The Orange women's basketball squad reacts to being selected to the NCAA Tournament field.
Tournament Bound: Women's Basketball Selected for Fourth Appearance
3/17/2008 8:12:18 PM | Women's Basketball
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The rv/rv Orange women's basketball team will make its fourth appearance all-time in the NCAA Tournament and will face Hartford in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La., on Saturday, March 22 at approximately 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2, the NCAA Tournament selection committee announced on Monday. Behind the guidance of BIG EAST co-coach of the year Quentin Hillsman, Syracuse used a 22-8 record to earn a spot in the big dance for the first time since 2002.
Orange Club members have the first opportunity to purchase tickets either online at suathletics.com (click here), beginning at 10 p.m. Monday, March 17 or on Tuesday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. online and in person at the Carrier Dome Box Office. If any tickets remain, they will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, March 19, at Noon.
The guard tandem of junior Chandrea Jones and freshman Erica Morrow lead the Orange into the NCAA postseason by averaging a team-best 15.2 and 13.8 points per game, respectively. Jones was selected to the second-team All-BIG EAST, while Morrow was an All-Freshman team selection.
Freshman guard Tasha Harris, who leads the team with 3.83 assist per game, also received all-freshman honors. Sophomore forward Nicole Michael earned her second consecutive All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention accolade after posting 12.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game during the regular season.
Syracuse and Hartford have never faced each other in women’s basketball.
Syracuse broke into the NCAA Tournament for the first time during the 1984-85 season after finishing fourth in the league with a 10-6 record and then running the table in the BIG EAST Tournament to secure a bid. Playing in Norfolk, Va., SU faced top-seeded and second-ranked Old Dominion. The Orange kept pace with the Lady Monarchs and trailed by single-digits a couple of time in the second half, but eventually ran out of steam. Old Dominion advanced with an 88-63 win.
Three years later during the 1988-87 season, the selection committee placed Syracuse, the BIG EAST regular-season champions, in the Mideast Region in Columbus, Ohio, as a sixth-seed. The Orange received a bye into the second round where it faced the third-seeded Buckeyes on their home floor. The Orange had four players in double-digits in a 116-75 loss.
Fourteen years passed before the Orange qualified for another NCAA Tournament, the longest stretch between appearances for any school placed in the 2002 bracket. March 13, 2002 was declared "SU Orange Women's Basketball Day" by the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County. With the support of the community, Syracuse traveled to Waco, Texas as a 10-seed to battle seventh-seed Drake, which prevailed with an 87-69 victory.
All three of SU's opponents in the NCAA Tournament advanced at least to the sweet-16 and Old Dominion eventually went on to win the 1985 national champion. Ohio State lost to Maryland during the following round and Drake upset second-seeded Baylor, on the Bear's home floor, to reach the regional semifinals.
With a win on Saturday, Syracuse will advance to play either Texas A&M or UT-San Antonio. A victory in the second round will mean a trip to the Oklahoma City Regional from Sunday, Mar. 30 through Tuesday, Apr. 1.
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