20 years ago Monday (March 17, 1988)

[PonySoprano]

7 seed SMU defeats Notre Dame, 83-75, in the first round of the NCAA tournament on St. Patrick's Day (how's that for luck of the Irish!). Kato Armstrong scored 29 points and had 5 assists. Terry Thomas added 17 points and 8 rebounds.
It was my soph year and I remember watching that game while on spring break in Colorado. We lost in the 2nd round to Duke, 94-79 (Duke ended up going to the Final Four and lost in the semis to eventual champion Kansas).

The 1988 team was SWC Champions and won 28 games. Man, that was a fun team to watch - Kato Armstrong, Eric Longino, Todd Alexander, Carlton McKinney, Terry Thomas, Vernon Perdue and Glenn Puddy.

Maybe one day we'll know what that's like again - I just hope I don't have to wait 20 more years.

[George S. Patton]

I was a freshman. If I remember right, Armstrong went off in the second half and pretty much outdueled Notre Dame's David Rivers. Think Terry Thomas was called "Snake". He was always our x-factor.

The Duke game was interesting because we were step for step with them until the final 5 minutes.

Arguably the second-best team in school history behind the Final Four squad. Just think if we had had Larry Johnson. Agghh!

And in the SWC tournament we beat,
TCU (I think that's right)
Houston
Baylor (75-64)

I remember the other SWC semifinal between Baylor and Arkansas was pretty intense.

Thanks for the good memories. That was a great season.

[jtstang]

Watched that game in S. Padre. Met some hot ND chicks the night before and they were not happy when we saw them again after the game.

[Stallion]

the 3 point shootout between Baylor's David Wesley and Kato Armstrong in the Finals of the SWC Tournament at Reunion was a Classic too. Think Kato ended up with about 33 to lead SMU to victory down the streatch.

[mrydel]

Watched that game in S. Padre. Met some hot ND chicks the night before and they were not happy when we saw them again after the game.

Were they mad about the game or that you took their seats?

[PonySoprano]

btw - if I remember correctly, the first play of the game we controlled the opening tip and then Kato pentrated from the top of the key and dunked over David Rivers. Do I have the right, or is that just 'good ol days syndrome'?

[jtstang]

btw - if I remember correctly, the first play of the game we controlled the opening tip and then Kato pentrated from the top of the key and dunked over David Rivers. Do I have the right, or is that just 'good ol days syndrome'?

No, that's right, or else we were smoking from the same bong that day.

[George S. Patton]

btw - if I remember correctly, the first play of the game we controlled the opening tip and then Kato pentrated from the top of the key and dunked over David Rivers. Do I have the right, or is that just 'good ol days syndrome'?

You got a better memory on that than I do. I just remember Kato was everywhere.

[SoCal_Pony]

Wasn't there a player on that ND team that wanted to attend SMU but was denied due to academic reasons?

[Stallion]

Yes Damon Sweet had committed to SMU in the Johnson class

[jtstang]

Interesting, I never really considered that team to be made up of academic juggernauts.

[mrydel]

juggernauts.

Whenever I see that word I visualize John Glenn with 3 tennis balls.

[gostangs]

You need to immediately go out on a date with your wife if that is what you see.

[Peruna88]

Great memory. I was a senior and in attendance in the Dean Smith Center. We had the crowd behind us as the ACC fans cheered for us that day.

Not so much when we lost to Duke. That's why I hate them to this day. The Yankees, Notre Dame and Duke - all pure evil.

[Treadway21]

I was in Santa Barbara on spring break. I had a dram Bushmills after the victory as a celebration. Kato was awesome and smoked David Rivers who was getting national attention.

But with all due respect the team that lost to the eventual National Champion Georgetown in 1985 was arguably better, but that's neither here nor there. The ND win on Saint Pats is a victory i will never forget. Along with our victory over them at the Aloha Bowl in 85