Last week I asked who you thought should join Jim Boeheim, Jim Brown and Ernie Davis up on Mount Cusemore. It's a tough choice, and I'm not sure there's a right answer. Do you give Sidat-Singh the nod for his historical value? Lacrosse needs some love but do you honor the coach who built the empire or the empire's greatest warrior? Does one season of greatness give Carmelo the nod? Everyone's got a pretty good argument for all of them.
Well you voted and you decided that Mount Cusemore will not get a 4th member. It will get a 4th AND 5th member. While Jim Brown played lacrosse, the need to add a lacrosse-specific honoree seemed to be important. Problem is, we split on Roy Simmons Jr and Gary Gait, 68 votes apeice. And I gotta be honest with you...that's probably perfect.
In a couple years time, when Gary Gait has turned SU women's lacrosse into the top program in the country and won a national title or two, maybe he'll start the get an edge. Maybe not. But for the time being, I think this works.
Another question was raised during the process and I think it's a fantastic one. We're clear on who the All-Time Great are...but who are the All-Time Worst of Syracuse Athletics? If we're carving the faces of our best and brightest into the Mount Cusemore mountain wall, who are the four most deserving folks to have their faces set upon Mount Cuseless, which will be carved into the wall behind the Manlius Citgo station? Some nominees...
10-37 (3-25). Next...
Wikipedia...go!
In his junior year, Williams moved to the starting point guard position and started all 33 games he appeared in. Williams earned a spot on the All Big East Third Team with averages of 15.9 points and 4.1 assists per game. However, in mid-season, Williams was moved back to shooting guard because of turnover problems.
On top of that, a rift developed between him and Preston Shumpert on the court, and Williams began to run into trouble outside the court. In March 2002. Williams was charged with driving while intoxicated. He was eventually convicted of driving while ability-impaired and missed three games.
Immediately following his junior year, trouble would find Williams again. In May 2002, Williams was involved in a fight at an off-campus bar. The fight was involving a woman, Nicole Wilcox, who was the Syracuse mascot Otto the Orange. The trial went to trial, and many Syracuse athletes testified. Williams fell asleep during part of the trial, which caused concerns about his character. Although Williams was eventually cleared of assault charges by the jury, he was dismissed from Syracuse University on July 24, 2002 because of academic problems.
In summary, he beat up Otto and slept with his teammate's girlfriend. Not a good guy.
Originally suspended his freshman year after he was suspended, due in large part to allegations that he raped and sexually assaulted two female students. Cleared of the allegations, he celebrated by playing in an unsanctioned summer league, which is illegal and landed him a 12-game suspension to start the year. Became starting point guard for the Orange his sophomore year only to leave the team suddenly toward the end of the year. Missed the begining of his junior year, came back and worked his way into the starting line-up again and promptly left again for "undisclosed reasons." He never played again for SU and is SU's prototype What Could Have Been guy.
Head Coach of Syracuse football from 1892 to...1892. The Orange were by no means great before Wells but certainly not 0-8-1 bad. But that's what the Orange did in their only winless season on record.
Opponents scored 218 points against the Orage that season. The Orange scored...four. Yep. Four points. All season long. And they scored all four of those points in one game, every other one was a shutout. Including the tie, a 0-0 slugfest against Syracuse AA, whatever the hell that was.
Ladies and gentlemen, a Syracuse coach actually worse than Greg Robinson.
Those are four that I came up with but I look to you to fill in the blanks. Got a nominee of your own you want to be considered? Mention below and we'll add them to the list. Maybe we'll even vote on them if it gets heated enough. Keep it to things and events that happened while at SU...anything that happened afterwards doesn't count (Lucky for you, Josh Wright).