Original Article on The New York Times

When Syracuse and Florida met for the first time on March 3 in Gainesville, Fla., the matchup didnt exactly look like a Final Four preview.The Orange entered the game 1-2 and was coming off back-to-back losses to Virginia and Northwestern. The Gators were 4-1, but failed their only test against a ranked team with an 11-9 loss to North Carolina.Even Michelle Tumolo didnt view the game between talented yet unproven teams early in the season as a preview of championship.No, definitely not the first time, the Syracuse attack said. But going through the playoffs and seeing the seedings, we basically figured if we beat the next two teams wed be seeing them.But since that game, there have been few teams that can claim to have been better than No. ...(read more)