Spring Break
The Daily OrangeWBB | Shhh! Jones suddenly SU's top newcomer, just don't ask her
By Jared Diamond
Posted: 12/6/07, 2:03 AM EST Section: Sports
Put a microphone in front of Chandrea Jones' face and right away she's uncomfortable. If she could, Jones would scurry past the media after every game and practice and head straight for the locker room, leaving the talking to her more outspoken teammates and always-quotable head coach.
When a reporter does make her stop to talk, it's hard to hear her quiet voice over the bouncing basketballs on the court, assistant coach Rick Moody's yelling and other athletes at Manley Field House. Even after a polite request to speak up during a rare interview, Jones will keep her distance, fixing her gaze at a spot on the ground or the bleachers over the interrogator's head.
Lately, though, it's been hard for Jones to avoid the spotlight, despite her best wishes. During the weekend, Jones earned tournament MVP honors by scoring 42 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in two games at the Taco Bell Warhawk Classic while leading the Syracuse women's basketball team to wins over Eastern Kentucky and Louisiana-Monroe. It was a coming-out party for the highly touted junior college transfer playing her first season with the Orange.
Tonight, she'll face the Carrier Dome crowd for the first time as SU (5-1) brings its current four-game winning streak home to welcome Penn State (6-2) at 7 p.m.
Only six games into her Division I career, Jones has become arguably the most important offensive player on an improved Syracuse squad. The 5-foot-9 guard ranks second on the team in points (14.0) and rebounds (8.3) per game behind senior Fantasia Goodwin. With so much attention given to the freshmen recruiting class before the season, Jones has thus far been the most important newcomer.
Just don't ask her to talk about her own performance - or anything else for that matter.
"I don't know, yeah, it's been very overwhelming," Jones said, her voice already trailing off. "I'm not the talkative type, so, I don't, you know…"
When a reporter does make her stop to talk, it's hard to hear her quiet voice over the bouncing basketballs on the court, assistant coach Rick Moody's yelling and other athletes at Manley Field House. Even after a polite request to speak up during a rare interview, Jones will keep her distance, fixing her gaze at a spot on the ground or the bleachers over the interrogator's head.
Lately, though, it's been hard for Jones to avoid the spotlight, despite her best wishes. During the weekend, Jones earned tournament MVP honors by scoring 42 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in two games at the Taco Bell Warhawk Classic while leading the Syracuse women's basketball team to wins over Eastern Kentucky and Louisiana-Monroe. It was a coming-out party for the highly touted junior college transfer playing her first season with the Orange.
Tonight, she'll face the Carrier Dome crowd for the first time as SU (5-1) brings its current four-game winning streak home to welcome Penn State (6-2) at 7 p.m.
Only six games into her Division I career, Jones has become arguably the most important offensive player on an improved Syracuse squad. The 5-foot-9 guard ranks second on the team in points (14.0) and rebounds (8.3) per game behind senior Fantasia Goodwin. With so much attention given to the freshmen recruiting class before the season, Jones has thus far been the most important newcomer.
Just don't ask her to talk about her own performance - or anything else for that matter.
"I don't know, yeah, it's been very overwhelming," Jones said, her voice already trailing off. "I'm not the talkative type, so, I don't, you know…"
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