Syracuse Women's Basketball's Chances to Make the NCAA Tournament

Where the Orange stands with the home stretch of the regular season left to go.

This year was the start of a new chapter for Syracuse Women's Basketball when it was announced that the new head coach would be former SU player and University of Buffalo head Coach Felisha Legette Jack. Almost halfway through the regular season, one question remains.

Will the Syracuse women's basketball team be in the NCAA march madness tournament? The way it looks right now, the answer is no. However, if the Syracuse women's basketball team were to win the ACC tournament, they would get an automatic bid to the NCAA postseason.

The Lady Orange have a disappointing ACC conference record of 5-6. However, they have significantly struggled with quality teams. Syracuse is in the ninth spot out of the 16 teams in the ACC. In addition, the eight teams currently ahead of the Orange all have a better overall record and have the inside track for the vaunted at-large bids.

Syracuse Women's Basketball has an overall record of 14-8, an RPI of 64 and a NET ranking of 62. However, they still likely wouldn't make the tournament due to their struggles with the upper-echelon schools. RPI stands for the Ratings Power Index, which breaks down three components. The three statistics that are measured are the team winning percentage, the average opponent's winning percentage, and the average opponent's winning percentage. The NET ranking is a similar metric used by the selection committee. 

The last four teams in according to ESPN's Bracketology, are Nebraska, St. John's, Georgia and Marquette. Their NET rankings are 41, 54, 49 and 42. So Syracuse is a bit behind them, something a couple of big wins would help significantly. The Orange is not currently listed among the last four in, first four out or next four out, so it was some work to do. 

Sixty eight teams qualify each season for the tournament. If Syracuse were to win out, they would have a chance to be one of the invited teams. Syracuse has seven games remaining in the regular season. Of the seven remaining games, four are against teams currently in the top 25, including No. 11 UNC, No. 9 Notre Dame, and No.23 Florida State. They will give themselves a fighting chance if Syracuse can win all or most of those seven games. Otherwise, they will likely rely on winning the ACC tournament. The tournament is set to take place from March 1st to 5th in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The last time the Lady Orange made the tournament was in 2021. Being in the tournament is not new for the Orange; it's just a matter of qualifying this season.

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