It was fall 2011, my freshman year move-in day at Syracuse University, and the line of cars waiting to unload at Flint Hall stretched down Comstock Avenue and into the parking lot of the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center.
Needless to say, I went in, and for about five minutes I enrolled in a Syracuse Basketball 101 refresher course: Boeheim and Bing, Carmelo and Coleman, Hakim Warrick and his block to seal the 2003 national championship.
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Then there was Pearl — Dwayne Washington — the schoolyard legend from Brooklyn with an infectious smile and legendary crossover.