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From Rochester Democrat:
G-Mac's senior year taking frustrating path
(February 12, 2006)  Gerry McNamara spent most of the game at the
Hartford Civic Center the other night anchored to the bench, wearing his
warmups and a grimace.
Though his right ankle was throbbing, the Syracuse University guard
couldn't stop his competitive juices from flowing. He wanted so badly to
be out there to help his teammates stop the bleeding.
But Orange coach Jim Boeheim knew it was pointless. G-Mac or no G-
Mac, there was no way SU was going to beat the Huskies on this night or
any other.
The Hall of Fame coach also knew there were crucial games still to be
played. Winnable games that would determine the fate of the Orange
men's underachieving season.
So, G-Mac sat and reflected on a senior season gone awry.
No matter how hard he has tried  and clearly there have been times
when he's tried much too hard  G-Mac hasn't been able to elevate his
supporting cast and lift SU out of its offensive doldrums.
"I'm not going to lie," he told reporters following the 73-50 blowout that
dropped the Orange to 16-7 overall and 4-5 in the Big East. "This
definitely isn't what I envisioned for this season."
Back in October, G-Mac talked excitedly about this team's potential. He
believed the junior class of Demetris Nichols, Terrence Roberts, Darryl
Watkins and Louie McCroskey was ready to assert itself.
He felt freshman Eric Devendorf was going to be an immediate impact
player, just as G-Mac had been four years ago when he teamed with
Carmelo Anthony and Hakim Warrick to lead SU to a national
championship.
But the optimism of October has been bowled over by the harsh reality of
February. With losses in five of their last six games, the Orange men are
precariously close to falling out of NCAA Tournament contention. A loss
to St. John's this afternoon at 2 in Madison Square Garden would slam the
coffin shut.
McNamara, SU's best and too often only option, limps into this arduous
stretch run with a tweaked right ankle and a severely bruised psyche.
"I'll be all right," he said after a disappointing seven-points-in-just-24-
minutes performance against UConn. "We still have time to turn this thing
around."
That they do, but it's not going to be easy, considering three of their final
seven games are against Top 12 teams.
But who they play isn't as important as how they play. If there continues
to be no "O" in the Orange, SU will make prophets of the Huskie fans who
serenaded them with sarcastic "NIT!" chants the other night.
Boeheim, who always has been one of the game's better offensive
strategists, has rarely coached a team this challenged to put the ball
through the cylinder.
SU has attempted to make do as a perimeter team, a difficult proposition
given the poor marksmanship of their outside shooters and the
inconsistency of their big men.
Roberts, a 6-foot-9 forward, has potential offensively but has been up-
and-down more than a yo-yo. And Watkins, a 6-11 center, doesn't
appear to have hands soft enough to be a night-in, night-out scoring
threat.
As a result, opposing teams have been able to shy away from defending
those two guys down low, and gang up on SU's perimeter players â€â€
McNamara, Nichols and Devendorf.
The strategy worked like a charm the other night as SU missed 23 of the
26 shots it chucked up from beyond the arc.
As a team, the Orange is hitting just a third of its 3s this season, and no
one is struggling more with his outside shot than G-Mac, who is
converting only 31 percent of his long-distance heaves in conference
play.
McNamara's shooting percentages have declined each season. Without a
legitimate scoring threat to dish to down low, he has attracted even more
defensive attention and taken more of a physical pounding.
Much of his energy has been expended running the offense. And, in his
attempt to make something happen, McNamara has forced more shots
and passes than in seasons past.
The dysfunction of the SU offense is underscored by its pathetic assist-
to-turnover ratio, which stands at 113-145. The Orange men's failure to
get to the free-throw line only exacerbates their scoring problems.
This afternoon's contest against St. John's tips off a seven-game stretch
that will determine SU's post-season fate. With four more wins, the
Orange men most likely will sneak into the NCAA Tournament. Anything
less than that total, and they very likely will have to win a couple of
games in the Big East tournament, or wind up in the Non Important
Tournament.
This clearly wasn't the final destination G-Mac had in mind.
