Syracuse Coach and Player Quotes
Syracuse vs. Kansas, NCAA Championship
Monday, April 7, 2003
Superdome, New Orleans, La.
Head coach Jim Boeheim
On the game:
"Gerry and Carmelo started out -- they just free-wheeled it. They looked for their shots, they were loose. They just got us off to a great start. I thought Kansas shows just how great a program they have, how great a team they have, and how great a coach they have because I think anybody else would have been done, the way we shot the ball in the first half. When they came back right away in the second half, I thought our kids showed what they're made of because they came right back right away and got it to four, three. Whenever that's happened this year, these guys have made plays. I thought we just kind of hung on at the end. I was getting some flashbacks about missed free-throws there a couple times. I guess maybe this building owed us one game. But Kansas made an unbelievable effort to get back at us. I thought both teams were running out of gas there. That can contribute to some missed shots and some mistakes. Both teams gave it everything they had for 40 minutes. We were fortunate that we still had the lead at the end of the game."
On Syracuse's shooting in the first half:
"Gerry (McNamara), if he makes one, he thinks he's going to make them all. Of course, if he misses one, he thinks he's going to make them all. I guess it doesn't really matter (smiling). He's going to look for his shots. I could see he had it tonight. He was shooting past NBA for a couple of them. When he gets it going, players have a lot of confidence in him. They look for him. He had it going. He ran out a gas a little bit. Carmelo (Anthony) got banged a little bit, ran out of gas. I thought really the key of the basketball game was Carmelo is hard to guard. He got (Keith) Langford in foul trouble. Langford was killing us on offense. It's hard to kill you when you're in foul trouble. Everybody that's played him has got in foul trouble. There's no way to guard him unless you do. I thought that was a big key in the game."
On Syracuse's bench:
"Josh Pace was just unbelievable. I told the team in there that he almost is the MVP of this tournament for us. I mean, what he's done, the plays he's made -- he had to get eight rebounds. He was the only guy getting defensive rebounds. Hakim (Warrick) just wasn't in it tonight. He got muffled a little bit. Josh was unbelievable on the backboard, and then just making plays on the offensive end. He almost made a couple plays that would have clinched the game. He made great plays, got in the lane, was just in and out on a couple plays. But Billy (Edelin) and Josh have just been great in this tournament. Those two guys have been huge. And Jeremy (McNeil) started out great, and slowed down a little bit. But Craig (Forth) came back tonight. Craig made some big defensive plays, got his hands up big, played big inside, finished a couple good plays around the basket. But, you know, all year long, we've had different guys. When we face adversity, you think freshmen, you know, would have a problem. As well as we played, for Kansas to get right back in it the second half, be at three, you would think any group of young players would just like go, Well, you know, we made every shot, we're only three points ahead. They don't think that way. They just get back down and make plays. They made a couple great plays. Made a couple great defensive plays right at that time, got back in control of the game. You have to give Kansas a tremendous amount of credit. They're trapping. They don't have a trapping-type team. They're still trapping, pressing, going after every ball. I thought we took care of the ball down the stretch pretty good, forced them to foul. We just missed a bunch of free-throws. We haven't done that this year. We made our free-throws late this year. They were smart. They didn't foul Gerry. You know, they got the guys that they wanted to get there."
On winning the national championship after 27 years as the head coach at Syracuse:
"Well, I don't feel any smarter yet. Maybe tomorrow. As I said before the tournament, I want to win this thing. I'm tremendously happy. I'm really more happy for the players, and our fans. Our fans have been unbelievable every place we've been. We had the building in Boston. We had the building in Albany. We had a lot of people here today, I mean, a lot of people came here from Syracuse. Of course, it's snowing there. They probably just wanted to get out. I've had an unbelievable career. If I didn't get here this year, if I never got here again... I was a walk-on at Syracuse, I didn't have a scholarship. I got one because a guy got thrown out of school my second year. Somehow Dave Bing liked me. I was smart, I roomed with Dave. That's how I got to play. I started out as a volunteer assistant coaching the golf team for about five years, then I became an assistant (on the men's basketball team). By default when the head coach left, I got the job because they didn't know what else to do. I've had just an unbelievable time coaching basketball. The people I've met... John Thompson even said, Good game over there. Twenty years ago that wouldn't have happened. The experiences I've had in this game, to me, that's what it's all about."
