Between The Lines

Trivia Question (Big East Play Edition): Including the conference tournament, the Syracuse women's basketball team has played 54 Big East games since the calendar flipped to 2008. How many of those games were decided by less than 10 points?

Immediate Trivia Answer: With a question like this, you knew the number had to be significantly large or minuscule. It's large. 30 of Syracuse's last 54 Big East games have been decided by single digits. That means 56% of the time the team took the court, it's gone down to the wire. Even more astounding are the lengthy streaks of close games the Orange have played during that time. Last season Syracuse played 7 straight decided by less than 10 and the year before there was a stretch where 7 of 8 were single figure affairs. Included in that 2009 run were three contests decided by the slimmest margin of all, one.

This week: The Big East. With that numerical backdrop we know one thing, there are some close games coming down the line at the 2011 Orange. Erica Morrow has been on the squad through the entire recent run of tight Big East games. The senior is well aware that a conference game can be won or lost at any moment.

“One thing we emphasize every day is focusing on each possession, every possession counts” Morrow said. “Because we've had so many close games, we know how important that is.” Coach Q concurs, “We've been in those games where one late mistake loses you the basketball game, so you look at that night in and night out, it definitely focuses you and makes you play harder.”

The current depth of the league is startling. Since the expansion to 16 teams prior to the 2005-06 season, UConn is the only team that can lay claim to finishing in the top half of the conference each season. But the Huskies national dominance has obscured the depth and combativeness of the rest of the league.

Q's Orange are but 1 of 15 teams who deal with the constant nail biters, “I think the balance in our league has gotten so much better, you can't go out and think you have a team that's not playing well in our conference and think you're going to show up and win.”

To wit, last year West Virginia, Georgetown and St. John's finished second, third, and fourth in the Big East. The year before, none of those three schools had a winning record in the league. Let's give Q the final word on the conference where all 40 minutes, and often a few more, are necessary to decide most outcomes. “This is the best conference. I don't think there are too many things that can get you ready for the Big East but the Big East.”

Higgo's Hero: The Hillsmans. Coach Q and his wife Shandrist adopted a baby boy in November, so we welcome Kyan to the Orange clan. Little Ky wasted no time in joining the rest of his family in the Big East meat grinder. His first road trip was to Georgetown this past Tuesday. To keep order Shandrist may need to set up a deli counter style take a number machine for who gets to hold Kyan next. Take a number folks, that kid is in seriously high demand. The Hillsmans are this week's heroes.

Upcoming Schedule: It's the Big East from here on out. The next week features a pair of visits from the two Big East squads in New Jersey. Seton Hall arrives Saturday at 1:00 and they'll be followed by Rutgers Tuesday at 7:00. As always ESPN 97.7 and Orange All Access are your spots to take in the game if you can't make it to the Dome. We do have a new twist on Saturday. For those in the Syracuse area our Orange All Access coverage will be available on your TV locally on Time Warner channel 1027.

Questions: Tweet your 140 characters my way @BrianHigginsSU. Answers could come straight back on twitter, in an upcoming broadcast or in next week's column, so keep your eyes and ears open.

Syracuse University Athletics

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