If there was one player which typified the Big East era of Syracuse University basketball, it was a 6-2 guard from Scranton, PA named Gerry McNamara. A three time all-Big East guard who was twice voted the most overrated player in the conference, McNamara represented the best and worst of the Jim Boeheim legacy. But when Boeheim wanted the ball in the hand of a clutch player at the end of the game, there was no better option.

A relentless 6-2 guard at Bishop Hannan HS in Scranton, McNamara became part of that city's considerable basketball legacy. A three time all-state guard, his 84 combined points in the 2002 PIAA Class AA semifinals and finals led the Lancers to a state championship. His four year record at Bishop Hannan was 109-17.

Ranked #38 nationally as a senior, McNamara turned down an offer at Duke to attend Syracuse, which was closer to home and easier for his family to follow his games.

Playing for a coach that was known to favor upperclassmen in the starting lineup, McNamara started his first game at Syracuse as a freshman and started every game in his career. he averaged 13 points a game in his freshman season alongside freshman Carmelo Anthony, becoming the highest scoring freshman backcourt in the nation. A 90 percent free throw shooter, McNamara would not lose at the line--at one point, McNamara was 41 for 41 at the foul line in conference play, not missing a shot until a March 1, 2003 overtime win over Georgetown. His six threes against Kansas helped lead the Orangemen to the 2003 NCAA title.

With the loss of Anthony and Hakim Warrick, McNamara was the leader of the Orangemen over the next two seasons, earning all-Big East honors in both seasons but not without some push back from fans and the media. His shooting could be erratic and while there were big games (a 43 point total versus BYU in the 2005 NCAA's, for one) his accuracy was a source of much frustration among the Syracuse faithful.

"[Is McNamara] a great player who dominates games? Not even close," wrote Syracuse's Daily Orange in 2005. "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."

Despite being one of six top 100 high school recruits on the 2005-06 roster, McNamara was the best player on a inconsistent Syracuse team whose starting five included largely forgotten players such as Demetris Nichols, Terrence Roberts, and Darryl Watkins. From a 15-2 start, the Orangemen struggled mightily down the stretch, dropped nine of 13 to end the season, including a bizarre 41 point loss to DePaul that put an NCAA bid in some dispute. It was prior to the 2006 Big East tournament that both Sports Illustrated and the Syracuse Post-Standard voted him the Big East's most overrated player.

McNamara answered the critics with a tournament tour de force. A #9 seed for the first time in school history, Syracuse (19-11) opened Big East play on Wednesday against Cincinnati, where McNamara hit a running three at the buzzer to upset the Bearcats, 74-73, leading coach Jim Boeheim to vent about the Syracuse Post-Standard's claim at the post-game press conference.

"I have to laugh a little bit when our own paper is calling him...overrated," Boeheim said. "Without Gerry McNamara, we wouldn't have won 10 &%$#@ games this year. OK?...Without him there, not ten. We wouldn't be here to even have a chance to play this game. And everybody's talking to me and writing about Gerry McNamara being overrated? That's the most &%$#@ thing I've seen in 30 years."

McNamara wasn't done. In the quarterfinals, he scored 17 points and a Big East tournament record 13 assists in an overtime win over #1-seed Connecticut. A day later, he hit five three pointers and forced a late turnover in an overtime win over Georgetown. In the final, he scored 14 points versus Pittsburgh as Syracuse became the first team to win four games in as many days and recorded its first and only consecutive Big East tournament titles. Following the win, McNamara donned a t-shirt which read "Overrated".

Earlier that week, Boeheim suggested that an assistant coach from another school had given the Post-Standard the quote about McNamara being overrated. "Let the assistant coach come up to me and say, 'Gerry McNamara is overrated.' I'd like to see one of those guys come up to me and say that. He's been double-teamed every game this year, and the coaches voted him first-team all-conference. The head coaches don't know &%$#@, I guess."

Gerry McNamara finished his college career as Syracuse's all time leader in three pointers, games started, minutes, and free throw percentage, and is one of just six players to score 2000 or more points at the school. After five years playing overseas, he returned to Syracuse as an assistant coach following the firing of Bernie Fine, and could be seen as the man most likely to succeed Jim Boeheim when he retires as head coach.