D1 Men Rankings

[HopFan16]

So you are saying NO CHANCE that Hopkins goes on a late season run, beats Rutgers in the BIG conference semis to get to 6-6 and then takes Maryland to OT in the BIG finals - NO CHANCE that the committee puts them in over a 10-5 Army team that loses to Loyola in the semis of the Patriot league? Or over an 8-4 UMASS team that goes to the CAA finals and loses.

I am just asking for a friend.

BTW, there is no hand-wringing on my behalf. I love this stuff.

We are deep into unlikely hypotheticals but in that scenario yes I think there is zero chance a 6-7 Hopkins team with a single win over Rutgers would get in over a 10-5 Army team with a win over Syracuse (and presumably at least one regular season win over Lehigh or Loyola?). If Hopkins is, say, 7-6 with two Rutgers wins or a Rutgers AND a Maryland win? There'd probably be a discussion. But not with only one good win and certainly not at 6-7.

For the UMass example I think it'd depend on a lot. It's possible they finish the season without a single win over a tournament team. Looking at the remainder of the Minutemen's schedule, if they lose 4 times then something has gone wrong and they may not deserve to get in over anyone, let alone Hopkins. I think it's even more unlikely that the bubble comes down to a direct comparison between an 8-4 UMass team and a 6-7 Hopkins team, and that there aren't other teams in that hypothetical future who have superior resumes than both. And as we know, conference tournaments don't always go the way we expect them to, which makes the margin for error for everyone even smaller.

I suspect an 8-4 UMass would need to win the AQ to get in, but not because a 6-7 Hopkins team is taking their spot. More likely to be someone in the Lehigh/Loyola/Georgetown range.

[Farfromgeneva]

No chance.

[DU-fan]

Interesting ranking by Laxbytes. It is not very favorable of the B1G. PSU is only 1 spot ahead of LIU.

http://www.laxbytes.com/OUTPUT/SERVER/men/rating01.php

Power Goal RPI SOS QWF NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP PROBABILITIES
Rank Team Rating Offset Rnk Rnk Rnk Records AQ Tournament Champion

