Way too early Final Four

[Turnandrake]

Be glad when the extra year grad student COVID years is done.

[coda]

So, ND is not a F4 team in 24’? Why not? Kavanugh, Entemann, along w transfers are back. Didn’t Penn st lose a lot? Army has to score to win in Quarters to advance…. Can they?

Not specific to you but how come I never see anyone mention this kid who had the game winner and is as valuable as anyone IMO incl Entemann and the Kavanaughs. And I think Teflon got credit for the impact of Dobson too much last spring.

https://fightingirish.com/roster/eric-dobson/

7,3,10 on 23 shots vs JHU, UVA & Duke in playoffs. Lefty with a hard shot from midfield. Inherited him on my sons fantasy team and they went as he went generally last year.

This is some of my personal bias showing, but the Kavanaugh's are a big reason Dobson isnt mentioned. When healthy, they tend to completely dominate the ball. The offense can get really stagnant with them.. Thought they are amazing at finding effort goals

But everyone immediately gave Tevlin credit and he’s a fine player but I think giving the kid who came from Cali (good but still learning curve at high end D1 for those kids) and lost his senior year to Covid and really elevated his Soph and Jr years. 34,11 on 32% and he shot 20% as a FR in 20-21. Entemann had a great playoffs but people’s are sleeping on the difference Dobson makes between being “the people’s champ” in 2022 and the champ in 23.

I think you mean Florida, if you are talking about Dobson

[Chousnake]

Think PSU takes a step back. They snuck up on people this past year, and they're asking a lot of Fracyon in the net to cover up their defensive weaknesses. At some point, their average FOGO play will bite them.

JHU brings everyone back and addressed their biggest weakness (goalie) through the portal. They have an identity. They play hard. Melendez is a difference maker.

UVA
ND
MD
JHU

It is really hard to repeat in college lacrosse. Virginia had the COVID year between their titles. Maryland's run in 2022 knocked as much out of them in 2023 as did their injuries. I'm always skeptical of Duke at this point. They've had the best talent in the sport for the last 5 years, but they never seem to have the right pieces in the right places. For Maryland, having Malever back will make the offense look more like 2022 than it did last year. Deep at the midfield. Dodgers everywhere. McNaney back in goal. UVA has the best and most dynamic player in the game in Shelly (sorry, Dukies). If they don't have too much of a drop off at the FOGO position, that offense has too many weapons to fail.

The Ivy League will be a blast to watch all season long. I don't think any Ivy team has the kind roster depth needed for a Final 4 run. So many Ivy teams have great 1-10 players on their rosters but are thin/too inexperienced behind the starters.

The Ivy League can't compete with the B10/ACC? I heard that before. The talk in 2022 was that the Ivy League was finished in D1 lax after the two year COVID shut down and look what happened that season. The top Ivies bring in top recruiting classes year after year. Yes, the grad students/extra year gives the B10 and ACC an advantage, but the Ivy rosters are stacked with talent. I would not be shocked to see two Ivies in the final 8 and one on Memorial Day weekend.

And I can't wait for this extra year of eligibility to be over........

[blue angels]

Think PSU takes a step back. They snuck up on people this past year, and they're asking a lot of Fracyon in the net to cover up their defensive weaknesses. At some point, their average FOGO play will bite them.

JHU brings everyone back and addressed their biggest weakness (goalie) through the portal. They have an identity. They play hard. Melendez is a difference maker.

UVA
ND
MD
JHU

It is really hard to repeat in college lacrosse. Virginia had the COVID year between their titles. Maryland's run in 2022 knocked as much out of them in 2023 as did their injuries. I'm always skeptical of Duke at this point. They've had the best talent in the sport for the last 5 years, but they never seem to have the right pieces in the right places. For Maryland, having Malever back will make the offense look more like 2022 than it did last year. Deep at the midfield. Dodgers everywhere. McNaney back in goal. UVA has the best and most dynamic player in the game in Shelly (sorry, Dukies). If they don't have too much of a drop off at the FOGO position, that offense has too many weapons to fail.

The Ivy League will be a blast to watch all season long. I don't think any Ivy team has the kind roster depth needed for a Final 4 run. So many Ivy teams have great 1-10 players on their rosters but are thin/too inexperienced behind the starters.

The Ivy League can't compete with the B10/ACC? I heard that before. The talk in 2022 was that the Ivy League was finished in D1 lax after the two year COVID shut down and look what happened that season. The top Ivies bring in top recruiting classes year after year. Yes, the grad students/extra year gives the B10 and ACC an advantage, but the Ivy rosters are stacked with talent. I would not be shocked to see two Ivies in the final 8 and one on Memorial Day weekend.

