LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Penn State looking like the best team in D1, although for me the result of the day was Rutgers demolishing OSU in Ohio. Hop fans got a reprieve from the constant fretting, well, no, it seems nothing... although beating Rutgers should... we'll see.

All three road teams secured victories this weekend with PSUs win particularly impressive. The 7 pm Sunday night games - wrought with difficult travel logistics - is akin to Thursday night football. Just tough for the visitor (waiting around all day to play, weird time slot and just different than noon on Saturday). What’s good for the TV viewer at home is equally disruptive to the traveling team. Expect OSU head coach to get his squad’s attention this week and look for better energy and effort. Still ...

This week's Big Ten games:
4/6 Saturday: Rutgers at Johns Hopkins, 2pm
4/6 Saturday: Michigan at Maryland, 2pm
4/7 Sunday: Ohio State at Penn State, 7pm

One thing we have noticed with this season is that teams have been up and down. It sort of reminds me of an old adage about college football that a coach could really only get a team up twice a season. It seems like teams get a chip on their shoulder and need to prove themselves and really play outstanding. A perfect example is UMd pummeling UNC two weeks ago, then UNC gets it together and beats Duke last weekend. Perhaps, the same sort of things happened last weekend in the Big 10, Rutgers in a must win situation played great in defeating OSU, and PSU, who had never beaten UMd, came out of the locker room on fire.

Looking at Rutgers at Hopkins, are we going to see the Rutgers that decidedly beat OSU last weekend, or something more down to Earth. It's hard to know. If it is the former, Hopkins is in trouble. It is also tough to beat Hopkins at Homewood, and Hopkins is more in a position to need a big win. I think one has to favor Rutgers here, but Hopkins winning wouldn't be a surprise to me.

Michigan at Maryland. Michigan's face off problems continue to derail them, so I think the Terps will rebound from their loss to PSU and win this one convincingly.

OSU at PSU. Another Sunday night game. PSU should win at home. But, OSU is the team with a chip on their shoulder this weekend, while PSU probably had trouble getting off cloud 9 after beating the Terps.

Thoughtful analysis. However, PSU is feeling it this year. Saw somewhere that they referred to 2019 as their “revenge tour.” PSU has not lost to OSU since 2015 and would be surprised to see any let up on their side, but Bucks will be bringing it themselves with a season on the line mentality. Lions seem to mirror OSU run to FF two years ago and I fully expect to see them there. Major injury derailed last season.

RU and JHU: loser will have to run the table (AQ) to get into the tourney.

PSU knocks off OSU 13-8, so it looks like PSU probably has the top seed in the Big Ten tmt locked up.
OSU has put themselves into a bit of a hole as far as making the Big Ten tmt at 0-2.

OSU looks like it has the size and personnel to be a great box lacrosse team. As for the field game, I was surprised by how few guys they had who could run past (on in Leclaire's case, over) their defender. I do like OSU's defense, though. They don't lack size or athleticism. Their offense just couldn't keep up with PSU.

Big Ten games this weekend
Saturday Apr 13 Noon Penn State at Michigan
Sunday Apr 14, Noon Ohio State at Johns Hopkins
Sunday Apr 14, 7pm Maryland at Rutgers

The Sunday games really loom big for who makes the cut for the Big Ten tmt.
Ohio State is in a nearly must win situation at 0-2. Meanwhile, Hopkins (2-0) would pretty much clinch making the Big Ten tmt with a win.
Both Maryland and Rutgers are 1-1, the winner of their game puts themselves in really good shape, while the loser puts themselves in danger. Particularly, if Maryland lost, they would then have to go out to Columbus next weekend needing a win.

Throw the rankings out the window. All the BIGs outside of the Wolverines are deep enough in talent to reasonably harbor the idea that they can beat any other on a particular day. The rankings do them justice as far as current accomplishments go, but this is the time of season that separates the contenders from the pretenders. Looking forward to the weekend.

Cooter wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:50 pm Both Maryland and Rutgers are 1-1, the winner of their game puts themselves in really good shape, while the loser puts themselves in danger. Particularly, if Maryland lost, they would then have to go out to Columbus next weekend needing a win.

The last 2 Maryland-RU games in Piscataway...2015, Matt Rambo scores the game-winning goal with 13 seconds remaining in the game...2017 Easter Sunday classic...Connor Kelly wins the game in the 3rd OT.

With Rutgers needing a win to maintain any hopes of making the B1G tournament, it looks like another close game is in store.

Wheels wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:04 pm With Rutgers needing a win to maintain any hopes of making the B1G tournament

?

As long as Hopkins beats Ohio State, Rutgers is almost guaranteed to be the #4 seed... Rutgers is in pretty good shape, even if they lose to UMCP this weekend.

Hawkeye wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:14 am ?

As long as Hopkins beats Ohio State, Rutgers is almost guaranteed to be the #4 seed... Rutgers is in pretty good shape, even if they lose to UMCP this weekend.

The only thing Rutgers has going for it is that they've yet to play Michigan. Relying on a 50-50 proposition between OSU and JHU isn't where you want to be. At least they'll know the outcome of that game before they face-off against Maryland on Sunday night.

