Jon Scheyer quote on Gerry McNamara is something Syracuse fans can't ignore

Did Siena give us the best 20 minutes of our lives? Maybe, as the No. 16 seed gave No. 1 Duke everything it could handle. In the end, though, the Blue Devils managed to fight their way back and head back to the locker rooms with a win.

3 head coach candidates Syracuse must consider before rushing on Gerry McNamara

Make no mistake about it, though: Gerry McNamara had his guys ready to play and he had his team on the verge of making incredible history. Oh, and it came with McNamara's name being heavily linked to the Syracuse job. Right after the final whistle, Duke's Jon Scheyer didn't hold back in saying what everyone was thinking on how the game went down from start to finish. Yup, G-Mac was brilliant.

Gerry McNamara silenced the Syracuse doubters in the close Siena loss to Duke

Scheyer didn't hold back with the passionate words above. Plain and simple, McNamara had the better game plan and if Siena had a little more depth, we'd be having a totally different conversation right now. Everyone was rooting for McNamara and his squad.

Despite the loss, we all got a close look at how he has matured as a head coach. So, will he end up making the move home to take over the program after Adrian Autry was fired? That's up in the air, but with Bryan Hodgson of USF out of the running, plenty of signs are pointing in that direction.

If that does go down, will it be a mistake from new athletic director Bryan Blair? That's what some people think, as the worry is Syracuse will make that call on more of an emotional level because of G-Mac's history with the university.

Sure, you can have some reservations, but the effort his guys put forth against one of the top teams in the country sure was telling. Again, we don't know if McNamara is even going to get offered the job, but if he does, let's look back on this game alone as a big reason to have some optimism. Scheyer's thoughts on McNamara speaks volumes too.