The Syracuse Orange are in uncharted waters for the program, participating in the “First Four” for the first time.
When the NCAA Tournament expanded to 68 teams back in 2011, it brought three new “play-in games” in addition to the one it already had in place for the final two 16-seeds. One of those new games was between 16-seeds as well. The other two are contested between the four lowest-ranked at-large teams in the field.
Of late, those have been 11-seeds. Since 2015 and including this year, every at-large team in the First Four has been an 11.