Joseph Girard III was clearly impressed by what G-Mac did with Siena against top-seeded Duke on Thursday.
On Thursday, the Siena Saints came painfully close to becoming the third-ever No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, taking top-ranked Duke down to the wire in a 71-65 loss in the Round of 64.
The Saints, led by former Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara, led by 11 points at the half and by as many as 13 before ultimately fading down the stretch. The Saints led with as much as six minutes to go in the game.
While Siena couldn't continue its season, the game served as a good resume builder for McNamara, who is up for the vacant SU job after the program fired Adrian Autry last week.
Former Syracuse guard Joseph Girard III is in favor of McNamara getting the position:
You’re Crazy (& Wrong), If You Think Anyone Deserves The Cuse Job More Then Gmac. Did What He Said He Was Gonna Do, & Put Up A Great Fight On The Biggest Stage!
For Those Who Don’t Want “Another Cuse Guy” Don’t Realize The Uniqueness Of It. Part Of What Makes Cuse, Cuse!
McNamara served as an assistant at Syracuse for 15 years before taking the Siena job two years ago. He famously played for Syracuse as well, helping the Orange win the national title in 2003. He was an assistant when Girard played at Syracuse from 2019-23. Girard played four years at Syracuse and then played a fifth year at Clemson, also in the ACC.
More on Girard
Nicknamed "JGIII," he hails from Glens Falls, N.Y., the same town as former BYU star Jimmer Fredette. He averaged 13.2 ppg for the Orange and was part of the last SU team to make the NCAA Tournament (2020-21). He led the ACC in free-throw percentage (89.4) as a freshman. He did it again as a senior at Clemson (93.5).
On the timing of the SU hire
Speaking to the media on Thursday, new SU athletic director Bryan Blair wouldn't get into specifics of the men's basketball hire, but he indicated that the search is well underway and they hope to have everything resolved soon.
Now that McNamara's season is over, the push for him to take on some more urgency, if that's the direction that SU wants to go.
Regardless of who Syracuse hires, they'll have to hire a whole new staff: The entire staff was fired along with Autry.
Syracuse went 15-17 this season.
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