ACC, Big10, Ivy in 2024

[August]

The ACC and B10 are going to be even better in 2024. Each will have (4) in the Tournament (UNC, Rutgers, Ohio State OUT) and the Ivies will have (2) Yale and Harvard. There is a ton of talent returning, a ton of talent on the benches, and a ton of portal-talent ready to bolster these programs. Below are conference predictions with (weaknesses) in parenthesis.

ACC:

Notre Dame (Defense)
UVA (FO/SSDM/Defense)
Syracuse (SSDM/Goal/FO/Defense)
Duke (Goalie/Midfield/Defense)
UNC- Out

Notes: Notre Dame best pre-season team. UVA needs a Fogo and some defensive replacements/improvements. Syracuse will need to score 16+goals per game. Duke needs to get its young players experience- fast. UNC will be terrible again.

Big Ten:

Hopkins (Defense)
Penn State (Midfield)
Maryland (Defense)
Michigan (Defense)
Rutgers- Out
Ohio State- Out

Notes: Hopkins with year 4 under Milliman and all its returners will be Top-Tier. Penn State loses little and returns a lot. Maryland, if healthy, will be dominant. Michigan will not have the same success and needs 2 OOC wins against an ACC or Top-20s. Rutgers will need to rebuild and find athleticism. OSU as a program is on the ropes.

Ivy:

Yale (Goalie/FO)
Harvard (Goalie/FO/SSDM)
Cornell- Out
Princeton- Out
Penn- Out
Brown- Out
Dartmouth- Out

Notes: Yale will be experienced and tough. Harvard will be coming into its prime with senior heavy class. The rest of the Ivy will be looking to play spoiler with youth and hope.

[44WeWantMore]

Great analysis.

I would add Goal and Face-Off to Defense as issues JHU needs to address to compete.
They will lose a lot of ground balls, not only on defense. but also on face-off scrums.
This year, their ground ball performance made their face-off look better than it really was.

[HopFan16]

Why is defense a "weakness" for JHU? They finished like 10th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency. It has gotten better every year under Koesterer and returns the vast majority of pieces. Calling it a weakness or issue doesn't make any sense at all, sorry

[coda]

How is Maryland dominant? We all saw Maryland's defense after they lost Ajax. They get Ajax back, but they lose Makar. Offense was hit or miss all season and struggled in the 6 v 6. Maryland certainly has the talent to compete, but they will need a lot of a growing to get there.

Penn State: Their top 3 scores are listed as Grad Students (Malone, Traynor, and Minkoff). Their best defender was listed as a Senior and appears to have suffered an ACL injury. No idea how Posey will return or even if he will.

Michigan: I havent seen Zawaada say he is returning, but if he does Michigan should bring back an offense that will be expected to be top 5. They bring back arguably the best FOGO in the country. Only Clay and Darby are listed as grad students. Darby was their best defender, but this was never a defensive team. The biggest reason for the late season surge on defense was the goalie change. Michigan brings back the vast majority of their team.

Hopkins: I believe they lose Degnon and Mazzone (both listed as Grad students). Both will tough to replace.

Hard to believe anyone would talk about Yale and not mention the defensive issues.

[cuseman4133]

How is goaltending a weakness for Cuse with Will Mark coming back?

[coda]

How is goaltending a weakness for Cuse with Will Mark coming back?

Agree. I think their defense is a bit under-rated. That isnt to say it was great or even good, but their biggest issue was possessions this season. Offense will be very good next year. They really need to figure out the X.

[AreaLax]

How is Maryland dominant? We all saw Maryland's defense after they lost Ajax. They get Ajax back, but they lose Makar. Offense was hit or miss all season and struggled in the 6 v 6. Maryland certainly has the talent to compete, but they will need a lot of a growing to get there.

Penn State: Their top 3 scores are listed as Grad Students (Malone, Traynor, and Minkoff). Their best defender was listed as a Senior and appears to have suffered an ACL injury. No idea how Posey will return or even if he will.

Michigan: I havent seen Zawaada say he is returning, but if he does Michigan should bring back an offense that will be expected to be top 5. They bring back arguably the best FOGO in the country. Only Clay and Darby are listed as grad students. Darby was their best defender, but this was never a defensive team. The biggest reason for the late season surge on defense was the goalie change. Michigan brings back the vast majority of their team.

Hopkins: I believe they lose Degnon and Mazzone (both listed as Grad students). Both will tough to replace.

Hard to believe anyone would talk about Yale and not mention the defensive issues.

Zawaada Is coming back

[JeremyCuse]

How is goaltending a weakness for Cuse with Will Mark coming back?

Agree. I think their defense is a bit under-rated. That isnt to say it was great or even good, but their biggest issue was possessions this season. Offense will be very good next year. They really need to figure out the X.

I think the faceoff issue will be fixed via the portal and the two incoming X guys (both having monster seasons though D1 is a whole different universe). Defensively I think your right, while they were far from good and definitely need significant improvement, to often they got victimized when SU woudl lose 4, 5, 6, + faceoffs in a row and the dame broke. Still SSDM remains a major concern and Petro's system still has the team confused far to often.

