Flashback: 25 years ago; ETSU @ ASU

[bigdaddyg]

Back in the early to mid 80's games at VG seemed to be attended pretty well. Seemed like a crappy place to watch a game if you had to sit in the endzone. Just a big high school gym. We had Kevin Cantwell who followed up Bobby Cremins. I remember hearing about a pretty big home win in '81- over Duke? Of course that was pre-K and didn't we have a pretty awesome player then named Peyton (memory working hard here). Had a buddy who was there a year before me in '81 and said that was a pretty good overachieving team. Back in those days you still had to make the scary trek to Blowing Rock to buy alcohol and risk a DUI on that 8 mile drive. No frat houses on campus to parties were fewer and farther between. My dorm floor was nearly empty on weekends. Still, with all of those factors I recall that bball games had several thousand (even Saturday night games) in attendance. We called Cantwell "can't coach" and "can't win" but we still went to games. Post or pre-game meals at the Bavarian Inn! Good times.

[asu66]

Back in the early to mid 80's games at VG seemed to be attended pretty well. Seemed like a crappy place to watch a game if you had to sit in the endzone. Just a big high school gym. We had Kevin Cantwell who followed up Bobby Cremins. I remember hearing about a pretty big home win in '81- over Duke? Of course that was pre-K and didn't we have a pretty awesome player then named Peyton (memory working hard here). Had a buddy who was there a year before me in '81 and said that was a pretty good overachieving team. Back in those days you still had to make the scary trek to Blowing Rock to buy alcohol and risk a DUI on that 8 mile drive. No frat houses on campus to parties were fewer and farther between. My dorm floor was nearly empty on weekends. Still, with all of those factors I recall that bball games had several thousand (even Saturday night games) in attendance. We called Cantwell "can't coach" and "can't win" but we still went to games. Post or pre-game meals at the Bavarian Inn! Good times.

A couple of points.

The win over Duke wasn't pre-K and it wasn't a home game. It was 12.5.81...at Duke...Kevin Cantwell's first year and "second game* as a head coach and K's second season at Duke.

Kevin left after five seasons to go to Tech. His last season was his best (17-12). Capel would have killed for such a record.

[bigdaddyg]

Back in the early to mid 80's games at VG seemed to be attended pretty well. Seemed like a crappy place to watch a game if you had to sit in the endzone. Just a big high school gym. We had Kevin Cantwell who followed up Bobby Cremins. I remember hearing about a pretty big home win in '81- over Duke? Of course that was pre-K and didn't we have a pretty awesome player then named Peyton (memory working hard here). Had a buddy who was there a year before me in '81 and said that was a pretty good overachieving team. Back in those days you still had to make the scary trek to Blowing Rock to buy alcohol and risk a DUI on that 8 mile drive. No frat houses on campus to parties were fewer and farther between. My dorm floor was nearly empty on weekends. Still, with all of those factors I recall that bball games had several thousand (even Saturday night games) in attendance. We called Cantwell "can't coach" and "can't win" but we still went to games. Post or pre-game meals at the Bavarian Inn! Good times.

A couple of points.

The win over Duke wasn't pre-K and it wasn't a home game. It was 12.5.81...at Duke...Kevin Cantwell's first year as a head coach and K's second season at Duke.

Kevin left after five seasons to go to Tech. His last season was his best (17-12). Capel would have killed for such a record.

Thanks for clarifying. My first year was '82 and I am trying to recall meaningless stuff from over 30 years ago. Records and comparing coaches all come with degrees of relativity I suppose. At the time we believed that there was more talent then we probably might have had and expectations among us dumb 18-22 year old's were probably not realistic.

[asu66]

Back in the early to mid 80's games at VG seemed to be attended pretty well. Seemed like a crappy place to watch a game if you had to sit in the endzone. Just a big high school gym. We had Kevin Cantwell who followed up Bobby Cremins. I remember hearing about a pretty big home win in '81- over Duke? Of course that was pre-K and didn't we have a pretty awesome player then named Peyton (memory working hard here). Had a buddy who was there a year before me in '81 and said that was a pretty good overachieving team. Back in those days you still had to make the scary trek to Blowing Rock to buy alcohol and risk a DUI on that 8 mile drive. No frat houses on campus to parties were fewer and farther between. My dorm floor was nearly empty on weekends. Still, with all of those factors I recall that bball games had several thousand (even Saturday night games) in attendance. We called Cantwell "can't coach" and "can't win" but we still went to games. Post or pre-game meals at the Bavarian Inn! Good times.

A couple of points.

The win over Duke wasn't pre-K and it wasn't a home game. It was 12.5.81...at Duke...Kevin Cantwell's first year as a head coach and K's second season at Duke.

Kevin left after five seasons to go to Tech. His last season was his best (17-12). Capel would have killed for such a record.

Thanks for clarifying. My first year was '82 and I am trying to recall meaningless stuff from over 30 years ago. Records and comparing coaches all come with degrees of relativity I suppose. At the time we believed that there was more talent then we probably might have had and expectations among us dumb 18-22 year old's were probably not realistic.

I'm of the opinion that *reasonable* expectations are difficult for most dyed-in-the-wool fans regardless of age, myself included.

[roachgone]

I was there. Wonder if we will ever see that kind of basketball excitement and atmosphere again in boone. Hope so. It sure was fun back then.

[asu66]

I was there. Wonder if we will ever see that kind of basketball excitement and atmosphere again in boone. Hope so. It sure was fun back then.

I hope we live long enough to see and enjoy it.

[Appftw]

Mark me down as a believer in Coach Fox. I think he'll finally bring the basketball program up to speed with the rest of the university and I think it will happen much sooner than you all seem to.

[NewApp]

Mark me down as a believer in Coach Fox. I think he'll finally bring the basketball program up to speed with the rest of the university and I think it will happen much sooner than you all seem to.

Not trying to be all doom and gloomy, but we will have a hard time keeping Fox when he resurrects the program even without him putting together a sequence of 20 win seasons. Just making us respectable from where we were will garner a lot of attention from the better programs.

[JMappfan5]

I was at App during the Cremins era and VG was rocking for every home game. After speaking with Coach Fox (in person & listening to Mountaineer Talk radio shows), I am convinced that we will be at the top of the SB and relevant in BB within the next 2-3 years! I have watched 3 games at HCC, this season, and the atmosphere has improved for each game. It's time for as many of us as possible to get to these games! My wife & I are making an effort to be at all remaining home games. This team is fun to watch...even in defeat.

[MAD Doctor]

Missed the '90 classic with ETSU. My favorite off campus BB game was at Davidson in 2007, Curry's freshman year.
I was invited to the game by a big Davidson alum, who was shocked to see the tailgating and high APP flags waving in the breeze when we arrived. Belk was packed,the game was awesome, and I'll never forget the loud sound of "ASU" rocking the gym as the final seconds ticked off. 81-74.