FYI, Someone posted that they thought the Seton Hall was after the Holy Cross demolition. It was 2 weeks prior.
1 Tue, Dec 6, 1977 REG @ Boston College Ind L 76 79 0 1 L 1 Roberts Center 2 Sat, Dec 10, 1977 REG Duquesne EAA W 90 84 1 1 W 1 Alumni Hall 3 Mon, Dec 12, 1977 REG Vermont Ind W 82 67 2 1 W 2 Alumni Hall 4 Tue, Jan 3, 1978 REG @ Canisius Ind W 83 69 3 1 W 3 Koessler Athletic Center 5 Fri, Jan 6, 1978 REG Catholic Ind W 72 64 4 1 W 4 Alumni Hall 6 Sat, Jan 7, 1978 REG American ECC W 105 88 5 1 W 5 Alumni Hall 7 Wed, Jan 11, 1978 REG @ South Carolina Ind L 69 75 5 2 L 1 Carolina Coliseum 8 Sat, Jan 14, 1978 REG @ Yale Ivy W 73 72 6 2 W 1 John J. Lee Ampitheater 9 Wed, Jan 18, 1978 REG Hofstra ECC W 112 86 7 2 W 2 Alumni Hall 10 Mon, Jan 23, 1978 REG Iona Ind W 78 76 8 2 W 3 Alumni Hall 11 Fri, Jan 27, 1978 REG St. Francis (NY) Ind W 96 87 9 2 W 4 Alumni Hall 12 Sun, Jan 29, 1978 REG @ New Hampshire Ind W 90 55 10 2 W 5 Lundholm Gymnasium 13 Mon, Jan 30, 1978 REG Boston University Ind W 89 83 11 2 W 6 Alumni Hall 14 Sat, Feb 4, 1978 REG Manhattan NJNY7 W 82 78 12 2 W 7 Alumni Hall 15 Sat, Feb 11, 1978 REG Seton Hall NJNY7 L 77 99 12 3 L 1 Alumni Hall 16 Mon, Feb 13, 1978 REG @ Saint Peter's Ind W 81 71 13 3 W 1 Yanitelli Center 17 Sat, Feb 18, 1978 REG Saint Joseph's ECC W 86 62 14 3 W 2 Alumni Hall 18 Mon, Feb 20, 1978 REG St. Bonaventure Ind W 92 81 15 3 W 3 Alumni Hall 19 Wed, Feb 22, 1978 REG Long Island University Ind W 72 56 16 3 W 4 Alumni Hall 20 Sat, Feb 25, 1978 REG Holy Cross Ind W 123 103 17 3 W 5 Alumni Hall 21 Tue, Feb 28, 1978 REG Connecticut Ind W 63 57 18 3 W 6 Alumni Hall
No, no 78. Again as has has been mentioned previously in this thread (and backed up in a post by sonofdoc Dec. 27th), for whatever reason the rotation in the schedule you are showing here is WRONG, 100%. The Holy Cross contest definitely took place in January well ahead of Seton Hall. A possible explanation might be that the Crusader match-up could have been originally scheduled for February and that is the reason why it shows up this way. Don't know for sure.
Last Edit: Jan 5, 2020 12:57:16 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
Great points made about Barry Gunderson. He actually grew up on Oak Street in Floral Park, NY as I did. That's always been an incredible coincidence. He was 2 years behind me and had a very accomplished high school career at Holy Cross in Flushing Queens. He started on an excellent Holy Cross team and was highly recruited in our Tri-State region. My brother, in fact, started at PG with Barry for 2 years and was definitely was not highly recruited. Ha. Barry was the goods. Smart, tall, and an excellent shooter as was pointed out correctly in my opinion. Someone else opined that he was a victim of when he got to FU. Somewhere in the last 2 years the full season stats were posted here probably by the Master 73. I have it saved somewhere on my PC but of course cant find it as I type. When the season stats were printed I was astounded. I've mentioned this before sorry. Our greatest team ever used just 6 players. It's incredible actually. Six man Space Plefka was a great 6th man. I'll try to find it I promise. So the recruits like Barry etc class of 80 NEVER played as Freshman and Sophs. What are you gonna do? Not a peep was heard by him and his classmates. They enjoyed the ride. I 100% agree with Joe Stag and JGU80 as concerning the Balkun injury. No one knew he wouldn't be playing in the Semis. The big pro Friar crowd were actually rooting for URI against because of our reputation. I totally agree with both posters that we would have won that ECAC. Our total 6 man rotation definitely hurt us even though it was great game. Unfortunately, Balkun still being out for our game in the then still prestigious NIT (Big Dance still 32)on the road at Dayton ended a great year on a sour note. But what a ride it was. Barry just missed.
