Syracuse basketball is back at Madison Square Garden, as it should be

The current, and past two SU coaches, played and coached at MSG in their Orange careers, and now Gerry McNamara wants to make it an annual affair.

Jan 21, 2014; New York, NY, USA; A general view outside of Madison Square Garden before the start of the game between the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It has been a long five years for Orange Nation as it specifically pertains to watching the team contest a game at Madison Square Garden.

On a Tuesday night, December 7, 2021, with a 10:00 p.m. tipoff to boot (Texas Tech beat Tennessee in overtime in the opener of the Jimmy V Classic), SU and Villanova squared off in a game for the first time since 2014 on that chilly evening in New York City. The Wildcats, under Jay Wright, pulled away in the second half on route to defeating Jim Boeheim's team 67-53, in front of an announced crowd of 14,344.

The wait ends for the Orange (2-1) with an unusual Sunday evening tipoff (7:00 p.m. ET / Peacock/NBCSN) against a St. John's squad that also is led by a former Boeheim assistant coach, albeit separated by practically a lifetime ago (1976-1978), with Rick Pitino's Red Storm rolling in ranked 13th off to a 3-0 start.

SJU routed Colgate Wednesday night 90-59 at its on-campus arena, with four-of-five-starters in double figures, and all five starters with a minimum of three rebounds.

Syracuse should not turn over MSG exclusively to ACC rival Duke

It is bad enough that the Duke-to-Syracuse NBA roster player ratio was 26-to-1 entering this year's regular season, but we do not want to see an Orange program, that played at least one game every year at The Garden for 30 seasons between 1983-2013, cede control to the Duke program as the only ACC school to play at MSG each season.

It is also bad enough that Duke fans refer to the building as "Cameron North" with the program having played at least one game there in 24 of the last 27 seasons, and this year, Duke actually has two games (Georgia and Texas Tech) in December on the arena's busy holiday event list, so they are not going to relinquish that stage under Jon Scheyer anytime soon.

Instead, McNamara has his own strategy to make sure his program gets a game inside MSG each year, a contest that would simply be referred to by 'Cuse fans (no matter the opponent) as the annual game played "at the Garden."

"I want to play there every year, if we can," McNamara reiterated last month at ACC Tipoff, echoing his comments from last spring shortly after taking the job. "It is important to me personally, and to the program and our fans that we play there."