1 Duke 99.90 0.00 1 2 1 8- 0- 0 0.0 100.0 14.6
2 UNC 99.30 -0.60 2 3 2 8- 0- 0 0.0 100.0 10.8
3 Georgetown 98.07 -1.83 13 29 10 5- 1- 0 46.0 70.2 4.3
4 Army 97.16 -2.74 4 7 3 3- 1- 0 28.2 74.2 2.7
5 Lehigh 96.59 -3.31 9 50 7 3- 0- 0 27.8 36.3 1.0
6 Syracuse 96.33 -3.57 5 1 5 4- 1- 0 0.0 92.0 2.4
7 Notre Dame 96.09 -3.81 3 5 4 4- 0- 0 0.0 95.1 4.7
8 Denver 95.98 -3.92 10 6 8 6- 2- 0 33.1 78.7 2.4
9 Maryland 95.94 -3.96 8 41 12 5- 0- 0 54.3 99.7 37.3
10 Virginia 95.81 -4.09 12 4 9 6- 2- 0 0.0 94.9 3.6
11 Loyola 95.30 -4.60 20 11 32 4- 2- 0 25.7 51.3 2.1
12 Vermont 94.03 -5.87 11 10 13 3- 2- 0 40.6 47.6 0.5
13 Richmond 94.02 -5.88 35 31 41 3- 3- 0 49.8 56.1 0.4
14 Albany 93.45 -6.45 7 9 6 3- 1- 0 28.6 38.2 0.5
15 Navy 93.25 -6.65 33 27 44 2- 0- 0 3.8 17.8 0.5
16 Marist 93.24 -6.66 14 37 19 1- 0- 0 26.9 37.6 0.8
17 Rutgers 93.10 -6.80 18 45 23 4- 1- 0 28.3 86.8 6.8
18 Boston U 93.07 -6.83 24 30 28 4- 1- 0 10.4 14.1 0.3
19 Bryant 92.09 -7.81 15 23 24 4- 1- 0 50.6 57.1 0.5
20 Manhattan 91.87 -8.03 6 36 11 2- 1- 0 33.9 45.9 0.3
21 Delaware 91.54 -8.36 25 60 29 5- 1- 0 34.5 40.3 0.0
22 Monmouth 91.18 -8.72 17 12 33 3- 0- 0 15.4 39.8 0.1
23 High Point 91.17 -8.73 26 13 39 2- 4- 0 20.1 23.3 0.5
24 Jacksonville 91.14 -8.76 23 46 25 4- 3- 0 19.5 20.2 0.1
25 Rob Morris 90.78 -9.12 28 24 45 3- 4- 0 0.0 0.4 0.0
26 UMass 90.65 -9.25 16 26 30 2- 0- 0 43.4 61.6 0.4
27 Detroit Mercy 90.55 -9.35 21 22 34 1- 2- 0 6.4 7.7 0.0
28 Villanova 90.41 -9.49 37 16 51 3- 1- 0 10.1 18.6 0.1
29 Stony Brook 90.31 -9.59 32 19 40 4- 3- 0 16.8 19.7 0.1
30 Towson 89.98 -9.92 43 8 71 2- 5- 0 4.7 4.9 0.1
31 Hobart 89.69 -10.21 31 59 31 2- 1- 0 15.8 15.8 0.2
32 St Bonny 89.64 -10.26 29 35 42 1- 2- 0 5.5 6.3 0.0
33 Marquette 89.61 -10.29 38 18 47 0- 5- 0 2.9 2.9 0.0
34 Providence 89.58 -10.32 36 17 50 3- 4- 0 7.0 7.0 0.0
35 St Josephs 89.38 -10.52 45 34 58 3- 3- 0 16.9 16.9 0.0
36 Canisius 88.94 -10.96 59 62 53 2- 1- 0 7.7 9.5 0.0
37 Utah 88.50 -11.40 52 38 62 2- 4- 0 0.0 0.0 0.0
38 JHU 88.27 -11.63 39 40 48 2- 3- 0 9.7 25.0 1.3
39 Hofstra 88.26 -11.64 41 56 46 3- 1- 0 10.6 13.5 0.1
40 UMBC 88.07 -11.83 30 57 35 3- 0- 0 9.5 10.5 0.0
41 Siena 88.01 -11.89 65 63 65 0- 3- 0 2.9 2.9 0.0
42 Air Force 87.52 -12.38 53 15 64 1- 5- 0 4.9 4.9 0.1
43 Mt St Marys 87.48 -12.42 51 21 68 1- 6- 0 1.5 1.5 0.0
44 OSU 87.44 -12.46 40 43 49 2- 3- 0 5.9 10.4 0.3
45 Colgate 87.41 -12.49 22 14 38 1- 3- 0 1.2 1.3 0.1
46 PSU 87.10 -12.80 49 44 57 1- 4- 0 1.1 1.2 0.0
47 LIU 87.04 -12.86 44 66 27 4- 1- 0 11.7 11.7 0.0
48 Mercer 86.74 -13.16 55 32 63 2- 5- 0 3.6 3.6 0.0
49 Drexel 86.74 -13.16 50 52 60 1- 2- 0 4.1 5.3 0.0
50 Fairfield 86.50 -13.40 42 47 55 2- 3- 0 2.7 2.8 0.0
51 Merrimack 86.35 -13.55 19 53 26 2- 3- 0 2.7 2.7 0.0
52 Cleveland St 85.44 -14.46 56 65 37 1- 3- 0 0.0 0.0 0.0
53 Bucknell 85.40 -14.50 27 20 43 1- 2- 0 1.0 1.4 0.0
54 Holy Cross 85.25 -14.65 62 61 61 1- 3- 0 0.1 0.2 0.0
55 Michigan 84.77 -15.13 48 42 56 1- 4- 0 0.7 0.8 0.0
56 Binghamton 83.89 -16.01 54 54 54 1- 1- 0 1.3 1.4 0.0
57 Bellarmine 83.70 -16.20 63 58 72 2- 6- 0 1.3 1.3 0.0
58 Lafayette 83.61 -16.29 60 33 67 0- 3- 0 1.8 1.9 0.0
59 Sacred Heart 83.12 -16.78 64 25 74 1- 7- 0 0.6 0.6 0.0
60 St Johns 82.45 -17.45 57 49 66 1- 4- 0 0.9 0.9 0.0
61 Hartford 82.27 -17.63 46 48 52 0- 3- 0 0.7 0.7 0.0
62 Quinnipiac 82.06 -17.84 34 51 36 0- 1- 0 1.3 1.5 0.0
63 VMI 81.09 -18.81 66 64 73 1- 3- 0 0.8 0.8 0.0
64 UMassLowell 81.04 -18.86 47 39 59 1- 3- 0 2.5 2.5 0.0
65 NJIT 80.10 -19.80 58 28 69 0- 5- 0 0.0 0.0 0.0
66 Wagner 78.05 -21.85 61 55 70 0- 5- 0 0.2 0.2 0.0

