Big Ten 2021

[xxxxxxx]

CAA might not be a good example but we will see, you could have UMass Hofstra or Delaware with like 8 - 4 or 9-3 records, is that better than 6-6 in Big10 or 4-7 in ACC. Bg East maybe a better example with Denver Gtown. I actually see one or possibly 2 ACC teams get in with losing records and a Big10 at 6-6.

none of that is possible.

Ok forget the ACC I looked, they play a lot of out of conference games except ND. The big 10 can easily have the third place team with a 500 record and you can thank the conference in my opinion you have to have a winning record to get in. It’s very possible they only get two teams in the tournament.

[jhu08]

I don’t agree. There are four tiers:

First tier: Maryland
Second tier: Ohio State
Third tier: Rutgers, Hopkins, Penn State
Fourth tier: Michigan (who stink)

Seconded. I don't think Hopkins is roughly equal to the other T3 teams yet, but I think we will be by the end of the year.

[jhu08]

Ok forget the ACC I looked, they play a lot of out of conference games except ND.

And unless they really flub up one of the 4 non-conference games (n.b., RMU, Bellarmine, Marquette, CSU), they only need 2 conference wins to be sitting at 6-4 overall with 2 marquee ACC wins. Even at 6-4 that would be a bubble type resume at the worst.

[wgdsr]

Are we sure it's Hopkins and Michigan alone at the bottom of the conference?

Penn State isn't the same team without Ament. They didn't look any better than the Jays did last week. It's obviously very early and things probably will change over the course of the season but right now it might be three tiers: UMD, then OSU and Rutgers, and then PSU, Hop, Mich grouped together.

Maryland played a poor first half, got dominated on FO's, and still won easily. Should scare everyone else.

meh. thought psu looked a lot better than 1st half hopkins. too early to tell whether 2nd half hopkins was "game was over" or the 1st half was 1st game jitters or it was all something else.

psu wasn't going to win, but it was a 3 goal game before 2 blown calls helped blow it open in the 4th. michigan was down to umd like 15-3 at that point.

the good news is they get to play each other 4 times each to find out.

PSU never looked good at any point. It was only close bc Maryland was playing their worst game basically. Once Maryland stopped turning it over unforced and weren't throwing balls over their heads and got some fluidity going they got whatever they wanted. And dominated PSU's offense.

maybe. or maybe you could reverse the 2 squads there up until q3/q4 and at some point psu "could've" turned it around. do we know psu didn't play their worst game?

teams do get bonus points for winning ugly, when not on their best day. it's still early. umd was my national favorite for making it thru the regular season/conf playoffs unscathed.

[jhu08]

umd was my national favorite for making it thru the regular season/conf playoffs unscathed.

I think 2nd-5th in the Big Ten is good enough that someone will get them once, mayyybe twice. My vote would be for 11-1.

Pre-season, I voted for Denver as the most likely to do the undefeated run before UNC and Duke showed up on their regular season schedule. Now, I'd say it looks like Maryland and Georgetown seem be to be the two most likely candidates for this achievement - unless a MAAC team is head and shoulders above the rest of their own conference.

[wgdsr]

CAA might not be a good example but we will see, you could have UMass Hofstra or Delaware with like 8 - 4 or 9-3 records, is that better than 6-6 in Big10 or 4-7 in ACC. Bg East maybe a better example with Denver Gtown. I actually see one or possibly 2 ACC teams get in with losing records and a Big10 at 6-6.

none of that is possible.

Ok forget the ACC I looked, they play a lot of out of conference games except ND. The big 10 can easily have the third place team with a 500 record and you can thank the conference in my opinion you have to have a winning record to get in. It’s very possible they only get two teams in the tournament.

what you are saying is the nc$$ selection committee will throw out all previous selection criteria for the last 20 years and probably much longer. and just select a team because they think they might be good.

i doubt that would ever happen.

[jhu08]

what you are saying is the nc$$ selection committee will throw out all previous selection criteria for the last 20 years and probably much longer. and just select a team because they think they might be good.

i doubt that would ever happen.

I know that you're not debating this with me, but I'll say it here, squarely:

It shouldn't happen. The Big Ten chose to play only themselves. If the reward that they reap from that is only getting one or two bids, so be it. That's the price they pay this year for conference-only play. No special treatment, follow the usual selection process/criteria. It is what it is - if you want to get in, win your games.

[Wheels]

I don't know if it was the lights, Penn State pressuring out so much, or just the jitters of their first road game, but the Terps were throwing the ball all over the place. And yet PSU turned the ball over more.

