0:00
Last week was about as bad as it could
0:03
get for Syracuse basketball. You had a
0:06
report that USF's Brian Hodgson was
0:10
turning down the job. There was
0:12
infighting within the fan base about
0:14
whether you needed somebody from the
0:17
family or outside the family. Another
0:19
non-ournament season and it got really
0:24
ugly on social media. But
0:27
once again, Jerry McNamera saved
0:31
Syracuse from downtown
0:35
because had Sienna not performed that
0:38
way, had GMAC not won the Metro Atlantic
0:45
Conference tournament to get the
0:49
Had the Sienna Saints lost by 30 points
0:53
to Duke, which was certainly in play,
0:57
I don't know how this would have all
1:03
And yet I think today as Syracuse hires
1:09
it brings everybody together and unifies
1:12
them one more time because how are you
1:14
not going to rally behind GMAC after all
1:18
of those heroics? This is a guy that is
1:21
as decorated as almost anybody in the
1:24
program's history. And that's saying
1:25
something considering they have had
1:28
Lawrence Motton and John Wallace and
1:30
Derek Coleman, Ronnie Cycley and Sheron
1:33
Douglas and Dave Bing and Pearl
1:36
Washington and go down the list. But
1:39
this guy is one of the only ones that
1:43
and even after Carmelo left was
1:47
single-handedly the reason they won a
1:49
Big East tournament and GMAC was on that
1:53
roster on that staff rather under
1:55
Beahheim for years. So he knows he's
1:58
loyal he's royalty in Central New York.
2:01
He knows what it it takes to win. He
2:03
knows what it takes to to navigate and
2:07
he's now do he's now done it as a head
2:10
coach. So, we've actually seen some some
2:14
elements of what he would be as the head
2:17
man. On top of it, what he did
2:25
in the round of 64 was elite coaching.
2:29
Number one, you have John Shy saying he
2:31
out coached me. Jerry McNamera out
2:33
coached me and and he had his guys ready
2:35
and I didn't. But also, they did so much
2:38
to perplex and confuse the Duke offense.
2:42
They forced Duke into being really a
2:45
bunch of outside shooters instead of
2:46
taking advantage of their size inside,
2:48
especially with Camboozer.
2:51
They ran, they paced, and if it wasn't
2:53
for a couple of missed dunks in the
2:55
second half, maybe Sienna pulls off the
2:58
most outrageous upset of all time
3:01
against the number one overall seed in
3:03
Duke with, you know, unbelievable NBA
3:08
McNamera coached a clinic in that game.
3:13
year two gets them to the tournament.
3:16
And I think everybody can kind of fall
3:18
in line of, okay, he checks the boxes.
3:21
He's not just promoted because he's just
3:24
a Syracuse guy. He has left and come
3:27
back. He we did just see him compete
3:31
against the team that you are measuring
3:33
yourself against in the ACC.
3:36
And I mean, God, he's got all of the
3:40
internal respect that you would want.
3:44
I I I don't think it's a dead program. I
3:47
don't. And I was up there for the UNCC
3:51
game in February. I saw 23,000 people
3:54
inside the Carrier Dome for a team that
3:56
was going nowhere and a dead season. And
4:00
I know there's just a fire that burns
4:03
for a city that loves its basketball
4:05
team. And I just think they're waiting
4:07
for a reason to be activated. And I know
4:10
the ACC move has been unpopular,
4:13
especially with me. I was there when
4:14
they were in the thick of the Big East,
4:17
but there is an unfortunate truth where
4:20
you have to play football somewhere. And
4:23
that paycheck, if you want to pay for
4:25
NIL for football and basketball, you
4:27
need a power conference paycheck behind
4:29
you. And that comes from the ACC. It's a
4:31
necessary evil. But I don't think the
4:34
basketball program's dead. I think
4:36
there's have been a lot of early
4:38
eulogies written, some from within
4:40
Syracuse fans, a lot from outside, but I
4:44
think Jerry McNamera is kind of the
4:45
exact person they need right now. And I
4:50
there is no downside of this. There
4:52
isn't because either he's there three
4:55
years and they miss the tournament every
4:57
single year and he's not the answer and
4:59
they're exactly where they are right now
5:02
or he wins and it's obviously a huge
5:05
success. But had he gone somewhere else
5:08
and won, it would have been pure pain.
5:12
And had they chosen somebody else and he
5:14
stayed at Sienna and won and the other
5:18
guy's not so good, that would have been
5:20
pure pain. This was the move at the
5:23
moment in time that they needed and they
5:24
had to have. So, I'm for it. I'm
5:28
supportive of it. I understand the want
5:31
to maybe be outside of the Syracuse
5:35
Beahheim tree, but the Hodgson thing
5:38
kind of imploded and it might have been
5:40
the best thing that could have happened
5:42
because GMAX's got a lot of juice right