G-Mac's senior year taking frustrating path
(February 12, 2006)  Gerry McNamara spent most of the game at the
Hartford Civic Center the other night anchored to the bench, wearing his
warmups and a grimace.
Though his right ankle was throbbing, the Syracuse University guard
couldn't stop his competitive juices from flowing. He wanted so badly to
be out there to help his teammates stop the bleeding.
But Orange coach Jim Boeheim knew it was pointless. G-Mac or no G-
Mac, there was no way SU was going to beat the Huskies on this night or
any other.
The Hall of Fame coach also knew there were crucial games still to be
played. Winnable games that would determine the fate of the Orange
men's underachieving season.
So, G-Mac sat and reflected on a senior season gone awry.
No matter how hard he has tried  and clearly there have been times
when he's tried much too hard  G-Mac hasn't been able to elevate his
supporting cast and lift SU out of its offensive doldrums.
"I'm not going to lie," he told reporters following the 73-50 blowout that
dropped the Orange to 16-7 overall and 4-5 in the Big East. "This
definitely isn't what I envisioned for this season."
Back in October, G-Mac talked excitedly about this team's potential. He
believed the junior class of Demetris Nichols, Terrence Roberts, Darryl
Watkins and Louie McCroskey was ready to assert itself.
He felt freshman Eric Devendorf was going to be an immediate impact
player, just as G-Mac had been four years ago when he teamed with
Carmelo Anthony and Hakim Warrick to lead SU to a national
championship.
But the optimism of October has been bowled over by the harsh reality of
February. With losses in five of their last six games, the Orange men are
precariously close to falling out of NCAA Tournament contention. A loss
to St. John's this afternoon at 2 in Madison Square Garden would slam the
coffin shut.
McNamara, SU's best and too often only option, limps into this arduous
stretch run with a tweaked right ankle and a severely bruised psyche.
"I'll be all right," he said after a disappointing seven-points-in-just-24-
minutes performance against UConn. "We still have time to turn this thing
around."
That they do, but it's not going to be easy, considering three of their final
seven games are against Top 12 teams.
But who they play isn't as important as how they play. If there continues
to be no "O" in the Orange, SU will make prophets of the Huskie fans who
serenaded them with sarcastic "NIT!" chants the other night.
Boeheim, who always has been one of the game's better offensive
strategists, has rarely coached a team this challenged to put the ball
through the cylinder.
SU has attempted to make do as a perimeter team, a difficult proposition
given the poor marksmanship of their outside shooters and the
inconsistency of their big men.
Roberts, a 6-foot-9 forward, has potential offensively but has been up-
and-down more than a yo-yo. And Watkins, a 6-11 center, doesn't
appear to have hands soft enough to be a night-in, night-out scoring
threat.
As a result, opposing teams have been able to shy away from defending
those two guys down low, and gang up on SU's perimeter players â€â€
McNamara, Nichols and Devendorf.
The strategy worked like a charm the other night as SU missed 23 of the
26 shots it chucked up from beyond the arc.
As a team, the Orange is hitting just a third of its 3s this season, and no
one is struggling more with his outside shot than G-Mac, who is
converting only 31 percent of his long-distance heaves in conference
play.
McNamara's shooting percentages have declined each season. Without a
legitimate scoring threat to dish to down low, he has attracted even more
defensive attention and taken more of a physical pounding.
Much of his energy has been expended running the offense. And, in his
attempt to make something happen, McNamara has forced more shots
and passes than in seasons past.
The dysfunction of the SU offense is underscored by its pathetic assist-
to-turnover ratio, which stands at 113-145. The Orange men's failure to
get to the free-throw line only exacerbates their scoring problems.
This afternoon's contest against St. John's tips off a seven-game stretch
that will determine SU's post-season fate. With four more wins, the
Orange men most likely will sneak into the NCAA Tournament. Anything
less than that total, and they very likely will have to win a couple of
games in the Big East tournament, or wind up in the Non Important
Tournament.
This clearly wasn't the final destination G-Mac had in mind.