Syracuse women’s basketball: ACC Rankings and Bracketology Watch for February 1st

It’s been exactly 10 days since our last big-picture recap of the Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team (14-8, 5-6) and previous look at what else is going on across the NCAAW landscape.

The delay was for good reason: three conference games for both Syracuse and the rest of the ACC provided enough clarity over the past week and change to determine what the outlook is moving forward for the Orange, especially if the team is looking to make a surprise run in the NCAA Tournament.

Let’s hop right into our weekly recap of the Orange and all things women’s hoops.

Breaking down the bracket

Note: ESPN’s projected 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket is updated as of Tuesday, January 31st at 9:30 am EST.

As I mentioned back in our last update on Jan. 22, Syracuse needed to finish in the top-eight in the ACC at a bare minimum to clinch a spot at some postseason action in March.

ESPN’s latest bracketology update revealed that claim to be true: eight of the conference’s 15 teams are projected to make the NCAA Tournament. All other teams in the conference, including Syracuse, are not even on the inner periphery of the conversation.

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Heading into its upcoming games, the Orange rank 62nd in the NCAA’s NET ranking (10th in the ACC) with a 1-6 record against Top-50 NET opponents but three wins against top-100 NET teams. Based on conference record, the Orange are ninth in the ACC behind Miami (13-8, 6-4).

Despite a semi-shallow resume, Syracuse will still have the following opportunities to earn some high-quality victories to wrap up this regular season:

It’s a brutal slate featuring four games against ranked opponents and a fifth against a Miami squad that projects to be the last ACC team to clinch a spot in this year’s tournament. Hold onto your hats.

In terms of what the ACC’s current outlook for the tournament is and where Syracuse fits into the fold, here’s my updated tier list for all the conference’s programs based on how confident I am in their tournament outlook:

No questions asked: Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina, Florida State

Solidly tournament-bound: Virginia Tech, NC State

The dark horses: Miami, Louisville

Outside looking in: Syracuse, Virginia, Clemson

Similar to last week, The Orange would need to make a leap into that next tier to have a puncher’s chance of clinching a spot in a March Madness game.

The Orange this week and next week

Note: All team records include games from up to and including Tuesday, January 31.

Syracuse went 1-2 since our last update, dropping close games to the top-tier ACC programs of #16 Duke and Louisville but picking up a big win against Virginia, who was on the periphery of the tournament conversation in our previous look at the bracket.

This week, the Orange will head south for a tough Thursday night matchup against #12 Virginia Tech, Syracuse’s fourth game against a ranked opponent. After that, Syracuse returns home for a rematch against Boston College, who the Orange defeated 83-73 on the road earlier this season.

The TNIAAM Orange Player of the Week

This week’s co-winners: Dyaisha Fair and Alaina Rice

I’ll defend my selections here. Fair was by far and away the Orange’s best player since our last weekly update. She’s coming off her first ACC Player of the Week nod and secured her spot as a top-10 point guard in the NCAAW. I noted her crazy statistical resume here, so I won’t spend too much time rehashing that she averaged a ridiculous 27.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.0 steals per game against Virginia and Louisville while shooting 60% from the field and nearly 73% from three. Again, ridiculous.

With that said, I do want to give a huge shoutout to Alaina Rice for stepping up in Syracuse’s past three games. Since our last update, she scored 15 points on 60% shooting in the Orange’s road game against Duke, then followed that up with a big-time 18-point, 7-assist performance against Virginia. While yes, she did struggle against Louisville (3 points on 1/9 shooting in 17 minutes), she stuck it out despite multiple injury scares during the game.

Her emergence as a defender and microwave scorer has been an underrated story for the Orange, which is why she (finally) earns her first TNIAAM Player of the Week nod.

TNIAAM Orange Player of the Week tracker: Dyaisha Fair x4, Teisha Hyman x1, Georgia Woolley x1, Dariauna Lewis x1, Alaina Rice x1

ACC power rankings and a look around the conference

Note: All team records include games from up to and including Tuesday, January 31.

As usual, here are where things stand in the ACC heading into this week’s games:

Heading into this week’s slate, here are some games to watch for this week with the ACC programs:

• Syracuse (14-8, 5-6) @ #13 Virginia Tech (17-4, 7-4) on Thursday evening
• #9 Notre Dame (17-3, 8-2) @ Boston College (14-10, 4-7) on Thursday evening
• #11 North Carolina (16-5, 7-3) @ Louisville Cardinals (16-8, 7-4) on Sunday afternoon
• #16 Duke (18-3, 8-2) @ #9 Notre Dame (17-3, 8-2) on Sunday afternoon

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TNIAAM Community: How have the Orange looked in its past few games? Is there any hope to pull off 1-2 upsets?