Senior guard Kueth Duany
On winning the championship:
"We're national champs. There's nothing to describe. We're the champs. I'm sorry, I'm speechless. I don't even know what to say."
Freshman forward Carmelo Anthony
On winning the championship:
"All my hard work, everything I did in the gym from pre-season, all of it just paid off tonight. Winning the national championship, it hasn't sunk in yet now. I haven't felt it now. Probably tonight."
Freshman guard Gerry McNamara
On his shooting in the game:
"I've had some tough games this year shooting the ball. The hardest thing is to keep your confidence. Last game I shot the ball pretty well. So, our confidence as a team was sky high, especially me, shooting the ball I felt really good. Coming in, I tried to look for the shot early."
On winning the championship:
"It hasn't sunk in yet. It's unbelievable to think around this time last year I'm playing in high school for a state championship. Now, we're national champs. That's hard to believe. I'm sure when we go back to the hotel tonight, and thousands of people are tipping over our bus, I think it will kind of sink in (smiling)."
Sophomore forward Hakim Warrick
On winning the championship:
"It is unbelievable. It is still sinking in. We came into the season not ranked, and to go from not being ranked to the No. 1 team in the nation speaks for itself. It just shows that we were able to gel so much as a team. We just got better and better with every game, with every practice."
On how the team came together this season:
"It was something special to come together like that, especially having a young team and everyone thinking we couldn't do it because we were so young. To be able to turn it around and get a big win against a really good ball club is just great. Being able to get it done for the first time for Coach Boeheim is just an honor."
On his final play of the game:
"I definitely wanted to go out there and try to make a play after missing those free throws. I saw a guy open in the corner and I knew they needed to hit a three, so I just try to fly at him. I didn't want it to be another one of those Keith Smart shots. I just saw him in slow motion when he released it and I was able to reach him in time."
On what the national championship means to Coach Boeheim:
"This is what coach is all about. You see a lot of other coaches going from program to program, but he has been here for 27 years and turned this program around. He has gone to the Final Four before and was never able to get one (a national championship). I am proud to have gotten one for him."
Sophomore guard Josh Pace
On his thoughts late in the game:
"I just wanted to get the game over. They were coming back, and we knew they were going to make a run, though, because they are such a good team. We just wanted to keep our composure and hold them, and we did."
On Hakim Warrick's final block:
"It was the greatest block I've ever seen."
Sophomore center Craig Forth
On winning the championship:
"We've been in every single situation you can encounter in basketball and we've overcome every single one of them. To be able to beat a great Kansas team with that much poise in this young team - I think that it is great for us. It hasn't hit me yet that we are the National Champions; I have to see my parents before it is going to hit me."
On the title being the first for Coach Boeheim:
"It is a big win for him and a huge win for the program. I have never seen him smile more; this is huge. It feels good to be a part of a team like this anyway, but to be able to get him that dream after so many years of trying and hard-fought battles with other teams it is great for me and it is great for our team and it is great for him."
On Kansas' comeback in the second half:
"Give every bit of credit to Kansas, they came back as hard as possible. We have been in these situations all year long, up one or up two with four minutes left and being able to hold teams off. I guess that is the way we work things. You certainly have to give credit to Kansas, they played very well tonight, but we were lucky to hold out in the end."
Junior center Jeremy McNeil
On Kirk Hinrich's last-second shot:
"He's a pretty good three-point shooter, so everybody was on edge when he shot it. And when we got the rebound, it was a relief."
On winning the championship:
"It's a dream. It just feels like a dream. Everything my mom told me is happening. When I was in high school, we were supposed to go to state and win it all. My junior year and my senior year, we lost both of them. my mom said not to worry about it, you're going to win it in college."
On his thoughts of his mother, Zohnnie, who passed away right before the start of the season:
"That's why I wasn't jumping around (on the podium). I just wish she was here to see it. Everybody else got to see their mom. My mom told me this would happen, and she isn't even here to see it. I want to call her on the phone, and give her a hug."
