ALBANY – Coming 20 years later, and the chants of “Allons-y Orange!” filling the downtown Albany arena are still vivid in the memory of Gerry McNamara.
It was 2003 when McNamara, then a freshman guard for Syracuse, and his teammates stormed Albany to win the East Region of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on their way to the program’s only national championship. with the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight turned into de facto home games in front of a crazed Orange crowd who made the short trip west through the NYS Thruway to support the team.
“As soon as the medium came out that year, we knew we were in the Eastern region, so if we were advancing to the Sweet 16, we were coming here,” said McNamara, who Thursday night was just upriver from the site of that memorable weekend at the Albany Capital Center as the recipient of the Inspiration Award at the 2022 Capital Region Coaches vs. Cancer Basketball “Ball”. “We knew it would be a big plus for us, and I just remember the chants of ‘Let’s go Orange’ here. Amazing environment.
That year, Syracuse — the No. 3 seed in the East Region — picked up a 79-78 win over Auburn in the Sweet 16 before dispatching No. 1 seed Oklahoma 63- 47 in the regional final to send head coach Jim Boeheim’s team to New Orleans in the Final Four, where they won the national title behind Carmelo Anthony’s most notable player effort, six 3s points in the first half of the national title game from McNamara and Hakim Warrick’s save-game block to eliminate Kansas’ last chance of a comeback.
In all of that magical run, McNamara said Albany’s final minutes on the court in the regional final against Oklahoma were some of the most special.
“Those last six, seven minutes of this game, knowing that it’s turning and you’re about to head into a Final Four,” McNamara said, “there’s very little feeling like that.”
This March will mark 20 years since that championship run and will also mark the NCAA Men’s Tournament’s first trip to Albany since Syracuse cut the nets. MVP Arena will host matches during the opening weekend of the 2023 tournament. This return was postponed for three years, as the arena was scheduled to host matches during the first weekend of the 2020 tournament, which was canceled during the closure of the sports world in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
McNamara, who has been an assistant coach at his alma mater since 2011, would love to bring this year’s Orange team back to Albany for a taste of the magic he and his teammates experienced two decades earlier.
“I hope so,” he said. “You just have to take it one step at a time with this group. . .. We are really excited about what we are going to be and what we can become.
If the Orange are to succeed this season, McNamara knows much of the blame will fall on former Glens Falls High School star Joseph Girard III. New York high school basketball’s all-time leading scorer is now in his fourth year at Syracuse and will likely go from point guard to shooter this season following the graduation of leading scorer Buddy Boeheim.
It’s a move, McNamara said, that could serve to unlock some of the incredible scoring ability that Girard displayed during his high school career.
“We asked him to come and lead the team from the first moment he arrived,” McNamara said. “I don’t think we’ve released him yet. . . . I think he’s going to be up there with some of the best scorers in the league. He is capable of leading the league in scoring. He is so good.
McNamara’s trip to Albany was part of his ongoing work with Coaches vs. Cancer, an organization he has been involved with since arriving on the Syracuse campus in 2002 due to Jim Boeheim’s close association with the group.
Jim Boeheim was honored at the first Capital Region basketball “Ball” in 2006, with McNamara honored at the event – co-hosted by Siena men’s basketball coach Carmen Maciariello and his wife Laura, and UAlbany men’s basketball coach Dwayne Killings and his wife Ana – come full circle.
“I’ve been a part of the Coaches vs. Cancer events since the moment I got to Syracuse,” he said. “I know the importance of it. I’ve had personal and family issues where we’ve been through a lot over the past two and a half, three years. I lost people in my life and I currently have people who are fighting [cancer]. This organization is amazing. It is the largest non-profit fundraiser for cancer research in the country. Whenever I have the opportunity to be part of it, I will be part of it.
More from The Daily Gazette:
Categories: College Sports, Sports, Sports