Syracuse women’s basketball: weekly TNIAAM awards, Bracketology and ACC updates for February 21st

The fight to host part of the NCAA Tournament continues.

The #17 Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team (22-4, 12-3) sits in the inside track to be a host location for this season’s NCAA Tournament — would you ever think we would be saying that back in November?

Alas, the Orange are indeed in the hunt to lock in some home-court advantage for the postseason according to ESPN’s latest bracketology update. Should Syracuse’s run of success in year two of Felisha Legette-Jack’s tenure continue down the end here, that very well could be a possibility.

Of course, there’s still three more regular season games and an ACC Tournament to get through. Let’s get you caught up on all the latest you need to know about the Orange.

The Orange this week and next week

Note: All team records include games from up to and including Tuesday, February 20.

In their trip away from the Dome this past week, the Orange went 2-0 on the road after beating Miami by 11 points (71-60) and Virginia by six points (85-79). In both games, Syracuse held double-digit leads most of the way yet needed to fend off comeback efforts by both the Hurricanes and Cavaliers. Syracuse sits with a five-game win streak heading into this week.

Up next are the Orange’s final two regular season home games of the 2023-2024 season, starting off with a matchup versus Duke on Thursday night followed by “Senior Day” versus Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon.

The Fair All-Time Points Tracker

Heading into this week’s action, Fair needs 27 points to pass Brittney Griner for fifth all-time on the NCAA’s Division I women’s basketball career scoring list. For fans, this appears to be a win-win situation either way — both of the Orange’s next two games will be at home, and Fair should realistically reach that number in either contest.

Fair would need to be electric versus Duke to pass Griner on Thursday night, but if she doesn’t, she’ll have “Senior Day” to do so when the Orange take on Pitt in their final regular season home game on Sunday.

The TNIAAM Orange Player of the Week

This week’s winner(s): Georgia Woolley and Dyaisha Fair

After a somewhat rocky start to the month, Georgia Woolley caught fire versus both Miami and Virginia this past week with averages of 25.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals across both road games. Woolley reached her season-high in points in back-to-back games and notably stepped up versus Miami when Fair only scored 11 points.

In total, she also shot 17/32 (53%) from the field, 5/12 (42%) from three and 11/13 (85%) from the free throw line this past week.

With March approaching fast, it’s a good time to see Woolley produce as well as she did on offense.

With that said, it’s hard to not give a slight nod to Fair. She easily had the best single-game performance this past week for the Orange (33 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals versus UVA, which certainly won her some praise from the national media).

TNIAAM Player of the Week tracker: Dyaisha Fair x8, Georgia Woolley x3, Alyssa Latham x2, Alaina Rice x2, Saniaa Wilson x1, Sophie Burrows x1, Kyra Wood x1, Kennedi Perkins x1

Bracketology and AP Poll Update

Note: Latest projections from ESPN’s Charlie Creme updated as of Tuesday, February 20.

As mentioned earlier, Syracuse jumped from a five-seed to a four-seed in ESPN’s latest bracketology update just days after the NCAA tournament selection committee revealed its top-16 teams on Thursday. The Orange’s security as a four-seed is very much razor thin, as ESPN’s Charlie Creme noted in his update — Syracuse took the No. 16 and final spot after #14 Indiana lost by 20 points to Illinois (13-12, 7-8) on the road.

“For now, the Orange take the Hoosiers’ spot at No. 16, and Syracuse, NC State and Oregon State — teams nowhere near the top 16 in November — would be hosting NCAA tournament games if the season ended today,” Creme wrote on Tuesday morning.

For the second straight week, the Orange also moved up multiple spots in the AP poll. Syracuse currently sits at No. 17 in this week’s poll, which is third-highest among all teams in the ACC (and behind #6 NC State and #12 Virginia Tech). Syracuse remains locked in at No. 39 in the NET.

ACC power rankings and a look around the conference

Note: All team records include games from up to and including Tuesday, February 20.

Here are the updated standings in the ACC as of Tuesday night:

Here are this week’s ACC games with the most stakes for the postseason standings:

• #6 NC State (23-3, 11-3) versus North Carolina (17-9, 9-5) on Thursday (8 pm EST, ACC Network)
• North Carolina (17-9, 9-5) versus #8 Virginia Tech (22-4, 13-2) on Sunday (2 pm EST, ACC Network)
• Miami (16-9, 6-8) versus Clemson (11-15, 4-10) on Sunday (2 pm EST, ACC Network+)
• #6 NC State (23-3, 11-3) versus Duke (16-9, 8-6) on Sunday (5:30 pm EST, ACC Network)