As if 18 losses weren’t enough for Julie McBride, fate heaped one more onto her hellish season, a loss that would trump all the others.

Sure, those first 18 losses frustrated the ultra-competitive McBride. But the final loss was truly a crushing blow because, after all, the memories of basketball games eventually dim and fade away.

That last loss, though, it won’t fade away. McBride didn’t just lose another game. When head coach Marianna Freeman resigned 10 days after the Syracuse women’s basketball team’s season came to an unceremonious end, McBride lost a mentor, confidant and close friend.

Now, McBride, a captain heading into her senior year, must reconcile a 10-18 season while adjusting to a new coach.

‘It kind of sucks, really,’ McBride said. ‘It’s my senior year. One of the reasons I decided to come here was Coach Freeman.’

It was bad enough that McBride would have to play her senior year for redemption. Now she has to do it without the woman who’s been her crutch for three years.

‘She’s been very close with Coach Freeman, not just in basketball but in everything,’ said McBride’s mother, Debbie. ‘If Julie had a problem, she went to Coach Freeman because she knew she could count on her. She’s going to miss that relationship.’

Of course McBride will miss Freeman. Fiery, 5-foot-4 point guards don’t last three years with the same coach without forging a rapport. A coach needs a unique trust in her point guard, and not many coaches could give that to the free-wheeling McBride.

‘Coach Freeman has always let me play my game,’ McBride said. ‘If I was at Connecticut, I probably wouldn’t have gotten a chance to play my game. She’s always believed in me. I loved playing for Coach Freeman.’

Maybe that’s why, when Freeman informed her team she would leave SU, McBride called Debbie and tearfully told her, ‘I’m really going to miss her.’

She’ll also remember her. McBride will fondly reminisce about her first meeting with Freeman, when the two shared plates of chicken wings and pizza at McBride’s Mechanicville home. Freeman — visiting on a recruiting trip — couldn’t get enough of the wings, her favorite food. She told McBride’s family, ‘These are the best chicken wings ever.’

‘Every time I have chicken wings or see chicken wings, I’ll always think of her,’ McBride said. ‘Because she absolutely loved ’em. And she will eat ’em right to the bone.’

With Freeman gone, McBride and the Orangewomen need to start over. The success of McBride’s final year at Syracuse now hinges on whether the next coach will be as accepting to her run-and-gun style as Freeman.

‘I would hope for Julie’s sake that it’s someone who really lets her play, kind of lets her loose a little bit so she’ll still have the green light,’ said Chris LaBombard, who coached McBride at Catholic Central High in Troy. ‘Once you get to know Julie, you have to fit the system around her. You can’t rein her in.’

‘If the new coach wants to win,’ McBride said, ‘he wouldn’t do that. I’m not worried about that at all. Whoever comes in here, they’re going to know me.’

Still, the prospect of a new coach clouds what was once a clear picture for McBride. Her senior year would crown a grand career, one that will likely end with McBride as SU’s all-time leading scorer. If McBride can duplicate this season’s output, she’ll surpass Felisha Legette’s 1,526 career points.

Instead of topping off her career, though, McBride will be restarting it.

‘It’s going to be tough coming in to a new year,’ senior-to-be Shannon Perry said. ‘I’ve been here four years and had the same coach. It’s going to be like a freshman year again for a lot of people.’

Maybe a fresh start is what McBride and the Orangewomen need. A year removed from an NCAA Tournament bid, Syracuse floundered. A season that began with promise defined frustration by the time SU bowed out to Miami in the Big East tournament.

Off the court, Freeman was a player’s dream, always there for counsel and comfort. On it, Freeman admitted being too lenient.

First-year players dominated SU’s roster, and McBride didn’t always feel the players gave sufficient effort, her high school coach said.

‘That frustrated her a lot, the different work ethics,’ LaBombard said. ‘But I keep telling her, there’s nobody like her. She’s going to have to find something in everybody that’s close. She has an incredible dedication, an incredible will.’

McBride would often call her father and say, ‘I can’t believe, Dad, that not everybody wants to play like I do.’

‘I really felt that there were games we should have won,” McBride said. “There’s no way we shouldn’t have been 18-10, really, instead of 10-18. It’s disheartening to think about.’

Although Freeman’s resignation upsets McBride, she believes a new coach will bring more discipline to the program, and that may translate into more victories.

‘I’m excited for next year because our team’s going to be a lot better as far as being disciplined,’ McBride said. ‘If you can’t take it, the new coach will say bye. That’s what I’m excited about.

‘I expect people to just come out and play for the coach, be ready and just want to win, just take criticism, just do all the things that we’re supposed to do to win. I’m not losing next year. It’s my last year here ever, and I’m not losing.’

Perhaps McBride will resurrect her career under a new coach, go out a winner and erase the memory of this season’s debacle. But even with all the wins, one loss won’t go away.

Published on April 21, 2003 at 12:00 pm