Why hasn't Rutgers honored its 1991 NCAA Tournament team

[Tango Two]

Interesting:


"The 1991 team is special to me," said Smith, a starter for most of that season who averaged 7.8 points a game. "No team has done what we did since we left. Why the school has chosen not to recognize us, I don't know. That's not up to me. Those memories I'm going to cherish whether we get recognized or not."


http://www.nj.com/rutgersbasketball...rutgers_honored_its_1991_ncaa_tournament.html

 

[soundcrib]

Fair point.

 

[Rufaninga]

Ugh. It was an appearance. We lost in round 1, not sweet 16, elite 8 or final four. We were a top 64 team that season. That should be expected result most seasons for a university this size in this area. You can't have a big to-do on a random night for making the dance 25 seasons ago, just because we have been horrendous since.

I would invite the team to a selection Sunday team gathering, the next time we are a lock to make the tourney.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Don't get me started. It's about the excitement that team and the 88-89 a10 championship teams brought to campus as much as the NCAA bid

Just like not honoring the 2005 insight bowl team that brought us to first bowl game in 27 years

This is part of the process of keeping alums involved in scarlet

This should havre been done. Period

 

[ColonelRutgers]

It would probably be depressing for a lot of reasons beyond the point above that we'd be honoring a team that only won 19 games, lost in opening round of conference and NCAAs The big stars were Keith Hughes who is sadly no longer with us and Earl Duncan who I believe ended up in trouble with the law a few years ago. We've seen guys like Donnell Lumpkin, Chuck Weiler, Brent Dabbs, and Daryl Smith around the RAC from time to time but honoring the team without the two stars there would be a bit odd.

The 1989 team, on the other hand, while not as talented as the 1991 team did actually win the conference tournament and is responsible for my favorite Rutgers event of all time including the 2006 Football game against Louisville. Again, we don't know how feasible a reunion is. Does anyone know the whereabouts of Tom Savage, for example?

 

[BoroKnight]

There is a big difference between a first bowl in 27 years -- and not one invented because we didn't get invited to one when we went undefeated -- and simply getting into the NCAAs. That team was a No. 1 seed and lost in the first round of the A-10 tournament to a No. 8 seed, then lost to an average team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. You don't honor a team for what the next 25 teams DIDN'T do.

 

[LC-88]

Then honor Keith Hughes, and invite his team mates.

 

[bac2therac]

Ive been saying it for years...don't get the people who downplay those acheivements since they haven't been there since....it is a MAJOR achievement for this school and should be honored as such. There are people who appreciate them. Our last of our season ticket base were students in 91....so the youngest fans we have at the RAC are now in their mid 40s

 

[MADHAT1]

When RU gets a NCAA bid, the 91 team should be honored.
Until then, just remembered fondly.

 

[RUJMM78]

When RU gets a NCAA bid, the 91 team should be honored.
Until then, just remembered fondly.

Might have to wait another decade for a NIT bid. A NCAA bid seems light years away.

 

[RUChoppin]

The hard thing is that honoring the 1991 team is really just emphasizing the futility of the program until we're back in the tournament. If you honor them this year for 25 years, you're saying "this team was worthy of accolades in light of a quarter century of futility since".

The only thing that sets the 1991 team apart from the 1989 team, or 1983 team, or 1979 team is the lack of on court success since. Instead of a commemoration of a successful season, it would become more about the length of the drought. Would we then have a 30th anniversary of our last NCAA tourney appearance? And a 35th, and a 40th, etc? When does it stop?

What would be better would be to commemorate them when there's something to celebrate - like a return to the tournament. Then it would be a positive story - the marrying of the last successful team to the current successful team, and of putting the drought behind us.

 

[RUaMoose]

There is a big difference between a first bowl in 27 years -- and not one invented because we didn't get invited to one when we went undefeated -- and simply getting into the NCAAs. That team was a No. 1 seed and lost in the first round of the A-10 tournament to a No. 8 seed, then lost to an average team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. You don't honor a team for what the next 25 teams DIDN'T do.

Agreed. How embarrassing would it be to honor a team that lost in the 1st round of the tournament. Perhaps we should also consider honoring Waters' NIT Final team

 

[AreYouNUTS]

I'm not a fan of "participation trophies" nor am I a fan of banners or honoring teams "just because." I was in school for this team, knew a lot of these guys, but can't agree that you should "honor" ANY team for just making a tourney. Final 4 in any sport? Absolutely, however, not a team that simply makes the the post-season.

 

[PiscatawayMike]

Ive been saying it for years...don't get the people who downplay those acheivements since they haven't been there since....it is a MAJOR achievement for this school and should be honored as such. There are people who appreciate them. Our last of our season ticket base were students in 91....so the youngest fans we have at the RAC are now in their mid 40s

This is true.

With that said, there are a lot of fans from the Billet/Hodgson years as well as the Douby years, but they are not sinking money into season tix. We won't see them again until we're a winning, or at least competitive, program.

 

[PiscatawayMike]

The 1991 team is the last RU men's hoops team to win a conference championship. For that reason alone it should be welcomed back. I don't even care if losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament is mentioned by the PA announcer.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we're pleased this afternoon to welcome back the 1991 Atlantic 10 regular season champion Scarlet Knights."

 

[RUChoppin]

The 1991 team is the last RU men's hoops team to win a conference championship. For that reason alone it should be welcomed back. I don't even care if losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament is mentioned by the PA announcer.

The problem is the "last" part... we have several regular season conference championship teams (1991, 1983, 1980, 1978, 1977) and several conference tournament championship teams (1975, 1976, 1979, 1989) but the only thing that makes the 1991 team "special" among that group is the *lack* of conference championships since that time. It's more of a condemnation of 25 consecutive teams that didn't win a conference championship than a celebration of the team that did.

I'm all for celebrating their victories - but let's celebrate all of the conference champions, starting from the first, rather than focusing on the last and how long it's been since we haven't won anything. Next year is the 40th anniversary of our first conference championship, the following year is the 40th anniversary of our second, etc.

 

[Skull83]

I have no problem honoring just about any accomplishment, but this seems a little silly to me. It may be hard to believe now, but 90-91 really was a disappointing season. Early in the year, we had legitimate hopes that we could make a real run in March with a team largely reliant on transfers. The initial blast of reality hit while we were waiting in traffic at the Brendan Byrne Arena, in or around December, on our way to the Seton Hall game. We learned through the radio broadcast that Tom Savage (the other Tom Savage) had been declared academically ineligible. Our visions of an Elite Eight or Sweet Sixteen run were pretty much up in smoke, and we proceeded to get spanked by the Pirates in a game that we had left home a few hours earlier expecting to have a good chance to win. Still, the team had a very good season in what was a pretty strong A-10. We earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. We piled into our cars and headed down to the Palestra, where we proceeded to lose to St. Joseph's the No. 8 seed. I seem to remember that the freaking game even went into overtime. Talk about a buzzkill. We were then put in the 8/9 game in the NCAA's and proceeded to lose to Arizona State in the first round. This is only an issue because of our subsequent ineptitude. I'd reserve the true honors for more significant accomplishments, even though we may never see them.