[44WeWantMore]

Why is defense a "weakness" for JHU? They finished like 10th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency. It has gotten better every year under Koesterer and returns the vast majority of pieces. Calling it a weakness or issue doesn't make any sense at all, sorry

Don't the Jays lose Mazzone? I know it is a team sport, but I would argue that he was the single biggest difference-maker this year over last.

[coda]

How is goaltending a weakness for Cuse with Will Mark coming back?

Agree. I think their defense is a bit under-rated. That isnt to say it was great or even good, but their biggest issue was possessions this season. Offense will be very good next year. They really need to figure out the X.

I think the faceoff issue will be fixed via the portal and the two incoming X guys (both having monster seasons though D1 is a whole different universe). Defensively I think your right, while they were far from good and definitely need significant improvement, to often they got victimized when SU woudl lose 4, 5, 6, + faceoffs in a row and the dame broke. Still SSDM remains a major concern and Petro's system still has the team confused far to often.

Just brought in the best 2-way Middie in the portal, so that is going to help.

[GaitsRightHand]

How is Maryland dominant? We all saw Maryland's defense after they lost Ajax. They get Ajax back, but they lose Makar. Offense was hit or miss all season and struggled in the 6 v 6. Maryland certainly has the talent to compete, but they will need a lot of a growing to get there.

Penn State: Their top 3 scores are listed as Grad Students (Malone, Traynor, and Minkoff). Their best defender was listed as a Senior and appears to have suffered an ACL injury. No idea how Posey will return or even if he will.

Michigan: I havent seen Zawaada say he is returning, but if he does Michigan should bring back an offense that will be expected to be top 5. They bring back arguably the best FOGO in the country. Only Clay and Darby are listed as grad students. Darby was their best defender, but this was never a defensive team. The biggest reason for the late season surge on defense was the goalie change. Michigan brings back the vast majority of their team.

Hopkins: I believe they lose Degnon and Mazzone (both listed as Grad students). Both will tough to replace.

Hard to believe anyone would talk about Yale and not mention the defensive issues.

Zawaada Is coming back

Where has this been said? Was told 50/50 chance of him coming back. But, was also told that after the UM end of the year meeting, the seniors were released and he left with them. One senior who is 100% staying for their 5th year, stayed in the meeting.

[JeremyCuse]

How is goaltending a weakness for Cuse with Will Mark coming back?

Agree. I think their defense is a bit under-rated. That isnt to say it was great or even good, but their biggest issue was possessions this season. Offense will be very good next year. They really need to figure out the X.

I think the faceoff issue will be fixed via the portal and the two incoming X guys (both having monster seasons though D1 is a whole different universe). Defensively I think your right, while they were far from good and definitely need significant improvement, to often they got victimized when SU woudl lose 4, 5, 6, + faceoffs in a row and the dame broke. Still SSDM remains a major concern and Petro's system still has the team confused far to often.

Just brought in the best 2-way Middie in the portal, so that is going to help.

For Sure, Stevens probably won't play D-mid regularly but he's so good as an all around player that I assume SU will try and play him there against certain teams, to valuable not to.

[coda]

Funny, I was talking about English. He was 3rd Team AA in the preseason. That kind of highlights the improvement for Cuse at that position, if you can argue about improving it with 2 players.

[jrn19]

Maryland’s defense after they lost Ajax held Rutgers to 11 goals, Hopkins to 9, and then Ruppel made 13 saves in their final two games. Their defense was Top 10 throughout the entire season and has a First Team AA, Schaller who stepped in for Zapitello shut down an AA level guy in Angelus and will be a sophomore, Burlace will be back as their #3, and they go from a 48% goalie to a guy who was Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament last year. They return most of their rope unit, added Alviti from the portal…I’d venture a guess their defense will be pretty damn solid.

Their offense struggled because they lost their Top 6 scorers from last year. They return >70% of their scoring from this year; get back Malever and by the end of the year their 3 best players were all freshmen. They’ll be sophomores. The team basically had 1 dodging threat for most of the year. By the end they had 2 with Erksa and Spanos. Next year they should have 4 with Erksa, Spanos, Malever, and Whittier.

I don’t know if they’ll be “dominant”, but it’s really easy to see them being a Top 5 team again. They would have been a Quarterfinal team if their goalie makes more than 5 saves in a first round game. They lost their Top 6 scorers from last year, goalie, #1 defender and were still a 4 seed in the tournament. I think it’s safe to say they’ll be very good.

[HopFan16]

Why is defense a "weakness" for JHU? They finished like 10th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency. It has gotten better every year under Koesterer and returns the vast majority of pieces. Calling it a weakness or issue doesn't make any sense at all, sorry

Don't the Jays lose Mazzone? I know it is a team sport, but I would argue that he was the single biggest difference-maker this year over last.

Yes and it's a big loss but the defense isn't just going to go from a strength to a "weakness" because they lose one player. The entire rest of the defense returns (2 starting close defensemen, 3 LSMs, 4 SSDMs) which includes two other All-Americans, and they're also bringing in several top recruits. Goalie is definitely a situation to monitor but the evidence is on the side of the unit continuing to be strong as a whole. If Mazzone is enough to drop them into "weakness" category then you have to say the same thing for Maryland's defense losing Makar or Virginia's losing Saustad, or basically any unit in the country who loses a single player even when the body of evidence suggests it's still a solid group with good coaching.