[Henpecked]

Any ranking system that has Maryland at #9, Richmond at #13, Rutgers at #17 and MANHATTAN at #20!!!!!????? cannot be taken seriously.

#WeAllHaveEyes

[Dip&Dunk]

Any ranking system that has Maryland at #9, Richmond at #13, Rutgers at #17 and MANHATTAN at #20!!!!!????? cannot be taken seriously.

#WeAllHaveEyes

But it has JHU at 38 so it gains some validity

[10stone5]

Laxpower isn’t a ranking system, it isn’t a rank order,
a ranking by specific order,
its a rating system, like Massey, like KRACH, like
Fanlax’ rating system, RPI, all of those mathematical
attempts at some sort of objective measurement.

KRACH is supposedly used in college hockey for actual
rankings, but they say they can’t use it this year, not
enough inter conference games, and there’s the flaw in
all these rating systems.

KRACH——
https://www.collegehockeynews.com/ratings/krach.php

[wgdsr]

There will be a lot of hand-wringing about a 6-7 team getting an at-large bid. But it will happen at the cost of maybe a second or third Patriot team getting in. You will see.

There seems to be a lot of present hand-wringing about theoretical future hand-wringing. The Big Ten is only getting one at-large max and it won't be a team that's below .500.

yeah, well, if the chairman of the actual committee hadn't gone on record as saying that he was going to be using criteria that heretofore had been verboten, maybe that wouldn't be the case.

i'll note that by quote he didn't give any license to do that.

so fast forward and things like a coaches poll having 2 teams that probably have no business there to date, and it sure looks like that may provide cover for eye test "keep games close for several quarters" and "b1g was good in the past" = let's talk about it.

There's a giant chasm between "yeah we have be flexible this year, and sure, maybe we'll factor in the 'eye test' but we haven't figured anything out yet" to "call the police they're going to put a sub. 500 Big Ten team with no impressive wins into the NCAA tournament."

If the March 22 coaches poll is your judge of where the wind is blowing then you have nothing to worry about. Your at-large field would be 5 ACCs, 1 B1G, 1 BE, and 1 PL. Just outside would be another PL team and UMass should they not secure the CAA title. And then a tier below that, further outside what I'd constitute even being the "bubble," you'd have another PL, a SoCon, a CAA, and THEN, perhaps, a third B1G team.

firstly, i didn't say anything about putting a sub .500 team in. although that may certainly now be on the table.

nor was i worried about them selecting the tourney today. you said that.

i'm sure you'll let us all know when we're allowed to hand-wring? will that be after another quote against nc$$ selection committee rules or after bids have been handed out? and btw, when was the last time a committee chair commented on their selections prior to making them, much less at the outset of the season?

