Yesterday, Wednesday, April 10th, Robert Morris beat Lehigh. To the naked eye, this appears to be a great upset for Robert Morris but irrelevant to the Top D1 Men teams. Great upset, yes. Irrelevant to the Top D1 Men teams, no.
How Big an Upset Was This?
For every upset, there’s the upset at the time and there’s the upset in hindsight. For example, on February 8th, when Colgate beat Syracuse, this was a good upset. But far from mind-blowing. Syracuse has substantially more lacrosse brand equity than Colgate. But in terms of Ws, Ls, and quality of play, Colgate’s win was not so surprising. Now, two months later, Colgate is 3-7 with wins over Syracuse, BU, and Binghamton and a loss to Canisius, this upset is much worse. At the time, Colgate beating SU was the #11 upset thus far this season. Two months later, Colgate beating SU is the #1 upset thus far this season.
But what about RoMo beating Lehigh? Right now, it’s the #4 upset (of 91 upsets) this season. Since the win, RoMo’s stock went up and Lehigh’s stock went down which tempers the upset. But yesterday, the second it happened, RoMo beating Lehigh was the #1 upset this season.
Irrelevant to the Top Teams
Besides for Canisius (and RoMo), for all intents and purposes, RoMo’s win is irrelevant. But for four teams, to varying degrees, Lehigh’s loss hurts.
- Hofstra – Lehigh was their best win. Currently, Lehigh and UMass are Hofstra’s best wins.
- Cornell – Lehigh was and is Cornell’s 2nd best win.
- Loyola and UVA – are barely effected. Lehigh was, respectively, their 4th and 5th best wins.
And with this said… Kudos to Robert Morris.
