Syracuse basketball fans are so desperate for a winner, they have braced themselves for a lengthy rebuild to glory.
Five straight missed NCAA Tournaments. A coaching change. Empty seats at the Dome. Being dragged on social media by other fan bases.
To build back the foundation of a winner can take awhile, retooling NIL and understanding the new realities of college sports.
Carmelo Anthony doesn’t see it that way. Melo’s visit with Ryan Blackwell gave us plenty of interesting nuggets, including his view that Orange basketball lost its “community” the last few years (which we wrote about here on the Fizz).
In fact, he rejected the entire premise.
“The term was rebuild… what are we rebuilding?”
Then came the quote that should energize every Orange fan.
“Let’s just start the car. We’ve been sitting idle for a while.”
Let’s start the car! That’s a fascinating way to describe where Syracuse is today.
Carmelo isn’t saying the Orange have to build something from scratch. He’s saying the foundation is already there.
The Dome. The fan base. The roster?
Maybe the problem issn’t that Syracuse has become irrelevant. It has simply stalled.
Now he believes Gerry McNamara has turned the key. Anthony said G-Mac’s arrival has immediately changed the feeling around the program.
“It just gives a different feel. It gives a different energy. It gives a different camaraderie.”
That’s a recurring theme whenever former players talk about McNamara.
He’s reconnecting the people who made Syracuse basketball special.
But perhaps the most encouraging part of Anthony’s interview came at the very end, after he had watched the Orange practice.
This wasn’t nostalgia. This was an evaluation of the current team.
“I think the ‘Cuse community has a lot to be excited about.”
Anthony then rattled off everything that has impressed him.
“The energy is a lot different.”
“The skill level… is a lot different.”
“The competitiveness is a lot different.”
“The excitement of being around one another is a lot different.”
He even pointed to something fans rarely get to see.
“Wanting to be in the gym and not wanting to rush out the gym… is a big thing.”
That echoes what Gerry McNamara, Tyus Battle and others have said throughout the offseason.
The culture has changed.
But he also believes the trajectory has already changed.
“Whether we win a championship this year or not… we on the right trajectory as far as getting this back to where Syracuse needs to be.”
The car isn’t broken.
It was sitting idle.
Now Syracuse fans are about to find out how fast Gerry McNamara can drive it.
