2021 NCAA Tournament

[44WeWantMore]

Rumors become news after they have been independently confirmed

[BigTom4]

It's already been decided: UMd, Denver, UVA, and UNC will host regardless of this weekend's outcomes.

Weakness of the northern teams probably had something to do with this, with projections showing that their won't be many (if any) teams more than 400 miles north of College Park, having a first round site at Albany or Hofstra becomes less of a priority.

Again, what is the source for this info? Until an official announcement is made, this is just a rumor…

It's not a rumor, it's what's happening. You'll see on Sunday.

[bradensa]

Making 3 teams fly to Denver in a pandemic is absurd.

What does the pandemic have to do with flying to Denver?

[Ice1570]

Will be so interesting to see if the NCAA waives it's "2 flight" rule to give DU a first-round host site. Normally, the NCAA tries to reduce the # of teams requiring a flight for the first round to 2 or fewer. A Denver site would require 3 teams to fly (greater than 400 mile distance triggers flight).

Clearly they are willing to waive that rule because Denver is one of the final 6 sites. Air Force and Utah have never been part of the discussion and they announced the 6 sites for mens lacrosse only. I think it comes down to seeding.

If Denver wins the Big East Tournament on Sat the West games are probably in Denver.
If Denver loses the Big East Tournament and are not seeded, Denver will not be a site.

Denver has already been selected as one of the four host sites for the first round along with UNC, UVA & Maryland

Where are you getting this info? My understanding is that the first round sites won’t be announced until Selection Sunday. It seems unlikely to me that they would go with one western and three southern venues…

Correct. It won’t be announced until Sunday. And when it is announced, those will be the four sites.

[DU-fan]

Making 3 teams fly to Denver in a pandemic is absurd.

Maybe Air Traffic control can route the plans around the pandemic. It works for thunder storms

[xxxxxxx]

Making 3 teams fly to Denver in a pandemic is absurd.

What does the pandemic have to do with flying to Denver?

I’ll clarify, having three teams fly to Denver for first round games when most of them are a few hours drive apart is absurd.

[wgdsr]

It's already been decided: UMd, Denver, UVA, and UNC will host regardless of this weekend's outcomes.

Weakness of the northern teams probably had something to do with this, with projections showing that their won't be many (if any) teams more than 400 miles north of College Park, having a first round site at Albany or Hofstra becomes less of a priority.

Again, what is the source for this info? Until an official announcement is made, this is just a rumor…

It's not a rumor, it's what's happening. You'll see on Sunday.

the committee chair was just interviewed in the last 24 hours and said no final decisions have been made and they'll look at it sat and sunday. maybe he's lying.

not for nothing, but it makes little sense to wait all this time and then not know that all sites line up as best as possible with seeded teams. rather than giving an unseeded team a home game.

i'd say all but denver would be relatively locked in.

[DU-fan]

Good update. But, SU at #6 does not make sense to me.

Mark Hart
@fieldystick
·
2h
Ninth draft bracketology. Notes: 1) SU lock w/ win today, bubble w/ loss. 2) Loyola has to win today to keep slim at-large hopes alive. 3) RU & 2nd PL bid are at risk from JHU. 4) UVM obv candidate for Denver flight if they win AEC; they have to fly anywhere. Next update: Sunday

[DU-fan]

I like this seeding better.

Chris Jastrzembski
@Chris_Jast
Replying to
@Chris_Jast
Finally, a bracket projection entering today.

Rutgers is the biggest Army, Lehigh, and Maryland fan this weekend. Georgetown also wouldn't mind those teams winning.

[HopFan16]

I hope they avoid first-round rematches. Have Cuse play Denver, Georgetown, Rutgers, or Lehigh instead of Army. It's not like there aren't any options. Heck, Lehigh and Syracuse almost played a game this year but didn't. I wouldn't mind seeing that game for real this time.

Could see something like:

#6 Denver vs. Army
#7 Georgetown vs. Rutgers
#8 Lehigh vs. Syracuse

I think any combination of those six is in play except Denver vs. Georgetown. Assuming they all get in.

[DMac]

Cuse getting in is a given?

[HopFan16]

Cuse getting in is a given?

If they lose today and Hopkins wins tomorrow, I think they're out. But short of both those things happening, I think they're in. It will be tough to keep a team that beat Virginia twice out of the field no matter how bad they've looked lately. Having a good showing today against Bobby Mo could go a long way to erase the perception that they're floundering.

[wgdsr]

i'd say 4 acc, umd, denver and gtown are in.
after that, it's anyone's guess and will depend on the next couple days.
syracuse has 2 top 5 wins, a possible top 20 with albany/vermont, no bad losses, a high sos and high rpi.

but this is anything goes year! who the he.ll knows.

committee members are towson ad head, loyola and denver admins, breschi and raymond. maybe someone else. and 10 coach regional advisory chiming in (one from each conference. so i'd guess that's also ivy.)

[DU-fan]

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... -on-/57856

IL's 2021 Bracketology, Third Look: What Is Going On?
Friday May 7th, 2021 2:30pm

Sitting in a press box over the last week, one analyst described forecasting this year’s NCAA Tournament bracket as “more art than science.” I think that’s true every year. I’ve referred to the process in the past as “subjectively objective,” meaning that the selection process uses objective criteria, but applies them in a subjective way.

This year, it appears more and more that, without the benefit of meaningful objective criteria (given the extensively discussed absence of a reliable RPI), that the process will be subjectively subjective.

Through that lens, forecasting the bracket feels more like a crapshoot than ever before. All that said, there’s some expectations that can be set based on what Committee chair Tim Leonard has said on the record and what other committee members and Regional Advisory Committee members have said privately.

