SYRACUSE -- The NCAA Selection Committee decided Syracuse basketball's run in the Big East tournament was impressive enough to grant the Orange a 4-seed in the NCAA tournament.
Syracuse is matched up with Montana, the 13-seed from the Big Sky Conference in the East bracket. SU and Montana are scheduled to play in San Jose, California on Thursday, with tipoff coming around 10 p.m on TruTv.
The Montana Grizzlies (25-6) (9-1) defeated Weber State 67-64 to win the Big Sky Championship, earning them an automatic bid into the Big Dance. While Mathias Ward is listed as their leading scorer, he is out for the season with a foot injury he suffered in February. Kareem Jamar is next on the team with 14 points per game. Montana does have one of the best shooting percentages in the nation at 47 percent, which makes them 23rd in the country in field goal percentage.
"We're looking forward to this tournament, we know that Montana is a very good team," SU head coach Jim Boeheim says. "We're in the process of finding more about them, we'll see tapes on them, certainly by tomorrow."
Boeheim admitted that the Grizzlies was one of the few teams he had not seen play this season, but is encouraged by SU's success in the Big East Tournament going forward.
