Two home games will determine everything
After falling to the Duke Blue Devils by a score of 80-49, the Syracuse Orange (10-17, 4-12) women’s basketball team fell into a tie for the final ACC Tournament spot. The loss was the fourth straight for Syracuse, two blowouts sandwiched around close losses to California and North Carolina.
Syracuse is tied with Miami and Pitt with four wins, two games ahead of SMU and Wake Forest, and one game behind Boston College. The Orange play their final two regular season games at home this week- Thursday night against Pitt and Sunday afternoon against Boston College.
Miami finishes the regular season trip to Stanford and Cal, but because Pitt’s final game is at Wake, the game on Thursday night looms critical for the Orange. A win against the Panthers gives Syracuse the head-to-head tiebreaker over both Pitt and Miami. A loss against Pitt and Syracuse could lose control of their own destiny.
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Using online projections shows that winning both games could push Syracuse as high as the 12th seed. It also shows that depending on how the other schools do in their final two games, losing both might not eliminate the Orange, but their fate would be in the hands of others.
Like on the men’s side, other schools stepped up to win games they needed over the weekend and we’ll see if Syracuse can respond to the challenge. If you haven’t been to the Dome this year, then Orange basketball gives you three critical home games where your support can make a difference.