G
eorgia Woolley tried to keep her emotions in check. She sat alongside Syracuse head coach Felisha Legette-Jack and star guard Dyaisha Fair after SU’s season-ending loss to No. 3 seed UConn in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
The game marked the end of Fair’s college career, in which she scored the third most points in NCAA women’s basketball history. As all three reflected on Syracuse’s best season since 2015-16, they each couldn’t fight back tears.
Woolley paused, composed herself and finally answered when asked about the pain of not playing with Fair anymore. “Everything,” she muttered. Up to that point, playing alongside Fair had been all Woolley knew throughout their one season at the University of Buffalo and two at SU.
As Woolley and Fair left the podium, Legette-Jack stayed behind to field questions. The penultimate question asked the coach who would fill Fair’s shoes.
“(Fair) passed the torch right in front of your eyes,” Legette-Jack said. “Her name is Georgia Woolley, and she’s ready.”
After serving as Fair’s co-star over the last three seasons, averaging 13.8 points per game last season, Woolley said hearing Legette-Jack’s words instilled confidence in her to take over as Syracuse’s primary threat. Four years ago, Woolley — an Australian native — trusted Legette-Jack by committing to Buffalo without stepping on campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coach is now putting her trust in Woolley to spearhead SU for the upcoming 2024-25 season.
“That’s why I picked (Legette-Jack) in the first place,” Woolley said. “Because I knew she was that coach that I could trust and she would put that trust back into me as well.”
After last season concluded, Woolley said it took a few days for the sting of elimination to subside, but she quickly shifted her focus to the 2024-25 season. In the offseason, she sharpened her skills on the court — focusing on her defensive game, shot mechanics and ball handling. But her off-the-court development was just as important, she said.
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At the Atlantic Coast Conference Tipoff on Oct. 8, Legette-Jack said Woolley “had to find herself” during the offseason. She took a 28-day, 11-country trip to Europe and paid a surprise two-week visit to her family in Brisbane, Australia.
Citing her love of travel, Woolley backpacked through Europe in May and June. She visited the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Czechia, Monaco, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. When she returned from the trip, Woolley sensed a difference. The trip boosted her maturity. Traveling solo and advocating for herself, Woolley felt she became a better communicator.
Legette-Jack noticed a change, too.
“She needed to do that, and she came back a lot more mature (and) a lot more ready,” Legette-Jack said of Woolley’s trip.
In August, Syracuse had two weeks off. Woolley initially planned to stay on campus. But she also missed her family and wanted to go home. She called Legette-Jack and asked if she could return to Brisbane.
“(Legette-Jack) (was) like, ‘Please go.’ She wanted me to go,” Woolley said.
Two days after the conversation with Legette-Jack, Woolley embarked on the 30-hour journey home. Woolley called her sister, Kelsey, notifying her she was coming home but didn’t tell her parents.
As Woolley entered her home, her dad Adam, who was working remotely, first thought Woolley was Kelsey. Once he realized it was actually Woolley, he couldn’t contain his shock.
“We were talking to her on the phone a couple of days earlier, and she was going about her business back in Syracuse and the next thing you know, she’s walking in the front door,” Adam said.
Woolley posted the entire interaction on her TikTok. But at the time, Woolley’s mother, Sue, was at work. Another video shows Sue’s reaction as she arrives home. At first, Sue couldn’t believe it. She stood speechless in the doorway. “You made my year,” Sue said.
During her two weeks in Australia, Woolley worked with Derek Rucker, a former National Basketball League player and CEO of Derek Rucker Basketball, who has coached her since she was 13.
In their sessions, Rucker continued to chip away at Woolley’s shot mechanics. They focused on getting her hips in the right position, making sure her posture was good and her release was clean. Rucker also wanted Woolley to focus on the defensive side, saying he sees untapped potential for Woolley.
She has embraced Rucker’s challenge. Woolley understands she may be tasked with guarding the toughest assignment each opponent has to offer this season. While players in the ACC might be quicker or stronger than her, she wants to hold her ground.
“I’ve really prioritized defense,” Woolley said. “So just being able to try and build on that so that this year, I can stand out even more as a defensive player, not just as an offensive player.”
Syracuse sophomore guard Sophie Burrows, a fellow Australian and Woolley’s roommate, sees the growth from Woolley on and off the court. For Burrows, it’s nothing new. When she first arrived at SU, they were the only two players on campus.
“She took me around, showed me where everything was, helped me move into my apartment, introduced me to people and just made the transition so much easier,” Burrows said of Woolley.
Burrows has seen Woolley do similar things to countless other underclassmen, helping them acclimate to SU’s campus and basketball program. Woolley often talks them through specific plays and defensive concepts, Burrows said.
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As Woolley embraces her veteran status, she knows that being a leader looks different for everyone. She wants to be her authentic self, not try to be anyone else. For Woolley, that means being extroverted, “bubbly” and creating a lighthearted environment, Burrows said. But it also appears in the example Woolley sets with her energy and grit on the court.
“She wants to win at all costs and will put her body on the line day in and day out for our team,” Burrows said.
When each player commits to play for Legette-Jack, she asks them to write out what they want their legacy to be while with the program. In addition, Legette-Jack makes them pick a quote that connects with that. When Woolley arrived at Buffalo in 2021, she spent a lot of time before choosing, “Nothing is ever given, everything is earned,” which hangs on her locker as a constant reminder.
“I try to remember that every single day,” Woolley said. “Nothing is ever given to you. I wasn’t given Syracuse University. I started at Buffalo. You have to earn your way to where you are. And I think I just continue to try and live that every single day.”
Just like Legette-Jack predicted in the minutes following last season’s finish, after an offseason of work on herself and her game, Woolley has earned the right to lead Syracuse this season.
“(Woolley’s) already been the Robin to Dyaisha’s Batman,” Legette-Jack told syracuse.com on Oct. 9. “Sometimes she was Batman. But now she’s here and we have to figure out how big and wide her wings are. I think she can really take another step higher.”
Photo courtesy of SU Athletics
Published on October 24, 2024 at 1:34 am
Contact Nicholas: njalumka@syr.edu | @nalumkal
