Syracuse coach Felisha Legette-Jack is happy her team is being recognized nationally with the Orange’s first ranking in three years, but she is focused on bigger things.
“Carolina is next then Boston College, which lost to Duke at Duke by five,” Legette-Jack said. “That’s who’s after that. No time to rest on your laurels, not in this conference. … Our number isn’t one yet. so we’re still hungry and coming.”
The Orange (11-1) are off to their best start since 2018 and entered The Associated Press women’s basketball poll Monday for the first time since 2021 coming in at No. 25.
Legette-Jack said that while it was too early in the season to focus on rankings, she has learned to appreciate things more heading into 2024. Last year wasn’t the easiest for the Syracuse grad who returned to her alma mater to coach in 2022. She found out over the summer that she had a non-cancerous brain tumor that was removed right at the start of the basketball season.
She missed the first month of practice after the surgery and returned for the team’s first exhibition game.
“It was really scary, 3 MRIs and 10 CAT scans later,” Legette-Jack recalled. “It was traumatic, but I can talk about it now. I can’t believe I went through all that and got through it.”
Legette-Jack is excited for the group she has that’s led by grad Dyaisha Fair, who followed her from Buffalo. Fair is 73 points short of 3,000 in her career and hit a couple of late 3-pointers to help the Orange upset then-No. 13 Notre Dame on Sunday.
“Her humility is most important,” Legette-Jack said of the fifth-year player. “She’s so not thinking about her 3,000-point, she wants to be on a team that creates something and leaves her legacy.”
Syracuse also has a stellar freshman in Alyssa Latham, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds in the win over Notre Dame.
“She can score on all three levels, shoot the 3-ball, get to the rim,” Legette-Jack said. “She’s a shot blocker and runs the floor like a deer. Her IQ is up there with the best of them.”
CHANGING POSITIONS
UConn’s Paige Bueckers became the national player of the year as a freshman point guard.
But in her junior season, after missing most of the last two with injuries, she is embracing a new role, spending much of her time as a forward.
Coach Geno Auriemma made the switch in part because of injuries to front-court players and in part because of the emergence of other ball handlers, including senior Nika Muhl, who last year set the program record for assists in a season and in a game.
The 6-foot Bueckers, meanwhile, has been enjoying playing in the number-four spot in what is essentially a four-guard offense.
“It’s an impossible matchup for people,” Auriemma said. “Because your big guy’s got to guard her and she just steps out. And there isn’t a guard you have that can guard her if she wants to put the ball on the floor and get in the lane.”
Bueckers is averaging 19.2 points and four rebounds per game. But perhaps most impressively, has blocked 17 shots on defense, including five in a win over Louisville.
Auriemma joked that she has become “the quintessential power forward now.”
“I’m just sort of embracing it,” Bueckers said. “I’m still certainly like a guard, but in the four position, but just embracing it every day in practice and what it does for the starting lineup and how it switches things up.”
Next up for Bueckers and No. 12 UConn is No. 21 Creighton on Wednesday.
WEEK AHEAD
With conference play heating up this week, there are a bunch of matchups between ranked opponents. No. 3 North Carolina State hosts No. 22 Florida State on Thursday before traveling to face No. 13 Virginia Tech on Sunday. Sixth-ranked Baylor visits No. 23 TCU on Wednesday in a matchup of undefeated teams.
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AP Sports Writer Pat Eaton-Robb contributed to this story
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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
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