Boeheim, Syracuse take home the title - Apr. 8, 2003 - by Mitch Smith
In a match-up of the two most celebrated college coaches to never have won an NCAA national championship, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse emerged from this year’s Final Four with a monkey off his back. His colleague, friend and opponent, Kansas’ Roy Williams, came about as close as you can, losing 81-78 when a 3-point attempt by Michael Lee was batted away by Hakim Warrick, and a last second attempt by Kirk Hinrich fell short of the mark.
Syracuse got off to a big first half, led by freshman Gerry McNamara’s 6-for-6 shooting from behind the arc, while Kansas’ Kirk Hinrich, whose solid shooting helped Kansas reach the final showdown, this night came up empty on his first 5 attempts. Syracuse had built up a 47-29 lead, and was up 53-42 at the half. Kansas chipped away at the Syracuse lead, coming within 3 points on 4 occasions before Syracuse made a final run, and was up 80-73 with a bit over 2 minutes remaining in the game. Then Kansas scored 5 points to bring the game within 2 points. Syracuse’ Kueth Duany drew a foul, missing one of two free throws to keep the game to a one-possession contest with 24 seconds to go, but Kansas’ two tries to get a 3-point shot off failed, as the seconds ticked away.
Syracuse shot 11-19 from 3-point range (57%) , while Kansas struggled from behind the arc, going 4-20 (20%). Kansas outdistanced Syracuse on the boards, snagging 49 rebounds (22 OR) to Syracuse’s 33 (6 OR), but Kansas struggled from the free throw line, going 12-30 (40%) , including a string of 8 missed shots from the charity stripe, while Syracuse went to the line fewer times but managed a better performance (57%).
Following the game, Hinrich admitted that getting back in the game following Syracuse’s 18 points lead sapped the Jayhawks of a lot of the energy they needed to play in their game. The fact that Kansas was within a 3-point shot of sending the game into overtime despite these stats was indicative of a team that played hard and fought to the end, according to analyst Dick Vitale.
Afterwards, while refusing to comment on his possible interest in the North Carolina position, Coach Williams said, “We had some opportunities, and in a game like this you can’t miss free throws like we did, but Syracuse was able to withstand a rally by an incredibly tough group of kids. Even in the losing locker room, I feel like I’m the luckiest coach in the world, because I got to Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich.”
Seniors Collison and Hinrich concluded their college careers on Monday night,. Collison finished with 19 points and 21 rebounds for Kansas, but went just 3-for-10 from the line. Kirk Hinrich finished with 16 points on 6-for-19 shooting. The victors were led in large part by their freshmen, McNamara, who fell one 3-point shot of tying the NCAA championship game record of 7, and Carmello Anthony, who led all scorers with 20. Anthony was named the games, Most Outstanding Player, only the 3rd time in NCAA history that a freshman received that honor.
Syracuse began the 2002-2003 season unranked, and finished the season #1.