NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 5, 2003

Carmelo Anthony

Jim Boeheim

Kueth Duany

Gerry McNamara

COACH BOEHEIM: So much for the 2-3 zone concept. I knew that, you know, it would be an offensive game. Texas can score points against any defense. We haven't really been sharp in the tournament on the offensive end. And tonight we were right from the beginning. We were able to maintain it the whole game. Our offense was good. Our defense picked up a little bit in the second half, but it was really our offensive game.

CARMELO ANTHONY: Our confidence is pretty high right now. We made it to the championship. We're looking forward to playing Kansas in the championship.

KUETH DUANY: All teams are different. It's not like we're facing the same team. You know, it's just another match-up. We have to change with whoever we play.

CARMELO ANTHONY: It don't get better than this, playing in a championship game. The Final Four is the biggest event ever besides the Super Bowl. Just being a part of the championship game. Hopefully we get a ring, a championship out of it.

CARMELO ANTHONY: He told me that I was only a freshman, I wasn't supposed to be getting all them calls I was getting (smiling).

CARMELO ANTHONY: I think -- I'm not satisfied with my game. I think I played pretty well. I took shots. My field goal percentage wasn't bad. I got my teammates open. That was the most important thing of the night, getting my teammates involved.

CARMELO ANTHONY: Yeah (smiling). My leg kind of gave out on me. I'm all right, though. Once I got my third foul, Coach Boeheim took me out, told me to relax. He told me at halftime don't pick up my fourth foul early.

CARMELO ANTHONY: We was just going back and forth about the game. I don't really know what he was saying. I was just laughing at him.

CARMELO ANTHONY: That's what players come to college for, to try to be in a situation like this, to play in a championship game. I mean, we lost our first game of the season. Here we is playing the last game of the season. So my experience has just been great.

CARMELO ANTHONY: I smile all the time, even when I'm in a bad mood. I try to keep a smile on my face.

GERRY McNAMARA: Well, you know, it's hard to believe that we're at this point right now. But we've worked hard all year. We came down here for a reason. That's to win a championship. I think we worked hard for it, and it's paying off.

GERRY McNAMARA: Well, you know, coming into the tournament, I was kind of, you know, slacking off on defense as opposed to, you know, what I was doing during the season. My steals went down a lot. So, you know, tonight I knew I had to get the scrappy plays. Whenever it came across that the ball was loose, you know, I tried to get to it.

COACH BOEHEIM: It wasn't that long ago. I think it was the other day. You know, we just both said, if we both get there Monday night, one of us will not have to listen to you guys anymore (smiling). And whoever wins, we'll give about seven or eight shots a side to the other guy.

COACH BOEHEIM: Well, the problem when we had other great freshmen, we had too many great players, which I guess really isn't a problem, is it? This year, these two guys got an extraordinary opportunity because we really, obviously, had to run the things that we do through them. You know, they're unusual freshmen. I felt that from the beginning. Gerry won the state championship last year in Pennsylvania, 44 points in the first half against a team that I thought would beat them by 20. I mean, he's a big-game player, wants to take big shots. He has no fear. The other guy, I don't think I need to say anything about him anymore. I think he's shown what he is all about. Texas is a very good defensive team. They came at him with at least two guys on every play. You know, he was really tremendous tonight. Our other guys really picked it up. This was our best offensive game. We haven't played well offensively in the tournament. You're not going to stop a Texas or Marquette or Kansas. You're going to have to score. I thought our other guys stepped up tonight. We got the ball in the right places at the right time and made big plays. We made a few good defensive plays in the second half. Gerry was second or third in our conference in steals. So, I mean, he's a pretty good little defensive player when he makes up his mind.

COACH BOEHEIM: Well, I told somebody I taught him all that this year. He was really pretty raw when he came to Syracuse. We have other guys that are really capable, guys that can step up and make plays. We've done that this year. You know, defenses look for him so much that we do give some opportunities for other guys. Our bench has been huge in this tournament. Josh Pace really made the key shot of the game tonight - real tough shot he made. It really played well on both ends. He's played tremendously in this tournament. Billy didn't get it going tonight. But he's a guy that's been good for us. You know, Hakim stepped up tonight. I thought he got us off to a great start, then he made some big plays down the stretch when they were really cheating to Carmelo.

COACH BOEHEIM: That's what you're in this game for, you want to win it, you don't want to just get there. That's what we both want. That's what all the players want. This really comes down to, you know, a player's experience. The first phone call tonight again in the locker room was Derrick Coleman. He still remembers that one and one he missed out here. He wants us to win this one so he cannot think about that one so much anymore. But nobody's going to believe this, that's fine, but it's about what this is going to mean to these players. I've had a great career. If I never coached another game after tonight, I'd be very happy. People won't believe that. I don't really care, you know. These guys have put their heart and soul into this season. They want to win, and I want them to win for themselves because I know how tough it is sitting in that locker room when you lose. I'm a grown man. I've lost a lot of games. So, you know, that's just the way I feel about it.

COACH BOEHEIM: No. I try to approach every game the same, whether it's Cornell or whether it's Monday night. We try to get our players ready, get them loose, get them to understand what they have to do to win, and really go from there. I mean, that's what you do. And the players obviously are going to be a little bit more ready than they might be for Cornell. But I'll be ready just the same.

COACH BOEHEIM: They've been tough. They've been behind 14 times in the second half and won all 14 games, so they've already proven that. We were down 2, they switched to a triangle. I didn't want to face it with the team we had on the court. I didn't want to let this thing get out of hand. That's why we took the time-out. Somebody got fouled. We got on the foul line, made a key -- I think Hak made one, then Josh made two. It was big. It was a big play. They were coming back. They had a little momentum. I thought we needed to do something there.

COACH BOEHEIM: We said, "Don't let this guy shoot it." Said that after five minutes, but they didn't really hear me very good. At halftime I made the point. Him and Boddicker, I was worried about coming into the game. I figured Ford is going to get what he did. You know, Thomas, the other guys. I wasn't really concerned about those guys. We were worried about those two guys. We didn't do a good job on Mouton at all. We did on Boddicker pretty good till the end. You know, the second half I thought we found Mouton a little better. We did a much better job on him. He was just killing us.

COACH BOEHEIM: It's irrelevant. It's totally irrelevant. You never hear me talk about which conference. I don't care about that stuff. We're playing Kansas. Doesn't matter what conference. They could be in the WAC. It doesn't matter. That's arguments that you guys can have and go back and forth on. If you just understand there's six or seven really good conferences in this country and stop arguing about it. I stopped 20 years ago. I realized 20 years ago I was stupid because I was trying to say, "Well, we can do this, our conference won this game." I woke up. I figured that out. Some other people should figure that out someday. We're playing Kansas, that's all. We're not playing anybody else.

COACH BOEHEIM: That's what he does best. I mean, he beat I think it was Auburn in that triangle. Got four offensive rebound baskets in the second half. That's the only reason we beat Auburn. He may be the best small forward rebounder I've ever seen. He rebounds the basketball. It was one of my best recruiting jobs ever. We recruit a guy 6'8", 195 pounds. He came in about maybe 12 months later at 6'8", 235. That was a hell of a recruiting job.