Finster wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2024 8:14 amjrn19 wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 10:15 pmYes. You nailed my thoughts.a fan wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 9:54 pmPay attention: he wrote good team "at any of these programs". Meaning in this context is SU and Hopkins.DocBarrister wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 9:39 pmNever was.
The Final Four teams from twenty years were more than good. “Good” has never been good enough for the Final Four.
This was true even in the 1970s and 1980s.
DocBarrister
He's right. I can name good not great SU teams that were a part of 22 FF's with no difficulty whatsoever. And then the "great" ones? That meant they had future HOF's all over the roster in one season.
The REASON SU kept making FF's is that the talent pool was so concentrated to just a few power teams. Syracuse had future 1st team AA's running second midfield, for heaven's sake.
Not anymore. And that's what Jrn19 means. Or that's how I read it, he can speak for himself.
Personally, as much as I'd like to see Syracuse win Championships? I enjoy the regular season SO MUCH MORE, because unlike from about 1980-2000 for Syracuse....W's are hard to come by against pretty much all of D1. It's great. The W's feel better, and earned.
And the conference tournaments are fantastic. Villanova stuck it to DU this year. And the Ivies? Every intra-conference game was a treat.
Our sport is in a great place. Next up? New blood in the FF........
Cuse had a great team in 2011 that lost in the Quarterfinal. They had a very good team in 2015 that lost to Hopkins. They've lost in the Quarterfinals 3 straight times.
Hopkins had a really, really good team in 2018. Lost in the Quarters. They had a very good team this year. Lost in the Quarters.
Notre Dame lost four consecutive quarterfinals between 2016-2022 before they finally broke through and won the title
In 1999, Cuse made the Final Four as an 8 seed. They beat the #1 seed Loyola, one of the 2 or 3 best teams the Hounds ever had. And then they beat Georgetown in the only Final Four the Hoyas have ever played in. They lost to both of these teams in the playoffs in the last 5 years.
We don't have "parity", but it is unequivocably harder to make the Final Four now. It was hard to win it in those days cause of the great teams on that final weekend, but their path was easy
Which is why I consider Tillman to be the best in the business. His teams come to win at NCAA tournament time. Maryland always seems to have a blue collar mentality player who leads their way...this year, IMO, it's Weirman.
I think TIllman is the best lacrosse coach in the country. He isnt the best recruiter.