to be i guess more clear, this narrative now floated early and confirmed midway thru some teams' year sets up a b1g to "catch fire" in the back half of the schedule, going 3 and 2 and undefeated against their other 3rd place competitors, and taking a first round b1g game with all that momentum. no rutgers or maryland necessary.

to summarize... one team having played 3/5 of their games against teams with losing records is 2 and 3, with 2 wins against teams that are a combined 2 and 8. another 2-3 squad with the same 3/5 having beaten a 1-4 and 2 and 3, and lost to a 1 and 4.

and a 3rd at 1-4 just on the cusp having lost to a 1-4, just needing to catch a little fire.

a 1-3 losing to an oh and 4 would seem to have dropped everyone by any reasonable estimation. instead, it emboldened everyone. that michigan win looks great!

so these would be the only teams in the top 20+ that in combination:
- have a losing record
- played more teams with a losing record than those with a winning record
- beat teams only with a losing record

just think of how good one squad would look winning over 50% of their last 7 games to close things out against their brutal skid if this is where they are after winning 40%.

[Matnum PI]

My favorite thing about computer-based rankings is that they're just equations. i.e. They're 100% logical. So the system is never flawed. With this said, the logic used to create the system can be very flawed. None the less, if you know the equation behind the system, all you can do is learn from it. for human-based ratings, it's built on a foundation of irrationality (i.e. humans are irrational) so all you can do is look at the rankings, maybe ask some question (and the answers will inevitably contradict themselves), and just accept them for what they are. With this said...

I find Massey's interesting. I like that the Ivies are included and pretty well ranked. Basically, it shows that some teams were better off not playing any games in 2021. It's a funny idea. To me, a ridiculous idea. But... if you get the logic behind the system, you can learn from it.

[DU-fan]

My favorite thing about computer-based rankings is that they're just equations. i.e. They're 100% logical. So the system is never flawed. With this said, the logic used to create the system can be very flawed. None the less, if you know the equation behind the system, all you can do is learn from it. for human-based ratings, it's built on a foundation of irrationality (i.e. humans are irrational) so all you can do is look at the rankings, maybe ask some question (and the answers will inevitably contradict themselves), and just accept them for what they are. With this said...

I find Massey's interesting. I like that the Ivies are included and pretty well ranked. Basically, it shows that some teams were better off not playing any games in 2021. It's a funny idea. To me, a ridiculous idea. But... if you get the logic behind the system, you can learn from it.

I agree. Below are the current Massey ratings. I took out the Ivies and Hampton. These seem close to right.

Rank Team Record
1 Duke 8-0
2 Maryland 5-0
3 North Carolina 8-0
4 Notre Dame 4-0
5 Georgetown 5-1
6 Denver 6-2
7 Syracuse 4-1
8 Rutgers 4-1
9 Virginia 6-2
10 Army 3-1
11 Lehigh 3-0
12 Loyola MD 4-2
13 Villanova 3-1
14 Richmond 3-3
15 Johns Hopkins 2-3
16 Ohio St 2-3
17 Navy 2-0
18 Vermont 3-2
19 Boston Univ 4-1
20 Massachusetts 2-0
21 SUNY Albany 3-1
22 Penn St 1-4
23 Bryant 4-1
24 Providence 3-4
25 Delaware 6-1
26 High Point 2-4
27 Stony Brook 4-3
28 Robert Morris 3-4
29 UMBC 3-0
30 Jacksonville 4-3
31 Michigan 1-4
32 Hofstra 3-1
33 Towson 2-5
34 Bucknell 1-2
35 Drexel 1-2
36 Marquette 0-5
37 St Joseph's PA 3-3
38 Hobart & Smith 2-1
39 Marist 1-0
40 Utah 2-4
41 Colgate 1-3
42 Air Force 1-5
43 Fairfield 2-3
44 Holy Cross 1-3
45 Mercer 2-5
46 Cleveland St 1-3
47 LIU Post 4-1
48 St John's 1-4
49 Monmouth NJ 3-0
50 Merrimack 2-3
51 Binghamton 1-1
52 Bellarmine 2-7
53 Manhattan 2-1
54 Mt St Mary's 1-7
55 Detroit 1-2
56 Lafayette 0-3
57 St Bonaventure 1-2
58 Sacred Heart 1-7
59 Canisius 2-1
60 MA Lowell 1-3
61 VMI 1-3
62 Hartford 0-3
63 Quinnipiac 0-1
64 Siena 0-3
65 NJIT 0-5
66 Wagner 0-5

