Syracuse women’s basketball rising in bracketology despite recent loss

While both the Syracuse Orange men’s and women’s basketball teams have taken on more losses than we’d prefer this season, the women’s team is still well situated for an NCAA Tournament bid.

Yesterday’s ESPN bracketology revealed SU as an eighth seed in the Lexington bracket, matched up with no. 9 Oregon. Should they get past the Ducks, they’d be in for a rematch with top seed South Carolina. Syracuse upset the Gamecocks en route to the Final Four in 2016.

It may seem surprising at first to see Syracuse on such solid footing given the raw numbers of the resume. The Orange are 13-6 overall and 4-2 in league play, with one win over a ranked team (NC State last week). But the team’s strong non-conference schedule helps them out quite a bit, as does the victory over the Wolfpack, along with what looks like a soft bubble this year. Syracuse also has quite a few changes to continue to improve the resume, with five more games vs. ranked opponents (including the next three).

If the Orange are going to make a move in the ACC standings (they’re only a game back of first place in the conference right now), this is the time to do it. Sunday’s defeat at Georgia Tech was a setback, for sure. But a win at no. 7 Florida State (currently in first at 5-1) on January 19 would more than make up for it.

You can catch the Orange women on WatchESPN/ACC Network Extra on Thursday evening vs. the ‘Noles at 7 p.m. ET. It’ll be SU’s third game against a top-10 team this season. They dropped both of the previous matchups, with Ohio State and Louisville, respectively.