Syracuse coach calls NCAA bracket placement a 'personal attack' after third straight tournament loss to UConn

The UConn women’s basketball Huskies continued their perfect season with a blowout victory, 98-45, over the Syracuse Orange in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday night at the Gampel Pavilion. 

This marked the third straight NCAA Tournament where the Orange’s season ended at the hands of the Huskies, and Syracuse head coach Felisha Legette-Jack let out her frustration with that fact during her post-game press conference. 

The Orange made the tournament in 2021, before Legette-Jack took over the program from Quentin Hillsman, where they lost in similar blowout fashion to the Huskies, 83-47. When Legette-Jack took over and eventually led the Orange to the tournament in 2024, it was a much closer defeat, 72-64, though at the hands of UConn again. 

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Now, in 2026 after going 24-8 during the season, Legette-Jack felt her team deserved a shot elsewhere. But the selection committee that puts together the bracket for the NCAA Tournament had a potential matchup with the Huskies slated at their home court if they both made it out of the first round. 

After doing so, the meeting was set, and the result was ugly as UConn put together a record 31-0 run in the first half, which eventually put the game out of reach before the third quarter begun. It was a 65-12 halftime score, and Huskies legendary head coach Geno Auriemma eased off the gas pedal with his starters in the second half. 

So, Legette-Jack voiced her frustrations in a strong opening statement.

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"For us and what we’ve done, our body of work, to have to come to play the best team in the country. Geno has this thing going, and I love what he’s done. But we, I thought, deserved more respect after being in this business for 37 years. To have to come and be in this particular bracket every freaking year is unacceptable. It’s wrong," she said. 

Legette-Jack even wondered if someone within the selection committee has a gripe with her considering one of her previous head coaching stops at Buffalo saw a loss to UConn in the Sweet 16 of the 2019 tournament. 

"If you’re on the committee, and you’ve been around for more than a year or two – five to 10, 15 years – you understand what that looks like," she continued. "I’ve been on those committees to see how it’s done, how you can put people on different lines. Put us on the 10 line. But for us to continue to come to Connecticut, year after year after year is, to me, a personal attack. Because I just think we’re way better than what we performed today. But I think what you’re going to notice with everybody that comes through Geno and UConn is going to get the wrath of what they can bring. 

"I just know this team right here had a strong chance of getting beyond this particular level."

Legette-Jack said she hopes she is "not disrespecting anyone," or "bringing shame to Syracuse like crying [over] spilled milk."

"But, after a while, I’ve never said anything in this kind of light before. … I just want my people that’s in my locker room to have a fighting chance. I’m grateful to be in the NCAA Tournament from where we’ve come from, but I think we’ve earned the right to go anywhere outside of a four-hour radius. That’s all I have," she ended. 

The NCAA Tournament brackets are made by selecting 68 teams, seeding them from numbers one through 16 per region, and then placing them with a reasonable competitive balance in mind for the four regions. 

As the selection committee goes through the steps, geography plays a vital role in where teams end up on the bracket if selected. The committee looks to place teams in proximity of their first-round matchups. And unlike the men’s tournament, the top 16 seeds host the first- and second-round games, which means either their home arena or a nearby site. 

Legette-Jack suggests her Orange squad could’ve been placed elsewhere, but they made the familiar ride to Storrs, Connecticut, to face this NCAA Tournament favorite, and the result wasn’t what they had hoped. 

Azzi Fudd, playing in her final home game, matched a career-high 34 points, tallying eight three-pointers made in the win that sent the Huskies to the Sweet 16 for the 32nd consecutive time. 

The Huskies are set to face the UNC Tar Heels in the Sweet 16, marking only the second time they’ve faced each other in history in this tournament. 

The regional finals for this year’s women’s tournament will be held at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, and Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. 

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