Sunday night was a tale of two emotions for Syracuse women's basketball fans.

On one hand, Syracuse learned it was going back to the NCAA Tournament after a 23-8 season, which was a major improvement over the 12-18 from 2024-25.

On the other hand, SU will have to play in that tournament without star guard Dominique Darius, who will miss the tournament with injury.

Per reporter Ashley Wenskoski on social media:

NEW: Head coach Felisha Legette-Jack says starting point guard Dominique Darius is out for Syracuse women’s basketball in the NCAA Tournament

She will have surgery on her hand on Wednesday. Big loss for the Orange.

Darius was injured in the second half of the Orange's Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament win against California and did not play in the team's quarterfinal loss against Louisville. 

The daughter of former Syracuse defensive back and NFL standout Donovin Darius, Dominique is a senior transfer from USC.

She actually played her first three seasons at UCLA, averaging as many as 5.4 ppg in her sophomore year. She averaged 2.5 ppg in her fourth season at USC before coming to Central New York. With the Orange, she took off in a big way, averaging 12.6 ppg, 3.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists. She shot 39.8 percent from the floor in 25.7 minutes per game.

The Orange were given a No. 9 seed, and they will meet No. 8 Iowa State in the first round. The Orange are in the same four-team pod as No. 1 UConn, who earned the top overall seed in the tournament.

If Syracuse wins, it will almost assuredly play Connecticut (34-0), who eliminated the Orange in the 2024 event. They also beat Syracuse in the 2016 national title game.

--The Syracuse men's basketball team fired head coach Adrian Autry earlier this week and are actively searching for his replacement. Several of the potential candidates for the SU job are also playing in the NCAA Tournament. Here's what the paths for those coaches and teams look like.

--With Autry and his entire staff fired, we took a look at three major questions for the Syracuse program (and the athletic administration) moving forward.

--One of those job candidates is former SU guard Gerry McNamara, currently the head coach at Siena. He reportedly has already interviewed for one job within the ACC. 

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