Yes understood and agreed and my 8-9 is year end when it’s clear not now in terms of the gap. Though that’s true most years. There’s 3-5 contenders and a few potentials and that’s it. Everyone else playing for final season ranking and maybe at best a second round playoff game.coda wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 1:20 pm12 was just random, but you got the point. With the portal, it is really hard to predict which transfers meld together and elevate the team (PSU last year) or which ones just miss the mark (OSU)Farfromgeneva wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 1:13 pmMaybe more like 8-9 closer to 4 than 4 to 3 but agree otherwise. Usually there’s a gap though between 11 or 12 and 4 even in this year when you look at 10-13.coda wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 1:08 pmI agree with most of this. I think this is similar year to last year. You have UVA, Duke, and ND in the top tier. The question is going to be can someone in the next tier catch lightening in a bottle and test the top 3. I think #12 is closer to #4, than #4 is to #3..HopFan16 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:49 pmYou can make a case for the Jays anywhere between 4 and 7 or so (same for PSU and Maryland), but you're not making a convincing case here. #6 is too high for a team that...*checks notes* finished last year at #5. Really? SSDMs are a strength, not a question mark. Goalie depth? Lol. You're straining hard. Teams that finish top 5 and return the entire offense generally don't fall off much. Let's hear your argument for why Cornell etc. should be ahead of them.jhu06 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 11:51 am Hopkins has too many questions-faceoffs, offensive consistency, ssdms, new goalie, goalie depth, and not enough superstars to be that high. Whether Michigan shows last year was a fluke and is in the ncaa tournament mix or not this year, they had "the moment" they needed to justify their d1 existence last season and that should help them build with Conry for a long time to come.
The "Super Coordinator Shuffle" at some big time programs that don't usually make changes that often-UNC, UVA, Maryland, Hopkins, Syracuse etc I think is one of the defining stories of this season. Which changes have the biggest impact if any.
PSU-Hop-Maryland all seem pretty close, IMO. You could make the argument for those three in any order. PSU loses two of its top three scorers (Traynor, Winkoff) but brings back basically everyone else from a Final Four team. Maryland had a down year for them but get a couple key guys back healthy, though they do lose Makar, Geppert, and Long. If you're going to probe down to the level of "goalie depth" then both PSU and MD have their own question marks.
I don’t think OSU just missed the mark, 21 they slid in but last year was a disaster for them. Kind of suspect if Myers hadn’t made it in for the 21 season that he’d be on a pretty hot seas right now