Striking Up McNamara’s Band
Syracuse played before its largest home crowd since 1996 on Saturday, and freshman guard Gerry McNamara was partly responsible for the turnout.
The No. 17-ranked Orangemen defeated No. 10 Notre Dame, 82-80, and McNamara was very much responsible for the outcome.
Playing in front of 32,116 at the Carrier Dome, including about 2,000 from his hometown of Scranton, Pa., McNamara made the game’s deciding shot -- a three-pointer just a few feet in front of the Syracuse bench with 18 seconds remaining.
“I was shooting the ball. I didn’t care if I hadn’t hit a shot the entire game before that, I was taking that shot,” said McNamara, who had made six of 16 shots before his game-decider.
Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim echoed McNamara’s sentiments.
“I don’t know what he was shooting for the game but I like him shooting that shot,” Boeheim said. “He has great confidence and he wasn’t going to let 2,000 people from Scranton down.”
All season, buses filled with McNamara’s fans have made the two-hour trip up the I-81 from the northeastern Pennsylvania town (population 76,415) for Syracuse home games.
“Two thousand people. That says a lot about my fans and Scranton,” said McNamara. “They’re showing support for me and I’m trying my hardest to give something back to them.”
McNamara gave just enough scoring (17 points) to help Syracuse secure its 16th consecutive home victory.
He and another freshman, 6-8 forward Carmelo Anthony from prime-time-basketball-player factory Oak Hill (Va.) Academy, have combined to average more than 35 points and allow Syracuse (17-4) to return to “Beast” status in the Big East. The Orangemen, at 8-3, lead the Big East’s tougher West Division, which includes No. 7 Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, after slipping to midpack last season.
Anthony scored 10 of his game-high 26 points in a four-minute span after the midpoint of the second half to help Syracuse erase a 12-point deficit.
“The crowd was huge today,” Anthony said. “We needed the crowd to be in it and we made our run in the second half when they started getting loud.”
Weighing in heavily was the contingent from Scranton, which was transported by 26 buses.
“It’s crazy,” said Bill Clark of the Scranton-based Cookies Travelers, which chartered eight buses for Saturday’s game. “Everybody is going crazy. We’ve been doing trips for 20 years, and we’ve never seen anything like this”
OK, so how crazy is McNamara-mania?
“We run ads in the papers, and you haven’t seen an ad [for a travel package to Syracuse] in a month,” said Clark, who coached McNamara in Little League. “We have 150 people on our waiting list. Tickets are no longer available. We’re maxed out.”
Though not quite in LeBron James’ class, McNamara was a big attraction as early as his sophomore season at Bishop Hannan High, with his team’s games often being moved from the campus’ 400-seat gymnasium to a 4,000-seat civic arena.
“The fan support has been great,” said McNamara’s father, Gerry Sr., a manager at the post office. “With four years in Scranton, and everybody knowing how good Bishop Hannan was, everybody started following Gerry.”
Especially college recruiters. One evening, Gerry Sr. decided to count the mail his son had received from colleges during a two-month period before his junior season. The total came to 1,253 letters.
McNamara’s high school achievements include being named last season’s Pennsylvania player of the year, an honor previously bestowed on the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant. He has also adopted a nickname, “G-Mac,” that’s along the lines of the Orlando Magic’s “T-Mac,” Tracy McGrady
McNamara finished his career at Bishop Hannan as Pennsylvania’s seventh all-time scorer at 2,917 points, but it’s the 6-foot-2, 172-pounder’s scrappy style that has made him a Carrier Dome favorite. He gives Scranton -- one of the world’s biggest producers of iron from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s -- an assist for that.
“Scranton’s a lot like Syracuse, a lot of hard-working people,” McNamara said. “Genuine people. Nice people. People that care about each other. People you want to be around. That’s what I take pride in.”
Scranton once took pride in being one of the premier vaudeville stops in the United States, attracting the likes of W.C. Fields, Mae West, Will Rogers, Fred Astaire, the Marx Brothers, Jack Benny and George Burns and Gracie Allen. Its audiences had a reputation for being difficult to please. “If you can make it in Scranton, you can make it anywhere” was a catch phrase among vaudevillians.
Well, early in his college basketball career, Scranton’s native son, Gerry McNamara, is making it at Syracuse.
It’s Not Over Till It’s Over
There were still some anxious moments for Syracuse after McNamara made his big shot.
Notre Dame’s Matt Carroll drove the lane and put up a potential game-tying shot that was partially blocked by Jeremy McNeil. The ball went to Syracuse’s Hakim Warrick, who slipped into a Leon Lett mode by inexplicably throwing the ball high in the air with five seconds still on the clock.
When the ball finally landed near midcourt, the buzzer sounded as players scrambled for it and part of the Carrier Dome crowd streamed onto the court.
“We got set defensively and Jeremy made a great block and then Hak lost his mind,” Boeheim said. “I don’t know what he was doing but, fortunately for him, everything ended up well.”
Warrick gave this explanation:
“I didn’t have a clue. I threw it up and I kept listening for the horn to go off. It didn’t go off and I was like ‘Uh-oh.’ ”
‘Just Win, Baby’ Would Do
Texas Tech students were given T-shirts with the words “The clock doesn’t stop at 800” for Saturday’s game against No. 5 Oklahoma at Lubbock.
This was done to allude to a clock controversy that took place when the teams played Jan. 20 at Norman. The “800” was in reference to Texas Tech’s Bob Knight, who on Feb. 5 became the fourth Division I coach to win 800 games.
The Red Raiders didn’t get the message, losing 63-58.
Seeing Florida From Threes
No. 4 Florida knew all about Tennessee’s Ron Slay, the Southeastern Conference’s leading scorer.
What the Gators didn’t know about was “Smokey,” which played a big role in their 66-59 loss to the Volunteers at Knoxville, Tenn.
“I told the team we’re going to have to win the game with defense, not offense,” said Tennessee Coach Buzz Peterson, whose team did just that in holding Florida’s three-point happy guards Brett Nelson, Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh to a combined three for 22 from behind the arc.
“It’s called Smokey. We gave it a name just because we take pride in it.”
Peterson’s pregame pep talk probably ended with something like, “Remember, only you can prevent three-pointers.”
Associated Press contributed to this story.