Who wins it all in 2019?

[thatsmell]

Early prognostication...
Who wins it all?

[admin]

i dunno. when UNC, SU, P'ton won their first c'ship, they took over the decade. i.e. Won a bunch more. Maybe Yale does the same. Though you could argue, Loyola most certainly did not do this.

[DocBarrister]

I think some older lacrosse powers are looking good the next couple of seasons, including that old trio of Virginia, Syracuse, and Johns Hopkins. Would not be surprised to see all three make the Final Four at least once within the next two seasons.

DocBarrister

[Matnum PI]

i dunno. since 2013, UVA's D has wavered between bad and awful. The past two seasons, awful. For SU and JHU, their Ds the past two seasons, bad. which can be made up with high scorers on the other side of the field but it takes some pretty impressive numbers and... All three teams have been OK offensively but nothing spectacular. I don't see it.

If I were a betting man, I might go with Denver. Good D, Walker, French, Jackson, Supinski (Sorry, Doc)... It's a pretty good line-up, lots of seniors.

[Typical Lax Dad]

i dunno. when UNC, SU, P'ton won their first c'ship, they took over the decade. i.e. Won a bunch more. Maybe Yale does the same. Though you could argue, Loyola most certainly did not do this.

That Loyola team is a good comp. However, other than Duke, I am not sure we have seen a lot of team make multiple championship runs over several year period. Those days seem to be over.

[Voyuer]

D wins championships going forward. Especially if a shot clock implemented. All teams, O talent level will rise with continuation of the spread of talent at the HS level. I guess I am saying well coached D teams will have the best chance to be there at the end consistently. UMD fits the bill as a team that usually has great D talent and is well coached on that end of the field.

[kramerica.inc]

...

[FannOLax]

I like Loyola on that side too. Dwan usually has their defense pretty tight. I think they lose their top guy Huggins, but have Stover to build around.
IMO, he was the most underrated goalie in D1 last year.

Well said. I'm a Yale fan, but cast my vote for Loyola. Yale will be very good, but lose too much to graduation to repeat as national champions. Spencer and Stover are both superlative, the types of players capable of leading their teams to all the glory.

[admin]

Reeves couldn't of done it alone. Several bulldogs stepped up. I don't think Spencer has enough support.

[10stone5]

The early prognostications may have factored in Austin Staats on Syracuse’s roster, not sure really.

But Staats, unsurprising to me based on what I read is going pro.
Almost definitely the 1st pick in the NLL draft this year.

http://www.nll.com/news/2018-19-nll-dra ... tion-list/

http://www.swarmitup.com/2018EDParticipantsProfiles.htm

So that would alter the thinking on the Orange.

[Cooter]

As we enter the New Year's period, does anyone have any final four predictions
Let's see. I'll go with
Maryland
Notre Dame
Duke
Penn State

Penn State is my underdog pick. Being an odd year, I almost feel like going with OSU, but I don't really feel OSU's talent level is high enough. That being said, who was predicting OSU for their final four 2 years back, and felt they had the talent to make it then.

[jimmywork]

Don't see ND having the firepower to make it this year.

I'm taking Duke, Yale, Loyola, and Cornell for the final four with UMD, UVA, PSU, and UMASS as their quarterfinal opponents.

[Cooter]

Don't see ND having the firepower to make it this year.

I don't know about that. They bring back their three best: Costabile, Garnsey, and Gleason, and have some sophomores who might step up and a couple of top freshmen showing up. Scoring against ND quickly can be tough, and now you have to do it with the shot clock.

[blue angels]

i dunno. since 2013, UVA's D has wavered between bad and awful. The past two seasons, awful. For SU and JHU, their Ds the past two seasons, bad. which can be made up with high scorers on the other side of the field but it takes some pretty impressive numbers and... All three teams have been OK offensively but nothing spectacular. I don't see it.

If I were a betting man, I might go with Denver. Good D, Walker, French, Jackson, Supinski (Sorry, Doc)... It's a pretty good line-up, lots of seniors.

Agree. No way to include Virginia in this conversation at this time. They have too much left to prove.

[HopFan16]

Don't see ND having the firepower to make it this year.

I don't know about that. They bring back their three best: Costabile, Garnsey, and Gleason, and have some sophomores who might step up and a couple of top freshmen showing up. Scoring against ND quickly can be tough, and now you have to do it with the shot clock.

"Some sophomores who might step up and a couple top freshmen showing up" could describe any team in the ACC or Big Ten. That's not an advantage Notre Dame has on its competition. In fact you could argue that other teams have more freshmen and sophomores likely to step in and contribute than Notre Dame does. Virginia might be one example.

I'll take a shot in the dark at the Final Four:

Yale - They were just so good last year, losing Reeves hurts but they bring in the best FOGO in the country
Maryland - Tillman always finds a way
Penn State - Arguably the most loaded roster in the country, Ament returns, Tambroni finally gets it done
Virginia - They're tailor made for the shot clock era, assuming Conrad is healthy, he's a HUGE boost

Alternates:
Loyola - best player in the country in Pat Spencer and some very good younger guys around him but I'm a tad concerned about their losses on the defensive end
Cornell - didn't lose much from last year's team that won 13 games and beat Yale in May
Hopkins - Cole Williams is god

[FannOLax]

As we enter the New Year's period, does anyone have any final four predictions
Let's see. I'll go with
Maryland
Notre Dame
Duke
Penn State

Penn State is my underdog pick. Being an odd year, I almost feel like going with OSU, but I don't really feel OSU's talent level is high enough. That being said, who was predicting OSU for their final four 2 years back, and felt they had the talent to make it then.

I think the Ivy will be get one or two teams into the Final Four, Cornell and/or Yale. Maryland now seems to get there every year, and I wouldn't bet against the Terps getting back in 2019. I could see Penn State making it. Like HopFan16, I would leave off Notre Dame. I'd put Loyola and UVa into the mix, and I don't know enough about this year's version of Duke to pick them for a Final Four.

[OCanada]

I don’t pay attention enough anymore so winging it:

Yale; Duke; Cornell, Maryland.

[jimmywork]

Don't see ND having the firepower to make it this year.

I don't know about that. They bring back their three best: Costabile, Garnsey, and Gleason, and have some sophomores who might step up and a couple of top freshmen showing up. Scoring against ND quickly can be tough, and now you have to do it with the shot clock.

Sure it helps that those three are back, but last year's offense was their downfall minus the temporary hot streak they went on during the ACC tourney. Combining that with the fact that they lost 3 of their top 7 offensive players and I don't see it getting significantly better.

[oldskoollax]

Keep an eye on Lehigh. They have every starter back from last year. Goalie James Spence was a Freshman last year and will gain a lot of confidence this year. Midfielders, Eichelberger and Fitzpatrick will be forces this year which will help the attack unit of Spence, Rai and Pettite. Gaffney was strong at FO and the addition of Sissleberg gives them a two-headed monster at the X. Defensively, Leggett, Bouhal, Rimol and Chick. Chick has been one of the most dominating LSM/D players the past three years. This team has a lot of Senior leadership with something to prove.

[Cooter]

I wonder how many of the "other" votes are Hopkins' fans.
Thatsmell's choice of having UNC instead of Hopkins, seems a bit peculiar.