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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
Let's get something straight: Gerry McNamara didn't ask for this. No matter how he plays, he's the same broken record after every game, repeating cliché after cliché about how it's always about wins and losses, never himself. And I think he genuinely means every word of it. He's never talked himself up, never said he's a star.
But Syracuse fans as well as the local and national media have long showered him with star status, and zilch can convince them otherwise. To them, McNamara is not just a great player, he's a legend. Even before this season started they made No. 3 easily the most beloved player in Syracuse history and possibly the most adored active player in all of college basketball.
Talk about selective memory. Or maybe it's denial. But there's no question his weaknesses have finally been fully exposed this season, and somebody has to say what's long overdue: Gerry McNamara is overrated.
Now don't get me wrong; I remember the six 3-pointers in the 2003 title game against Kansas, the 43-point outburst in the 2004 first round against BYU, all those game-winning 3's. A good player who's hit many big shots? Of course.
But a great player who dominates games? Not even close. All his highlight-reel heroics came while playing with actual great players who took up defenders and took away pressure - Carmelo Anthony and Hakim Warrick. Now McNamara is the man, and he can't shoulder the burden. He and the team are having their worst seasons during his career.
The stats don't lie: McNamara is having his worst shooting year in 2005-06, both from the 3-point line (32.3 percent) and overall (33.3). Discounting the Orange's last game, when he scored two points before leaving with a charley horse late in the first half of SU's 86-84 overtime win against Rutgers, he shot 7-for-33 in his last four games from downtown. Not what SU was expecting during conference season from the player who is the school's all-time leader in 3-pointers.
What it comes down to is that McNamara cannot create his own shot, which wasn't a problem in his first three seasons. Not only did defenses focus on Anthony or Warrick, McNamara had Craig Forth to set screens for him. Though McNamara has been the team's point guard since he was a freshman, a fact Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim always reminds reporters in defense of his senior leader, he fed off others feeding him the ball. He's a 3-point specialist. Catch and shoot. It suited his game perfectly.
But Syracuse fans as well as the local and national media have long showered him with star status, and zilch can convince them otherwise. To them, McNamara is not just a great player, he's a legend. Even before this season started they made No. 3 easily the most beloved player in Syracuse history and possibly the most adored active player in all of college basketball.
Talk about selective memory. Or maybe it's denial. But there's no question his weaknesses have finally been fully exposed this season, and somebody has to say what's long overdue: Gerry McNamara is overrated.
Now don't get me wrong; I remember the six 3-pointers in the 2003 title game against Kansas, the 43-point outburst in the 2004 first round against BYU, all those game-winning 3's. A good player who's hit many big shots? Of course.
But a great player who dominates games? Not even close. All his highlight-reel heroics came while playing with actual great players who took up defenders and took away pressure - Carmelo Anthony and Hakim Warrick. Now McNamara is the man, and he can't shoulder the burden. He and the team are having their worst seasons during his career.
The stats don't lie: McNamara is having his worst shooting year in 2005-06, both from the 3-point line (32.3 percent) and overall (33.3). Discounting the Orange's last game, when he scored two points before leaving with a charley horse late in the first half of SU's 86-84 overtime win against Rutgers, he shot 7-for-33 in his last four games from downtown. Not what SU was expecting during conference season from the player who is the school's all-time leader in 3-pointers.
What it comes down to is that McNamara cannot create his own shot, which wasn't a problem in his first three seasons. Not only did defenses focus on Anthony or Warrick, McNamara had Craig Forth to set screens for him. Though McNamara has been the team's point guard since he was a freshman, a fact Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim always reminds reporters in defense of his senior leader, he fed off others feeding him the ball. He's a 3-point specialist. Catch and shoot. It suited his game perfectly.
