Rutgers 2025

[1766]

Big one this weekend with Princeton coming to SHI Stadium. Most interested to see how the Knights play Princeton's attack. Young, but everything starts with them. I wouldn't be surprised to see a high scoring affair. Weather looks reasonably warm with some rain possible.

Some murmurs about some of the injured guys getting back on the field soon. Last year this game went to OT. It's likely to be a close game again. Go Knights!

[BigTom5]

0-2 against the only top 20 teams in the non-conference slate, and neither of them at all competitive. The team just looks overmatched. The offense is completely dependent on Scott and Knobloch, and if they get held in check the team doesn’t have many answers. The SSDM play on defense has been a clear weakness, and probably the biggest positional dropoff over the last couple of years. With the big two graduating and the transfer well drying up, the next couple of years might be troubling.

[1766]

There he is lol

Was waiting for you. You're slipping.

[BigTom5]

Just trying to spark discussion. I’ll just let the thread go dormant for the rest of the season since things are trending in that direction.

[RURICK]

There has been an absence of interest this season from Rutgers supporters. I am interested in the opinion of other supporters that may know what is going on within the program. I have an opinion on the entire Lacrosse world perspective and will share it. With the results so far and with 6-7 games into the season, the polls have positioned the ACC to get 4 at large births before conference play has even begun. In my opinion, it is not deserving that 4 ACC teams should ever get 4 at large births. The ACC is the ONLY conference that is not required to have a conference tourney to determine an auto bid. Why? Nobody reporting on fanlax has ever offered a reason why this is so. The ACC is comprised of 5 blue bloods and they dictate policy for the lacrosse world. All that said, I will predict who will get into the NCAA tourney by conference in advance of the conference seasons. The ACC will get 4 teams in, all at larges. The ten conference tourney champs will make up 10 more spots in the tourney. The BIG will get 2 spots in the tourney,the conference champ and 1 at large birth. The IVY will get the 2 remaining births. The same every year. There is no mystery. Regarding Rutgers, since they have dropped to 19th in the latest poll, they can only get an auto bid or beat UMass, Hopkins, Maryland, AND PSU for a chance at an at large bid. Good luck with that. See you next year.

[MDlaxfan76]

IMO, we should have no conference playoffs, win the season games and be considered on the merits of your aggregate play. Make your in season games matter the most. The playoffs burn a weekend unnecessarily.

Wanna make an auto qualifier for conference champs? Then have a conference champion based on W's and L's and then various tie breakers in conference. Not a do over for teams that didn't win their in-season conference games.

and do a larger play-in for conference winners otherwise not chosen on the merits of their aggregate play.

For that matter, shorten the season overall. And move all later closer to spring in the north; go into June if necessary, with final weekend being championship games only in each division, men's and women's, same location. Don't need it to be Memorial Day weekend.

[1766]

There has been an absence of interest this season from Rutgers supporters. I am interested in the opinion of other supporters that may know what is going on within the program. I have an opinion on the entire Lacrosse world perspective and will share it. With the results so far and with 6-7 games into the season, the polls have positioned the ACC to get 4 at large births before conference play has even begun. In my opinion, it is not deserving that 4 ACC teams should ever get 4 at large births. The ACC is the ONLY conference that is not required to have a conference tourney to determine an auto bid. Why? Nobody reporting on fanlax has ever offered a reason why this is so. The ACC is comprised of 5 blue bloods and they dictate policy for the lacrosse world. All that said, I will predict who will get into the NCAA tourney by conference in advance of the conference seasons. The ACC will get 4 teams in, all at larges. The ten conference tourney champs will make up 10 more spots in the tourney. The BIG will get 2 spots in the tourney,the conference champ and 1 at large birth. The IVY will get the 2 remaining births. The same every year. There is no mystery. Regarding Rutgers, since they have dropped to 19th in the latest poll, they can only get an auto bid or beat UMass, Hopkins, Maryland, AND PSU for a chance at an at large bid. Good luck with that. See you next year.

Beat Massachusetts and any 3 B1G wins and they are in you'd have to believe. Easier said then done.

