Syracuse Basketball 2002-2003

2002-2003 Syracuse Orangemen

******* NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS *********

Overall	30-5	NCAA National Champions	Schedule Results
Big East	13-3		Previous	Next

Coach: Jim Boeheim

Player	Cl	Pos	G	GS	Min	FG	FGA	FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	3PT	3PA	3P%	Ast	Reb	DReb	OReb	Fls	DQ	TO	ST	BS	Pts	Ppg	Apg	Rpg
Gerry McNamara	Fr	G	35	35	1235	146	364	40.1%	90	99	90.9%	85	238	35.7%	155	80	66	14	69	1	85	77	2	467	13.3	4.4	2.3
Kueth Duany	Sr	G	35	35	944	133	303	43.9%	77	114	67.5%	43	123	35.0%	71	128	83	45	75	1	57	36	17	386	11.0	2.0	3.7
Carmelo Anthony	Fr	F	35	35	1274	277	612	45.3%	168	238	70.6%	56	166	33.7%	77	349	248	101	77	0	77	55	30	778	22.2	2.2	10.0
Hakim Warrick	So	F	35	35	1146	197	364	54.1%	124	186	66.7%	0	1	0%	57	297	185	112	94	4	92	49	44	518	14.8	1.6	8.5
Craig Forth	So	C	35	35	618	56	115	48.7%	20	40	50.0%	0	1	0%	30	116	66	50	90	4	39	14	51	132	3.8	0.9	3.3
Billy Edelin	Fr	G	23	0	533	80	146	54.8%	48	71	67.6%	0	2	0%	58	78	55	23	22	0	58	24	2	208	9.0	2.5	3.4
Josh Pace	So	G/F	32	0	469	62	118	52.5%	14	25	56.0%	0	2	0%	60	86	64	22	33	0	37	26	8	138	4.3	1.9	2.7
Jeremy McNeil	Jr	C	35	0	657	54	81	66.7%	9	20	45.0%	0	0	---	8	146	84	62	112	4	36	9	100	117	3.3	0.2	4.2
Matt Gorman	Fr	F	9	0	76	8	23	34.8%	5	8	62.5%	0	2	0%	1	19	15	4	14	0	5	3	2	21	2.3	0.1	2.1
Andrew Kouwe	Jr	G	6	0	10	3	5	60.0%	2	2	100%	2	2	100%	2	2	1	1	2	0	1	0	0	10	1.7	0.3	0.3
Ronneil Herron	Sr	G	5	0	9	2	3	66.7%	2	3	66.7%	0	0	0%	0	5	5	0	0	0	1	0	0	6	1.2	0.0	1.0
Xzavier Gaines	Fr	G	6	0	21	1	8	12.5%	0	0	---	0	3	0%	1	2	1	1	0	0	2	1	0	2	0.3	0.2	0.3
Gary Hall	Jr	F	5	0	6	1	1	100%	0	0	---	0	0	---	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0.4	0.4	0.4
Tyrone Albright	Sr	G	7	0	20	0	2	0%	0	0	---	0	1	---	1	2	1	1	1	0	3	2	0	0	0.0	0.1	0.3
Josh Brooks	Jr	F	5	0	6	0	1	0%	0	0	---	0	0	---	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.2

The team started the season unranked, and an opening game loss to Memphis. Freshman point guard Billy Edelin was suspended 12 games for an NCAA infraction involving his playing in a church league the previous season. From that point on, everything got better.

On a team with one senior (Kueth Duany), three freshman (Anthony, McNamara, and Edelin) and three sophomores (Craig Forth, Hakim Warrick, and Josh Pace), the group played with unselfish play and tremendous resolve. By season's end, they would have won 15 games that they trailed at some point in the 2nd half.

The Orangemen just kept winning games, a different player stepping up each night. By season's end the group had mastered their zone defense, and in the NCAA tournament the team was on a roll. They had all the components: the big star to fall back on (Anthony), big bodies in the middle (Forth & Jeremy McNeil), long armed players on the perimeter (Warrick, Duany, Forth & Pace),and a point guard (McNamara) with tremendous 3 point shooting and free throw shooting.

Fittingly they made it to the NCAA Championship game down in the Super Dome in New Orleans, the site of the heartbreaking 1987 last second loss to Indiana. Gerry McNamara was on fire in the first half with 6 three point baskets, and Carmelo Anthony was equally as hot, as Syracuse pulled out to a large first half lead. In the second half, Kansas slowly crept back into the game, and got within a basket of tying it up. But fate was kind to Syracuse this time, as Hakim Warrick had the signature play for the university, blocking the potential game winning shot from Kansas' Michael Lee as time was expiring. Ironically, this was at the same location on the court that 16 years earlier had seen Keith Smart throw a dagger into SU's heart.

Also of note: during the course of the season, the Big 12 conference was touted as the best conference in the country. Yet Syracuse swept the conference over the course of the season, beating Missouri in January, and then facing four Big 12 teams in the NCAA tourney (Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Texas, and Kansas), allowing Syracuse fans to joke that SU had also won the "Big 12 Championship".