Charles Pierce On 40th Anniv of PC Run at Final Four

[Boom_70]

Good story in Grantland by Charles Pierce on the '73 run to Final Four by Providence.
Complete with nice link to video of some amazing Ernie D passes.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9053929/providence-college-big-east

 

[YankeeFan]

Sets the tone with a Black 47 quote. Have to give him credit for that.

I wonder if Pierce went and saw them open for Dropkick Murphys at the Garden on Friday night.

 

[Bob Cook]

Good story in Grantland by Charles Pierce on the '73 run to Final Four by Providence.
Complete with nice link to video of some amazing Ernie D passes.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9053929/providence-college-big-east

Those passes are incredible. Too bad Ernie D hurt his knee in the NBA.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Sets the tone with a Black 47 quote. Have to give him credit for that.

I wonder if Pierce went and saw them open for Dropkick Murphys at the Garden on Friday night.

He could have sung "Kiss Me, I'm ****faced" with them...

 

[micropolitan guy]

My dad and I made a special trip into the Aud to see Providence play when Ernie D was a sophomore. He was absolutely brilliant. Of course, being a counter-culture poseur at the time, I cheered for Nehru King instead.

DiGregorio was great for the Braves too, pre-injury.

 

[Boom_70]

Have heard the story before on Marvin Barnes but always fun to read it again:

"To mention only one of his problems, he was probably the world's worst criminal; once, he tried to stick up a city bus while wearing his personalized high school championship jacket. "

 

[Starman]

Ehhhh, the Barnes story is just a variation of the Reggie Harding story:

Harding, a 7-0 high school All-American in Detroit, walks into his neighborhood liquor store with a stocking pulled over his head and pulls a gun on the clerk.

"Come on, Reggie, I know that's you."

"Nah, it ain't me. Now hand over the money."

 

[Bob Cook]

Ehhhh, the Barnes story is just a variation of the Reggie Harding story:

Harding, a 7-0 high school All-American in Detroit, walks into his neighborhood liquor store with a stocking pulled over his head and pulls a gun on the clerk.

"Come on, Reggie, I know that's you."

"Nah, it ain't me. Now hand over the money."

The Reggie Harding and Marvin Barnes stories are some of the best parts of Terry Pluto's "Loose Balls" ABA history. And, of course, it includes the oft-told tale of Barnes refusing to board a flight in Louisville at 8 a.m. set to arrive in St. Louis in 7:56 a.m. (because of the time change) because "I ain't goin' on no time machine."

I didn't realize Barnes was a drug kingpin in his ABA days.

http://www.aolnews.com/2009/12/11/bad-news-always-made-headlines/

 

[Boom_70]

"Nevertheless, Maryland led at the half by a hilarious 51-50, only to have Providence, behind DiGregorio, come flying out of the intermission, running up a quick 12-point lead. As it happened, Ernie fouled out with 13 minutes left, and Stacom and Barnes were left to run out the 103-89 final. (And, yes, children, college teams once scored like that with some regularity.)"

In the current game where coaches want to control every possession you don't see many 103 - 89 college games.

Funny how pace of college football has picked up and pace of college basketball has slowed down.

 

[Football_Bat]

Meh, Jeff MacGregor wrote much better.

 

[Starman]

Can you imagine what any college basketball coach would do today if a guy threw a behind-the-back pass to set up a shot with 29 seconds left on the shot clock?

The clipboard would end up in a second-level luxury box.

 

[Boom_70]

Can you imagine what any college basketball coach would do today if a guy threw a behind-the-back pass to set up a shot with 29 seconds left on the shot clock?

The clipboard would end up in a second-level luxury box.

And the player would be sitting on far end of the bench.

When was the last time you saw a behind the back pass from half court to a player cutting down the lane for a layup between 2 defenders?

 

[Small Town Guy]

Would have been interesting if Rubio had played college, if the coach would have been okay with his passing. He really is the heir to the Maravich/Ernie D/Magic family of passers, but I just had an image of him playing for Bo Ryan and felt ill.

 

[Starman]

Ryan would have had Rubio cleaning up towels in the locker room. He'd never set foot on the court.

Of course Ernie D wouldn't get to throw all those behind-the-backers if he had a guy hip-checking and sumo-wrestling him the instant he crossed half-court, either.

If mid-1970s refs were magically transported into 2013, you'd see four-hour games with 100 free throw attempts.

 

[Bob Cook]

Ryan would have had Rubio cleaning up towels in the locker room. He'd never set foot on the court.

Of course Ernie D wouldn't get to throw all those behind-the-backers if he had a guy hip-checking and sumo-wrestling him the instant he crossed half-court, either.

If mid-1970s refs were magically transported into 2013, you'd see four-hour games with 100 free throw attempts.

In every one of the layups on the video, the defender held back after he was beat -- rather than clobbering the shooter, as is the tradition these days.

 

[Liut]

DiGregorio was great for the Braves too, pre-injury.

No question. Wasn't Barnes on the Braves too, albeit briefly? Or maybe he was part of the Tiny Archibald deal?
IIRC, Moses Malone played a couple of games for Buffalo.

Ah, the Buffalo Braves.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

DiGregorio was great for the Braves too, pre-injury.

No question. Wasn't Barnes on the Braves too, albeit briefly? Or maybe he was part of the Tiny Archibald deal?
IIRC, Moses Malone played a couple of games for Buffalo.

Ah, the Buffalo Braves.

Crazy thing is Portland drafted Malone in the ABA dispersal draft, then traded him to Buffalo for a first-rounder before the season. Then Buffalo traded him to Houston for two first-rounders.

Why did both teams give up on him?

 

[micropolitan guy]

I do think Marvin Barnes played briefly for the Braves. Not sure why the Braves traded him, I think they had some roster issues.

Potentially great franchise done in by horrible ownership, co-inciding with the decline of the industrial Northeast and several brutal winters that just killed attendance.

 

[Liut]

DiGregorio was great for the Braves too, pre-injury.

No question. Wasn't Barnes on the Braves too, albeit briefly? Or maybe he was part of the Tiny Archibald deal?
IIRC, Moses Malone played a couple of games for Buffalo.

Ah, the Buffalo Braves.

Crazy thing is Portland drafted Malone in the ABA dispersal draft, then traded him to Buffalo for a first-rounder before the season. Then Buffalo traded him to Houston for two first-rounders.

Why did both teams give up on him?

Good question. Would the Blazers already have had Walton? Suffice to say, ABA and NBA, Malone's career was a long and winding road.

 

[Liut]

I do think Marvin Barnes played briefly for the Braves. Not sure why the Braves traded him, I think they had some roster issues.

Potentially great franchise done in by horrible ownership, co-inciding with the decline of the industrial Northeast and several brutal winters that just killed attendance.

Yeah, too bad it didn't work out. I also remember Van Miller saying the team had a good following in Toronto.

The whole John Y. Brown/Irv Levin??? franchise swap is a fascinating story.