Syracuse Men and Women Headed To NCAA Final Four

You could argue over whose incredible late season surge has been more surprising or impressive, but the Syracuse Orange men's and women's basketball teams are each headed to the Final Four in their respective NCAA Tournaments.

The men punched their ticket on Sunday with a dramatic late-game rally after trailing by as many as 16 in the second half. Down 56-43 with just 8:30 remaining, Cuse reeled-off a 21-2 run over the next five minutes to cruise past the No.1-seeded Virginia Cavaliers by a final of 68-62. During that rally, Malachi Richardson tallied 12 of those 21 points, including a pair of 3-pointers and a layup that gave Syracuse it's first lead of the second half.

Tyler Lydon made three 3-pointers (including one shoe-less) to finish with eleven. Michael Gbinije also had eleven while Tyler Roberson scored ten and snatched eight rebounds.

The men will play in the national semi-finals next Saturday (4/2) and play an ACC foe, either Notre Dame or North Carolina.

Meanwhile, the Syracuse women - a four seed - will make their first trip to the Final Four in program history after they too slayed a tournament No.1 seed this weekend. Lead by 26 points on Friday from Alexis Peterson, the lady Orange dumped South Carolina 80-72, setting up Sunday's meeting against (7) Tennessee. Peterson again went off, finishing with 29 points, as Cuse upended the Lady-Vols 89-67.

The Orange women will play Washington, a seven seed, next Sunday (4/3) in their national semi-final.