After months of sprints, drills and team bonding, the Syracuse women’s basketball team will finally play its first game of the season at 5 p.m. Sunday in the Carrier Dome against Fairleigh Dickinson.

Many of the players have talked about the ultimate goal for the Orange: to qualify for the NCAA tournament rather than the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The players have been disappointed at the end of the past three seasons, but this year Syracuse has a chance to make the jump to the next level and end the season on a higher note.

SU’s depth will be one reason why it could make that jump. Head coach Quentin Hillsman said his team has tremendous depth and he is going to count on multiple freshmen to play valuable minutes to start the season.

“I think we’ve got eight or nine players that can play right away,” Hillsman said. “It’s about having those players that can step in and play right away. We can play nine to 11 night in, night out.”

One player who will see an increased role this season is center Shakeya Leary. Leary averaged 4.9 points in 15.1 minutes per game last season for the Orange. This year, with Iasia Hemingway gone, Leary will spend a lot of time on the floor.

Hillsman said he plans to play Leary and center Kayla Alexander at the same time more often than he did last season.

He said having the 6-foot-3-inch Leary and 6-foot-4-inch Alexander on the court together poses a difficult challenge for undersized opponents. Though both players have size, Hillsman cited the fact that Leary and Alexander have different styles as what makes the duo so potentially dynamic.

“Shakeya can step out and handle the ball,” Hillsman said. “She can shoot the ball from outside the three-point line. Kayla’s game has really expanded. They can complement each other.”

Leary didn’t make any threes in 2012, yet she said teammate Carmen Tyson-Thomas is always telling her to be more of a guard than an inside presence.

Though Leary will see an increased role this season, she said her main aspiration is an NCAA tournament bid.

“We’ve been to the NIT three years in a row,” Leary said. “We don’t want to be there anymore. We want to go to the Big Dance.”

Though the Big Dance is a long way in the distance for Hillsman’s squad, it’s a definite possibility if Brianna Butler and Brittney Sykes live up to their potential. Both McDonald’s All-Americans, the two guards have size, athleticism and an outside shot, and will see minutes right away for Syracuse.

Butler is a knockdown shooter. Though Hillsman wants to mold her into a complete player over time, he wants to put her in situations where she can shoot the ball from the arc during the early stages of the season.

Butler will be expected to contribute right away, like Sykes, and she said making the transition hasn’t been difficult at all thanks to the help of those around her.

“It’s good having all the seniors to help us,” Butler said. “They help us with all the mistakes they had when they were coming in.”

One of those seniors is Tyson-Thomas, who led the team with 7.8 rebounds per game last year. Tyson-Thomas preaches the importance of rebounding.

That’s what she’s good at, what she helps other people improve at and what she loves to do.

“I have springs in my shoes,” Tyson-Thomas said. “No, I have a nose for the ball. Wherever it is is where I try to be. I just tell all of them to rebound. I’m rebound-crazy. I make sure whenever someone’s on my side in practice they box out and rebound.”

She said she wants the ball more than everyone else and essentially does everything in her power to ensure it ends up in her hands.

“Whether it’s offense or defense I always want it more,” she said. “If you want it, it’s like magnets. It’s going to attract to your hands.”

With Tyson-Thomas’ rebounding prowess, Leary’s blossoming mid-range game, Alexander’s scoring ability and the potential of the incoming freshmen class, Syracuse is in a position to make that jump to the NCAA tournament.

Said Tyson-Thomas: “We’ve just got to get over the hump and knock off teams we didn’t beat last year.”

Published on November 8, 2012 at 12:43 am

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass