WLAX Bracketology

[laxmenow]

Sorry not to have started the dialogue last week, as I was traveling. Here goes:

WLAX Bracketology Sunday, April 14th
1 Northwestern (Big 10 AQ)
2 Syracuse (ACC AQ)
3 Notre Dame (At large)
4 Loyola (Patriot AQ)
5 Virginia (At large)
6 Maryland (At large)
7 Michigan (At large)
8 Florida (AAC AQ)
Boston College (At large)
Yale (Ivy AQ)
Johns Hopkins (At large)
Penn (At large)
Stony Brook (CAA AQ)
North Carolina (at large)
Denver (Big East AQ)
Princeton (At large)
James Madison (At large)
Stanford (PAC 10 AQ)
Fairfield (MAAC AQ)
Penn State (At large)
Duke (At large)
USC (At large)
Drexel (At large)
Richmond (A 10 AQ)
UMBC (America East AQ)
Mercer (Big South AQ)
Jacksonville (A Sun AQ)
Sacred Heart (NEC AQ)
C Michigan (MAC AQ)

Last three in:
- Duke
- USC
- Drexel
First three out:
- Colorado
- Clemson
- Harvard
Next group out:
- Brown
- Navy
- Rutgers

[jeremyfallis]

Our latest bracket projections are live on USA Lacrosse Magazine: https://www.usalacrosse.com/magazine/co ... host-sites

Quick hits:

• Of the 14 at-large bids, all but 3 are spoken for.
  
  Seeding will be an interesting exercise for the selection committee
  
  Since so many teams beat each other and different opponents, the numbers will determine a lot in final placement, inclusion, etc.

[laxlaxlax]

NCAA committee release their rankings through April 17

1. Northwestern
2. Maryland
3. Syracuse
4. Yale
5. Penn
6. Michigan
7. Virginia
8. ND
9. BC
10. Loyola

[Hello]

Some love for the Ivies!

[laxlaxlax]

Some love for the Ivies!

Yale at 4 I’m not sure about.

[flushlax77]

Our latest bracket projections are live on USA Lacrosse Magazine: https://www.usalacrosse.com/magazine/co ... host-sites

Quick hits:

• Of the 14 at-large bids, all but 3 are spoken for.
  
  Seeding will be an interesting exercise for the selection committee
  
  Since so many teams beat each other and different opponents, the numbers will determine a lot in final placement, inclusion, etc.

If this was the bracket I think Duke would be the angriest.

Head to head results in the Ivy League is ignored in this case. Harvard beat Brown. Harvard makes Ivy League tournament where brown will not make the ivy league tournament. Brown makes Tournament? I see where you wrote this hinges on wins in their last 2 ivy games but man, Harvard would have a real gripe in this situation. This brings me to Duke.

Duke beat Harvard who should get in over Brown. But Duke is left out due to rpi at 32. Duke beat UVA which reminds me of Penn state surprise inclusion last year after beating MD. I think Duke has a real shot to make it.

Duke did lose to Navy/Clemson who are not considered a real threat to make it, so maybe that keeps them out?

It will be real interesting to see what things look like in 2 weeks. Can’t wait for the final projections!

[Lax101]

Does anyone know to what extent conference tournament results impact final NCAA tournament seeds. Some people say not at all, some people say a little and most people dont seem to know. Has the committee ever commented on the subject?

[jff97]

I don't envy the committee's job this year at all. Northwestern is the only team that's separated itself from the field. The top seeds as well as a lot of the AQs and at-large bids could beat each other on any given day. Seeding this field and making the bracket is not going to be easy.

[njbill]

I don't envy the committee's job this year at all. Northwestern is the only team that's separated itself from the field. The top seeds as well as a lot of the AQs and at-large bids could beat each other on any given day. Seeding this field and making the bracket is not going to be easy.

That's what they have dart boards for.

[Seacoaster(1)]

I don't envy the committee's job this year at all. Northwestern is the only team that's separated itself from the field. The top seeds as well as a lot of the AQs and at-large bids could beat each other on any given day. Seeding this field and making the bracket is not going to be easy.

Well I’m happy to take this on. All decisions arbitrary and final.

[Dr. Tact]

I don't envy the committee's job this year at all. Northwestern is the only team that's separated itself from the field. The top seeds as well as a lot of the AQs and at-large bids could beat each other on any given day. Seeding this field and making the bracket is not going to be easy.

Well I’m happy to take this on. All decisions arbitrary and final.

I'd do it as well.

[Lax101]

Im told more so than ever that there will be a big disconnect between eye test and subjective view (and even AA's on field) compared to the RPI. Can Yale with one of highest RPI's get a better seed than ND or Cuse?They lost by 8 to BC. RPI does not seem to view ACC the way most students of the game would. If you had to make a big money wager with no spread would anyone take Yale over Cuse, ND or BC ... or even Virginia. Same is true of MD. Would anyone take MD with no spread against Cuse, ND or BC.

[hmmm]

Im told more so than ever that there will be a big disconnect between eye test and subjective view (and even AA's on field) compared to the RPI. Can Yale with one of highest RPI's get a better seed than ND or Cuse?They lost by 8 to BC. RPI does not seem to view ACC the way most students of the game would. If you had to make a big money wager with no spread would anyone take Yale over Cuse, ND or BC ... or even Virginia. Same is true of MD. Would anyone take MD with no spread against Cuse, ND or BC.

