Just mention the name Chrystal Starling and watch them smile.

‘She’s very cool,’ Syracuse point guard Julie McBride said with a grin.

‘She has a great sense of humor,’ Syracuse head coach Marianna Freeman added.

‘She’s got that infectious smile,’ Virginia Tech head coach Bonnie Henrickson said. ‘It’s strange to see her without a big smile on her face.’

That infectious smile stretches across her face when she sits down with a famous poet and professor, who also happens to be her close friend. Her delightful giggle echoes through the team bus as she dances up and down the aisle after a win. Her generous spirit gave the city of Syracuse four years of awe-inspiring basketball.

The only thing she couldn’t give was four more.

Nothing personal toward Syracuse University, its basketball program or Freeman, but the Nottingham High School graduate had other plans for college. Starling loves Syracuse, where her friends, family and former teammates still live, but Virginia Tech offered something Starling couldn’t find in Central New York — the famous poet Nikki Giovanni.

‘She was my favorite poet,’ Starling said. ‘I’ve had several classes with her, and I talk with her on a regular basis. She wants to learn how to shoot free throws. She wants me to teach her how to shoot free throws. I haven’t done it yet, but I’m sure we’ll get around it.’

Sure as Giovanni can help Starling write, Starling should do wonders for the poet’s technique at the line. Starling, shooting 80 percent from the free-throw line this season, averages 13.1 points and shoots 51.7 percent from the field. Her personality makes people smile, but her outside jump shot leaves opponents in tears.

Syracuse held Starling to just five points in a 62-56 Hokies win Jan. 5, but because SU’s defense focused so much on stopping Starling’s deadly jumper, Virginia Tech center Leva Kublina scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

But don’t blame Freeman for putting too much emphasis on Starling’s outside shot. Freeman witnessed it firsthand when she coached Starling on the Big East All-Star team, which traveled to Germany last summer. While Starling didn’t play in Germany due to a shoulder injury, she practiced with the team in Boston before they left.

‘She was a little gimp in Germany,’ teased McBride, who played on the all-star team as well.

While in Europe, McBride and Starling became friends. When Syracuse visited Blacksburg, Va., in January, the two hung out in the hotel after the game.

‘Just being around her, she made that team in Germany so much more fun,’ McBride said. ‘It was a great time. She’s a funny girl. We had a great time together, just laughing and joking around.’

Starling always elicits a laugh from her teammates when she dances on the bus after road victories. Starling chuckled in a moment of shyness when her theatricals were brought up, but soon she couldn’t help but describe what comes over her when Barry White’s ‘You’re the First, the Last, My Everything’ blasts through teammate Davina Simmons’ speakers.

‘Well, there’s this beat in the beginning, and I do this thing with my arm,’ Starling said. ‘I can’t really do it right now because of my right shoulder. I don’t want to throw it out or anything. When that song comes on, I just have this funny movement I do with my body.’

McBride laughed when told about Starling’s dancing routine and said she would ask Starling about it the next time they talk. She won’t have to wait long. Starling will be at Manley Field House tonight when Syracuse faces 16th-ranked Virginia Tech at 7.

Starling will probably give Freeman and McBride something to laugh about if they stop to chat before the game. If Starling has her jump shot going, they may have something to cry about as well.

But when the game ends and Starling leaves the building, Freeman may just shake her head. She can’t possibly help but wonder what it might have been like to have Starling roaming the perimeter in a blue-and-orange jersey or dancing on a team bus that had ‘Syracuse University’ painted on the side.

Freeman won’t blame Starling for her decision. Heck, Giovanni is Freeman’s favorite poet too. Still, she’ll have to think about the kid with the most infectious smile and dangerous outside jumper to never play at Syracuse.

‘Virginia Tech got lucky,’ Freeman said. ‘We lost a good one.’

Published on January 22, 2002 at 12:00 pm