How do the Terps lose 7 possession at the face-off X but still win pretty comfortably? PSU turned it over 6 more times than the Terps. Pretty much negated Arceri's work at the X.

PSU's offense just doesn't have the play makers to get O'Keefe the ball. O'Keefe's only goal came off of a failed MD clear, and O'Keefe was alone in front of the goal. Grill owned him tonight. Makar made Malone look slow. Who is PSU's 3rd attackman? Whoever he was, Rahill blanked him.

The story for me still remains how good Maryland's SSDMs are. They owned this game again, just like they did against Michigan. When you can leave your shorties on switches and not have to slide to them, your defense is going to be pretty good.

Oh, and that Bernhardt guy is good. He's added some wiggle and hip turns to his game. So now add change of direction to elite speed? Cardile didn't have a chance today.

[10stone5]

TJ Malone, Dylan Foulds, with Mac O’Keefe at starting
attack for PSU,
Foulds is out of Canadian Jr A box lacrosse.

They look like they have a team full of shooters,
which worked the past couple of years,

Tambroni will have to go to his bench to find himself
another feeder type to compliment Malone.

[bananas]

Rutgers - OSU at noon. Should be a hard fought barnstormer between two top ten teams.

[Wheels]

Rutgers - OSU at noon. Should be a hard fought barnstormer between two top ten teams.

Looks like the game is on BTN+. Darn...that'd be a great game to see.

[bananas]

Rutgers - OSU at noon. Should be a hard fought barnstormer between two top ten teams.

Looks like the game is on BTN+. Darn...that'd be a great game to see.

$15.95 per month sub gets you every game every sport and next day replays. Can cancel anytime

[Wheels]

Rutgers - OSU at noon. Should be a hard fought barnstormer between two top ten teams.

Looks like the game is on BTN+. Darn...that'd be a great game to see.

$15.95 per month sub gets you every game every sport and next day replays. Can cancel anytime

But damn them! That's a game that should be on BTN! Or at least replay it at some point today instead of re-running The Journey and The B1G Trip 15 times today!

[Wheels]

Can someone explain to me the Rutgers love on this board? I grew up in NJ, have a lot of friends who are alums, I'd love nothing more than for them to make some noise—and take anyone's spot in the tournament other than Hopkins. Would love for them to beat up on OSU and PSU. But where is this coming from? Is it all based solely on the addition of Kirst? He's great, but scoring wasn't really the issue for them. They weren't good in 2020 or 2019 and were kinda meh in 2018, and that was with Heningburg and Rexrode. We don't really know if this FOGO transfer is going to make a significant difference. I won't be too surprised if they finish 3rd or 4th in the conference but making the NCAAs this year is going to require a huge jump from where they've been the last several years.

I was probably more bullish on RU than others (thought they'd finish 4th in the B1G). They're up 18-8 on OSU at OSU headed into the 4th. Wow.

[Farfromgeneva]

Maybe will have to wait and see if it’s a one team conference this year. Hard to forget 1-2 seasons not that long ago where Rutgers was killing teams, get ranked #1 and then miss the playoffs completely. Want to see a season theough,those were also Brecht teams that struggled down the stretch.

[jrn19]

Rutgers never had the talent like this even in those years where they got close to making the tournament. Charalmbides, Mullins, and Kirst may be the best attack unit in the country; you have to pole all 3 of those guys and all 3 can dodge and score. Charalmbides has his shooting spot on the wing and Kirst can shoot from anywhere. And then that midfield; Knoblauch and Sprock just abused shortie matchups all day. If you don't have 2-3, maybe even 4 d-middies to keep up with those guys they're going to punish you.

The improved special teams have been a huge diff too; even in their best years they struggled with goalie play and face-offs. No such issues so far; winning a majority against Inacio is no small feat for the St. John's transfer. And Kirst has been big in goal

[bananas]

Rutgers never had the talent like this even in those years where they got close to making the tournament. Charalmbides, Mullins, and Kirst may be the best attack unit in the country; you have to pole all 3 of those guys and all 3 can dodge and score. Charalmbides has his shooting spot on the wing and Kirst can shoot from anywhere. And then that midfield; Knoblauch and Sprock just abused shortie matchups all day. If you don't have 2-3, maybe even 4 d-middies to keep up with those guys they're going to punish you.

The improved special teams have been a huge diff too; even in their best years they struggled with goalie play and face-offs. No such issues so far; winning a majority against Inacio is no small feat for the St. John's transfer. And Kirst has been big in goal

Agree that this is best team Rutgers has had. I had their starting six behind only with Duke, UVA, UNC and Maryland.
Still give nod to Duke ,UVA and UM as best attacks . the Kirsts and Dugenio have made an larger difference to all than hoped for. Dont think anyone expected Knoblauh to be so good so fast Ball is moving so well with quick passes around on most possessions. Playing fast and aggressive .Couldnt ask for a better start to season.

