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The Daily OrangeIs Gerry Overrated?: Ramsey | Weaknesses there all along
By Ethan Ramsey
Posted: 2/8/06, 1:13 AM EST Section: Sports
But when defenses keyed on him this season, all those open looks McNamara saw in the past have disappeared. No more catch and shoot. Instead, he's morphed into a more traditional point guard with a propensity for shooting the 3. As he has said himself all year, the team performs better when he doesn't have to force shots, and he's averaging a career-high 5.8 assists. But he still hoists too many contested 3's, and has subsequently failed to find a rhythm almost the entire season.
You could make a case for McNamara actually being the third-best player on the team behind Demetris Nichols and Eric Devendorf. Finding himself in more McNamara-like trances than McNamara himself this season, Nichols has easily been the most consistent shooter on the Orange. Devendorf is shooting a team-high 40.3 percent from the 3-point line and drives the lane better than McNamara. In the eight conferences games, Nichols is averaging 16.3 points to McNamara and Devendorf's 14.9.
In terms of the team as a whole, there is a disturbing backward trend. The more prominent role McNamara has had, the worse the team has done. He's gone from national champions to a loss in the Sweet 16 to a loss in the first round. Now, in what was finally supposed to be his team, Syracuse is struggling just to win 20 games and make the NCAA Tournament.
To be specific, when McNamara left the Rutgers game, Syracuse was trailing by five points. The first five-game losing streak in Boeheim's career, and quite possibly the NIT, was staring the Orange in the face. But the Syracuse offense became more balanced with Josh Wright at the point, and SU eventually won on a dramatic buzzer-beating 3-pointer that Terrence Roberts never would have taken with McNamara in the game.
"McNamara would've helped them, but I don't know how much he would've helped them," Rutgers head coach Gary Waters said after the game. "I can't say because he was gone that we were better, because they played like a team."
Now to say Syracuse is a better team without McNamara is obviously wrong. But the Rutgers game presented the clearest example of how McNamara is not the superstar an above-average team cannot win without.
Again, nothing against McNamara. The only thing on his mind today is an upset of No. 1 Connecticut. He could care less about this argument, and I admire that about him.
It's the fans, the media who need to snap back to reality. Look at the numbers. Watch the games. Gerry McNamara is no legend.
Ethan Ramsey is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. E-mail him at egramsey@gmail.com.
You could make a case for McNamara actually being the third-best player on the team behind Demetris Nichols and Eric Devendorf. Finding himself in more McNamara-like trances than McNamara himself this season, Nichols has easily been the most consistent shooter on the Orange. Devendorf is shooting a team-high 40.3 percent from the 3-point line and drives the lane better than McNamara. In the eight conferences games, Nichols is averaging 16.3 points to McNamara and Devendorf's 14.9.
In terms of the team as a whole, there is a disturbing backward trend. The more prominent role McNamara has had, the worse the team has done. He's gone from national champions to a loss in the Sweet 16 to a loss in the first round. Now, in what was finally supposed to be his team, Syracuse is struggling just to win 20 games and make the NCAA Tournament.
To be specific, when McNamara left the Rutgers game, Syracuse was trailing by five points. The first five-game losing streak in Boeheim's career, and quite possibly the NIT, was staring the Orange in the face. But the Syracuse offense became more balanced with Josh Wright at the point, and SU eventually won on a dramatic buzzer-beating 3-pointer that Terrence Roberts never would have taken with McNamara in the game.
"McNamara would've helped them, but I don't know how much he would've helped them," Rutgers head coach Gary Waters said after the game. "I can't say because he was gone that we were better, because they played like a team."
Now to say Syracuse is a better team without McNamara is obviously wrong. But the Rutgers game presented the clearest example of how McNamara is not the superstar an above-average team cannot win without.
Again, nothing against McNamara. The only thing on his mind today is an upset of No. 1 Connecticut. He could care less about this argument, and I admire that about him.
It's the fans, the media who need to snap back to reality. Look at the numbers. Watch the games. Gerry McNamara is no legend.
Ethan Ramsey is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. E-mail him at egramsey@gmail.com.
