The increased buzz and crowds that have permeated women’s basketball over the past year apparently haven’t made their way to Syracuse.
Orange coach Felisha Legette-Jack ripped her fan base after just 2,038 people watched Syracuse’s upset loss to Albany inside the 30,000-plus-seat JMA Wireless Dome.
“This is what I’ve been trying to tell our young people on this team. Nobody cares about our program. Nobody cares about women’s basketball,” Legette-Jack said to start her press conference.
“It’s evident how — it’s not nobody’s fault, but the laughing and all that fun stuff, nobody is into it like we are and that’s OK. But I try to get our kids to understand we’ve got to be so locked into us that we don’t see that the fan base is like 12 people here. We can’t see people that’s not on the court not really locked in. Because it’s about our dreams. It’s about our decision that we’re going to rise above it all.”
The past year has seen record crowds — particularly for Caitlin Clark’s collegiate (Iowa) and professional (Fever) games — and heightened excitement for the sport across multiple levels.
Syracuse has historically always drawn well for men’s basketball and not as well for the women’s team, which Legette-Jack knows all too well since she grew up in Syracuse and later became one of the greatest players in program history from 1984-89.
She became the first Syracuse women’s player to have her jersey retired in 2021.
After leading the Orange to the NCAA Tournament last season, Legette-Jack’s third season is off to a rocky 2-3 start, including Wednesday’s 73-70 setback.
She challenged her community to support her and her team better.
Syracuse has yet to top 2,500 fans for any of its five games this season, averaging approximately 2,187 fans per contest.
“The first thing we’re playing for is each other. We’re not going to get it twisted. We got to close the noise out, whatever that noise is. If they’re really fans, and they really love me like I think they should, they come to the game and really be apart of this thing and not just send 30 people to this game,” Legette-Jack said. “So I’m disappointed in my fan base here. If I’m home and this is supposed to be home, prove it, OK. This is ridiculous. I’m the one coach that’s from this place. And this is the respect that we get here? My mom always said you can love somebody, but if they ain’t loving you back, you gotta love somebody else.”
Legette-Jack noted that she felt the better team did not win Wednesday’s game, but the better prepared squad emerged victorious.
She believed that Albany played each possession “as if their life depended on it,” while her Orange side “thought that we had a tomorrow.”
“I’m glad I walked in when I did so our players can see that nobody f–king cares, man. We up here crying outside and let’s go have a party in here. It’s not you guys, it’s everybody,” Legette-Jack sad.
“And it’s OK, but what’s not OK is us not giving 100 percent for ourselves, man. That’s life lesson stuff we’re talking about, man. But we got to decide that we’re going to hunker down and turn the noise out from all the people on the outside and lock into the inside and get real with each other. This is a perfect situation for us. This is what’s supposed to have happened for us right now. And we’ll get better.”
