Peakah's Provocations...

UPDATE 3/12: Highlights of the Big East Championship game and interview with G-Mac Here.

The improbable story of the Orangemen winning the Big East Tournament came to it's dramatic conclusion last night against Pittsburgh with a 4 point win.

The decision to hand Syracuse senior guard Gerry McNamara the MVP trophy wasn't official until after the Orange's 65-61 victory Saturday night. But the trophy could have been sent out during the game to be engraved. Win or lose, McNamara was the MVP of this thing; and had he not been named so, the Big East should have hired an independent investigator to review the voting.

McNamara is the heart and soul of Syracuse Basketball, perhaps for all time. His gritty effort and determination willed his ailing team to the Championship and leaves no doubt as to their NCAA Tourney bid as they earn the automatic bid for winning in the deepest and most competitive Conference in college basketball.

While I do not harbor too many hopes of Syracuse getting very deep in the Big Dance, it will be safe to say that the 'Cuse will come to play and they will be lead by a point guard with the heart of a champion.

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UPDATE 3/10: (Check out the highlights at this link) G-Mac does it again in the Semi's vs Georgetown!!

"No matter how I was feeling, it didn't matter," McNamara said. "It was time to play."

Nursing a sore groin and after having sat much of the first half watching his team get pushed around by the Hoyas, McNamara put on a show in the second half and again single handedly took the game over when he drained 5 critical three pointers in the second half to keep SU close...

Syracuse beats the Hoyas with only seconds left on the clock, with a beautiful assist from the G man, to get to the Big East Tournament Finals against Pittsburgh tomorrow night.

Gerry McNamara is a stud... I love this game!
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I know not one person comes to my site to read about Syracuse Basketball but that's not going to stop me from posting about one of my passions.

I grew up in the heart of Syracuse basketball country and even grew up down the street from the Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim. What's transpired over the last 24 hours in the Big East Tournament at the Garden in NYC has been absolutely inspirational.

Gerry McNamara, the undersized asthmatic with a heart larger than the Carrier Dome has almost single handedly assured Syracuse University a spot in this year's Big Dance...

March Madness has begun and Gerry came to play!

After nailing a running three pointer over Cincinnati last night to advance past the first round of the Big East Tournament to keep their NCAA Tourney bid alive for one more game, Syracuse found themselves on the floor against the number one team in the country UConn who's own coach, Jim Calhoun, was inducted alongside Boeheim into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame before this year's season began.

Gerry found himself in the spotlight again- hitting an NBA length 3-pointer to tie the game as the clock ticked down. Syracuse beats the #1 team in the nation and all but cements their bid in the Big Show.

All this after some moronic assistant coaches in the Big East were anonymously quoted in the Syracuse University student paper (The Daily Orange) claiming that McNamara is the most overrated player in the conference.

That was all it took for the usually calm and collected Boeheim to unload as if someone sucker punched one of his own kids.

"Without Gerry McNamara, we wouldn't have won 10 f---ing games this year," Boeheim said of his senior guard, who finished with 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting. "Without him, not 10. We wouldn't even be here to even have a chance to play this game. And everybody's talking to me and writing about Gerry McNamara being overrated? That's the most bulls--- thing I've seen in 30 years."

Go get'em Jimmy...

This is one team that does not need to be provoked before the season ending tournament begins.

Man I love this time of year!!!

G-Mac will go down as one of the most beloved athletes in the rich history of Syracuse collegiate sports...

Others pimping G-Mac's play:
Connexxions
Double-A Zone
Throws Left, Bats Right
Dustin Dow
Dave's Sports Views
Big East Basketball Roundup
Econometrics of the Soul