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Last week was about as bad as it could
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get for Syracuse basketball. You had a
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report that USF's Brian Hodgson was
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turning down the job. There was
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infighting within the fan base about
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whether you needed somebody from the
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family or outside the family. Another
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non-ournament season and it got really
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ugly on social media. But
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once again, Jerry McNamera saved
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Syracuse from downtown
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because had Sienna not performed that
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way, had GMAC not won the Metro Atlantic
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Conference tournament to get the
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Had the Sienna Saints lost by 30 points
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to Duke, which was certainly in play,
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I don't know how this would have all
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And yet I think today as Syracuse hires
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it brings everybody together and unifies
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them one more time because how are you
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not going to rally behind GMAC after all
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of those heroics? This is a guy that is
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as decorated as almost anybody in the
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program's history. And that's saying
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something considering they have had
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Lawrence Motton and John Wallace and
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Derek Coleman, Ronnie Cycley and Sheron
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Douglas and Dave Bing and Pearl
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Washington and go down the list. But
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this guy is one of the only ones that
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and even after Carmelo left was
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single-handedly the reason they won a
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Big East tournament and GMAC was on that
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roster on that staff rather under
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Beahheim for years. So he knows he's
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loyal he's royalty in Central New York.
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He knows what it it takes to win. He
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knows what it takes to to navigate and
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he's now do he's now done it as a head
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coach. So, we've actually seen some some
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elements of what he would be as the head
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man. On top of it, what he did
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in the round of 64 was elite coaching.
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Number one, you have John Shy saying he
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out coached me. Jerry McNamera out
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coached me and and he had his guys ready
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and I didn't. But also, they did so much
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to perplex and confuse the Duke offense.
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They forced Duke into being really a
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bunch of outside shooters instead of
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taking advantage of their size inside,
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especially with Camboozer.
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They ran, they paced, and if it wasn't
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for a couple of missed dunks in the
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second half, maybe Sienna pulls off the
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most outrageous upset of all time
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against the number one overall seed in
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Duke with, you know, unbelievable NBA
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McNamera coached a clinic in that game.
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year two gets them to the tournament.
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And I think everybody can kind of fall
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in line of, okay, he checks the boxes.
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He's not just promoted because he's just
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a Syracuse guy. He has left and come
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back. He we did just see him compete
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against the team that you are measuring
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yourself against in the ACC.
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And I mean, God, he's got all of the
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internal respect that you would want.
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I I I don't think it's a dead program. I
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don't. And I was up there for the UNCC
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game in February. I saw 23,000 people
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inside the Carrier Dome for a team that
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was going nowhere and a dead season. And
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I know there's just a fire that burns
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for a city that loves its basketball
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team. And I just think they're waiting
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for a reason to be activated. And I know
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the ACC move has been unpopular,
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especially with me. I was there when
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they were in the thick of the Big East,
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but there is an unfortunate truth where
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you have to play football somewhere. And
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that paycheck, if you want to pay for
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NIL for football and basketball, you
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need a power conference paycheck behind
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you. And that comes from the ACC. It's a
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necessary evil. But I don't think the
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basketball program's dead. I think
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there's have been a lot of early
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eulogies written, some from within
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Syracuse fans, a lot from outside, but I
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think Jerry McNamera is kind of the
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exact person they need right now. And I
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there is no downside of this. There
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isn't because either he's there three
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years and they miss the tournament every
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single year and he's not the answer and
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they're exactly where they are right now
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or he wins and it's obviously a huge
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success. But had he gone somewhere else
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and won, it would have been pure pain.
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And had they chosen somebody else and he
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stayed at Sienna and won and the other
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guy's not so good, that would have been
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pure pain. This was the move at the
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moment in time that they needed and they
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had to have. So, I'm for it. I'm
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supportive of it. I understand the want
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to maybe be outside of the Syracuse
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Beahheim tree, but the Hodgson thing
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kind of imploded and it might have been
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the best thing that could have happened
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because GMAX's got a lot of juice right