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Syracuse women’s basketball received a No. 8 seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament on Monday. The Orange will play their first-round game Sunday against No. 9 seed South Dakota State at 5:30 p.m.

The Orange have been a lock for the tournament for the majority of their season. They’ve been included in ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme’s 64-team field for weeks, and head coach Quentin Hillsman said “I don’t see why we wouldn’t be in,” when asked about his team’s resume on Feb. 24.

The Orange have now made eight consecutive NCAA Tournaments under Hillsman dating back to 2013 — they finished .500 in conference play in 2020 and likely would’ve missed March Madness, but the pandemic canceled the tournament.

“We’ve sat here a lot, but this one feels different,” Hillsman said after the Selection Show. “We worked hard, and we preached. We preached sacrifice. We preached being grateful to have the opportunity to play the game that we love, and we’re still playing.”

The Orange lost their most recent NCAA Tournament game in 2019 in the second round against the Jackrabbits, falling 75-64 in an upset loss in the Carrier Dome.

This season, Syracuse was ranked No. 23 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll and ranked as high as No. 18 after opening the season with four consecutive wins. But after a three-week program pause due to COVID-19 that included five missed games, the Orange lost to then-No. 1 Louisville and unranked Clemson. SU slipped out of the AP Top 25 on Jan. 25 and didn’t return for the remainder of the season.

Maya Goosmann | Design Editor

The COVID-19 pause led to a jam-packed schedule, as SU rescheduled many postponed games. The Orange had two separate sequences of four games in eight days at the end of January and beginning of February. Many of those games required second-half comebacks because of the slow starts that’ve plagued SU all year.

Fifth-year point guard Tiana Mangakahia said the packed schedule was difficult at times, especially when SU had to dig itself out of a deficit in multiple games. But she said that the sequences, while fatiguing, would benefit SU down the line.

“It’s very difficult to play four games, five games like that,” Mangakahia said on Jan. 27. “This definitely helped us prepare mentally what it takes to get through the season and to get through ACC and NCAA tournaments.”

Hillsman said Feb. 24 that the original goal was for Syracuse to win enough games that it avoided becoming a “middle of the pack” seed. He admitted then, though, that Syracuse had become just that.

“I would’ve taken a 64-seed if they have one,” Hillsman said of SU’s eighth seed on Monday. “We just want to have an opportunity to continue to play.”

ESPN’s Creme told The Daily Orange that issues such as slow starts and SU’s poor road record — and poor road performances — hurt SU’s stock and prevented it from getting a higher seed. Creme listed them as a No. 8 seed in late February.

Games between No. 8 and No. 9 seeds are “largely considered tossups” because both teams have fairly equitable seasons, he said. The ceiling for SU’s tournament run, he said, will likely be a second-round exit.

If SU were to beat No. 9 seed South Dakota State, it’d most likely face No. 1 seed UConn in the next round. This season, SU has registered two 13-point losses to Louisville and a seven-point loss to NC State, and it’s yet to beat an AP Top 25 team this season.

“Obviously, it’ll be emotional when we win the national championship to be my last game,” Mangakahia said, laughing, on Monday.

In the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, Syracuse was without Mangakahia due to injury, and it also lacked four bench players who violated team rules. The Orange beat Boston College in the second round, then upset No. 4-seed Florida State on a Kamilla Cardoso buzzer-beater before falling to Louisville in the quarterfinals.

Hillsman said after the Louisville game on March 6 that Mangakahia’s absence during the conference tournament was a precaution, and the team announced she was out with a “lower-body injury.” After the Selection Show, he said she was doing fine and reiterated that she could’ve played in the ACC Tournament, albeit with precautions.

Now, Syracuse will travel to Austin, Texas as the program continues its quest for its first national championship.

Published on March 15, 2021 at 7:26 pm

Contact Roshan: [email protected] | @Roshan_f16