much since.
Part of that is because times change, the way games are scheduled changed, and the way the game is covered has definitely changed. I really, really enjoy the stories shared in here. Man, is this a fun game!
bornacatfan
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Posted: 1/13/2017 1:12 PM
OUcats82 wrote:expand_more
Did DePaul do a good job of keeping a lot of Cook County/Chicagoland talent local to play for them during this era?
Oh yeah, Loyola, DePaul, Indiana, Illinois all kept talent local. Back then kids grew up watching local teams. There was no Cable or Internet so you got to see local teams and only on Say ot Sunday did you see National Feeds on one of 3 or 4 channels. Kids aspired to play for the teams they watched. Kids from Indiana could not wait to wear the candy stripe warm ups and Chicago kids wanted to play for the Illini or if they were not good students or discipline porblems, Coach Meyer who seemed to mentor them or get them by admissions. With the advent of cable that all changed.

My wife grew up in Glouster (she will say ..."on Taylor Ridge") but to hear her talk about being home, with her newborn son, watching cable in late 70s or early 80s... I did not even see cable till I was out of med school in 85 as we lived in Chicago and had no need...so I think places like Depaul and St John's in the city held on a bit longer with their local connections. It's all available now on the internet (espn if you go looking and is not blacked out) and tv. Recruits and their handlers are looking for what the school will do for them and not what they can do for the school. They are looking to play for a place that will get them to the next level and the money and not for the thrill of playing for an in state institution and being set for life with local connections. Indiana and a few places like that are where former players can be set for life if they want... outside of that most recruits are looking for the right now and not seeing the bigger pic.
OUVan
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Posted: 1/13/2017 5:23 PM
OU_Country wrote:expand_more
Man, the MAC used to have some star power. Through the 1980s and 1990s, maybe even earlier. Not so much since.
Part of that is because times change, the way games are scheduled changed, and the way the game is covered has definitely changed. I really, really enjoy the stories shared in here. Man, is this a fun game!
There were also fewer openings on P6 rosters back then because players stayed all four years. The big boys would recruit 2 or 3 players every year back then. Now they are filling 4 and 5, maybe even 6 spots a year. Plus there are 100 extra D1 programs now. So the odds of getting a super-star player are lessened considerably.
cbus cat fan
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Posted: 1/13/2017 6:20 PM
I must admit after the game, I tried to see if any of the DePaul players would repeat the epic meltdown of Mark Aquirre who famously stormed out of the University of Dayton arena in the 1981? NCAA tournament after being upset. Aguirre never went to the locker room, just straight of UD Arena tossing his game jersey and the ball which he grabbed from the court and chucked it somewhere as he took "The walk less traveled," back to the team's hotel. My high schools friends who went to UD claim there was a legend he tossed it in the Miami River, but I believe they later told me that legend was debunked. Truth be told they weren't that great in the 1982-83 season, but they were DePaul and the iconic Coach Ray Meyer was still leading the ship.

Unfortunately, when son Joey would take the helm a couple of years later he would not return it in the same condition his father had left it. Under Joey's tutelage and guidance (in fairness to Joey he faced a lot more pressure for most of his career than did his father) the ship would return to port in 1997 (I think they only won 3 or 4 games that year) in far worse shape than when she left to set sail under his father's command in 1942!
Last Edited: 1/13/2017 6:23:36 PM by cbus cat fan
catfan28
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Posted: 1/14/2017 12:31 AM
It's a shame that we simply cannot attract opponents of this caliber to the Convo anymore. When's the last "big time" school to come to Athens?

I'm thinking Virginia in 2003? There has not been an inspiring non-conference game in some time.
Brian Smith (No, not that one)
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Posted: 1/14/2017 3:00 PM
A good Temple team came to the Convo about five years ago.

Wisconsin was early 2000s, right?
1985bobcat
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Posted: 1/15/2017 7:21 PM
Went to almost every game from 81-85. Great Bb years. DePaul is one of the few I can remember. Was a huge win for the bobcats . only remember sitting in the last row of sold out(?) convo and that we won.

Top 3 games attended.

. 1. Depaul
2. Shaq of the Mac in msg for 2 games. walking down 7th Ave after victory(stopping nyc traffic for blocks) with the band.
3. Ron Harper putting on a Micheal Jordan show in the convo in 84/85. best player Mac player ever? was a great rivalry between 2 great teams. Also close to sold out convo

Regretfully Missed the recent run to sweet 16 .

favorite games that you attended?
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