Watch: ‘Will to Win’, documentary on Syracuse basketball’s 2003 NCAA championship, is here

Syracuse, N.Y. — Relive the thrill of Syracuse basketball’s 2003 NCAA championship through a new documentary released this morning to mark the 20th anniversary of the historic season.

“Will to Win” is a groundbreaking, 80-minute film that includes fresh and revealing interviews with Carmelo Anthony, Hakim Warrick, Jim Boeheim, Gerry McNamara and others from that season.

They recount the team’s unforgettable rise from being unranked in the preseason to winning the program’s first national championship with a heart-stopping victory against Kansas in New Orleans that came down to the final seconds.

The film, produced by syracuse.com and presented by OneGroup, features behind-the-scenes accounts from every scholarship player and coach on the team. They depict how a team full of new faces bonded, overcame on-court and personal setbacks, and developed a swagger that made them unbeatable.

<<How to watch ‘Will to Win’ on your TV: Stream for free on YouTube

Nearly 1,300 people attended the premiere screening of the film on March 29 at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, including many players and coaches from the team.

Boeheim, making his first public appearance in Syracuse since his retirement from coaching after 47 seasons, received a standing ovation when he was introduced to the crowd.

Also in attendance for the premiere: fan-favorites Gerry McNamara, Kueth Duany, Billy Edelin, Josh Pace and Jeremy McNeil, as well as former assistant Troy Weaver, now the Detroit Pistons’ general manager.

“I thought it was wonderful,” Duany said of the film. “It’s for everybody in this community, everybody in the program. To document it with all of us, it made me emotional, made me happy, and I definitely need to keep one (copy) in my house so I can replay it all the time.

“It’s really powerful.”

Said Boeheim: “I just don’t think it could be done any better.”

Boeheim, McNamara, Duany and Pace participated in a post-film discussion moderated by syracuse.com’s Mike Waters, the lead reporter on the film.

Waters, a U.S. Basketball Writers’ Hall of Famer who has covered the team since 1989, traveled coast to coast to interview players and coaches, and helped document a season that united an entire community and remains a point of pride.

The film covers some of the most memorable moments from the season.

McNamara recounts his six 3-pointers in the championship game that spurred the Orangemen to their first NCAA title.

Warrick takes us through the iconic block that preserved the win and gave Boeheim a title after two previous trips to the NCAA championship game resulted in losses to Indiana and Kentucky.

The players and coaches also tell funny and emotional stories never revealed in news coverage.

The story centers on a core group of returners and talented freshmen headlined by Anthony, the star one-and-done player who has put together a Hall of Fame-worthy resume in the NBA and for the U.S. Olympic team.

Anthony’s arrival spurred the team’s remarkable resurgence after a down season to deliver Boeheim his only national championship in his Hall of Fame career.

“It seems like yesterday,” Anthony said while filming the documentary, “and I say that because over the past five, six, seven, eight years is when I really started to go back and reflect on my freshman year. So now it’s like fresh to me, right?

“I’m still going through the games and the moments. And it’s fresh to me. It ain’t 20 years old to me yet.”