Bracketology: Syracuse women’s basketball projected as 6-seed

While the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team continues to fight it out on the bubble, the women’s team appears safely in the NCAA Tournament field.

ESPN’s latest bracketology projections slot SU in as a six-seed this time around, playing in the Lexington, Ky. region. Despite the big win over Wake Forest on Thursday night, it didn’t move the needle to shift the Orange up a line from where they previously sat.

Should this seeding hold, Syracuse would be headed to Seattle (SEAN, YOU NEVER SHOULD’VE MOVED) to face 11-seed Colorado State. If they won that matchup, they’d likely face the home team, 3-seed Washington. The Huskies and Orange met in last year’s Final Four, with SU winning 80-59. Syracuse also beat UW, 66-62 earlier in the 2015-16 season.

The rest of that path to a return Final Four trip would also be littered with familiar faces. ESPN’s Charlie Creme slots South Carolina (last year’s Sweet 16 opponent) in as the No. 2 seed in this region, and 2016-17 opponents Notre Dame, Texas A&M and Ohio State also make appearances.

While SU would love to move up to the top 16 seeds and home-court advantage in the first two rounds, it’ll be a tough road to get there right now. The Syracuse women would need to win the season finale at Pitt, then likely two more games in the ACC Tournament in order to make that happen. Winning the conference could potentially lift them as high as a three-seed, depending on which teams they beat on the way.