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On Sunday, Syracuse was not selected to the 68-team field for the 2023 NCAA Tournament, coming up just short as it had been sitting on the bubble in ESPN’s Bracketology for a few weeks. But hours after the Orange missed the cut, they qualified for Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

Syracuse was one of the 32 automatic qualifiers for the 25th edition of the WNIT, which is not run by the NCAA.

The Orange (18-12, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) will miss the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season and were ranked No. 57 in the NET rankings. They had qualified for every rendition since 2013 up until 2021, excluding the 2020 tournament which was canceled.

Prior to its ACC Tournament defeat to NC State — where the Orange lost by their largest margin of the season — Syracuse was the 68th and final team in the field. But since, it had slowly trickled into the First Four Out and eventually the Next Four Out.

“I definitely believe so,” guard Georgia Woolley said postgame on whether SU did enough to earn an at-large bid. “We are a team that should be in the 64, 68 coming into March. I believe that. We all believe that. Coach believes that. I know that’s where we belong.”

With 18 regular season wins, Felisha Legette-Jack secured the program’s most wins in a single season by a coach in their first year at the helm. The Orange were dominant on their own floor, going 14-3 at the JMA Wireless Dome, but went 4-8 on the road. Their best win of the season came against then-No. 14 North Carolina as Syracuse won 75-67 behind Dyaisha Fair’s 23 points.

Ahead of SU’s final three regular season games, Legette-Jack said her team needed to win at least two of the three to make a strong case for an at-large bid. The Orange fell to Florida State, but bounced back with an upset win over Miami and a comfortable blowout of Pittsburgh. But the ACC Tournament loss to NC State put the Orange just out of the picture.

“We’ll get better for sure,” Legette-Jack said after the loss to the Wolfpack. “We’ve got some great coaches and some great players in this conference, and I just don’t see why not one of us get to the Final Four. If it can’t be us, let it be somebody from the ACC.”

Published on March 12, 2023 at 8:50 pm

Contact Cole: [email protected] | @ColeBambini