[OldOrange]

There has been an absence of interest this season from Rutgers supporters. I am interested in the opinion of other supporters that may know what is going on within the program. I have an opinion on the entire Lacrosse world perspective and will share it. With the results so far and with 6-7 games into the season, the polls have positioned the ACC to get 4 at large births before conference play has even begun. In my opinion, it is not deserving that 4 ACC teams should ever get 4 at large births. The ACC is the ONLY conference that is not required to have a conference tourney to determine an auto bid. Why? Nobody reporting on fanlax has ever offered a reason why this is so. The ACC is comprised of 5 blue bloods and they dictate policy for the lacrosse world. All that said, I will predict who will get into the NCAA tourney by conference in advance of the conference seasons. The ACC will get 4 teams in, all at larges. The ten conference tourney champs will make up 10 more spots in the tourney. The BIG will get 2 spots in the tourney,the conference champ and 1 at large birth. The IVY will get the 2 remaining births. The same every year. There is no mystery. Regarding Rutgers, since they have dropped to 19th in the latest poll, they can only get an auto bid or beat UMass, Hopkins, Maryland, AND PSU for a chance at an at large bid. Good luck with that. See you next year.

Respectfully, it's not the same every year. Just 2 seasons ago only 1 ACC team received an at large bid, Virginia. Duke and Notre Dame were on the bubble and didn't get bids. Syracuse had a losing record and didn't qualify. Ivies had 6 teams in the tournament. ACC does not have an automatic bid because there are only 5 teams and a minimum of 6 are required for auto bid. The ACC had 6 until Maryland left for BIG10. In the ACC, football drives the bus. The ACC doesn't allow associate members, like Hopkins, for lacrosse. Getting other ACC ADs to add men's lacrosse has been frustrating with cost and Title IX the major deterrents.

[OldOrange]

There has been an absence of interest this season from Rutgers supporters. I am interested in the opinion of other supporters that may know what is going on within the program. I have an opinion on the entire Lacrosse world perspective and will share it. With the results so far and with 6-7 games into the season, the polls have positioned the ACC to get 4 at large births before conference play has even begun. In my opinion, it is not deserving that 4 ACC teams should ever get 4 at large births. The ACC is the ONLY conference that is not required to have a conference tourney to determine an auto bid. Why? Nobody reporting on fanlax has ever offered a reason why this is so. The ACC is comprised of 5 blue bloods and they dictate policy for the lacrosse world. All that said, I will predict who will get into the NCAA tourney by conference in advance of the conference seasons. The ACC will get 4 teams in, all at larges. The ten conference tourney champs will make up 10 more spots in the tourney. The BIG will get 2 spots in the tourney,the conference champ and 1 at large birth. The IVY will get the 2 remaining births. The same every year. There is no mystery. Regarding Rutgers, since they have dropped to 19th in the latest poll, they can only get an auto bid or beat UMass, Hopkins, Maryland, AND PSU for a chance at an at large bid. Good luck with that. See you next year.

Beat Massachusetts and any 3 B1G wins and they are in you'd have to believe. Easier said then done.

Exactly, you have to win some big games and not have bad losses. Michigan losing to Harvard could come back to haunt them depending on how they do in conference play.

[RURICK]

I guess that's possible. The reason i mentioned Hopkins , Maryland and PSU is they are all still in the top ten and would increase our RPI the most. Personally, I don't think Rutgers has a chance this year as they already lost to the only ranked teams in out of conference, and quite convincingly. They have not been good at defense or offense so far this year. I hope I am wrong.

[1766]

I guess that's possible. The reason i mentioned Hopkins , Maryland and PSU is they are all still in the top ten and would increase our RPI the most. Personally, I don't think Rutgers has a chance this year as they already lost to the only ranked teams in out of conference, and quite convincingly. They have not been good at defense or offense so far this year. I hope I am wrong.

Beating 3 top 10 teams would have you in the running for a top 3 seed at this point. Probably even higher. The post season is going to be driven by metrics as much as any season ever.

