2022 NCAA Mens LAX tournament

[Comeonman]

Logan wins it going away because he’s a great player on a great team. Fait Accompli after Shellenberger went double bagel today. Shelly was only a finalist because of what he accomplished in last year’s tournament. This year his numbers weren’t even close to Brandau’s. The committee felt he might do it again and have egg on their faces if he wasn’t nominated. Gray was nominated despite not making the playoffs as a Lifetime Achievement award. No argument there as the D1 scoring record holder, but he has no chance of winning without the playoffs. Same with Nichtern, who at the time of nomination had the most points the nation. Handley deserved to be a finalist but with Penn’s loss and no goals by him yesterday he is also out. The committee wasted an opportunity in this day and age of diversity and inclusion by not picking a defensive player. There were plenty of great ones worthy of being a finalist, although none would have won anyway. But it would have quieted the critics who say the Tewaaraton is merely the Attackman of the Year award.

[Gobigred]

Anyone have a sense of tickets sold for next weekend's games?

[MoralTerpitude]

Gray had an amazing year, and is a big reason UNC was not several games south of .500. He willed them to victory against Syracuse. And his numbers stand up pretty well (third in GPG, fourth in PPG). Nichtern is first in PPG, and certainly deserving as well imho.

Shellenberger’s numbers from the Richmond game until the final five were announced: 7G/11A in six games. Take away the Quinnipiac game, and it’s 4G/9A in five games. Those are not Tewy-worthy numbers.

[jrn19]

Logan wins it going away because he’s a great player on a great team. Fait Accompli after Shellenberger went double bagel today. Shelly was only a finalist because of what he accomplished in last year’s tournament. This year his numbers weren’t even close to Brandau’s. The committee felt he might do it again and have egg on their faces if he wasn’t nominated. Gray was nominated despite not making the playoffs as a Lifetime Achievement award. No argument there as the D1 scoring record holder, but he has no chance of winning without the playoffs. Same with Nichtern, who at the time of nomination had the most points the nation. Handley deserved to be a finalist but with Penn’s loss and no goals by him yesterday he is also out. The committee wasted an opportunity in this day and age of diversity and inclusion by not picking a defensive player. There were plenty of great ones worthy of being a finalist, although none would have won anyway. But it would have quieted the critics who say the Tewaaraton is merely the Attackman of the Year award.

Agreed. Adler, Makar, McElroy all would have made worthy finalists; Adler in particular def should have been a finalist. There are some years where there's so many good attackmen it's cool to have 5 attackmen finalists. But not this year

[Maverick]

Logan wins it going away because he’s a great player on a great team. Fait Accompli after Shellenberger went double bagel today. Shelly was only a finalist because of what he accomplished in last year’s tournament. This year his numbers weren’t even close to Brandau’s. The committee felt he might do it again and have egg on their faces if he wasn’t nominated. Gray was nominated despite not making the playoffs as a Lifetime Achievement award. No argument there as the D1 scoring record holder, but he has no chance of winning without the playoffs. Same with Nichtern, who at the time of nomination had the most points the nation. Handley deserved to be a finalist but with Penn’s loss and no goals by him yesterday he is also out. The committee wasted an opportunity in this day and age of diversity and inclusion by not picking a defensive player. There were plenty of great ones worthy of being a finalist, although none would have won anyway. But it would have quieted the critics who say the Tewaaraton is merely the Attackman of the Year award.

