Syracuse women’s basketball earns No. 8 seed in NCAA Tournament

The Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team did not totally play its way out of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament with its loss to Virginia tech in the first round of the ACC Tournament, but its seeding was certainly affected by the fourth quarter collapse.

Regardless, there will be an Orange presence in the women’s tournament, as SU earned a No. 8 seed in the Kansas City region on Monday. Syracuse opens with No. 9 Oklahoma State (‘sup, Doug Gottlieb) this weekend in Starkville, Miss. The Orange and Cowboys tip at 3:30 EST on Saturday. The game can be seen on ESPN 2.

Should the Orange advance to the next round, they are likely to face Kansas City region No. 1 seed Mississippi State. The Orange lost to the Bulldogs, 76-65, in Las Vegas back on December 22.

More importantly for Syracuse: they avoid playing in Storrs, Conn. More more importantly — they avoid Connecticut in region play. As Syracuse was projected to land a No. 8 or No. 9 seed in the tournament, the fears of going back to Storrs (where they had to play last year) and a provisional matchup versus UConn was very realistic. Turns out ACC rival Miami and Quinnipiac will be the 8/9 game in the Albany region, with the winner assumed to get Connecticut in the second round.

Syracuse is one of eight ACC teams to go dancing:

• (1) Notre Dame
• (1) Louisville
• (3) Florida State
• (4) NC State
• (5) Duke
• (8) Miami
• (8) Syracuse
• (10) Virginia

Friendly reminder -- Syracuse upset both Florida State and Duke at home this season.

COMPLETE BRACKET

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Corey Crisan is the Orange Women’s Basketball reporter for TNIAAM. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @cdcrisan for coverage all season long.