And I can't wait for this extra year of eligibility to be over........

Fair points on Ivy League. They should not be underestimated. We are all speculating, but who in your opinion are the best Ivy teams and why?

[cmbtp88]

Think PSU takes a step back. They snuck up on people this past year, and they're asking a lot of Fracyon in the net to cover up their defensive weaknesses. At some point, their average FOGO play will bite them.

JHU brings everyone back and addressed their biggest weakness (goalie) through the portal. They have an identity. They play hard. Melendez is a difference maker.

UVA
ND
MD
JHU

It is really hard to repeat in college lacrosse. Virginia had the COVID year between their titles. Maryland's run in 2022 knocked as much out of them in 2023 as did their injuries. I'm always skeptical of Duke at this point. They've had the best talent in the sport for the last 5 years, but they never seem to have the right pieces in the right places. For Maryland, having Malever back will make the offense look more like 2022 than it did last year. Deep at the midfield. Dodgers everywhere. McNaney back in goal. UVA has the best and most dynamic player in the game in Shelly (sorry, Dukies). If they don't have too much of a drop off at the FOGO position, that offense has too many weapons to fail.

The Ivy League will be a blast to watch all season long. I don't think any Ivy team has the kind roster depth needed for a Final 4 run. So many Ivy teams have great 1-10 players on their rosters but are thin/too inexperienced behind the starters.

The Ivy League can't compete with the B10/ACC? I heard that before. The talk in 2022 was that the Ivy League was finished in D1 lax after the two year COVID shut down and look what happened that season. The top Ivies bring in top recruiting classes year after year. Yes, the grad students/extra year gives the B10 and ACC an advantage, but the Ivy rosters are stacked with talent. I would not be shocked to see two Ivies in the final 8 and one on Memorial Day weekend.

And I can't wait for this extra year of eligibility to be over........

Fair points on Ivy League. They should not be underestimated. We are all speculating, but who in your opinion are the best Ivy teams and why?

not mention the ivy's also have great coaching, Shay at Yale, Byrne at Harvard, Buczek at Cornell, Murphy at UPenn, Madalon at Princeton, Kirwan at Dartmouth now and Daly at Brown, these Men are really good coaches and I would love for my kid to be coached by any of these guys....

[cmbtp88]

UVA
ND
HOP
Cornell

I hate to say it, but offensive midfield is a big question mark for the Hoos this year and could hinder their ability to make it to MDW. Miezan appeal rejection was big (and ridiculous given the free for all NCAA football has become) as was Lars and co missing out on most of their top middle targets in the past 2-3 recruiting cycles. I know it’s all relative (yeah, yeah, poor UVa), but the depth of talent at the position is not where it has been in the past and not at the level of Duke and UNC (who have utterly dominated recruiting of middies as of late). Not sure where all those guys will play, but that’s another issue. Too many young/unproven middies as well as true attackmen being asked to play out of position is a concern for the Hoos and could also be a problem in May. It kind of feels like a one-man show, and Schutz can only do so much.

Really I have heard that offensive midfield is not really a concern, they are deeper than you think there, many strong athletes there. The concerns going into the season for them I heard were D-midi and FO. They lost a lot in both of those spots and the roster wasn't that deep there either last year. What i'm hearing now is that D-midi looked pretty solid and deep in the fall, they brought in the Harvard transfer Yager? and they have 2 younger guys that really out performed in the fall but saw limited action last year or none in one case because of red-shirt. FO they really had no depth after losing Lasalla and having their #2 guy, a frosh, transfer out to UPenn, but they had an Injured junior Braun that is very good(not a lot of experience being Lasalla was in front of him) and is now fully healthy after missing last season with shoulder surgery. They also brought in 3 transfers there, a Junior from Navy that is very good, and a Colgate 5th year transfer Colucci that has a ton of experience as well and is a little more offensive and a little different than Braun and the navy kid, and a Binghamton kid who had great numbers last year . Think they may be more deep and solid there than many suspect, hard to replace a Lasalla tho....guess you won't know until the season starts to see exactly.

[HopFan16]

UVA should really have little to no concern about faceoffs. Ghobriel is good, probably top 10 in the country. And they are deeper there than they've been in awhile. They may not have a guy like LaSalla who's capable of taking over a game and scoring in bunches but as a unit they're going to be just fine, perhaps more than fine. Seems like there's a lot of effort to poke holes in a roster that I think still has at worst the 2nd or 3rd most talent in the country.

