Curtis Shaw, referee: I was really trying to get into position to see what he’s going to do on the play. Is he going to pull up from 3? Is he going to try and run into somebody?

Eric Hicks, Cincinnati forward: Andy Kennedy, the coach that’s at Ole Miss now, he drew it up right. He said don’t trap it, just show so we can’t get split and Cedric McGowan tried trapping him and got split.

Cedric McGowan, Cincinnati guard: I did exactly what Coach said, but Gerry made a great play. Nobody expected him to split. He split me and then shot a floater from 3 point.

Eric Devendorf, Syracuse guard: For him to be able to split those two and get it off in time was pretty amazing.

Gerry McNamara: Eric Hicks, another friend of mine, played USA Basketball with him, snuck it … I would’ve preferred to take a pull-up as opposed to a floater, but you know, the only way I could get it off with a great shot-blocker.

Hicks: I was pissed at Cedric because he wasn’t supposed to get a clean look like that … If he got a shot off, it was supposed to be one of those falling away, hand in your face, just over half court.

Shaw: The first thing I’m looking at is making sure where his foot is and that was my main responsibility really.

Gerard McNamara, Gerry’s father: I thought it was a two at first.

Tim McNamara: We were on the baseline so he was coming toward us … but it’s kind of hard to tell from where you’re sitting where he actually was. We were obviously thrilled at just the idea at that point of even going to overtime.

Terrence Roberts, Syracuse forward: I believe I was behind him, but I couldn’t tell. People don’t think it’s a 3-pointer because of where he landed.

Demetris Nichols, Syracuse forward: I guess I was 50-50.

Brad Pike, head trainer: I don’t even know if I saw it, there was so much going on. I’m not looking at where his feet are.

Todd Burach, Syracuse walk-on: Did Gerry ever shoot two-pointers? That runner, you can kind of close your eyes and still visualize.

Shaw: I had followed him all the way down the floor. I knew he was a good step behind.

Kip Wellman, Director of Operations: I’ve seen him do that before in practice. As soon as he split and got it off, I knew it was good and I knew it was a 3.

Chris Doherty, mayor in 2006 of Scranton, McNamara’s hometown: As he was coming up the court, he was right in front of us, and I remember my son saying, as soon as it went off, ‘It’s in.’

Pete Moore, Syracuse sports information director: I didn’t have any question about two or three. There was very much the sense that this could be it, then his shot, it was like a fourth of July fireworks.

Jim Boeheim: I had a feeling that he was going to make it. I don’t know why. It’s probably about a 10-percent shot.

That’s a 50-50 shot … I like to think I’d make 75 percent but it’s a rare make. Gerry McNamara

Hicks: I was just like, ‘Why didn’t you listen to the coach?’ and Ced was like, ‘Uh my bad.’ And everybody on the team looked like, ‘Why did you do that?’ The locker room, he was so quiet. Cedric McGowan was by himself.

McGowan: I was devastated.

Jake Presutti, Syracuse walk-on: After he made it, they went and checked and there was a long delay. Gerry came over and he was yelling, with some profanity, that he said it was good … He knew he made that shot, he was behind the line.

Shaw: Part of protocol is you kill it and go check just to be positive. We were really doing more about getting the clock.

Mike Hopkins, Syracuse assistant coach: I’ve seen him in four games make half-court shots or game-winning shots … so there are certain guys that just have that magic, and he was one of them.

Hicks: You talk to Gerry Mac, tell him I’m still pissed about it.

Half a second remained on the clock. Cincinnati’s Jihad Muhammad threw up a desperation heave that hit the front of the rim and Syracuse escaped with a one-point win.

CHAPTER 2: ‘NOT 10 F*CKING GAMES’

About two weeks prior, Daily Orange beat writers Zach Berman and Ethan Ramsey wrote point-counterpoint columns on McNamara being overrated, with Ramsey arguing for the case. The Post-Standard, for the seventh year, also conducted an anonymous survey of 15 Big East assistants on a variety of topics. McNamara was voted the most overrated player in the league. Then, Jim Boeheim took to the microphone after beating Cincinnati.

“I have to laugh a little bit when our own paper, and our own student newspaper is calling him overrated. And they actually listen to a couple assistant coaches who I guarantee you will never be head coaches if they think Gerry McNamara is overrated.

“Without Gerry McNamara, we wouldn’t have won 10 f*cking games this year, OK, not 10.

“And everybody’s talking to me and writing about Gerry McNamara being overrated? That’s the most bullsh*t thing I’ve seen in 30 years.”

Gerry McNamara: The language, when that came up, that was more the surprising thing. Down the stretch of your career you don’t want to be thinking about an article written in the paper. It was nice for him because I would’ve never publicly spoken up about it and he kind of did it for me.

Kip Wellman: We have staff meetings and it came up from time to time and Coach would get fired up about it before that … I knew that if we ever got it to a point where he had a chance to say something that he was going to go off. I didn’t know he was going to go off in that magnitude.

Gerard McNamara: And he said, ‘I can guarantee you that none of them will ever be head coaches,’ which I thought was a great line.

Jim Boeheim: I don’t think I planned it. I was just upset by the article … more upset about coaches who would say stuff like that than necessarily the paper itself.

Mike Waters, The Post-Standard beat writer: So what? So some assistant coaches in some fun poll? But for Jim Boeheim it was a cut, it was a hurtful criticism of one of his best and maybe one of his favorite players.

Ethan Ramsey: I remember thinking, ‘Does anyone else know what he’s talking about?’ The D.O. and Post-Standard, I don’t know why most reporters would know about that. I guess I did feel somewhat singled out. It’s not like there’s an opportunity to defend yourself.

Jake Presutti: What was ironic about that moment was the team had no idea it happened. We’re all sitting on the bus and then we were all looking around because people started texting and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, what happened.’

Terrence Roberts: We would’ve probably won just as many games as we won without Gerry if other people just step up. Funny and a little frustrating because it was kind of like a slap in the face. Kind of like him saying I don’t believe these other guys could’ve got it done without this one guy.

Jay Bilas, ESPN commentator: That was vintage Boeheim. When the obvious isn’t grasped by people, he gets his back up a little bit. I actually really enjoyed that one.

Pete Moore: I was surprised. It was definitely dramatic to see him go in that direction.

Waters: His mom and dad were not happy.

Joyce McNamara, Gerry’s mother: He was certainly not overrated.

Gerard McNamara: It was great for us to see it and hear it because how personally he took it … When Gerry came out, his eyes were like he just saw a ghost or something. He said, ‘Dad, Coach just went off in there.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘He just went off, he went crazy in there, he was really mad.’

We’re in the locker room and Gerry walks in and goes, 'Hop, you won’t believe what just happened … you’re going to see it all over SportsCenter.' Mike Hopkins

Jim Connors, Gerry’s uncle: It was a joke for anybody who knew Gerry. Boeheim won the day.

Roberts: For people to say Gerry was overrated, especially in the Syracuse area, was kind of asinine to me.

Demetris Nichols: He was letting the media know that they didn’t know what they was talking about.

Ramsey: Definitely no regrets.

CHAPTER 3: A LONG SHOT

Possibly needing another win to get on the right side of the bubble, Syracuse faced the No. 1 team in the country less than 24 hours after beating Cincinnati. Connecticut, who boasted four future NBA Draft first-round picks, had beat Syracuse twice by a combined 31 points in the regular season.