Gerry McNamara isn’t just trying to bring Syracuse basketball back to the NCAA Tournament.
He’s looking at a much bigger possibility.
What if Syracuse could beome the next UConn?
In my recent conversation with McNamara, I asked him why he was so determined to restore Syracuse’s old Northeast basketball connections.
Madison Square Garden. St. John’s. Boston. Providence. Rutgers. UConn.
These are the opponents and arenas that helped make Syracuse basketball a national brand. And G-Mac wants them back on the schedule.
But his explanation for playing UConn was particularly fascinating.
“The UConn one was really important to me,” McNamara told me. “I just think it makes sense for both fan bases. I think it makes sense for me if I want to be judged and hopefully take my program to a certain area.”
Then came the line that really caught my attention.
“UConn, not too long ago, dug themselves out of a hole.”
Think about that for a moment.
Today, UConn is a blue blood, collecting more banners this decade, synonymous with college basketball excellence. Dan Hurley transformed the Huskies back into a national powerhouse, winning consecutive national championships in 2023 and 2024.
But rewind to 2018.
Kevin Ollie’s tenure had ended badly. UConn was coming off consecutive losing seasons, its conference situation was uninspiring, and the program looked nothing like the national champion it had been just four years earlier.
The Huskies were searching for an identity.
Sound familiar?
Syracuse hasn’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2021. The program that once dominated Big East basketball has spent years slipping toward ACC irrelevance.
And now one of its most beloved players has returned to rescue it.
The parallels aren’t perfect. UConn and Syracuse face different financial, conference and recruiting circumstances.
But McNamara clearly sees something important in the Huskies’ transformation.
Being down doesn’t mean you’re destined to stay down when you have the legacy of Syracuse and UConn.
And his scheduling philosophy suggests he’s thinking beyond simply reaching 20 wins.
McNamara wants Syracuse back at Madison Square Garden against Rick Pitino and St. John’s. He wants the Orange playing Providence in Boston and Rutgers in Brooklyn.
He wants to reconnect with the cities and rivalries that built Syracuse’s basketball identity.
“It’s very important to me to get back in Madison Square Garden,” he said.
This isn’t simply nostalgia.
It’s recruiting. It’s visibility. It’s reconnecting with alumni. It’s reminding an entire region that Syracuse basketball still matters.
And it’s a way to rebuild the program’s national profile at a time when NIL and recruiting resources are increasingly important.
There’s also something compelling about McNamara’s willingness to measure Syracuse against UConn.
The Orange just lost an exhibition to the Huskies by 20 points. McNamara knows how much work remains.
But rather than avoiding that comparison, he welcomes it.
He remembers when UConn was struggling. He knows what Hurley built. And he apparently believes Syracuse can follow a similar path.
That’s an enormous ambition.
And perhaps the clearest indication of his vision is that he wants Syracuse competing in the very places where its basketball reputation was established.
The Garden. The Northeast. The old Big East battlegrounds.
And against the program that showed the college basketball world how quickly a sleeping giant can awaken.
Gerry McNamara remembers when UConn was down. He wants Syracuse fans to remember that, too.
