Also seeing time in the starting lineup were juniors Darryl Watkins, Louie McCroskey, Demetris Nichols and Terrence Roberts, and freshman Eric Devendorf.

[2][3][4] Syracuse started off the season losing Josh Pace, Hakim Warrick and Craig Forth to graduation, leaving McNamara as the only consistent returning starter from the 2004–05 team.

Prior to the conference tournament two separate publications, Sports Illustrated and the Syracuse Post-Standard conducted polls of Big East players and assistant coaches.

[10] The next day McNamara hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation to tie number-one ranked Connecticut and eventually led Syracuse to an overtime 86–84 upset.

Severely hobbled by his leg injury and exhausted from the run in the Big East tournament, McNamara was only able to score two points in just 23 minutes of play as fifth-seeded Syracuse was upset by 12th-seeded Texas A&M University, 66–58.