Syracuse women's lacrosse: Selection Sunday Bracketology

It’s been over a week since we last saw the Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team in action, but tonight we’ll find out when, where, and against whom we’ll see them next.

The NCAA Selection Show for both the men’s and women’s tournaments will be airing at 9 PM on ESPN U.

The Orange are coming off an upset loss to Virginia in the ACC Tournament that didn’t do their NCAAT seeding prospects any favors, although I also don’t think it will drop them too far down the seed list, either.

So, here are the numbers on SU:

• RPI: 6
• SOS: 4
• Record vs. Top-20: 5-5

In my eyes, there are nine teams vying for the eight seeds who will host the first round games. Let’s take a look at them here:

• North Carolina: RPI 1, SOS 3, Top-20 10-0
• Boston College: RPI 3, SOS 6, Top-20 7-3
• Maryland: RPI 2, SOS 8, Top-20 8-1
• Northwestern: RPI 4, SOS 2, Top-20 6-4
• Syracuse: RPI 6, SOS 4, Top-20 5-5
• Florida: RPI 5, SOS 14, Top-20 1-4
• Rutgers: RPI 7, SOS 13, Top-20 4-2
• Stony Brook: RPI 8, SOS 21, Top-20 3-2
• Loyola: RPI 10, SOS 25, Top-20 3-1

Teams like Denver, James Madison and Duke are also in play for seeds, but I have them hitting the road in the first round.

North Carolina is, of course, the undisputed No. 1 seed in this tournament. Boston College and Maryland will be the 2 and 3 seeds. I would guess BC will get the 2 (and I think deserves it), although Maryland is ahead of them on RPI so they could sneak in ahead of them. But, without question, those are your top three seeds.

The fourth seed is interesting, because no one has stepped up and grabbed it. Northwestern and SU were the two teams fighting for it, but both lost in the first game of their conference tournaments and left the door open for other teams to enter. My guess is Northwestern will still get the 4 despite their shocking loss to Rutgers this weekend, mostly because of their head-to-head win over the Orange.

This is where the seeding kind of becomes a mess. Of the five remaining teams (Syracuse, Florida, Rutgers, Stony Brook, Loyola), Syracuse LOST to Florida but BEAT Stony Brook and Loyola. Florida BEAT Syracuse but LOST to Stony Brook and Loyola. Stony Brook and Loyola both LOST to Syracuse but BEAT Florida. I mean, what do you do with that? Obviously, there’s much more to consider than just those head-to-head meetings, but wow what a mess.

In my humble and technically-biased opinion, Syracuse does have the best overall resume of the remaining five teams. Yes, they lost to Florida, but they played by far the toughest schedule of those teams and have the most Top-20 RPI wins of the group. The only part that makes me a little nervous is the fact that Florida is one spot better in RPI and have the head-to-head win.

I see the Orange coming away with either the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in this tournament, and quite frankly I don’t care what we are as long as we avoid Boston College in the quarterfinals. If BC drops to the No. 3, I better not see us coming up at No. 6 or I’m gonna scream.

Near the bottom of the seeded list, I think Rutgers, Stony Brook and Loyola are the three teams fighting for the final two seeds. I’d say that Rutgers’ big win over Northwestern on Friday locks them into a seed, and Stony Brook and Loyola are duking it out for the final spot. I’m going to go with the Seawolves based on the slightly higher RPI and SOS numbers.