Yeah from an individual standpoint as far as total records, obviously Barry was hurt by not being able to play much his first two years. Like you say he was a good teammate by accepting the situation, something all great teams have to have. But it was different back then concerning rotations, not only with the Stags but with others also. Rotations of 6-7 were much more common than you might see now. And you can't blame Barakat for going this way considering the fantastic season the team had!
Make no mistake about it - if Balkun plays vs. URI we win. Remember Dave Gavitt pre-tournament indicated Fairfield didn't belong. He quickly changed his opinion after the URI game.
FYI, Someone posted that they thought the Seton Hall was after the Holy Cross demolition. It was 2 weeks prior.
1 Tue, Dec 6, 1977 REG @ Boston College Ind L 76 79 0 1 L 1 Roberts Center 2 Sat, Dec 10, 1977 REG Duquesne EAA W 90 84 1 1 W 1 Alumni Hall 3 Mon, Dec 12, 1977 REG Vermont Ind W 82 67 2 1 W 2 Alumni Hall 4 Tue, Jan 3, 1978 REG @ Canisius Ind W 83 69 3 1 W 3 Koessler Athletic Center 5 Fri, Jan 6, 1978 REG Catholic Ind W 72 64 4 1 W 4 Alumni Hall 6 Sat, Jan 7, 1978 REG American ECC W 105 88 5 1 W 5 Alumni Hall 7 Wed, Jan 11, 1978 REG @ South Carolina Ind L 69 75 5 2 L 1 Carolina Coliseum 8 Sat, Jan 14, 1978 REG @ Yale Ivy W 73 72 6 2 W 1 John J. Lee Ampitheater 9 Wed, Jan 18, 1978 REG Hofstra ECC W 112 86 7 2 W 2 Alumni Hall 10 Mon, Jan 23, 1978 REG Iona Ind W 78 76 8 2 W 3 Alumni Hall 11 Fri, Jan 27, 1978 REG St. Francis (NY) Ind W 96 87 9 2 W 4 Alumni Hall 12 Sun, Jan 29, 1978 REG @ New Hampshire Ind W 90 55 10 2 W 5 Lundholm Gymnasium 13 Mon, Jan 30, 1978 REG Boston University Ind W 89 83 11 2 W 6 Alumni Hall 14 Sat, Feb 4, 1978 REG Manhattan NJNY7 W 82 78 12 2 W 7 Alumni Hall 15 Sat, Feb 11, 1978 REG Seton Hall NJNY7 L 77 99 12 3 L 1 Alumni Hall 16 Mon, Feb 13, 1978 REG @ Saint Peter's Ind W 81 71 13 3 W 1 Yanitelli Center 17 Sat, Feb 18, 1978 REG Saint Joseph's ECC W 86 62 14 3 W 2 Alumni Hall 18 Mon, Feb 20, 1978 REG St. Bonaventure Ind W 92 81 15 3 W 3 Alumni Hall 19 Wed, Feb 22, 1978 REG Long Island University Ind W 72 56 16 3 W 4 Alumni Hall 20 Sat, Feb 25, 1978 REG Holy Cross Ind W 123 103 17 3 W 5 Alumni Hall 21 Tue, Feb 28, 1978 REG Connecticut Ind W 63 57 18 3 W 6 Alumni Hall
Thanks, Jenningbeach, for giving us access to that Holy Cross article. It should be must reading for all Fairfield players and fans so that all know something of that special time in Fairfield basketball. I was at the game and every available place was occupied. A very, very special night with some of the greatest players in Fairfield history and I speak not only of Young and DeSantis.
Personal Observations from the 77-78 season: Mark Plefka 1) At the Xmas break our record was 6-1. Stagmania was emerging. The day after Xmas, Fred summoned myself and Mark Young to his office.. Young went first and Fred proceeded to chew out Mark for his lack of aggression and poor play (this lasted a good 30 minutes and Barakat was screaming the whole time). I met with Fred next. He proceeded to lambaste me for my lack of consistency on the boards and scoring. Once calm, Fred asked me, "How do I get Young to play harder? " Stunned, "I replied, "Simple.. Pound it into him on the the box and have everyone else get out of the way". (Noteworthy, Fred never took advice from a ball player especially me). Sure enough, Young had his best practice as a Stag (in my opinion) and the rest is history. 2) Fred Barakat was a master at the X's and O's that year. Discipline, precise and a perfectionist. But moody and temperamental as well. We had triple sessions during the pre-season on every weekend (8:30-10:30, 1-3 pm and 5-7pm). This work ethic paid dividends later on once the season started. Still, even on game days, we would go over our plays and what the opposing team was going to do. Full of sweat we would practice full bore for one hour, go to our pregame meal and go back to our dorm. Tired, all was forgotten when the student section filled up prior to game time. It was an intimidating, incredible sight to see and the team loved every moment. 3) Our student section fan base was incredibly loud, rabid, and loyal to the hilt. Pregame drinking parties at the beach and in the dorms were standard protocol. The drinking never stoped once in the gym. How did I know? After the game, nip bottles were everywhere between the bleachers where the students converged. Combined with pot (which was cheap and easily available back then) well you get the picture.. 4) We basically ran a six man rotation which had its negatives. Fred was stubborn and did not have much confidence in his underclassmen. If you screwed up, Fred would give you a stare that would freeze you in your tracks.This was especially hard for the new ball players to handle. Nonetheless, when we were winning (with Stagmania fully ramped up) Fred always had a smile from ear to ear. 5) The Holy Cross game was the perfect storm. The coaches did an incredible job of scouting the Crusaders.The noise that night from our fans was beyond description. So loud in fact that we had to use hand signals to call out our plays. To score 123 points was unheard of at that time. The highlight was meeting Bob Cousy ( Holy Cross announcer -Celtic great). Leaving the gym with my parents, I shook his hand and mentioned how I admired his playing days as a Celtic legend. He then replied, " Son, that was once of the best college games I have ever witnessed.. great atmosphere, great fans, a real pleasure to watch.. what a shootout" .. Enough said.
