If there was one thing that was going to keep the Syracuse women's basketball team from reaching the NCAA Tournament, it was its strength of schedule. Despite playing six games against current Top 25 teams this season, the Orange had the 340th toughest out-of-conference schedule in the country.
And for NCAA Selection Committee Chair Jane Meyer, it was that glaring weakness in its postseason resume that ultimately cost Syracuse an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
"As the committee evaluated Syracuse's team sheet, one of their keys is their strength of schedule," Meyer said. "Their non-conference strength of schedule was 340, and they had some bad losses against South Florida, Villanova and Cincinnati.
Just minutes after the field was announced, Meyer spoke in a media teleconference about the committees decision to deny SU one of 33 at-large bids into the tournament. During the teleconference, Meyer emphasized that had the Orange taken care of its business against the bottom half of the Big East or beefed up its out-of-conference schedule, its postseason fate likely would have been different.
"As they were being evaluated with this group of other institutions, the decision was that of those factors," Meyer said. "Those were some of them that we discussed of why they were not one of those 33 best at-large teams."
Denied a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year, Syracuse (22-10) accepted an invitation to participate in the Women's National Invitational Tournament. The Orange will face Harvard (20-8) in its first round game at Manley Field House at 7 p.m. Thursday. The winner will move on to play either Delaware or Richmond in the second round later this weekend.
As of Monday night, ESPN.com's latest bracketology had the Orange slated as one of the last four teams out of the tournament.
Looking back on Syracuse's regular season, there was a bevy of what-if games in its schedule. The overtime two-point loss to Georgetown on Jan. 2, the three-point loss to St. John's on Jan. 27, or the one-point loss to then-No. 3 Notre Dame on Jan. 30 to name a few. A single win against any of those teams — all of whom were a seeded No. 6 or higher in this year's NCAA Tournament — likely could have tipped the scales in the Orange's favor.
"It's hard to figure out, I just believe one more win does it," Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. "Obviously, if we win the Notre Dame game, it solves a lot of problems. I think you can look back on a few games of that nature. I just think one more win would have done it for us. I don't know if there's one particular game you can point to."
Though Hillsman acknowledged that the strength of schedule may have also played a factor in the committees decision, the coach insisted that the decision likely came down to how SU performed in its conference games, or the "important ones." That's where Hillsman believes SU's NCAA fate was determined.
A prime example of that is Rutgers, a team that SU beat twice — including a 76-45 beatdown during the final week of the regular season. The Scarlet Knights made it into the NCAA Tournament behind a 9-7 regular season record in the Big East. The Orange finished with a record of just 7-9. Rutgers also matched SU's two wins in the conference tournament with two wins of its own.
"If you look historically at what it takes to get into the NCAA Tournament, it's your conference record," Hillsman said. "You have to go into the season ready to win conference games. … I really don't think there's anything else."
Meyer offered similar sentiments. Taking a look at Arkansas-Little Rock and Green Bay — both which were widely considered bubble teams before ultimately receiving at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament — Meyer said that both teams played solid basketball in their own conferences and scheduled tough out-of-conference games.
For the committee, those were two of the biggest things they looked at during the tournament selection process.
"As the committee deliberated, they felt that they took very good care of what they could control within their conference and then had the opportunity to schedule accordingly in their non-conference and did reasonably well in that area." Meyer said.
Hillsman said that when you look from top to bottom, it's difficult to believe that the committee did not see Syracuse as one of the 33 best at-large teams in the country. Despite that, he isn't making excuses.
The way Hillsman sees it, Thursday's game won't be about sending a message to the committee. It won't be about vindication or about making some kind of cliché statement about what kind of team SU has been this season. For Hillsman, it'll be simply about extending what he believes has been a "great year," and ending it on a high note.
"We're not out to prove anything, we're just out to win basketball games," Hillsman said. "We're not going to go out there and play with any kind of animosity or any kind of anger, we're just going to go out and try to win this tournament."
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