Anyone know what the tie-breakers are if 3 teams end up 2-3 in conference play?

Wheels wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:57 am Anyone know what the tie-breakers are if 3 teams end up 2-3 in conference play?

You would think that information would be readily available but for the life of me I cannot find it online. There has never been a three-way tie for the final two spots before. If it's only two teams, that's easy, as the tiebreaker is just head-to-head. But the nightmare scenario is Hopkins, Rutgers, and Ohio State (or some other team) all end up 2-3. Hypothetically, if:

Hopkins beats Rutgers
Rutgers beats Ohio State
Ohio State beats Hopkins

...then I have no idea who gets left out. I assume it then will go to margin of victory or goals allowed or some other secondary statistic. If that's the case then OSU might be in trouble. They've given up 27 goals in conference play already, while Hopkins and Rutgers have each allowed just 21.

Hopkins can make things much easier by winning on Sunday.

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:37 am

Wheels wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:57 am Anyone know what the tie-breakers are if 3 teams end up 2-3 in conference play?

You would think that information would be readily available but for the life of me I cannot find it online. There has never been a three-way tie for the final two spots before. If it's only two teams, that's easy, as the tiebreaker is just head-to-head. But the nightmare scenario is Hopkins, Rutgers, and Ohio State (or some other team) all end up 2-3. Hypothetically, if:

Hopkins beats Rutgers
Rutgers beats Ohio State
Ohio State beats Hopkins

...then I have no idea who gets left out. I assume it then will go to margin of victory or goals allowed or some other secondary statistic. If that's the case then OSU might be in trouble. They've given up 27 goals in conference play already, while Hopkins and Rutgers have each allowed just 21.

Hopkins can make things much easier by winning on Sunday.

These are the rules at least for basketball - may still apply here:

https://www.btpowerhouse.com/2019/2/25/ ... rs-indiana

1

Ohio State pulls out the win 14-13 over Johns Hopkins.

Remaining games:

Tonight
Maryland at Rutgers

4/20
Maryland at OSU
Michigan at Rutgers

4/21
JHU at Penn St

4/26
OSU at Michigan

4/27
Rutgers at Penn St
JHU at Maryland

If you use RPI to assess favorites of these game, the B1G standings at the end of the regular season will look like:
Penn St (5-0) RPI 1
Maryland (4-1) RPI 7
OSU (2-3) RPI 9
JHU (2-3) RPI 12
Rutgers (2-3) RPI 19
Michigan (0-5) RPI 38

We really need to figure out what the tiebreaker is if there are three teams at 2-3, which looks more likely today after Ohio State beat Hopkins.

Hopkins (2-1) is likely to go 0-2 against PSU and Maryland, finishing at 2-3.

Rutgers (1-1) is likely to go 1-2 against Maryland, Michigan, and PSU, finishing at 2-3.

Ohio State (1-2) is likely to go 1-1 against Maryland and Michigan, finishing at 2-3.

Of course, that's just what I see as most likely to happen. If there is an upset or two over the next few weeks then that changes everything. But as things stand right now it looks to me like a three-way tie is a real possibility.

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:07 pm We really need to figure out what the tiebreaker is if there are three teams at 2-3, which looks more likely today after Ohio State beat Hopkins.

Hopkins (2-1) is likely to go 0-2 against PSU and Maryland, finishing at 2-3.

Rutgers (1-1) is likely to go 1-2 against Maryland, Michigan, and PSU, finishing at 2-3.

Ohio State (1-2) is likely to go 1-1 against Maryland and Michigan, finishing at 2-3.

Of course, that's just what I see as most likely to happen. If there is an upset or two over the next few weeks then that changes everything. But as things stand right now it looks to me like a three-way tie is a real possibility.

Agreed on your likely scenario. Someone posted the tiebreaker for B1G hoops, and I couldn't follow it all as it might apply here. I checked out the B1G website and couldn't find anything on tiebreakers for lacrosse. In hoops, the tiebreakers come down to records against teams higher in the standings. If things play out like you list above, none of the tied teams will even have different records against PSU and MD. So does it come down to goal differential? Are we going to end up with a Friday Night Lights-type coin flip?

Big Ten Lacrosse Tie-Breakers


A. Head-to-head Conference game results amongst the tied teams.

B. Each team’s record versus the team occupying the highest position in the standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.

Note: When arriving at another pair of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s record against the tied teams as a group rather than the performance against the individual tied teams.

C. Each team’s Conference goal differential against tied teams (maximum of seven goals per game).

D. Each team’s Conference “goals for” against tied teams (maximum of seven goals per game).

E. Each team’s Conference “goals against” against tied teams (maximum of seven goals per game).

F. The highest overall RPI ranking amongst tied teams.

Note: Follow the appropriate steps in order. In the case of ties among three or more schools, the criteria will be used in order until a team or teams is separated from the pack. At that point, the process will begin anew to break the “new” tie. In other words, when a four-way tie becomes a three-way tie, the three-way tie is treated as a “new” tie and the process begins with the first tie-breaking criterion.