[AreaLax]

How is Maryland dominant? We all saw Maryland's defense after they lost Ajax. They get Ajax back, but they lose Makar. Offense was hit or miss all season and struggled in the 6 v 6. Maryland certainly has the talent to compete, but they will need a lot of a growing to get there.

Penn State: Their top 3 scores are listed as Grad Students (Malone, Traynor, and Minkoff). Their best defender was listed as a Senior and appears to have suffered an ACL injury. No idea how Posey will return or even if he will.

Michigan: I havent seen Zawaada say he is returning, but if he does Michigan should bring back an offense that will be expected to be top 5. They bring back arguably the best FOGO in the country. Only Clay and Darby are listed as grad students. Darby was their best defender, but this was never a defensive team. The biggest reason for the late season surge on defense was the goalie change. Michigan brings back the vast majority of their team.

Hopkins: I believe they lose Degnon and Mazzone (both listed as Grad students). Both will tough to replace.

Hard to believe anyone would talk about Yale and not mention the defensive issues.

Zawaada Is coming back

Where has this been said? Was told 50/50 chance of him coming back. But, was also told that after the UM end of the year meeting, the seniors were released and he left with them. One senior who is 100% staying for their 5th year, stayed in the meeting.

PLL Coach Towers did a podcast and he said he contacted Michigan to see what his an availability was and was told he was coming back. This was before their draft

[coda]

Maryland’s defense after they lost Ajax held Rutgers to 11 goals, Hopkins to 9, and then Ruppel made 13 saves in their final two games. Their defense was Top 10 throughout the entire season and has a First Team AA, Schaller who stepped in for Zapitello shut down an AA level guy in Angelus and will be a sophomore, Burlace will be back as their #3, and they go from a 48% goalie to a guy who was Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament last year. They return most of their rope unit, added Alviti from the portal…I’d venture a guess their defense will be pretty damn solid.

Their offense struggled because they lost their Top 6 scorers from last year. They return >70% of their scoring from this year; get back Malever and by the end of the year their 3 best players were all freshmen. They’ll be sophomores. The team basically had 1 dodging threat for most of the year. By the end they had 2 with Erksa and Spanos. Next year they should have 4 with Erksa, Spanos, Malever, and Whittier.

I don’t know if they’ll be “dominant”, but it’s really easy to see them being a Top 5 team again. They would have been a Quarterfinal team if their goalie makes more than 5 saves in a first round game. They lost their Top 6 scorers from last year, goalie, #1 defender and were still a 4 seed in the tournament. I think it’s safe to say they’ll be very good.

this is cherry picking stats. Forgetting they gave up 14 to Michigan and 16 to Army. Giving up 11 to a Rutgers team that was struggling down the stretch is not a great job, especially when face-offs are slanted 20-7. Great result vs Hopkins, but that is one out of the last 4 games the defense played well

Everyone knows the offense was a work in progress given how many people the lost. That was the whole point. They have the talent, but it is still a question mark if they can consistently put it together in 2024.

[coda]

How is Maryland dominant? We all saw Maryland's defense after they lost Ajax. They get Ajax back, but they lose Makar. Offense was hit or miss all season and struggled in the 6 v 6. Maryland certainly has the talent to compete, but they will need a lot of a growing to get there.

Penn State: Their top 3 scores are listed as Grad Students (Malone, Traynor, and Minkoff). Their best defender was listed as a Senior and appears to have suffered an ACL injury. No idea how Posey will return or even if he will.

Michigan: I havent seen Zawaada say he is returning, but if he does Michigan should bring back an offense that will be expected to be top 5. They bring back arguably the best FOGO in the country. Only Clay and Darby are listed as grad students. Darby was their best defender, but this was never a defensive team. The biggest reason for the late season surge on defense was the goalie change. Michigan brings back the vast majority of their team.

Hopkins: I believe they lose Degnon and Mazzone (both listed as Grad students). Both will tough to replace.

Hard to believe anyone would talk about Yale and not mention the defensive issues.

Zawaada Is coming back

Where has this been said? Was told 50/50 chance of him coming back. But, was also told that after the UM end of the year meeting, the seniors were released and he left with them. One senior who is 100% staying for their 5th year, stayed in the meeting.

PLL Coach Towers did a podcast and he said he contacted Michigan to see what his an availability was and was told he was coming back. This was before their draft

Thank you, I missed that

[MDlaxfan76]

I'm perplexed by the Ivy analysis.

Can anyone explain that?

[Finster]

How is goaltending a weakness for Cuse with Will Mark coming back?

Agree. I think their defense is a bit under-rated. That isnt to say it was great or even good, but their biggest issue was possessions this season. Offense will be very good next year. They really need to figure out the X.

August might want to edit his Syracuse ‘weaknesses’. If there’s one position which is unarguably excellent, it’s goal.