Syracuse basketball head coach Felisha Legette-Jack didn't hold back when she ripped the NCAA Division I women's basketball committee for what she believes is her program not being given enough respect.
By that, Legette-Jack thinks it's "unfair," "unacceptable" and "wrong" that the Orange is frequently placed in UConn's bracket of the NCAA Tournament. The 'Cuse head coach made these remarks in her post-game press conference on Monday evening after the No. 9 seed Syracuse fell by a large margin, 98-45, to No. 1 seed Connecticut, which is the defending national champion and also the No. 1 overall seed in this year's Big Dance.
In SU's seven most recent NCAA Tournament appearances, the Orange has played the Huskies in five of those Big Dances, including several games on UConn's home court at the Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn. When she was still the head coach at Buffalo, Legette-Jack's Bulls squad also fell to Connecticut in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Felisha Legette-Jack shredded the NCAA Tournament women's basketball selection committee.
"For us to do what we've done to continuously have to come to UConn, and every single school that I go to, from Buffalo to (Syracuse), it's unfair to the young people," Legette-Jack said in her post-game presser. "We, I thought, deserved a little more respect."
The Orange (24-9 overall) was projected to finish No. 13 in the Atlantic Coast Conference during the 2025-26 season, but the 'Cuse ended up in a tie for No. 5 in the league standings. Syracuse women's basketball did struggle in quadrant-one games, and its NCAA NET ranking of No. 39 is solid but not great.
Ahead of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, most bracketologists had the 'Cuse forecast as a No. 8, a No. 9 or a No. 10 seed. So it was likely that the Orange would have had to face a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed in the second round, and that's what transpired, with SU getting the Huskies.
Now, it's a little interesting that Syracuse women's basketball has played UConn in the NCAA Tournament so many times in recent years, although I'm not sure there's a conspiracy surrounding that pattern.
"After being in this business for 37 years, and to have to come and be in this particular bracket every freaking year is unacceptable. It's wrong," Legette-Jack said. "Put us on a 10-line, whatever. But for us to continue to come to Connecticut year after year after year is, to me, it's a personal attack, because I just think that we are way better than what we performed today."