Well, MD did beat Cuse in the dome right?

[Womenslaxxfan]

Does anyone know to what extent conference tournament results impact final NCAA tournament seeds. Some people say not at all, some people say a little and most people dont seem to know. Has the committee ever commented on the subject?

I was under the impression they matter a lot. They are more data and are great matchups and also affect RPI.
Northwestern loses in the first round of the big 10 tourney, and they probably aren’t getting the number one seed….

[RJP]

Well Yale and UVA both beat Stanford and Princeton by the same margins so i would take that natch up. Brown lost to ND by 1 and Yale beat Brown by 5 so i might put money on that match as well. Yes the BC game was a bad look but so were pretty much every other top 10 losses to Penn State and UPenn. It will be an interesting next month.

[flushlax77]

Well Yale and UVA both beat Stanford and Princeton by the same margins so i would take that natch up. Brown lost to ND by 1 and Yale beat Brown by 5 so i might put money on that match as well. Yes the BC game was a bad look but so were pretty much every other top 10 losses to Penn State and UPenn. It will be an interesting next month.

This ignores so much context. The UVA that beat Stanford in the first game of the season is way different than the UVA that beat BC last week. New coach, new system, 3 freshmen starting in their first game.

Yale that beat Stanford is the same roster from last year. It’s part of what makes them so good this year.

This is a fun thought exercise on potential matchups between each Ivy League team and their same conference ranking counterpart

Yale vs Syracuse- Cuse (most competitive game)
Princeton vs BC- BC
Penn vs ND- ND
UVA vs Harvard- UVA
UNC vs Brown - Brown in an upset
Cornell vs Duke- Duke
Dartmouth vs Clemson- Clemson
Columbia vs VT/Louisville/Pitt- give me all the ACC teams by running clock.

I got the Ivies losing all of these matchups except Brown which would be considered an upset.

It’s been fun watching the Ivies come back strong after their weak minded admin decided to take 2 years of playing away from their athletes. But I think the RPI is severely overrating their teams. No idea how Brown is 20 when their best win is 35th in RPI and they lost to 27. Shows how broken the system is.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

No idea how Brown is 20 when their best win is 35th in RPI and they lost to 27. Shows how broken the system is.

Yes. It. Does.

[2004wrongisland]

The tournaments will have a huge impact on the seeding. Take the ACC for example. If Syracuse , ND , BC or UVA wins out I’d expect them to be the 2 seed in the NCAAs.

If the chalks wins the first round against the bottom of the ACC as expected:

Syracuse - would beat UVA or UNC , then ND or BC winner
ND - would beat BC then Syr- v UVA, UNC winner
BC- would beat ND , then Syr v UVA , UNC winner
UVA- would beat UNC, then Syr then BC v ND winner

I think UNC is too far back to get the highest seed even if they win the tourney.

If the ACC winner is Syr, ND, BC or UVA they should be ranked ahead of the 2 or 3 finisher in the Big 10 . I’m assuming Northwestern wins the tourney. I think MD- Mich will be a dogfight for 2.

[Lax101]

Tend to agree. How high can Yale go if they win remainder of games?

[laxlaxlax]

Well Yale and UVA both beat Stanford and Princeton by the same margins so i would take that natch up. Brown lost to ND by 1 and Yale beat Brown by 5 so i might put money on that match as well. Yes the BC game was a bad look but so were pretty much every other top 10 losses to Penn State and UPenn. It will be an interesting next month.

This ignores so much context. The UVA that beat Stanford in the first game of the season is way different than the UVA that beat BC last week. New coach, new system, 3 freshmen starting in their first game.

Yale that beat Stanford is the same roster from last year. It’s part of what makes them so good this year.

This is a fun thought exercise on potential matchups between each Ivy League team and their same conference ranking counterpart

Yale vs Syracuse- Cuse (most competitive game)
Princeton vs BC- BC
Penn vs ND- ND
UVA vs Harvard- UVA
UNC vs Brown - Brown in an upset
Cornell vs Duke- Duke
Dartmouth vs Clemson- Clemson
Columbia vs VT/Louisville/Pitt- give me all the ACC teams by running clock.

I got the Ivies losing all of these matchups except Brown which would be considered an upset.

It’s been fun watching the Ivies come back strong after their weak minded admin decided to take 2 years of playing away from their athletes. But I think the RPI is severely overrating their teams. No idea how Brown is 20 when their best win is 35th in RPI and they lost to 27. Shows how broken the system is.

Brown beating UNC?? I know UNC are having a down year but this is a stretch, Brown is 2-4 in Ivy play and hasn’t beaten a single ranked team all year - unless we include UMass who were ranked for the first two weeks and dropped out quickly.

Yale will be interesting, their strength of schedule isn’t the strongest in a standard lens (19th). The only top 20 teams they have beaten are Princeton, Penn and Stanford. Not saying they can’t go far but many of their non-conference opponents aren’t comparable to others around them. Even looking at Penn with 5th best SOS and Princeton with the 6th. Denver will be a good game this week and I’m sure Yale will want to take the opportunity to silence the doubters.

The ivy tournament will be a fun one and create some more havoc with RPI…