[DocBarrister]

Virginia
Cornell
ND
and …

… Johns Hopkins.

DocBarrister

[FannOLax]

UVA should really have little to no concern about faceoffs. Ghobriel is good, probably top 10 in the country. And they are deeper there than they've been in awhile. They may not have a guy like LaSalla who's capable of taking over a game and scoring in bunches but as a unit they're going to be just fine, perhaps more than fine. Seems like there's a lot of effort to poke holes in a roster that I think still has at worst the 2nd or 3rd most talent in the country.

+1

Year after year, Lars attracts lots of top talent to Charlottesville. I suppose UVA could get another difficult quarterfinal draw like it did in 2022, but Lars has made the Hoos a consistent top-5 program that every year has a realistic chance of winning it all.

[joewillie78]

Virginia
Cornell
ND
and …

… Johns Hopkins.

DocBarrister

I'll sign up for this.
Gobigred
Joewillie78

[DMac]

UVA should really have little to no concern about faceoffs. Ghobriel is good, probably top 10 in the country. And they are deeper there than they've been in awhile. They may not have a guy like LaSalla who's capable of taking over a game and scoring in bunches but as a unit they're going to be just fine, perhaps more than fine. Seems like there's a lot of effort to poke holes in a roster that I think still has at worst the 2nd or 3rd most talent in the country.

+1

Year after year, Lars attracts lots of top talent to Charlottesville. I suppose UVA could get another difficult quarterfinal draw like it did in 2022, but Lars has made the Hoos a consistent top-5 program that every year has a realistic chance of winning it all.

Agree. Don't know why you wouldn't want to play for Lars, I like the way he plays the game. Va's been real good.

[cmbtp88]

UVA should really have little to no concern about faceoffs. Ghobriel is good, probably top 10 in the country. And they are deeper there than they've been in awhile. They may not have a guy like LaSalla who's capable of taking over a game and scoring in bunches but as a unit they're going to be just fine, perhaps more than fine. Seems like there's a lot of effort to poke holes in a roster that I think still has at worst the 2nd or 3rd most talent in the country.

Agreed.

[1766]

Cornell
Uva
Rutgers
Penn State

[GaitsRightHand]

UVA
Duke
ND
Cornell/MD

[Dosadi]

ND
Princeton
UVA
Duke

[AreaLax]

Md
UVA
DUKE/PSU
HOPKINS/ND

[RumorMill]

UVA
Army
Hopkins
Denver

[MDralphie]

UVA
MD
DUKE
CORNELL

[AreaLax]

USA LACROSSE DIVISION I MEN’S
PRESEASON TOP 20
1. Notre Dame
2. Duke
3. Virginia
4. Penn State
5. Maryland
6. Johns Hopkins
7. Cornell
8. Army
9. Syracuse
10. Yale
11. Denver
12. Georgetown
13. Michigan
14. Princeton
15. Rutgers
16. Delaware
17. Penn
18. Boston U
19. North Carolina
20. Richmond

Also considered (alphabetical order): Loyola, Marquette, Utah

[Farfromgeneva]

So, ND is not a F4 team in 24’? Why not? Kavanugh, Entemann, along w transfers are back. Didn’t Penn st lose a lot? Army has to score to win in Quarters to advance…. Can they?

Not specific to you but how come I never see anyone mention this kid who had the game winner and is as valuable as anyone IMO incl Entemann and the Kavanaughs. And I think Teflon got credit for the impact of Dobson too much last spring.

https://fightingirish.com/roster/eric-dobson/

7,3,10 on 23 shots vs JHU, UVA & Duke in playoffs. Lefty with a hard shot from midfield. Inherited him on my sons fantasy team and they went as he went generally last year.

This is some of my personal bias showing, but the Kavanaugh's are a big reason Dobson isnt mentioned. When healthy, they tend to completely dominate the ball. The offense can get really stagnant with them.. Thought they are amazing at finding effort goals

But everyone immediately gave Tevlin credit and he’s a fine player but I think giving the kid who came from Cali (good but still learning curve at high end D1 for those kids) and lost his senior year to Covid and really elevated his Soph and Jr years. 34,11 on 32% and he shot 20% as a FR in 20-21. Entemann had a great playoffs but people’s are sleeping on the difference Dobson makes between being “the people’s champ” in 2022 and the champ in 23.

I think you mean Florida, if you are talking about Dobson

Yes sorry but point was a lost year for a kid coming from an area with less HS depth of comp.