Get caught up here:

IL's 2021 Bracketology: A First Look Like Never Before
IL's 2021 Bracketology, Second Look: How We Think They'll Build the Field

Our last Bracketology update was last Thursday, April 29. Since then, here are the pertinent results that affect the Tournament field:

Loyola beat Georgetown
Air Force beat Richmond
Villanova beat Lehigh
Notre Dame beat Syracuse
Michigan beat Ohio State, Johns Hopkins beat Penn State
North Carolina beat Duke
Loyola beat Navy
Hofstra beat Delaware
Johns Hopkins beat Delaware
Georgetown beat Villanova
High Point beat Richmond Friday afternoon to clinch the first AQ
What does it mean?

North Carolina leapfrogged Duke and are contending with Maryland for the No. 1 overall seed
Duke likely settled into the No. 3 seed
Notre Dame further solidified itself as a top-eight seed
The “Bubble In” group — Georgetown, Rutgers, Syracuse, Lehigh — all sustained damage
Fortunately for them the “Bubble Out” group — Navy, Delaware, Richmond, Villanova, Ohio State/Penn State — all sustained more substantial damage
A team that wasn’t in consideration — Loyola — may have joined the “Last Team In/First Team Out” mix
IL's Mock RAC Top 20
Last week, we replaced the RPI with a RAC Mock Top 12. This week, we’ll attempt to extend it to a Top 20 and add the Top 20 quality wins.

(Informed by Monday's USILA Poll, adjusting for game results since):

1. Maryland
2. North Carolina
3. Duke
4. Virginia
5. Notre Dame
6. Denver
7. Georgetown
8. Drexel
9. Rutgers
10. Syracuse
11. Lehigh
12. Villanova
13. Army
14. Loyola
15. Delaware
16. Navy
17. Richmond
18. Vermont
19. Johns Hopkins
20. Saint Joseph's

Assumptions
AQ: Highest Remaining Seed.

America East: Vermont
Big East: Denver
Big Ten: Maryland
CAA: Drexel
MAAC: Manhattan
NEC: Saint Joseph’s
Patriot: Lehigh
SoCon: High Point* (The Panthers won the SoCon title Friday afternoon)

[wgdsr]

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... -on-/57856

IL's 2021 Bracketology, Third Look: What Is Going On?
Friday May 7th, 2021 2:30pm

Sitting in a press box over the last week, one analyst described forecasting this year’s NCAA Tournament bracket as “more art than science.” I think that’s true every year. I’ve referred to the process in the past as “subjectively objective,” meaning that the selection process uses objective criteria, but applies them in a subjective way.

This year, it appears more and more that, without the benefit of meaningful objective criteria (given the extensively discussed absence of a reliable RPI), that the process will be subjectively subjective.

Through that lens, forecasting the bracket feels more like a crapshoot than ever before.

i don't know how it can be more science (math?) than taking the top 8 rpi's for at larges the last 3 years.

this year is whatever 15 people think and who has the strongest voice.

[Bacondoesstuff]

I think the top 3 Big East teams deserve it over Rutgers. If Hopkins wins, that steals a spot. But if Maryland wins out, who has Rutgers beaten? At least G'town has the win over Denver. Nova has the win over Lehigh (for whatever that is worth at the moment) and Denver seems solid for at large as is if they don't win conference.

[Matnum PI]

The mantra for RU is going to be, But it's not their fault. The B1G forced that schedule on them. Forced or not, you gotta judge teams based on their Ws and Ls as it relates to their schedule and, with the B1G in a vacuum, we just don't know how to match them up with the rest of the D1 Mens lacrosse teams. It's strange. Like ranking the top HS team in GA relative to the northeast teams. Its always a guess.

[HopFan16]

I think the top 3 Big East teams deserve it over Rutgers. If Hopkins wins, that steals a spot. But if Maryland wins out, who has Rutgers beaten? At least G'town has the win over Denver. Nova has the win over Lehigh (for whatever that is worth at the moment) and Denver seems solid for at large as is if they don't win conference.

I think GTown and Denver are both pretty safely in. I don't think Nova should (or will) get in over Rutgers. They had 5 chances to beat GTown and Denver and lost all of them. Lehigh was a solid win but their other wins—Marquette, Providence, and St. John's—are even worse than Rutgers' wins. Those teams are a combined 9-27. I think Rutgers' 8 wins over Hop, OSU, PSU, and Mich stack up much better than those. I also think it's fair to say Rutgers would have won at least 1 if given 5 shots against GTown/Denver but of course that's just conjecture. We'll never know—unless they play in the tourney.

[Farfromgeneva]

i'd say 4 acc, umd, denver and gtown are in.
after that, it's anyone's guess and will depend on the next couple days.
syracuse has 2 top 5 wins, a possible top 20 with albany/vermont, no bad losses, a high sos and high rpi.

but this is anything goes year! who the he.ll knows.

committee members are towson ad head, loyola and denver admins, breschi and raymond. maybe someone else. and 10 coach regional advisory chiming in (one from each conference. so i'd guess that's also ivy.)

I got a deal for Cuse fans. Trade us the older Rosa to go w Alex who’s coming next year and Raymond will hook it up!

[JeremyCuse]

i'd say 4 acc, umd, denver and gtown are in.
after that, it's anyone's guess and will depend on the next couple days.
syracuse has 2 top 5 wins, a possible top 20 with albany/vermont, no bad losses, a high sos and high rpi.

but this is anything goes year! who the he.ll knows.

committee members are towson ad head, loyola and denver admins, breschi and raymond. maybe someone else. and 10 coach regional advisory chiming in (one from each conference. so i'd guess that's also ivy.)

I got a deal for Cuse fans. Trade us the older Rosa to go w Alex who’s coming next year and Raymond will hook it up!

Lol no dice, he's a potential starter or 1st SSDM off the bench next year. Madonna for Rosa were all in.