[Matnum PI]

I agree. Below are the current Massey ratings. I took out the Ivies and Hampton. These seem close to right.

agreed. And though I disagree with some of the details, you can't argue with the logic. THOUGH you have to ask the question, what logic is there to several teams that are 0-0 in 2021 being ranked in the Top 10. The answer is... 2020 plays no small role in the 2021 Ratings. But, again, I like Massey...

[HopFan16]

There will be a lot of hand-wringing about a 6-7 team getting an at-large bid. But it will happen at the cost of maybe a second or third Patriot team getting in. You will see.

There seems to be a lot of present hand-wringing about theoretical future hand-wringing. The Big Ten is only getting one at-large max and it won't be a team that's below .500.

yeah, well, if the chairman of the actual committee hadn't gone on record as saying that he was going to be using criteria that heretofore had been verboten, maybe that wouldn't be the case.

i'll note that by quote he didn't give any license to do that.

so fast forward and things like a coaches poll having 2 teams that probably have no business there to date, and it sure looks like that may provide cover for eye test "keep games close for several quarters" and "b1g was good in the past" = let's talk about it.

There's a giant chasm between "yeah we have be flexible this year, and sure, maybe we'll factor in the 'eye test' but we haven't figured anything out yet" to "call the police they're going to put a sub. 500 Big Ten team with no impressive wins into the NCAA tournament."

If the March 22 coaches poll is your judge of where the wind is blowing then you have nothing to worry about. Your at-large field would be 5 ACCs, 1 B1G, 1 BE, and 1 PL. Just outside would be another PL team and UMass should they not secure the CAA title. And then a tier below that, further outside what I'd constitute even being the "bubble," you'd have another PL, a SoCon, a CAA, and THEN, perhaps, a third B1G team.

firstly, i didn't say anything about putting a sub .500 team in. although that may certainly now be on the table.

nor was i worried about them selecting the tourney today. you said that.

i'm sure you'll let us all know when we're allowed to hand-wring? will that be after another quote against nc$$ selection committee rules or after bids have been handed out? and btw, when was the last time a committee chair commented on their selections prior to making them, much less at the outset of the season?

to be i guess more clear, this narrative now floated early and confirmed midway thru some teams' year sets up a b1g to "catch fire" in the back half of the schedule, going 3 and 2 and undefeated against their other 3rd place competitors, and taking a first round b1g game with all that momentum. no rutgers or maryland necessary.

to summarize... one team having played 3/5 of their games against teams with losing records is 2 and 3, with 2 wins against teams that are a combined 2 and 8. another 2-3 squad with the same 3/5 having beaten a 1-4 and 2 and 3, and lost to a 1 and 4.

and a 3rd at 1-4 just on the cusp having lost to a 1-4, just needing to catch a little fire.

a 1-3 losing to an oh and 4 would seem to have dropped everyone by any reasonable estimation. instead, it emboldened everyone. that michigan win looks great!

so these would be the only teams in the top 20+ that in combination:
- have a losing record
- played more teams with a losing record than those with a winning record
- beat teams only with a losing record

just think of how good one squad would look winning over 50% of their last 7 games to close things out against their brutal skid if this is where they are after winning 40%.

What narrative has been confirmed? Who is emboldened? This is such straw man stuff. No one has said the Michigan win looks any better than it did weeks ago. This narrative doesn't exist except in the minds of worried FanLax posters.

