Gerry McNamara gives a blunt response when asked how Syracuse gets its brand back

Winning. Plain and simple.

That was first-year head coach Gerry McNamara's response when asked by CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein how Syracuse basketball gets its brand back.

The Orange is one of the most storied teams in collegiate hoops - a top-10, all-time winningest program in the sport. Yet the 'Cuse hasn't been to the annual NCAA Tournament since 2021. SU has had back-to-back losing seasons.

Candidly, save for a few delightful Big Dance runs in 2016, 2018 and 2021, Syracuse basketball hasn't been all that relevant on a national scale, and SU has yet to make inroads as an Atlantic Coast Conference contender since departing the old Big East Conference in the 2013-14 stanza.

Winning, though, cures all woes (most of the time). And for Syracuse basketball to regain its national and conference relevance, McNamara says his team has to win games, and he's optimistic the Orange can win in his first season leading his alma mater.

Gerry McNamara knows what must happen for Syracuse basketball to get its mojo back.

Jim Boeheim, the legendary Hall of Famer, was SU's head coach during McNamara's playing days, and also for a number of years when McNamara was an assistant coach. He says that he learned many things from Boeheim, and two things that stand out are how consistent Boeheim was, and also that Boeheim wanted to win at all costs.

That clearly resonates with McNamara. He says that who a team recruits, how those players fit together and what the product is on the court, all of that fuels winning, and winning his how Syracuse basketball will get back.

McNamara says it's vital that his players have a great experience. That also extends to SU students and 'Cuse fans. If Syracuse men's basketball is winning and playing in the NCAA Tournament again on a yearly basis, that helps with student enrollment at Syracuse University and future fundraising.

Much has been debated among Orange fans on social media and in chat rooms regarding the team's 2026-27 roster, which lacks splashy acquisitions but has been constructed to fit McNamara's culture and system.

He is recruiting players who are gritty and tough, who play defense well, who give maximum effort all the time, who respect their teammates, who are efficient on offense, who don't turn the ball over, and on and on.

There are plenty of four-star prospects on this 2026-27 roster, although the big-time moves that some fans were hoping for haven't been made. And that's okay.

I trust GMac and his staff. He did a strong job at Siena over the past two terms. He's a well-prepared coach, he won't get outworked, and McNamara demands that his players respect each other.

When asked by Rothstein what he wants to accomplish in year one (back) on the Hill as Syracuse basketball's boss, McNamara says that every time his team takes the floor, he and his players will be prepared for 40 minutes, in every game, with no let-downs.

He expects professionalism. McNamara also wants to win the ACC, go to March Madness and claim (another) national title, this time as a coach. He also says that he understands there are steps in the process. He doesn't like to make predictions or prognostications; McNamara is focused on his group working hard to get to that standard he has set for his program.

Sure, maybe it's a "tad" unrealistic that Syracuse basketball would go from missing the NCAA Tournament for five straight seasons to cutting down the nets in GMac's inaugural campaign as head coach.

But, you know? McNamara, in his first term as an Orange player, was a key contributor as a freshman when the team won its first and only national title in 2003. Could it happen again, this time when GMac is a newbie as a head coach, not a player?

Perhaps. Either way, McNamara knows what he needs to do to turn Syracuse basketball, a historical giant in college hoops, around. He acknowledges that it's a multi-year build. He's recruiting a certain type of player - not to please me, or you or all those experts on Twitter, but to win games. Now.

I hope that McNamara can quickly lead my alma mater back to the promised land - that is, hearing its name called on Selection Sunday. There's no better feeling in the world, and I've missed it (so have you).

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