How the expanded NCAA tournament field will impact Syracuse

Welcome to the field of 76. Yes, it’s weird. Yes, it feels unnecessary. And yes, it could benefit Syracuse.

The NCAA announced on Thursday that the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments would be expanding from 68 teams to 76 teams. Seven of the eight new spots will go to at-large teams. The remaining spot will be an automatic qualifier for the new-look PAC-12.

Theoretically, the spots could go to anyone, but more often than not, they will go to Power 5 (including the Big East here) conference teams. Of the first four teams left out of the 2026 bracket, two came from the SEC and one was from the Big Ten.

While Syracuse will unquestionably have to raise its level, this opens the door for them to get into the tournament even if they struggle to play much better than .500 basketball in the ACC. That’s a baseline the Orange have failed to reach the past two seasons.

However, had the Big Dance included 76 teams in 2023-24, Adrian Autry’s first as head coach, ‘Cuse would have at least been on the bubble as a 20-12 team with a winning record in the ACC. They certainly would have been in back in 2017, when the Orange were shockingly left out despite six Top-50 RPI wins that season.

The outlook still doesn't look good for the Orange at the moment

While the pathway is easier, the pressure for Gerry McNamara to reach the tournament in his first season just went up a notch. For context, Joe Lunardi does not have the Orange anywhere in his newly expanded Bracketology. Neither does CBS Sports. On the women's side, Felisha Legette-Jack's squad was projected to make the field before the expansion was announced, so nothing should change there.

I understand it is Gerry McNamara’s first year and the men's program is going to take more than one offseason to revive, but if ‘Cuse cannot find a way into the tournament when the committee is practically begging to let in mediocre teams from the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten and SEC, the season will absolutely be chalked up to a failure.

Fair or not, the bar to clear was just lowered. The expectations of Syracuse fans were not. The program is already in the midst of its longest tournament drought since the Nixon administration. McNamara will not be fired if the Orange fail to go dancing, but the restlessness in Central New York will reach a fever pitch. Fans are not used to March Madness without ‘Cuse in it. Many were still getting used to the Orange not being a perennial title contender before this most recent run of mediocrity.

The opportunity appears there for an NCAA berth

It’s not that Syracuse does not have enough talent on the roster heading into this season. Bart Torvik has the Orange at 53rd in his latest projections for the upcoming season. Evan Miya ranks Syracuse’s roster between 46th and 55th in the country. In a world where there are now 44 at-large spots, excuses will be hard to come by.

The ACC looks strong once again, with five teams regularly featuring early Top 25 rankings. Both ESPN and CBS Sports have eight ACC teams in the projected field right now. Posting a winning record in conference play should go a long way. Syracuse’s non-conference schedule is still being finalized, but reports indicate they will play 5 of their 14 non-conference contests against Power 5 teams. Indiana and Providence have been confirmed. The Orange will also face an SEC opponent in the annual ACC/SEC challenge.

We are entering a new age for college basketball. The opportunity is there for Gerry McNamara to bring March Madness back to Syracuse. Now, they need to take it.

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