For perhaps the first time as Syracuse’s women’s basketball head coach, Marianna Freeman wore her grin with justification. Julie McBride’s expectations seemed possible. Shannon Perry’s goals could be realized.

After reaching the Big East tournament semifinals and making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1988, SU could look forward to its media day. After all, the upcoming season appeared promising.

‘Last year is motivation to do better,” McBride said at this past October’s media day. “If we could get (to the NCAA Tournament) last year, then there is no doubt we can get there this year.’

But in a 10-18 year filled with suspensions, questionable decisions and unpredictable freshmen, the Orangewomen were consistently disappointing. They lost, 77-64, to Miami in the Big East tournament’s first round March 8.

Syracuse’s season began in the preseason WNIT at Siena. McBride, a preseason all-Big East third-team selection, shot 25 percent in the 83-66 loss.

“The team lost. That’s my responsibility,” McBride said afterward. “I shot 4 of 16 from the floor. That’s just terrible.”

SU proceeded to lose its next three games — to Harvard, then-No. 9 Vanderbilt and California — before picking up its first victory, 77-56, at San Francisco.

After losing to Harvard, 79-76, Freeman replaced senior center Maja Omanovic with freshman Jill Norton to improve SU’s defense.

“We’re young,” Freeman said early in the year. “Not to make excuses, but I feel sorry for the teams that are going to have to play us later in the year when we get experienced.”

Norton struggled in her new role, shooting 40 percent, missing wide-open shots in the paint and averaging 1.6 points and 1.6 rebounds. Though Norton constantly landed in foul trouble during the next three months, Freeman continued to start the freshman.

SU, at 2-4, hosted then-No. 24 George Washington on Dec. 7. With 36 seconds left, GW led, 67-66. Not only did Freeman decide not to foul the Colonials — who had a 30-second shot clock to burn — but she also told her defense to back off GW point guard Lindsey Davidson, who held the ball in the backcourt. After a GW miss as the shot clock expired, Syracuse failed to get off a shot and lost by one point.

After the game, Colonials head coach Joe McKeown said Freeman’s move surprised him. Freeman, maintaining “hindsight is always 20-20,” defended her decision.

Syracuse traveled to Vermont, expecting center Chineze Nwagbo to return from a torn left ACL. But Nwagbo had recovered too slowly, and Freeman redshirted her. Already a weakness, the center spot was now a liability.

After defeating Cornell, 76-47, on Jan. 2, SU was 5-6. Its preseason predictions remained achievable.

Suddenly, though, misfortune hit the Orangewomen. The university declared Perry academically ineligible, and she was suspended indefinitely. Her absence gutted SU’s lineup.

The versatile Perry, who weathered injuries to record nine double-doubles in SU’s first 11 games, led the Orangewomen with 17.5 points and 11.6 rebounds per game when she was suspended.

With sophomore Krystalyn Ellerbe filling in for Perry, SU lost, 73-63, to Virginia Tech on Jan. 4. Four days later, the Orangewomen committed 30 turnovers in an 85-68 loss to Miami.

“Obviously it did (hurt),” McBride said of losing Perry. “I think everybody knows that.”

The day after the Miami loss, SU reinstated Perry. But even with Perry back — and Tierra Jackson, April Jean and Ellerbe carving out roles — Syracuse lost, 75-55, to Rutgers on Jan. 11.

“With Shannon returning my thought was, ‘OK, now we have three people who know they can come together,’ ” Freeman said. “And we just haven’t been able to do that.”

The Orangewomen lost their fourth straight game, to Georgetown, on Jan. 15. At 5-10, SU’s season was spiraling.

But in its best game of the year, SU upset then-No. 24 Boston College, 76-71, on Jan. 18 in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Players touted the win as a turning point.

Three days later, though, the sluggish Orangewomen committed 22 turnovers in a 48-44 home loss to Seton Hall.

“I think we’re not focused,” McBride said. “We were fired up for BC, and we’re not fired up for Seton Hall.

“I’m not frustrated, because we still have a lot of time left. We’re still going to make it to the Big East tournament, and that’s where we’re going to do our damage.”

Syracuse won its next two games, at Miami and St. John’s. At 8-11, a late-season push once again seemed possible, something McBride maintained all season. But Syracuse lost six of its final eight regular-season games, barely qualifying for the Big East tournament.

With an early conference tournament exit in the loss to Miami, the Orangewomen continued their trend of mediocrity. In Freeman’s 10-year tenure, SU has advanced past the first round of the Big East tournament three times.

So after a year of success — SU’s first winning season under Freeman — the Orangewomen once again have only one place to go by next fall’s media day: up.

Published on March 17, 2003 at 12:00 pm