Spring Break
The Daily OrangeWBB | Orange prepares for trip to Great Alaska Shootout
By Matt Ehalt
Posted: 11/25/08, 12:12 AM EST Section: Sports
The Syracuse women's basketball team might be heading to Alaska for a basketball tournament, but that wasn't the only thing on Erica Morrow's mind when asked about the Orange's cross-country excursion.
"It's going to be cold, I'd rather be in the Bahamas, but Alaska, they have a great tournament and it's a great opportunity for us to go somewhere as a team and be together and see some nice stuff," Morrow said after the Orange's 82-77, overtime win in its home opener again Portland State. "And see some polar bears."
While a trip to see the local wildlife probably is not on head coach Quentin Hillsman's itinerary, the team will nonetheless make its longest road trip of the season to participate in the Great Alaska Shootout starting tomorrow.
Syracuse (3-1) opens against Jackson State (0-2) at 11:59 p.m in Anchorage, Alaska, before facing either Cal State Northridge (0-4) or defending champions Alaska Anchorage (5-1) Wednesday night.
The voyage to Alaska is another step in Hillsman's plan to challenge his team with early road games. At the conclusion of the tournament, SU will have played five of its first six games on the road.
While he could have scheduled home games and kept the team in Syracuse during the holiday, he instead chose to have the team leave the mainland United States and spend time together.
"It will be huge," Hillsman said earlier this season. "It was actually why we scheduled it that way because we were very good at home and I think that some of our road losses really hurt us."
So far, the Orange has responded fairly well to Hillsman's challenge. Syracuse is 2-1 on the road, with its lone loss coming to then-No. 17 Ohio State. On opening night, the team held off Siena, and then blew out Maryland-Eastern Shore by 40 points two days later.
While the challenges of the road games are one thing, the team also seems to be coming together to address challenges from within. Playing without junior forward Nicole Michael on Saturday against Portland State, SU had to replace the valuable minutes Michael averaged over the first three contests (23.7).
"It's going to be cold, I'd rather be in the Bahamas, but Alaska, they have a great tournament and it's a great opportunity for us to go somewhere as a team and be together and see some nice stuff," Morrow said after the Orange's 82-77, overtime win in its home opener again Portland State. "And see some polar bears."
While a trip to see the local wildlife probably is not on head coach Quentin Hillsman's itinerary, the team will nonetheless make its longest road trip of the season to participate in the Great Alaska Shootout starting tomorrow.
Syracuse (3-1) opens against Jackson State (0-2) at 11:59 p.m in Anchorage, Alaska, before facing either Cal State Northridge (0-4) or defending champions Alaska Anchorage (5-1) Wednesday night.
The voyage to Alaska is another step in Hillsman's plan to challenge his team with early road games. At the conclusion of the tournament, SU will have played five of its first six games on the road.
While he could have scheduled home games and kept the team in Syracuse during the holiday, he instead chose to have the team leave the mainland United States and spend time together.
"It will be huge," Hillsman said earlier this season. "It was actually why we scheduled it that way because we were very good at home and I think that some of our road losses really hurt us."
So far, the Orange has responded fairly well to Hillsman's challenge. Syracuse is 2-1 on the road, with its lone loss coming to then-No. 17 Ohio State. On opening night, the team held off Siena, and then blew out Maryland-Eastern Shore by 40 points two days later.
While the challenges of the road games are one thing, the team also seems to be coming together to address challenges from within. Playing without junior forward Nicole Michael on Saturday against Portland State, SU had to replace the valuable minutes Michael averaged over the first three contests (23.7).
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
steve conn
posted 11/28/08 @ 2:59 PM EST
Coach started blaming the officiating and using Alaska as an excuse in the first half and never let up. He said he was cheated and went on to say this was why Alaska doesn't get big teams anymore. (Continued…)
Ted Malone
posted 12/01/08 @ 12:49 PM EST
Steve has hit it on the nail. My kids stopped complaining that they were cheated every time they lost at about age 5. Maybe it is time for the coach to grow up a bit too. (Continued…)
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