Remembering Forgotten March Madness Legends: Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara

During any other year, March Madness would be in full swing, but with the NCAA Tournament getting canceled, college basketball fans have had to figure out how to get their fix.

With nothing to look forward to, I figured there is no better excuse to reflect on the past, and as a result, I’m planning on spending the next couple of weeks answering “Hey, whatever happened to that guy?” by looking back at some forgotten March Madness legends.

PREVIOUSLY: KEVIN PITTSNOGLE

Jim Boeheim has been at the helm of Syracuse’s men’s basketball team for a staggering 43 seasons and only ten of those campaigns have ended without the Orange getting an invitation to the NCAA Tournament, where they’ve been perennial contenders for decades.

One of the most interesting things about the coach’s sustained success is that he’s largely been able to achieve what he has without any veritable superstars on his roster. Interestingly enough, 43 of the guys he’s coached during that same number of years have made it to the NBA but none of them managed to have the same success as they did during their time in college—with one very notable exception.

In 2002, Syracuse added the highest-rated prospect in the country to its roster in the form of Carmelo Anthony, who lived up to expectations (and then some) by leading the team in points, minutes, and rebounds during a freshman year that ended with the Orange taking home their first (and only) national championship.

However, there’s another freshman on that squad whose contributions can’t be overlooked: Gerry. Fucking. McNamara.

The Scranton, Pennsylvania native was as electric as the city he hailed from, and while he was overshadowed by ‘Melo during their sole year together in upstate New York, he was a key contributor to his young team during a title run that he helped cap off by drilling six three-pointers in the first half of the championship showdown with Kansas.

When Anthony took his talents to the NBA, it was McNamara’s time to shine, and over the next couple of years, he cemented his status as a phenomenal all-around player who possessed the ability to absolutely go off when he was feeling it—like he did when he dropped 43 points against BYU in the first round of the tournament during his sophomore season.

Syracuse managed to make it to the Sweet Sixteen that year before being eliminated by Alabama and had a chance to improve upon that result when it earned a four seed in 2005. Unfortunately, McNamara was on the wrong end of some madness courtesy of fellow forgotten legend T.J. Sorrentine, who helped Vermont shock the world and gave us what is arguably the most iconic Gus Johnson call of all time when he buried a clutch trey from deep late in the game.

 

In the immortal words of Batman, you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain and people around the world of college basketball absolutely guzzled the haterade when Syracuse underperformed during McNamara’s senior year to a point where the team’s only path to March Madness was getting a bid by winning the Big East tournament.

In order to do so, the Orange had to win four games in a row beginning with their matchup against Cincinnati, where they ultimately found themselves trailing by two with six seconds left in the contest.

G-Mac needed to make a basket to keep his college career alive, and with the ball (and his fate) in his hands, he did exactly that in the form of an absolutely absurd shot from behind the arc that kept the season going.

Before the tournament had kicked off, both Sports Illustrated and a Syracuse newspaper had asked players and coaches in the conference to pick the man they felt was the most overrated and McNamara had taken the top spot in both polls—much to the chagrin of Boeheim, who went scorched earth at a press conference to defend his player’s honor following the victory.

The bear had officially been poked, and during the next couple of games, McNamara put on an absolute show by spearheading dramatic comebacks to lead Syracuse past UConn and Georgetown and into the finals.

Sadly, I can’t find any good highlights but someone on YouTube put together a compilation of the many times McNamara delivered in the clutch over the course of Syracuse’s unreal four-day run (complete with the Fort Minor song literally every single person who made a video like this before 2010 chose for music).

McNamara and the Orange secured their fourth straight invite to March Madness with a win over Pitt at Madison Square Garden and the guard dunked on his doubters by donning a t-shirt he’d prepared for the occasion after being named the tournament’s Most Oustanding Player.

Syracuse earned a slot in the bracket as a five seed, but when you consider Boeheim basically admitted that year’s team didn’t really have the talent to compete in the fiery press conference posted above, it didn’t come as a huge surprise when they were knocked out in the first round to bring the McNamEra to an end.

Over the next few years, McNamara bounced between Europe and the United States while trying to break into the NBA via the G League. However, he eventually decided to move on to the next phase in his life, and after heading back to Syracuse as a grad student, he landed a job as an assistant coach and has been on the bench alongside Boeheim ever since.

There’s no telling what the future holds for McNamara but it’s safe to say he’ll always have a special place in the hearts of the college basketball fans who watched him play—and on the desk of Dwight Schrute.

There aren’t many honors higher than that.