On Tuesday afternoon, Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman stood adjacent to the practice courts at the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center and spoke about how his team plans to replace the production of graduated star center Kayla Alexander.

It’s not an easy task, he said, but the team has the pieces to do so.

On Sunday, Syracuse opens its regular season with a trip to Pullman, Wash., for a 4 p.m. matchup at Beasley Coliseum against Washington State (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12). It will be the first time in 140 games that SU will take the floor without Alexander, the eighth pick of the 2013 WNBA draft by the San Antonio Silver Stars.

“She was the team, you know, mostly,” forward Taylor Ford said. “I just think, as for me, I need to get a lot of rebounds and try to pick up the slack.”

One of the main components of the group who will be looked upon to replace Alexander’s production is Shakeya Leary, the 6-foot-3 center who came off the bench as Alexander’s backup in 31 of the team’s 32 games last year.

After watching Alexander start Syracuse’s last 104 games at center and guarding her in practice for four years — starting during Leary’s redshirt freshman season in 2009 — it’s now Leary’s turn to step into the starting center position.

Hillsman said that Leary is very skilled and can score the basketball one-on-one in the post. But Leary possesses a different skillset than Alexander. Rather than relying on a back to the basket low-post game, Leary prefers to face the basket and kick the ball out to 3-point shooters.

“She’s a great passer out of the double team,” Hillsman said, “so there’s not a huge concern for us to be productive out of that spot.”

For Leary, though, it is about a team effort.

“We have a lot of talent,” she said. “I just need to be an offensive threat. We plan to play team basketball. I feel if we do, everything will fall into place. We just need play hard and compete.”

Ford, who averaged just more than five minutes a game last season, is the only forward on this year’s roster that remains from last season.

“Everyone knows their roles,” Ford said. “I think as a team we understand that we all have to rebound.

Everyone knows exactly what to do. No one’s trying to do anything extra. We just know what we need to do to win, and we’re going to continue to do that.”

Ford said the main thing she learned from Alexander was how to “feel a defender.”

“A lot of the time you don’t want to make a fast move,” Ford said. “That may not turn out well. Kayla always said to feel out your defender first and then make your move.”

Although Syracuse’s frontcourt is less deep than it was a year ago, SU will gain considerable frontcourt talent with the addition of freshmen twin sisters Briana and Bria Day, both of whom stand 6 feet 4 inches.

Hillsman said Tuesday he has yet to determine a starting lineup or rotation, but it’s likely that Briana Day, who was ranked No. 57 on the 2013 ESPN HoopzGurlz recruiting rankings, will start. Both sisters are expected to receive starting minutes.

“We still have a few more days to go and a few more things to work out,” Hillsman said. “For us, it’s about seven players starting, it’s not about five. We have seven players that can play double figure minutes, big minutes for us every night.”

When asked whether he thinks this season’s group of forwards can fill the void Alexander left, Hillsman expressed confidence.

“We’re looking for this group to do the same,” he said. “We have some young players on that back line that are going to really be able to help us out and play hard.”

Published on November 8, 2013 at 5:30 am

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu