Gerry McNamara's epic performance vs. Duke will likely get him the Syracuse job

Gerry McNamara and his Siena Saints nearly became the third No. 16 seed to knock off a No. 1 seed in an NCAA Tournament first-round match-up. Alas, Siena came up six points short on Thursday to No. 1 seed Duke in Greenville, S.C.

The end result, a 71-65 setback for Siena, candidly, didn't really matter. GMac, the Saints' charismatic second-year head coach, put on one heck of a performance - an audition, perhaps - and now has to be considered the front-runner to become the next Syracuse basketball head coach, which new SU athletics director Bryan Blair said could be announced "relatively soon."

While national observers and fans alike are prognosticating on who the primary candidates are for the Orange opening, Blair says he thinks that the 'Cuse has "a great pool of candidates. We’re really excited about the progress."

Gerry McNamara could be in line to win the Syracuse basketball gig.

It's entirely possible that the next Syracuse basketball head coach might be a candidate who surfaces out of the blue, so to speak, because this candidate hasn't been discussed in the public domain (similar to Blair and the SU athletics director search).

However, if I had to put my money on it, after GMac nearly shocked the college basketball universe on Thursday, I anticipate that McNamara will be the next 'Cuse hoops head coach, replacing third-year boss Adrian Autry, who was fired earlier this month.

On the biggest of stages, McNamara and Siena delivered. Sure, they didn't win, but the Saints (23-12 overall) had the Blue Devils (33-2 overall) on the ropes for much of this round-of-64 encounter. Plus, due to injuries and other circumstances, McNamara basically played five guys all 40 minutes.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, an assistant at SU under Jim Boeheim decades ago, praised GMac's for what he's doing at Siena, adding, "And maybe we’ll see him at Syracuse." Boeheim, after the Saints gave Duke all it could handle, said of McNamara to Syracuse.com: "He did everything he could do to win."

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer, who took the Blue Devils to the Final Four a year ago and has Duke poised for another deep March Madness run, admitted that on Thursday, GMac out-coached him.

Undeniably, Blair is weighing several candidates for the Syracuse basketball head coaching position, and McNamara is certainly on the AD's list. Maybe the Orange brass will hire another candidate, but McNamara has put himself out in front, and he should get the job, assuming he wants to leave Siena now.