mantonio
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- Aug 28, 2011
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On this 10th anniversary of our National Championship, it's a great time to think about what made that team so special.
It's so easy to simply say Carmelo was the key to our success, but it was so much more than that. The 2003 squad was special most importantly because they always had an answer for their opponents, and it came from different players throughout the game.
When we got down to Oklahoma State big, Jeremy McNeil came up huge on interior defense & GMAC was clutch on the jumpers. This was not the exception, it was the RULE. For some reason, I think mostly about Josh Pace & his flying floaters in the lane. I remember, as I watched that tourney, I wondered if or when the team would not be able to answer adversity, & we would suffer another fateful defeat like the other occasions.
That moment never came...
Hakim Warrick's final block was the symbolic answer that represented this 2003 Syracuse Squad. I had questions, they had answers. ALWAYS.
How is this relevant today?
Does this 2013 team have the heart & hustle to answer the same challenging questions?
It's so easy to simply say Carmelo was the key to our success, but it was so much more than that. The 2003 squad was special most importantly because they always had an answer for their opponents, and it came from different players throughout the game.
When we got down to Oklahoma State big, Jeremy McNeil came up huge on interior defense & GMAC was clutch on the jumpers. This was not the exception, it was the RULE. For some reason, I think mostly about Josh Pace & his flying floaters in the lane. I remember, as I watched that tourney, I wondered if or when the team would not be able to answer adversity, & we would suffer another fateful defeat like the other occasions.
That moment never came...
Hakim Warrick's final block was the symbolic answer that represented this 2003 Syracuse Squad. I had questions, they had answers. ALWAYS.
How is this relevant today?
Does this 2013 team have the heart & hustle to answer the same challenging questions?