If he could have way back when, Jim Boeheim would have whined his way out of moving to the giant, futuristic marshmallow. The longtime Syracuse men’s basketball coach hated former Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel’s decision to desert Manley Field House for the Carrier Dome. Moving to a bland concrete box didn’t make much sense to him.

Some visionary.

That title may go to Keith Cieplicki. When Daryl Gross succeeded Crouthamel last winter, Cieplicki – the third-year women’s basketball coach – took the exact opposite approach of the young Boeheim. Cieplicki begged the new athletic director to get out of Manley and into the Dome. And Gross made it happen. Syracuse plays its first of nine games in the Carrier Dome on Saturday against Binghamton.

But Cieplicki won’t be called a visionary any time soon. Of course, Boeheim now acknowledges Crouthamel’s decision was quite astute. Actually, he calls filling the Carrier Dome the greatest accomplishment in the history of college basketball because it made Syracuse, of all places, a national title contender. But the effect of a second basketball exodus from South Campus to Main Campus won’t match that.

The women’s program is a long way from respectability. In the end, it doesn’t matter where the women’s team calls home. The goal of the athletic department is to no doubt increase the posterity of the women’s basketball program among not only coaches and players but the paying public as well. The Carrier Dome isn’t going to do that, though. The bottom line comes down to whether the product on the court is better.

The only thing that will interest students is a better team.

‘It depends on whether they’re competitive or not,’ said Mike Richard, a sophomore from Bethel, Conn., near the home of the most popular women’s team in the country – the Huskies. ‘If they’re good and they play Connecticut, that might actually be a good game.’

The women’s program has only one winning season in the past 15 years. At 4-2, it’s too early to tell whether this team will live up to Cieplicki’s challenge of breaking .500. Considering the youth of the team, it’s not likely. Syracuse has already lost by 27 points to Sacred Heart. Give sophomore Vaida Sipaviciute, who scored 41 points earlier this season, and freshmen Keri Laimbeer and Jenny Eckhart several years.

The move to the Dome will only be successful if there is a significant increase in the average attendance of 642 of last season. While Richard has only attended one UConn women’s home game, he said the excitement of Gampel Pavilion draws comparisons to the men’s team. There’s no coincidence the UConn women are one of the best programs in the nation, winners of five national titles.

If the attendance increases, the game will become more of a social event for students. The reason why the atmosphere at men’s games is so lively is that going to a game is like going to a party. Going for a good time makes up the motives for a large demographic of women in attendance.

‘I’ll go to the guys’ games because who doesn’t want to watch guys play basketball?’ Alyson Tankard, a junior, said.

Guys, on the other hand, care more about results, and the women’s team isn’t competitive right now. Men are by far more interested in sports, and it’s no secret that women’s leagues such as the WNBA have not caught on. Senior Caitlin Bedard played the game in high school but now despises women’s basketball in general. She said few people at the school were ever interested in the team.

‘Nobody gives you any respect,’ Bedard said. ‘Syracuse athletics are all about the guys’ football and basketball. You don’t hear about the rest.’

The location of the game won’t change that. While junior Loreen Guertin said the move would definitely make it easier for students to attend women’s games, she said, still, nobody knows when the games are scheduled. She said there is such a lack of publicity that venue doesn’t matter.

If anything, the move will excite the players and future recruits, who are now able to play in one of the most famous sporting venues in the country.

‘If the Dome is a symbol of Syracuse, then they should be able to play there regardless of their competitiveness,’ senior Sean McGarr said.

But if Cieplicki really wants to be considered a visionary, he’ll do so by watching his team fulfill his challenge of reaching .500 and eventual postseason success. Then students will go anywhere.

Ethan Ramsey is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns will now appear occasionally. E-mail him at egramsey@gmail.com.

Published on December 6, 2005 at 12:00 pm