[10stone5]

Yikes,
Michigan gets to get pummelled by Rutgers next.

[AOD]

Rutgers never had the talent like this even in those years where they got close to making the tournament. Charalmbides, Mullins, and Kirst may be the best attack unit in the country; you have to pole all 3 of those guys and all 3 can dodge and score. Charalmbides has his shooting spot on the wing and Kirst can shoot from anywhere. And then that midfield; Knoblauch and Sprock just abused shortie matchups all day. If you don't have 2-3, maybe even 4 d-middies to keep up with those guys they're going to punish you.

The improved special teams have been a huge diff too; even in their best years they struggled with goalie play and face-offs. No such issues so far; winning a majority against Inacio is no small feat for the St. John's transfer. And Kirst has been big in goal

Agree that this is best team Rutgers has had. I had their starting six behind only with Duke, UVA, UNC and Maryland.
Still give nod to Duke ,UVA and UM as best attacks . the Kirsts and Dugenio have made an larger difference to all than hoped for. Dont think anyone expected Knoblauh to be so good so fast Ball is moving so well with quick passes around on most possessions. Playing fast and aggressive .Couldnt ask for a better start to season.

It is no coincidence that RU's success comes during a year in which it has the largest contingent of NJ contributors in memory. Last week, three of the four players recognized with conference awards were NJ natives (Kirst, Kirst and Knobloch). Last week RU started 4 NJ natives, and played 4 reserves that are NJ natives. So long as they continue to look within NJ for talent they will continue to excel.

NJ has many hidden gems - Knobloch among them (Zach Cole from St. Joe's is another). People who set low expectations for him rely too much on national rankings where his name doesn't appear in the Top 100 list of incoming freshmen. But, if you watch local lacrosse, you could have seen this coming. He was a four year starter on the Moorestown high team - a SJ team that plays in the Skyland Conference and challenged Delbarton in the TofC. His mother was the legendary coach of the girl's HS team that was nationally ranked #1 multiple times, and his father was the assistant. He has outstanding game knowledge and instincts. His club coach produces annually some of the best players from NJ. His success at RU mirror the success he enjoyed to this point.

[bananas]

Rutgers never had the talent like this even in those years where they got close to making the tournament. Charalmbides, Mullins, and Kirst may be the best attack unit in the country; you have to pole all 3 of those guys and all 3 can dodge and score. Charalmbides has his shooting spot on the wing and Kirst can shoot from anywhere. And then that midfield; Knoblauch and Sprock just abused shortie matchups all day. If you don't have 2-3, maybe even 4 d-middies to keep up with those guys they're going to punish you.

The improved special teams have been a huge diff too; even in their best years they struggled with goalie play and face-offs. No such issues so far; winning a majority against Inacio is no small feat for the St. John's transfer. And Kirst has been big in goal

Agree that this is best team Rutgers has had. I had their starting six behind only with Duke, UVA, UNC and Maryland.
Still give nod to Duke ,UVA and UM as best attacks . the Kirsts and Dugenio have made an larger difference to all than hoped for. Dont think anyone expected Knoblauh to be so good so fast Ball is moving so well with quick passes around on most possessions. Playing fast and aggressive .Couldnt ask for a better start to season.

It is no coincidence that RU's success comes during a year in which it has the largest contingent of NJ contributors in memory. Last week, three of the four players recognized with conference awards were NJ natives (Kirst, Kirst and Knobloch). Last week RU started 4 NJ natives, and played 4 reserves that are NJ natives. So long as they continue to look within NJ for talent they will continue to excel.

NJ has many hidden gems - Knobloch among them (Zach Cole from St. Joe's is another). People who set low expectations for him rely too much on national rankings where his name doesn't appear in the Top 100 list of incoming freshmen. But, if you watch local lacrosse, you could have seen this coming. He was a four year starter on the Moorestown high team - a SJ team that plays in the Skyland Conference and challenged Delbarton in the TofC. His mother was the legendary coach of the girl's HS team that was nationally ranked #1 multiple times, and his father was the assistant. He has outstanding game knowledge and instincts. His club coach produces annually some of the best players from NJ. His success at RU mirror the success he enjoyed to this point.

Great post. NJ is steep in talent both boys and girls and expanding. Moorestown girls program is a perennial national powerhouse