Agree with this. If Logan doesn't win, something is wrong

[Maverick]

I'm also calling a MD Rutgers final MD win Logan 5 points. 2g 3 assists. Think he creates more than he finishes and wills his team to win that way

Edit* not going to say that MD is the best team ever but I will say there are 3 teams that can be debated between gait cuse teams, 22 terps, and 06 uva. Whichever you favor, there's a valid argument for all 3 imo

[ardilla secreta]

Logan wins it going away because he’s a great player on a great team. Fait Accompli after Shellenberger went double bagel today. Shelly was only a finalist because of what he accomplished in last year’s tournament. This year his numbers weren’t even close to Brandau’s. The committee felt he might do it again and have egg on their faces if he wasn’t nominated. Gray was nominated despite not making the playoffs as a Lifetime Achievement award. No argument there as the D1 scoring record holder, but he has no chance of winning without the playoffs. Same with Nichtern, who at the time of nomination had the most points the nation. Handley deserved to be a finalist but with Penn’s loss and no goals by him yesterday he is also out. The committee wasted an opportunity in this day and age of diversity and inclusion by not picking a defensive player. There were plenty of great ones worthy of being a finalist, although none would have won anyway. But it would have quieted the critics who say the Tewaaraton is merely the Attackman of the Year award.

Agree with this. If Logan doesn't win, something is wrong

If Logan doesn’t win then he’ll have to come back for his tenth year at Maryland.

[DMac]

Today's attendance, per Maryland box score:

3,684

Ohio Stadium seating capacity:

104,944

How pitiful is this in the grow the game era?

[bearlaxfan]

How much is expected from the host teams as far as supporting attendance is concerned? With TOSU out of the tourney, I can imagine a laissez faire attitude towards the tourney from an athletic department where lacrosse is, say, 'above the fold' but not a real headliner.

Again, this assumes it's the host school's responsibility, not the n¢@@'$.

[ICGrad]

How much is expected from the host teams as far as supporting attendance is concerned? With TOSU out of the tourney, I can imagine a laissez faire attitude towards the tourney from an athletic department where lacrosse is, say, 'above the fold' but not a real headliner.

Again, this assumes it's the host school's responsibility, not the n¢@@'$.

I would imagine that most of the promotion for the event was already in motion well before the participants were decided, and that the athletic department had little if nothing to do with final attendance figures.

I mean, sure, there might have been a final push had tOSU been in the QFs, but only because that's such an obvious promotional angle. I imagine the AD was still invested in the event being a success, and continued the normal promotions (radio ads, newspaper ads, etc) up until opening face-off. Hell, all of that stuff would have already been pre-purchased.

Ultimately, lacrosse is a tough sell in the midwest. Whenever I'm watching a game and someone comes over while it's on, the first question is always "Why are you watching lacrosse?"

[DALaxDad]

I'm also calling a MD Rutgers final MD win Logan 5 points. 2g 3 assists. Think he creates more than he finishes and wills his team to win that way

Edit* not going to say that MD is the best team ever but I will say there are 3 teams that can be debated between gait cuse teams, 22 terps, and 06 uva. Whichever you favor, there's a valid argument for all 3 imo

What about MD in 1973? The finals were close because JHU changed tactics and Bob Scott could coach, but MD beat 6 of the 7 other teams in the tournament by 10+ goals, including JHU. MD didn't play the 7th team.

[OCanada]

I would add Cornell 76/77. Awesome team

88/89 Cuse team had a one goal differential over Hopkins i believe. In their 4? meetings. Didn't look it up,

[FannOLax]

...
Ultimately, lacrosse is a tough sell in the midwest. Whenever I'm watching a game and someone comes over while it's on, the first question is always "Why are you watching lacrosse?"

Not just the Midwest: in NYC I've been told that lacrosse "is just a game for rich white boys." However, things change, just not overnight. Wider youth participation today could result in much greater viewership in 20 years, which happened with soccer in the US. For now, lacrosse's deeper roots in the Middle Atlantic and Northeast make said areas much better bets for hosting quarterfinals and Memorial Day weekend. Stadiums holding over 50,000 make no sense for quarterfinals.

[AreaLax]

Sunday's @TerpsMLax win over Virginia had 116,000 TV viewers on ESPNU, the most-watched game of the Men's #NCAALax Tournament this year, to date.

