Christmas came early for Bill Fennelly and the Iowa State women's basketball team.
After a 74-67 loss to then-24th-ranked Kansas State in the Big 12 tournament on March 4 left the Cyclones with an 18-12 record (9-9 Big 12), the Iowa State coach didn't know if his team's body of work would be enough to make the NCAA Tournament.
But he felt a huge weight lifted when the Cyclones were announced as a ninth seed in the Bridgeport region in the early moments of the selection show on Monday night.
"I never took my mind off it, as much as I tried," Fennelly told the Des Moines Register. "It's all-consuming to me. Besides Christmas, this is the biggest day of the year for me."
Iowa State will face 21st-ranked and eight-seeded Syracuse on Saturday afternoon at Gamble Pavilion in Storrs, Conn.
Unlike the Cyclones, there wasn't much suspense for the Orange (21-10, 11-5 ACC) about their tournament fate.
Syracuse is one of 14 teams in the country to advance to the second round of the tournament in the previous three seasons.
Of course, last year's run for Syracuse ended in an appearance in the national championship game -- only to suffer an 82-51 loss to No. 1 seed Connecticut.
The Orange were a fourth seed last season but were curiously pegged into an eighth seed this year, which Fennelly called "shocking."
"I was very surprised. I thought we would be a six seed," Syracuse star Alexis Peterson told Syracuse.com.
Syracuse is making its fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and ninth in program history. Additionally, it's the sixth appearance under coach Quentin Hillsman.
The Orange won eight of 10 games before a 68-46 loss to 13th-ranked Duke in the ACC tournament quarterfinals on March 3.
"I'm just happy that we're still playing this time of year, because that's the goal, to be playing in the postseason," Hillsman told Syracuse.com.
Peterson was held to nine points and five assists, unusually low numbers for one of five national finalists for the Nancy Lieberman Award.
Peterson, who averages 23.3 points and 7.1 assists, teamed with Brittney Sykes to forge the nation's top-scoring backcourt. She became the fourth player in Syracuse history to receive All-America honors.
Sykes, meanwhile, averages 19 points and 8.1 rebounds. Bria Day is Syracuse's third-leading scorer at 13.2 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with 9.4 per game.
Iowa State features a trio of double-digit scorers, led by Seanna Johnson (15.6 per game). Johnson is also the team's leading rebounder at 8.1 per game.
Bridget Carleton averages 15.2 points and Jadda Buckley averages 14 points for the Cyclones.
The Cyclones are making their 17th NCAA tournament appearance -- all under Fennelly -- and are one of only 13 teams in the country to land 10 berths in 11 seasons.
Iowa State is one of 23 schools with both its men's and women's hoops teams participating in the tournament.
The winner of Saturday's tilt will face an extremely difficult task in tournament No. 1 seed Connecticut, barring a historic upset loss to 16th-seeded Albany.
But Fennelly insists his team isn't looking that far ahead.
"We're not talking about it; we're not thinking about it," Fennelly told the Des Moines Register. "We've got our hands full with Syracuse."
