Orange women are longshots to land NCAA bid

Despite a 22-10 record, the Syracuse women’s basketball team is considered a longshot to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced at 7 p.m. today on ESPN. However, a second-straight berth in the expanded WNIT is virtually guaranteed.

QUENTIN.JPGSyracuse women's basketball coach Quentin Hillsman led his team to a 22-10 mark this season, but the team is expected to fall just short of earning an NCAA Tournament berth tonight. The Orange likely will earn a second straight bid to the Women's NIT.

The Orange improved its post-season status only marginally in last week’s Big East Tournament by winning games over conference cellar-dweller Seton Hall and No. 8-seed Providence before being drubbed by defending national champion Connecticut 77-41 in the quarterfinals.

That left Syracuse with an RPI ranking of 86 and a strength of schedule rating of 101. Those numbers are good enough for ESPN bracketology expert Charlie Creme to project the Orange to be the fourth team left out of the NCAA Tournament (as of Sunday night), but not good enough to make it a strong candidate for the field of 64.

Helping SU’s argument are three routs over two teams — Rutgers (twice) and No. 9/8 West Virginia — that are expected to make the tournament. Syracuse also is among teams receiving votes in the latest national polls (four in the AP rankings and one in the ESPN coaches poll).

Hurting the Orange’s case is a 1-6 record in conference games decided by three points or less or in overtime, and a weak non-conference schedule. None of SU’s 13 non-league victims is expected to make the NCAA field, as both Old Dominion and Butler lost in their conference championship games Sunday. The other 11 non-league foes all had losing records (both overall and in conference play) and all had RPIs of 200 or more.

“I think we are NCAA (deserving),” SU coach Quentin Hillsman said after his team lost to UConn in the Big East quarterfinals last week. “I hope the committee says yes to us. If it’s the NCAA Tournament, that would be awesome. If it’s the WNIT, that would be awesome also. We just want to play more basketball.”

The Selection Monday show will begin at 7 p.m. on ESPN. The WNIT, which expanded from 32 to 64 teams this year, will announce its field several hours later. The Orange is not holding a public party to watch the NCAA show.

Syracuse has played in the postseason each of the past two years, being bounced in the first round of the NCAA tourney two years ago and in the second round of the WNIT last year.

WNIT games are held at the arenas of participating universities, with first-round games March 17-19 and the championship contest April 3. If SU is chosen to host first- or second-round home games, they would be played in Manley Field House to avoid conflicts with the men’s NCAA Regionals scheduled March 25 and 27 in the Carrier Dome, said sports information spokesman Josh Waldman.

Two Big East teams, Marquette and South Florida, have won the NIT the past two years.

Chris Wagner
cwagner@syracuse.com

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