Personal Observations from the 77-78 season: Mark Plefka 1) At the Xmas break our record was 6-1. Stagmania was emerging. The day after Xmas, Fred summoned myself and Mark Young to his office.. Young went first and Fred proceeded to chew out Mark for his lack of aggression and poor play (this lasted a good 30 minutes and Barakat was screaming the whole time). I met with Fred next. He proceeded to lambaste me for my lack of consistency on the boards and scoring. Once calm, Fred asked me, "How do I get Young to play harder? " Stunned, "I replied, "Simple.. Pound it into him on the the box and have everyone else get out of the way". (Noteworthy, Fred never took advice from a ball player especially me). Sure enough, Young had his best practice as a Stag (in my opinion) and the rest is history. 2) Fred Barakat was a master at the X's and O's that year. Discipline, precise and a perfectionist. But moody and temperamental as well. We had triple sessions during the pre-season on every weekend (8:30-10:30, 1-3 pm and 5-7pm). This work ethic paid dividends later on once the season started. Still, even on game days, we would go over our plays and what the opposing team was going to do. Full of sweat we would practice full bore for one hour, go to our pregame meal and go back to our dorm. Tired, all was forgotten when the student section filled up prior to game time. It was an intimidating, incredible sight to see and the team loved every moment. 3) Our student section fan base was incredibly loud, rabid, and loyal to the hilt. Pregame drinking parties at the beach and in the dorms were standard protocol. The drinking never stoped once in the gym. How did I know? After the game, nip bottles were everywhere between the bleachers where the students converged. Combined with pot (which was cheap and easily available back then) well you get the picture.. 4) We basically ran a six man rotation which had its negatives. Fred was stubborn and did not have much confidence in his underclassmen. If you screwed up, Fred would give you a stare that would freeze you in your tracks.This was especially hard for the new ball players to handle. Nonetheless, when we were winning (with Stagmania fully ramped up) Fred always had a smile from ear to ear. 5) The Holy Cross game was the perfect storm. The coaches did an incredible job of scouting the Crusaders.The noise that night from our fans was beyond description. So loud in fact that we had to use hand signals to call out our plays. To score 123 points was unheard of at that time. The highlight was meeting Bob Cousy ( Holy Cross announcer -Celtic great). Leaving the gym with my parents, I shook his hand and mentioned how I admired his playing days as a Celtic legend. He then replied, " Son, that was once of the best college games I have ever witnessed.. great atmosphere, great fans, a real pleasure to watch.. what a shootout" .. Enough said.
Hey Mark, thanks for posting this. Great, great inside look at how things were that night and season and very much appreciated by me as well as I'm sure everyone else who was around to witness all the excitement. BTW I wanted to shake your hand that evening after the game but I was afraid to because it was so hot and I thought I might burn myself! Anyway stay tuned to this thread as more articles and discussion will be forthcoming in the coming days regarding that special time for Stag basketball.
Those are great stories. I was looking forward to fan perspectives - never thought we would hear some player perspectives too! I hope you have a few more stories to share!
"The Holy Cross game was the perfect storm. The coaches did an incredible job of scouting the Crusaders.The noise that night from our fans was beyond description. So loud in fact that we had to use hand signals to call out our plays. To score 123 points was unheard of at that time. The highlight was meeting Bob Cousy ( Holy Cross announcer -Celtic great). Leaving the gym with my parents, I shook his hand and mentioned how I admired his playing days as a Celtic legend. He then replied, " Son, that was once of the best college games I have ever witnessed.. great atmosphere, great fans, a real pleasure to watch.. what a shootout" .. Enough said".