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Orangewomen Basketball Announces 2002-03 Non-Conference Opponents
6/27/2002 11:55:27 AM | Women's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Three NCAA Tournament participants, including a pair of Elite Eight squads, and a trip to the 2002 Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament highlight the 2002-03 Syracuse women's basketball non-conference slate announced by Orangewomen head coach Marianna Freeman on Thursday.
Syracuse will play at least 11 out of conference contests, including home dates with national powers Vanderbilt and Colorado. Both of those teams advanced to within one game of the 2002 Final Four. The Commodores finished the season ranked fourth in the nation by the Associated Press and fifth in the coaches poll. The Buffaloes finished 12th and 9th in the rankings, respectively.
The Orangewomen will open the season at Siena in the first round of the Preseason WNIT. It is Syracuse's first-ever appearance in the 16-team event, which features 12 teams that made the postseason in 2002. The winner of the SU-Siena contest will face the winner of the game between Penn State and Bucknell, both NCAA participants last season.
Four of Syracuse's next eight non-conference games will be against teams that qualified for the postseason last year. SU will face Ivy League champion Harvard and WNIT participants San Francisco and Vermont on the road. The Orangewomen will host George Washington, which advanced to the second round of the 2002 WNIT.
Rounding out the non-conference slate are road games at California and St. Bonaventure and home matchups with regional rivals Binghamton and Cornell.
Syracuse's 11 non-league opponents combined for a 214-118 (.645) record last season. Ten of the 11 had winning records and seven teams finished in the top 100 according to the final WBCA/Summerville RPI rankings.
The Orangewomen finished the 2001-02 campaign with an 18-13 record and the program's first NCAA Tournament berth since the 1988 season. SU was ranked 41st in the RPI and received votes in the final Associated Press Top 25.
Dates and times for these games, as well as the Orangewomen's BIG EAST schedule, will be announced at a later date.