Hopkins being ranked at the bottom of the top 20 is not evidence of much of anything really—certainly not some conspiracy to get them, or similar teams, into the tournament. You'll recall that they already fell way out of the rankings—to #29 based on media poll votes—at 1-2 after the Maryland loss. They re-entered (deservingly so IMO, based on information we had at the time) at 2-2 after dismantling Penn State which had just beat OSU the week before. Then they dropped after losing to a top 5 team in Rutgers.

Clearly some would like for them to not be ranked this week. That's fine! But here's a fun fact for you that I'm sure you already knew: Only three of the 12 teams that received fewer media votes than Hopkins have a win over a team with a winning record. Bryant, who beat 3-2 Vermont. Stony Brook, who beat Bryant. And UMBC, who beat Stony Brook. Not a lot of clarity there. No other team has defeated another team with a winning record. Not Albany, not Hofstra, not Richmond, not Villanova, not High Point. There is a lot of mush in the back half of the top 20. Maybe Hop's name is keeping them in it when they shouldn't be but like I said before, it requires a quantum leap to go from "poll voters are overrating Hopkins" to "it's happening!!! they're going to make the tournament!!!"

[HopFan16]

I agree. Below are the current Massey ratings. I took out the Ivies and Hampton. These seem close to right.

agreed. And though I disagree with some of the details, you can't argue with the logic. THOUGH you have to ask the question, what logic is there to several teams that are 0-0 in 2021 being ranked in the Top 10. The answer is... 2020 plays no small role in the 2021 Ratings. But, again, I like Massey...

No, those can't be right. Hopkins is in the top 20. That has to be a conspiracy to keep Hopkins alive concocted by Big Massey.

[wgdsr]

sure, make it all about hopkins. i see you conveniently left out the fact that many (almost all?) of those teams have winning records. or at least .500.

you love massey it looks like thru a handful of games. i guess you love rpi at this point then, too?

it's so exciting. look forward to see how it all plays out!

[DU-fan]

Does anyone know how Massey does their ranking?

I see these headings so it is much more than just a handful of games, like RPI. They are giving credit to past performances and conference and SOS, not just record which can be very misleading.

Rat Pwr Off Def HFA SoS SSF EW EL

For what it is worth, they correctly predicted that Albany would beat Umass by 1.5 points.

Tue 03.23
Massachusetts 37 %
@ SUNY Albany 63 % -1.5

[44WeWantMore]

I agree. Below are the current Massey ratings. I took out the Ivies and Hampton. These seem close to right.

agreed. And though I disagree with some of the details, you can't argue with the logic. THOUGH you have to ask the question, what logic is there to several teams that are 0-0 in 2021 being ranked in the Top 10. The answer is... 2020 plays no small role in the 2021 Ratings. But, again, I like Massey...

I believe one of the Big Red fans was an expert on this, but if I correctly recall what he wrote, Massey (though proprietary so nobody can be certain) uses last year's result as a starting point. So unlike the Power Rankings, Massey 'makes sense' from the very beginning.

[10stone5]

Cornell 77 ?

He was/is a big fan of KRACH,

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/ratings/krach.php

[Matnum PI]

...So unlike the Power Rankings, Massey 'makes sense' from the very beginning.

Though the LaxByte rankings do blend in human rankings... which helps.

[NYterp09]

Maryland is the best team. They most likely will go undefeated and will be regarded as one of the all time great teams. Pains me to say it. They pass the eyeball test.

As a Carolina Fan, all I can say is 2016.

This year, I think Maryland would have a tough time against ANY ACC team and that includes ND.

An ACC team will win it all, hopefully UNC, but I could make a good case for any of them; the Big 10 doesn’t compare to the competition of the ACC. Maryland’s play is predicable - same thing, year in and year out.

Who cares about undefeated in the regular season. @ 10-6 Carolina didn’t have a chance in 2016.

I think Duke is probably the most complete team; we’ll see April 1st.

At this level, there’s always an X Factor come May, we’ll see who’s on a roll then.

