Between the Lines
3/30/2012 11:05:04 AM | Women's Basketball, Men's Lacrosse
This Week: The sun rises while the season ends. It was a metaphorically ridiculous moment Thursday morning en route to Reagan National for the women's basketball team's season concluding flight home. The sun, perhaps never more bright orange and round, was rising straight above the Washington Monument and illuminating the National Mall. The night prior the Orange season ended in the WNIT semis with a 74-71 loss at James Madison. The sun always comes up tomorrow and all that. Of course for everyone else on the beltway, it was their standard Thursday commute.
Regardless of the sky's meteorological intentions, it was a poignant way to begin the day. The team entered March with little overt hope. The NCAA would not be calling for Syracuse's services. And yet, “They could have folded and they didn't,” #Quentin Hillsman observed afterwards. “I thought that down the stretch when you look at what we've done from the time where we knew we weren't in until now has been a remarkable quarter of the season and you have to give our kids a lot of credit for really battling and not throwing the season away.”
The Orange individual performances in the WNIT ranged from spectacular(Kayla Alexander's two 29 point outings in the last three games), to gritty(Elashier Hall's 18 points in 39 semifinal minutes on a troublesome knee), to memorable(Rachel Coffey's overtime forcing near 30 foot contested three pointer Saturday at Toledo and nearly pulling the same trick Wednesday at JMU).
Frequent Flier(and Buser) Miles: 2,875 miles connected the women's basketball team's five game 15 day road odyssey. During that stretch the players only bracketed a day by waking up and falling asleep in their own beds twice. Add in the rest of the year(Big East, Hawaii and Vegas) and the Orange have pounded the pavement and friendly skies for 26,598 miles this season.
But with miles comes opportunity. 13 times this year the ladies won away from home, including 10 true road wins. Both numbers are all time Syracuse bests. So while the season may have ended two wins short of a trophy(though WNIT semifinal watches are a thing), the journey was certainly memorable.
Higgo's Heroes: Toledo and James Madison fans. Helping the fortnight's(take that Wimbledon!) atmosphere were the combined 8,025 that packed Savage Arena in Toledo Saturday afternoon and the James Madison Convention Center Wednesday night. Loud? Yes. Passionate? Double yes. Extra credit to the James Madison pep band for atmosphere enhancement. JMU houses the best music school in the area and their volume and talent combined well with the building's acoustics to create a raucous scene. Home court advantage was well evident both days.
Same Face, Different Place: John Galloway. The recently former two time first team All American goalie now plies his trade as the volunteer assistant coach for Sunday's lacrosse opponent, Duke. “It is strange.” Galloway's former head coach John Desko said. “We've talked to John about that previously, and he's stayed in touch with the guys on the team. Tim Harder, his ex roommate is coaching with us as an undergrad coach this year, so he stays in touch with John. I think he has the same feelings, he roots for Syracuse every day of the year, maybe not (Sunday), he has his corporate uniform on (Sunday). He has to know where his paycheck comes from. We wish him the best, and he'll be a great coach.”
Galloway will be stationed on the opposite sideline of the Orange for the first time when Syracuse and Duke square off for the second straight year in the Big City Classic at Met Life Stadium. We plan on hearing from John himself on Orange Pregame Sunday at 3:30. Incidentally Galloway stopped 16 Blue Devil shots in this game last year.
Next Broadcasts: It's all lax all the time now. Syracuse struggled through a (2-3) March, but the calendar flips to April in time for Sunday's Big City Classic. It will be Syracuse's third game in the building now known as Met Life Stadium. The Orange walloped Princeton 14-3 in 2010 and fended off Duke 13-11 last year. Orange Pregame for Syracuse and Duke starts at 3:30 on the Syracuse IMG Sports Network. TK99 and ESPN 97.7 are your radio homes in the Cuse and Orange All Access has you covered online.
If you think Tebowmania will spring from the Jets locker room and invade the Big City Classic, let me know @BrianHigginsSU.
Regardless of the sky's meteorological intentions, it was a poignant way to begin the day. The team entered March with little overt hope. The NCAA would not be calling for Syracuse's services. And yet, “They could have folded and they didn't,” #Quentin Hillsman observed afterwards. “I thought that down the stretch when you look at what we've done from the time where we knew we weren't in until now has been a remarkable quarter of the season and you have to give our kids a lot of credit for really battling and not throwing the season away.”
The Orange individual performances in the WNIT ranged from spectacular(Kayla Alexander's two 29 point outings in the last three games), to gritty(Elashier Hall's 18 points in 39 semifinal minutes on a troublesome knee), to memorable(Rachel Coffey's overtime forcing near 30 foot contested three pointer Saturday at Toledo and nearly pulling the same trick Wednesday at JMU).
Frequent Flier(and Buser) Miles: 2,875 miles connected the women's basketball team's five game 15 day road odyssey. During that stretch the players only bracketed a day by waking up and falling asleep in their own beds twice. Add in the rest of the year(Big East, Hawaii and Vegas) and the Orange have pounded the pavement and friendly skies for 26,598 miles this season.
But with miles comes opportunity. 13 times this year the ladies won away from home, including 10 true road wins. Both numbers are all time Syracuse bests. So while the season may have ended two wins short of a trophy(though WNIT semifinal watches are a thing), the journey was certainly memorable.
Higgo's Heroes: Toledo and James Madison fans. Helping the fortnight's(take that Wimbledon!) atmosphere were the combined 8,025 that packed Savage Arena in Toledo Saturday afternoon and the James Madison Convention Center Wednesday night. Loud? Yes. Passionate? Double yes. Extra credit to the James Madison pep band for atmosphere enhancement. JMU houses the best music school in the area and their volume and talent combined well with the building's acoustics to create a raucous scene. Home court advantage was well evident both days.
Same Face, Different Place: John Galloway. The recently former two time first team All American goalie now plies his trade as the volunteer assistant coach for Sunday's lacrosse opponent, Duke. “It is strange.” Galloway's former head coach John Desko said. “We've talked to John about that previously, and he's stayed in touch with the guys on the team. Tim Harder, his ex roommate is coaching with us as an undergrad coach this year, so he stays in touch with John. I think he has the same feelings, he roots for Syracuse every day of the year, maybe not (Sunday), he has his corporate uniform on (Sunday). He has to know where his paycheck comes from. We wish him the best, and he'll be a great coach.”
Galloway will be stationed on the opposite sideline of the Orange for the first time when Syracuse and Duke square off for the second straight year in the Big City Classic at Met Life Stadium. We plan on hearing from John himself on Orange Pregame Sunday at 3:30. Incidentally Galloway stopped 16 Blue Devil shots in this game last year.
Next Broadcasts: It's all lax all the time now. Syracuse struggled through a (2-3) March, but the calendar flips to April in time for Sunday's Big City Classic. It will be Syracuse's third game in the building now known as Met Life Stadium. The Orange walloped Princeton 14-3 in 2010 and fended off Duke 13-11 last year. Orange Pregame for Syracuse and Duke starts at 3:30 on the Syracuse IMG Sports Network. TK99 and ESPN 97.7 are your radio homes in the Cuse and Orange All Access has you covered online.
If you think Tebowmania will spring from the Jets locker room and invade the Big City Classic, let me know @BrianHigginsSU.
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