Who is Syracuse Playing in the 2024 NCAA Tournament? (Storrs Quadrant)
By Andrew Della Piana | @dellie_5
For the third time in its last five NCAA Tournament trips, Syracuse women’s basketball will travel to UConn for the opening two rounds of the tournament.
The Orange were awarded the six-seed in the Portland 3 Regional and will go to Gampel Pavilion on Saturday, March 23rd to play the winner of the 11-seed Auburn versus the 11-seed Arizona matchup.
Round of 64: No. 11 Auburn
Hailing from the Southeastern Conference, Auburn was selected as one of the “Last Four In” and is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years.
Under third year head coach Johnnie Harris, the Tigers are playing in the Big Dance for the first time. Harris has immensely improved the program, and the Tigers have improved every year since her arrival. In her debut season, Auburn finished 10–18 with just two conference victories. It went 16-15 last year, but only 5-11 in SEC play. However, Auburn’s 20-11 record and 8-8 SEC record this season is its best since 2019.
The Tigers have proven they can beat strong teams by defeating LSU earlier this season, as well as play in the tough SEC, reaching the conference tournament quarterfinals.
Round of 64: No. 11 Arizona
When I think about Arizona, the phrase that comes to mind is “battle-tested.” The program held walk-on tryouts last month in an effort to bolster its roster, as the Wildcats were down from 12 to seven players this season.
Arizona is dancing despite having the second-hardest schedule in the country and competing in one of the toughest conferences in the country, having advanced to the PAC-12 quarterfinals. The Wildcats finished the year 17-15 (8-10 PAC-12), thanks to a late-season four-game conference win streak that featured their first Bay Area sweep since 2001.
In addition, Arizona overcame two highly-regarded opponents, defeating No. 3 Stanford and No. 15 Utah, with the latter victory becoming the program’s highest-ranked road victory ever. With the intention of becoming this year’s tournament Cinderella, this team has a real underdog tale.
Round of 32: No. 3 UCONN
The prestige of women’s college basketball, the highest winning percentage in the sport’s history, that’s the University of Connecticut.
The Huskies face 14th-seeded Jackson State on Saturday, with ESPN Analytics projecting a 99% chance of UConn advancing.
The 2021 national player of the year, Paige Bueckers, made a strong comeback from an ACL injury last year, showcasing her signature efficiency (61.1% effective field goal percentage) and maybe developing into an even more well-rounded player who plays aggressive defense (2.1 SPG, 1.4 BPG).
Before the season began, Felisha Legette-Jack and Geno Auriemma arranged a closed scrimmage between their two teams. Following the exhibition, Auriemma said to FLJ, “Your team is special.” To prove it, SU is now traveling to Storrs, Connecticut for the NCAA Tournament.
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