Last year, Syracuse went into its final game needing a win to reach the Big East tournament, but came up five points short in a 59-54 loss against Cincinnati. The loss placed the Orange 13th in the Big East, resulting in no postseason play and an offseason of frustration.

‘I didn’t watch (the Big East tournament) at all. You don’t want to watch stuff like that,’ senior Fantasia Goodwin said. ‘I mean, because we knew the opportunity we had that last game. If we would have won that last game we would have been in it; it was really depressing to watch.’

This season ended much differently for the Orange as it devoured No. 13 West Virginia, 73-51, in its final game on Monday. Goodwin won’t be watching the tournament because she and her team will be participating in it. Syracuse, the sixth seed in the Big East tournament will play Saturday night at 8 p.m. when it faces the 11th seed South Florida at Hartford, Conn.

It’s the first time in three years the Orange has made the tournament. Last year Nicole Michael got a taste of the tournament when she went to Hartford to receive regular- season awards. She sat with head coach Quentin Hillsman on the sideline, but it just didn’t feel right.

‘It was cool to hang out with coach, but it was just weird seeing other teams there with their teammates, I was missing my teammates and wishing they were there,’ Michael said. ‘I saw some of my friends play; I felt like I was more of a supporter instead of being a player there.’

Michael will make the trip this year with her team, to play with a young Syracuse team tasting its first postseason. Only seniors Vaida Sipaviciute and Tracy Harbut have ever stepped on the court for a postseason game.

When a team hasn’t qualified for the tournament in a while, a common trap is it becomes content with just making the tournament. This is not a worry for Hillsman, though.

‘Our goal has always been to win every tournament that we have been in,’ Hillsman said. ‘So we’re not going to be satisfied with just being there. We understand what it means to be there, we understand what it took to get there but we aren’t going to be satisfied unless we win the thing.’

The Big East has four teams ranked in the top 15 and has eight teams currently receiving votes in the AP Top 25 poll. So winning the tournament won’t be easy. But it does offer opportunities for Syracuse to pad its already impressive resume for the NCAA Tournament, which the Orange is well aware of.

Even with 22 wins, including 10 in the Big East, and a 22-point win over a top 15 team to end the season, Hillsman still doesn’t believe his team is a lock for the field of 64.

‘I think we still have to win some games,’ Hillsman said. ‘We wouldn’t want to leave a lot of things to chance. It’s hard when you have to sit there on Selection Monday and just look and wait for your name to hopefully pop up. I think if we win a couple of games in this tournament I think it definitely helps us being a little more sure about being in the NCAA Tournament.’

The experts don’t necessarily agree with Hillsman’s take on his team. Charlie Creme, ESPN’s women’s bracketology expert, has the Orange as a No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament and said SU not making it would defy the laws of physics.

‘All the Big East teams I have in the field are in the position where I don’t really see them falling out,’ Creme said. ‘Honestly, it would have to take the Earth moving in a way we’ve never seen it before for any of those teams not to make it.’

Whether the Orange has everything wrapped up for the NCAA Tournament or it needs a few wins to put the final touches on its resume, there are still games left on the schedule. And as long as there are games left on the schedule, Syracuse will want to win them.

‘We always got to win. What are you talking about?’ Goodwin interrupted when asked about the Big East games not meaning anything. ‘A game’s a game, we’re trying to take this whole thing.’

mibonner@syr.edu

Published on March 5, 2008 at 12:00 pm