Syracuse basketball women’s picked for Final Four, Kiara Lewis top 25

The pre-season accolades continue to pour in for the Syracuse basketball women’s squad.

As the Syracuse basketball women’s team prepares for its 2020-21 season opener this coming Sunday afternoon at Stony Brook, the Orange is receiving Final Four buzz from at least one national analyst.

LaChina Robinson, an ESPN analyst, is picking the ‘Cuse to reach the 2021 Final Four, along with traditional women’s heavyweights Connecticut, Louisville and South Carolina.

Should the Orange journey to the national semi-finals or beyond next spring, it would mark a return trip to the Final Four after the Syracuse basketball women’s team advanced to the 2016 NCAA Tournament title game, where the ‘Cuse fell to UConn.

Robinson had a ton of positive things to say about the Orange. She noted the remarkable return of fifth-year point guard Tiana Mangakahia, who battled Stage 2 breast cancer a season ago. Mangakahia, writes Robinson, “is the story of the year in our sport.”

The ‘Cuse also brings back four of five starters in 2020-21, the team has a deep bench, and the Orange owns a top-five recruiting class within the 2020 cycle.

"Adds Robinson, “With Mangakahia’s vision and passing ability, everyone on her team becomes a bigger scoring threat. The explosive Kiara Lewis was the only Syracuse player who averaged in double figures last season and can now move to the wing to focus on getting buckets.”"

Charlie Creme, an ESPN.com bracketologist, writes of Mangakahia in the same story, “Syracuse’s season has plenty of promise and it grows exponentially if Mangakahia returns to her near All-American form.”

The Syracuse basketball women’s squad enters 2020-21 with quite lofty national expectations.

In a separate piece, ESPN has ranked the best 25 players across the country in women’s college basketball, and redshirt senior guard Lewis is featured.

She averaged 17.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists per contest a stanza ago. The ESPN article said of her, “Lewis was forced to do much of the heavy lifting for the Orange a year ago, yet she thrived under difficult circumstances. This season the averages might not be as high, but Lewis could be more efficient now that she has more help.”