[laxfan1313]

I'm also calling a MD Rutgers final MD win Logan 5 points. 2g 3 assists. Think he creates more than he finishes and wills his team to win that way

Edit* not going to say that MD is the best team ever but I will say there are 3 teams that can be debated between gait cuse teams, 22 terps, and 06 uva. Whichever you favor, there's a valid argument for all 3 imo

Check to see whether any of the teams you chose as the greatest team ever had every starter named an All-America including 4 on the First Team and 2 on the 2nd Team, as was the case with Cornell's undefeated National Champions in 1976, which team was named a "Team of Distinction" by USILA. Get back to me.

[1766]

It's very difficult to compare teams from different eras but you would have to say, if Maryland goes on to win the tournament in the fashion they have been winning games, with the size, skill, and speed of the modern day athletes, along with the equipment to match, Maryland has a very strong argument as the best team ever.

[Crease Crank]

Sunday's @TerpsMLax win over Virginia had 116,000 TV viewers on ESPNU, the most-watched game of the Men's #NCAALax Tournament this year, to date.

I’m guessing this was measured during the 1st five minutes of the game…

[Gobigred]

It's very difficult to compare teams from different eras but you would have to say, if Maryland goes on to win the tournament in the fashion they have been winning games, with the size, skill, and speed of the modern day athletes, along with the equipment to match, Maryland has a very strong argument as the best team ever.

You really have to measure a team's greatness by how it performed against, and how much it dominated, its peers at the time. If you could somehow resurrect the 1927 Yankees in their prime, I suspect they'd be beaten easily by any of today's major league teams. But none of today's teams dominated the game like those Yankees did then. Others have since hit more home runs in a season than Babe Ruth, but when he hit 60 it was more than were hit by any other team in the league. He dominated in his era like no one else has. But he'd probably have problems with today's 100 mph fast balls, especially under the lights. Doesn't make the Babe less great.

Maryland and Cornell dominated the 1976 season. Unbeaten Maryland's average winning margin was nine goals, unbeaten Cornell's eleven. Both opened up 9-0 leads in their NCAA quarterfinals, and cruised from there, with Cornell completing a 14-0 shutout. Both opened up 11-1 leads in their semifinals, Maryland over #4 Navy and Cornell over #3 Hopkins, and cruised from there. They were tied 12-12 after regulation in the finals. Only one could win, and that winner had to prevail over an equally dominant team. Lacrosse cognoscenti called them the two best teams ever.

[Terpslax1991]

Logan wins it going away because he’s a great player on a great team. Fait Accompli after Shellenberger went double bagel today. Shelly was only a finalist because of what he accomplished in last year’s tournament. This year his numbers weren’t even close to Brandau’s. The committee felt he might do it again and have egg on their faces if he wasn’t nominated. Gray was nominated despite not making the playoffs as a Lifetime Achievement award. No argument there as the D1 scoring record holder, but he has no chance of winning without the playoffs. Same with Nichtern, who at the time of nomination had the most points the nation. Handley deserved to be a finalist but with Penn’s loss and no goals by him yesterday he is also out. The committee wasted an opportunity in this day and age of diversity and inclusion by not picking a defensive player. There were plenty of great ones worthy of being a finalist, although none would have won anyway. But it would have quieted the critics who say the Tewaaraton is merely the Attackman of the Year award.

Agree with this. If Logan doesn't win, something is wrong

If Logan doesn’t win then he’ll have to come back for his tenth year at Maryland.

5 years and 1 of those years was 6 games..

[renault]

...
Ultimately, lacrosse is a tough sell in the midwest. Whenever I'm watching a game and someone comes over while it's on, the first question is always "Why are you watching lacrosse?"

Not just the Midwest: in NYC I've been told that lacrosse "is just a game for rich white boys." However, things change, just not overnight. Wider youth participation today could result in much greater viewership in 20 years, which happened with soccer in the US. For now, lacrosse's deeper roots in the Middle Atlantic and Northeast make said areas much better bets for hosting quarterfinals and Memorial Day weekend. Stadiums holding over 50,000 make no sense for quarterfinals.

It is that, at least for the most part (clearly less so in places like Canada and Upstate NY). So what?