As the Knicks stand on the doorstep of the NBA Finals, New York City has completely lost its mind.
Thousands of fans are packing outside Madison Square Garden. Celebrities are fighting for courtside seats. Social media is consumed by one topic and one visual. Knicks fans are losing their minds.
And honestly, all of it reinforces one thing:
Gerry McNamara is absolutely right to make New York City a priority again for Syracuse basketball.
For years, Syracuse inexplicably drifted away from the city that has always been its most important market. The Orange stopped making regular appearances at Madison Square Garden. The program lost much of its annual presence in the place where its largest alumni base lives and works. SU seemed to ignore the heartbeat of the country’s basketball culture.
That always felt strange.
Syracuse may not be located in New York City, but anyone who has followed the program for decades understands how deeply intertwined the Orange are with the city.
The old Big East Tournament wasn’t just another conference tournament. It was a yearly pilgrimage. Syracuse fans would flood the Garden. Alumni would reconnect. The program felt like it owned part of Manhattan every March.
Some of the most iconic moments in school history happened under the lights of MSG. Carmelo Anthony is the most recognizable Syracuse basketball player ever, and is a connector for many young people to the Knicks. His son plays on the Orange for crying out loud and Kiyan is beyond hyped up about his Knicks.
Which is why the current Knicks mania is such a perfect reminder.
Look around New York right now. When basketball matters in this city, it becomes the center of the sports universe. And when New York City lights up for basketball, the passion is overwhelming.
The streets are jammed with people who either love the sports desparately, or find it cool enough to jump on the bandwagon and fight for tickets and position at watch parties. And because of the centrifugal force of the Big Apple, all sports conversations eventually gravitate to it.
Why wouldn’t Syracuse want a bigger piece of that?
McNamara seems to understand something that perhaps got lost over the last several years. Syracuse’s brand is strongest when it has a visible presence in New York City. Not because every Knicks fan is automatically a Syracuse fan, but because so many Syracuse graduates, donors and supporters call the metropolitan area home. It is the media capital of the world, so stories shine brighter there. It is market flooded with money (look at these ticket prices), so power brokers can help boost visibility and interest.
The Garden still means something.
The city still means something.
And if the Knicks’ remarkable run to the brink of the NBA title has reminded us of anything, it’s that New York remains one of the great basketball capitals on the planet.
Syracuse spent years acting like it could afford to ignore that reality.
McNamara appears determined to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
