20 years ago Monday (March 17, 1988)

[LA_Mustang]

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

I love this thread. It must have been so great to see SMU compete and succeed at that level....a bowl win over ND and a tourney appearance in same year.

[PonySoprano]

The other thing that made that game so memorable was that it was played on my 20th birthday (yes, my b-day is St. Pat's Day). It was a fantastic double celebration that night - a b-day and and win over the evil empire that is ND.

One last thing about that team - Maybe the best game of the year was when they played #7 Florida early in the year. If I remember corretly, Vernon Maxwell was a guard on that Florida team (someone please correct me if I'm wrong - they also had an All American (actually a big stiff) named Dwayne Schintzius (he had a mullett before Billy Ray Cyrus made them cool)).

The game was played at Reunion Arena, and we took the #7 team in the country down. After the final horn sounded, we rushed the court and were dancing on the floor with the players after that big win. One of my favorite Mustang basketball memories ever.

[SoCal_Pony]

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

Yes Damon Sweet had committed to SMU in the Johnson class

That's right...Damon Sweet, he had a GREAT career at Notre Dame.

Nice of Pye to show Kinzer that ring. Wonder if he told him SMU was refusing athletes NOTRE DAME would accept.

[The XtC]

[quote="SoCal_Pony"]Wasn't there a player on that ND team that wanted to attend SMU but was denied due to academic reasons?

[quote="Stallion"]Yes Damon Sweet had committed to SMU in the Johnson class[/quote]

That's right...Damon Sweet, he had a [b]GREAT[/b] career at Notre Dame.

Nice of Pye to show Kinzer that ring. Wonder if he told him SMU was refusing athletes NOTRE DAME would accept.[/quote]

Except that Daimon Sweet wasnt on that team, he was still a senior in high school. Sweet and Johnson were both freshmen in the fall of 1988.

As I recall, Sweet committed to SMU early, before he took the SAT. SMU wouldnt admit him until he took the test, and he re-opened his recruiting, had a monster senior year, and then signed with Notre Dame in the spring.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Wow. 20 years...

Definitely my SMU basketball highlight of all time.

Those were the days. Kato was a god.