“Maryland’s play is predictable - same thing, year in and year out”

Is that predictability making 7 of the last 9 Final Fours, 5 of the last 9 Championship Games, being a #1 seed in 3 of the last 4 tournaments? I suppose that is more predictable than UNC who hasn’t even made the tournament since 2017.

I knew that response was coming. That have a good program, no doubt. The play is boring, just my opinion. If they were still in the ACC, I think their record would be a bit less. They’ve won 1 NC in the last 35 years; Carolina has won? 3-4-5? I forget. Making it too the FF is one thing, actually win it is another. Both programs have a rich history and are among the historic “elite” lacrosse programs...I just prefer Carolina style of play and being ACC, I’d prefer that conference win the NC. No big deal. I will say that Tillman is a class act. We’ll see how it all shakes out...

Since when has a team scoring 17 goals a game ever been boring? Have you even watched a Maryland game this year?

[TAV]

Maryland is the best team. They most likely will go undefeated and will be regarded as one of the all time great teams. Pains me to say it. They pass the eyeball test.

As a Carolina Fan, all I can say is 2016.

This year, I think Maryland would have a tough time against ANY ACC team and that includes ND.

An ACC team will win it all, hopefully UNC, but I could make a good case for any of them; the Big 10 doesn’t compare to the competition of the ACC. Maryland’s play is predicable - same thing, year in and year out.

Who cares about undefeated in the regular season. @ 10-6 Carolina didn’t have a chance in 2016.

I think Duke is probably the most complete team; we’ll see April 1st.

At this level, there’s always an X Factor come May, we’ll see who’s on a roll then.

“Maryland’s play is predictable - same thing, year in and year out”

Is that predictability making 7 of the last 9 Final Fours, 5 of the last 9 Championship Games, being a #1 seed in 3 of the last 4 tournaments? I suppose that is more predictable than UNC who hasn’t even made the tournament since 2017.

I knew that response was coming. That have a good program, no doubt. The play is boring, just my opinion. If they were still in the ACC, I think their record would be a bit less. They’ve won 1 NC in the last 35 years; Carolina has won? 3-4-5? I forget. Making it too the FF is one thing, actually win it is another. Both programs have a rich history and are among the historic “elite” lacrosse programs...I just prefer Carolina style of play and being ACC, I’d prefer that conference win the NC. No big deal. I will say that Tillman is a class act. We’ll see how it all shakes out...

Since when has a team scoring 17 goals a game ever been boring? Have you even watched a Maryland game this year?

Yeah, all of them.

I’m not arguing with you, it’s my opinion. Move on.

If they win the NC, so be it. They will be 4-11 lifetime.

With parity, year in and year out, there are roughly 6-8 teams that have a legit shot @ winning the tournament, much has to do with team chemistry and who’s consistently hot at that time of year - there’s no real way to foresee that so much of the ranking is silliness and fun for week to week discussion.

All statistical models exclude control chart variation analysis so are limited @ best. Also, we have the comparatively subjective NCAA input, so most of the handwringing should be about the 8 at large bids.

On all counts, Maryland will make the Tournament and will be a very high Seed if not #1 or #2 and thus far looks like they have a very good chance of winning their 4th NC.

Are you happy now?

I’m a Carolina fan, but have you watched Duke and SU play? They can play some Lacrosse. UVA has talent and has time to fix and make a run. Even ND, with a quality defense, could be in the mix.

All I was pointing out is that this year, the ACC has 5 pretty good lacrosse teams. The Big10 looks to have 2.

[xxxxxxx]

I wonder how things end up for Notre Dame, they have flown under the radar with the late start and four wins over average teams, now they have six games against really good teams. Tough to tell how good they really are, but we will find out soon.

02/27 vs Robert Morris W 19-7
03/06 vs Bellarmine W 12-6
03/17 vs Marquette W 10-3
03/20 vs Cleveland State W 19-5
03/27 vs Virginia Preview
04/03 @ Syracuse Preview
04/10 vs Duke Preview
04/22 @ Duke Preview
04/25 @ North Carolina Preview
05/01 vs Syracuse