By John Kekis
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - Too small, too slow, too skinny. Gerry McNamara has heard it all before, and he relishes it.

"I like it when people tell me I'm not the strongest guy and I'm not the fastest. It's good for me to hear that," said McNamara, Syracuse's 6-foot-2, 170-pound point guard.

It's good for the Orangemen, too. He was an afterthought earlier in the season when other emerging first-year players around the country - Matt Walsh, Rashad McCants and, of course, Syracuse teammate Carmelo Anthony - were being touted. That notion has changed.

The Orangemen's "other" freshman is a rising star and a primary reason Syracuse is in the Final Four, playing Texas in the semifinals Saturday.

"I used to call him 'The Natural' because he never really had to work out," assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. "He takes a lot of pride in who he is and what he's about and appreciates every time he steps on the court. He appreciates the moment, and there's very few guys like that."

McNamara has become an integral part of the team much more quickly than expected. When freshman teammate Billy Edelin, the projected starter at point guard, was forced to sit out the first 12 games of the season for violating an NCAA rule, coach Jim Boeheim inserted McNamara to fill the void.

It didn't take long for the 2002 Pennsylvania high school player of the year to make a big impression. After Edelin's fate was announced only hours before the season opener against Memphis at Madison Square Garden, McNamara went out and hit three straight 3-pointers to key a 22-5 Syracuse run. He finished with 14 points, three steals, three assists and only one turnover in 38 minutes.

The Orangemen lost the game, but found a fiery leader.

"I'm the spark plug, I guess. I'm the guy that's emotional, I'm the guy that's going to try to get people up when we need it," McNamara said. "It was just my way of going out and saying, 'I can play, too. I'm here, too.'"

Although heavily recruited by several big-time programs, including Duke, McNamara chose Syracuse because it's just a two-hour drive from his Scranton, Pa., home.

"I wanted to be around my family, especially, and my friends," McNamara said. "It gives them the opportunity to see me play."

Does it ever.

When Notre Dame visited the Carrier Dome in February, a caravan of 42 buses carrying some 2,000 Scrantonians - many of them fanatics of the Fighting Irish - made the trip north to cheer for McNamara. Fittingly, he hit a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to give Syracuse an 82-80 victory and send the crowd into a frenzy.

"We're spoiled by him," Boeheim said. "He plays like a senior and we expect him to play like a grad student sometimes."

McNamara averages 13 points and leads the Orangemen with 76 3-pointers. He finished the season with the best free-throw percentage in Big East history (96.4) and ranked third in steal average (2.11) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.97). His 150 assists are the fifth-best total for a freshman in school history. He was a unanimous selection to the Big East All-Rookie team.

Even his teammates are surprised.

"I know how hard it was for me coming in as a freshman, and I thought it was going to be difficult for him," sophomore forward Hakim Warrick said. "I knew he was a really good player, but I didn't think he was going to come in and put up the numbers he's putting up now. It's unbelievable."

So, too, is McNamara's grit, which has made him wildly popular in Syracuse (He was invited to be grand marshal of the St. Patrick's Day parade but declined for fear of violating an NCAA rule).

"He's a no-holds-barred kid. He plays with everything he's got, injuries, anything," Hopkins said. "And he's a big-game player. He lights up for those games."

During a state semifinal game when he was a sophomore at Bishop Hannan High School, McNamara played most of the second half with a separated right shoulder and even scored a couple of points despite not being able to raise his hand to shoot.

"I felt it, but just didn't tell anybody," McNamara said. "It was the last game of the year and I wasn't coming out."