The Orange stays ranked heading into their final game of the regular season.
For the seventh time this season, the Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team (23-5, 13-4) remains ranked in the AP Top-25 Poll as we approach the end of the 2023-2024 regular season and the start of the postseason.
Despite a tough stretch this past week versus Duke and Pittsburgh, Syracuse only dropped two spots (from No. 17 to No. 19) in the latest AP poll. This is the third consecutive AP poll in which the Orange rank in the top-20, and Syracuse will look to stay at least in the top-25 with March approaching.
Syracuse sits with the fourth-best ranking in the Top-25 out of all the ACC teams, with #5 Virginia Tech, #12 NC State and (wait for it…) #17 Notre Dame out in front of the Orange currently. #22 Louisville also made this week’s Top-25 while Duke, North Carolina and Florida State also received votes.
Watch the highlights from today’s come from behind win over Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/eCF5vEFplF
— Syracuse Women’s Basketball (@CuseWBB) February 25, 2024
(Writer’s note: looking at the current AP top 25 exclusively from the lens of the Orange, the only ranking where there might be some confusion is Notre Dame being two spots ahead of Syracuse. The Orange notably swept the ranked Fighting Irish for the first time in program history, including the team’s first win in South Bend ever. On the other hand, Notre Dame’s NET ranking (10th in the NCAA) ranks much higher compared to Syracuse (#43). Feel free to share your thoughts on if you agree with that or not.)
Even with the slight drop in this recent poll, Syracuse is still sitting in pretty good shape as the regular season starts to wind down. On Sunday night, the Orange officially locked in a double-bye for the 2024 ACC Tournament. SU is also still holding on strong as a five-seed in ESPN’s latest bracketology update, with a chance to lock in a top-16 seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament still in play.
Up next for the #19 Orange is their final game of the regular season versus #12 NC State in Raleigh on Thursday, a matchup which could have some interesting seeding implications for the ACC Tournament.