Gerry McNamara arrived at Syracuse and has since started every game of his career, hit six first-half 3-pointers in SU’s lone national championship, proved clutch with game-winners and dove for every loose ball along the way. And he’s done it all with what seems to be a humble, down-to-earth attitude.

Overrated? Not in my book.

Sports fans judge players, coaches and teams with extremes. Best or worst. Overrated or underrated. Genius or idiot.

And it’s not fair. It’s not fair to McNamara – one of the most popular players in Syracuse basketball history. There’s a difference between McNamara the player and McNamara the icon. Fans are acutely aware of McNamara the player. They know his limitations, and the ovation he’s drained with when he takes the court is appreciation for the player and adulation for the icon.

McNamara’s a very good college basketball player. He’s not a Carmelo Anthony-type star. He’s not even a J.J. Redick-type star. But he’s the type of player who always seems to hit the shot when his team needs it, who’s always willing to get the floor burn when the opponent isn’t and who’s embraced his role as the team leader without seeming outwardly pompous about such lofty distinctions.

He brings intangibles that go beyond the box score. Fans can relate to McNamara. He’s a blue-collar player who plays with a 9-to-5 attitude and then can cap it off by going fishing on the weekend. He’ll run through any body check, get up and do it again. He’s Rocky Balboa with a jump shot.

True, he’s not the same player without Anthony and Hakim Warrick. But who would be? Every star needs a complementary player. Not a role player, but a complementary player. The Robin to the Batman.

And that’s what McNamara is. But there’s nothing wrong with that. So was Pippen to Jordan. So was Hurley to Laettner. Neither would be as good without the other.

It’s important when evaluating McNamara to evaluate the basketball player and not the icon. The player is who he is. The icon is who he was turned into by fans and the media.

He’s averaging a solid 16 points and almost six assists. Those are good numbers. Not great numbers, but hey, they’re better than Rudy Gay’s numbers, and Gay might be the top player in the NBA draft. They’re better than Daniel Gibson’s statistics, and some thought he was the best point guard in the nation.

Granted, McNamara’s shooting percentages leave much to be desired. But defenses never relax when he has the ball on the perimeter. Eric Devendorf and Demetris Nichols are impressive shooters, but the attention McNamara’s earned on defense can be attributed to the success that Devendorf and Nichols have.

‘I’m scared to death,’ said Villanova head coach Jay Wright of McNamara, whom he coached in the World University Games over the summer, before the Wildcats played SU on Jan. 21. ‘I know the assassin mentality he has. He’s always on attack. He’s always probing the defense. I liked it better when we didn’t know what was there.’

But forget statistics for a moment. Listen to the way Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim talks about him. Listen to the way his teammates talk about him. During Media Day in November, his teammates all used the same word: ‘leader.’ Throughout the season, Boeheim’s defended McNamara even after games where the senior struggled. And you get the feeling he’s doing it not to protect the point guard, who seems able to deflect the attention by himself, but because he believes in McNamara.

‘He’s the kind of player that everybody likes because he goes out, plays and gives it everything he’s got every game,’ Boeheim said at Media Day. ‘I think that’s what people admire and respect about him.’

It’s those intangibles that McNamara brings every night. It’s the way he’s played since his first game in the Carrier Dome against Valparaiso in 2002 and it will be the way he’ll play on what’s unofficially Gerry McNamara Day on March 5 against Villanova.

In between, he’s provided Orange fans with more thrills than anyone could have expected when the scrappy Scranton native arrived in Syracuse. Those thrills created a legend and an onus that is almost unattainable. But don’t blame McNamara. He didn’t ask for it. He just tries to live up to it.

Zach Berman is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. You can e-mail him at zberman@syr.edu.

Published on February 28, 2006 at 12:00 pm