SYRACUSE — Syracuse women’s basketball coach Quentin Hillsman faces a stiff challenge — what to do for an encore. The answer is quite simple.

“The NCAA tournament is a standard. We have to get there yearly,” said Hillsman, who begins his third year with lofty expectations after being named co-Big East coach of the year in 2007-08.

“That has to be our goal, to get there, advance and hopefully win six (games) and win one (national championship). It’s just important for us as a team. That has to be our goal.”

Hillsman is coming off a season in which he orchestrated a dramatic turnaround in a program that had been a perennial loser. Syracuse went from 9-20 and 3-13 in the Big East in his rookie season to 22-9 and 10-6 in the conference in 2007-08, the second-best turnaround in the nation.

The Orange won a school-record 12 games in a row, achieved the school’s first national ranking, and made the NCAA tournament for only the fourth time in the program’s 37-year history.

And they closed the regular season with their biggest win of the year — 73-51 over No. 14 West Virginia. “We want a national championship. Until we get there, we’ll work as hard as anybody else,” said guard Erica Morrow, who started and averaged 13.9 points as a freshman. “We’re a competitive team. I feel to say you want anything less would shortchange us. We’re at a level where we can make statements like that.”

Despite the sudden turnaround last season, the Orange were upset by South Florida in the first round of the Big East tournament and then lost to Hartford, 59-55, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Hillsman lost a strong rebounder in forward Fantasia Goodwin and a top shot blocker in center Vaida Sipaviciute, but he welcomes his second straight Top 15 recruiting class: Tyler Ash, a 6-foot-2 guard from nearby Liverpool High School; Shakeya Leary, a 6-3 forward from Murry Bergtraum High School in New York City; Lynnae Lampkins, a 5-7 guard from Upper Marlboro, Md.; Troya Berry, a 6-2 power forward from Flint, Mich.; JUCO transfer Lynnise Nixon of Philadelphia, a graduate of Monroe Community College; and Juanita Ward, who starred in junior college at Odessa, Texas.

Syracuse also returns three other starters in guards Tasha Harris (120 assists) and Chandrea Jones (15.1 ppg), and forward Nicole Michael (11.6 ppg and 7.4 rebounds), as well as key reserves Vionca Murray and Marisa Gobuty.

Cintia Johnson will not return for her senior season, electing instead to concentrate on school and the birth of her first child. Her departure reduces the number of available players from 15 to 11 for the start of the season Nov. 14 at Siena. Nixon tore her left Achilles tendon and is feared lost for the season, and Hillsman said Leary and Lampkins were awaiting academic clearance and won’t be on campus until second semester, when they will become eligible to play right away.

Although Big East coaches picked Syracuse to finish sixth in the powerful conference, the Orange were likely to get strong consideration in AP’s preseason poll.

The players aren’t concerned about any of that.

“I don’t think ranking really matters,” Michael said. “This is a new year. We just have to play our game.”

“If we can stay healthy and keep our team together and stay focused, I think that we have a chance to be pretty good,” Hillsman said.

“The attention is good for our program, it’s good for our players. I think it makes them understand how relevant they are in women’s basketball and how relevant they are in the country.”