[Wheels]

Take this link with all of the qualifiers....early in the season, still far out, lots left to be played...

But this guy has been a good follow for a couple of years. Look at his take on the ACC teams.

https://twitter.com/fieldystick/status/ ... EO2hFStaxg

IMO, it shows how badly Syracuse and Duke have hurt themselves by playing such bad schedules so far. If Cuse had lost to Hop this weekend, they probably would have had to run the table in the ACC to get in. Look at Duke's metrics on that tweet. Their OOC is so bad that they're going to have to be beat ND and UVA to feel good about getting in. If Duke or Cuse lose to UNC, they're probably bubble-out.

Cuse has more breathing room because they beat Hop. Duke's margin for error is really slim. If Duke's final resume has their best wins as Princeton, Syracuse, and UNC, they're in trouble. In the thread on here about schedules, when Duke's schedule came out, a couple of us posted how weak their schedule was and got laughed at.

[wgdsr]

There has been an absence of interest this season from Rutgers supporters. I am interested in the opinion of other supporters that may know what is going on within the program. I have an opinion on the entire Lacrosse world perspective and will share it. With the results so far and with 6-7 games into the season, the polls have positioned the ACC to get 4 at large births before conference play has even begun. In my opinion, it is not deserving that 4 ACC teams should ever get 4 at large births. The ACC is the ONLY conference that is not required to have a conference tourney to determine an auto bid. Why? Nobody reporting on fanlax has ever offered a reason why this is so. The ACC is comprised of 5 blue bloods and they dictate policy for the lacrosse world. All that said, I will predict who will get into the NCAA tourney by conference in advance of the conference seasons. The ACC will get 4 teams in, all at larges. The ten conference tourney champs will make up 10 more spots in the tourney. The BIG will get 2 spots in the tourney,the conference champ and 1 at large birth. The IVY will get the 2 remaining births. The same every year. There is no mystery. Regarding Rutgers, since they have dropped to 19th in the latest poll, they can only get an auto bid or beat UMass, Hopkins, Maryland, AND PSU for a chance at an at large bid. Good luck with that. See you next year.

yes. you say this every year, multiple times.
- polls do not mean anything when it comes to at large selections. anything can change with the committee and maybe this is the year they use "polls".
- none of the conferences are required to have a tournament to determine an auto bid, so they are all treated equally in that regard.
- there are 9 conferences that will get auto bids, 2 of which will be in a play-in. 17 total and 8 at larges, not 6 or 7. that number may expand as soon as next year.
- individual teams make the tournament through at larges, not conferences. if your team does well enough, they get in. lot of season left, chin up.

[JeremyCuse]

There has been an absence of interest this season from Rutgers supporters. I am interested in the opinion of other supporters that may know what is going on within the program. I have an opinion on the entire Lacrosse world perspective and will share it. With the results so far and with 6-7 games into the season, the polls have positioned the ACC to get 4 at large births before conference play has even begun. In my opinion, it is not deserving that 4 ACC teams should ever get 4 at large births. The ACC is the ONLY conference that is not required to have a conference tourney to determine an auto bid. Why? Nobody reporting on fanlax has ever offered a reason why this is so. The ACC is comprised of 5 blue bloods and they dictate policy for the lacrosse world. All that said, I will predict who will get into the NCAA tourney by conference in advance of the conference seasons. The ACC will get 4 teams in, all at larges. The ten conference tourney champs will make up 10 more spots in the tourney. The BIG will get 2 spots in the tourney,the conference champ and 1 at large birth. The IVY will get the 2 remaining births. The same every year. There is no mystery. Regarding Rutgers, since they have dropped to 19th in the latest poll, they can only get an auto bid or beat UMass, Hopkins, Maryland, AND PSU for a chance at an at large bid. Good luck with that. See you next year.

Rutgers struggles are no real mystery, there the same reasons Princeton struggled for years after Tierney left, why SU struggled the last few years of Desko's run and why Albany is currently a shell of itself - the answer is Recruiting. Go back and look at the 2022 and 2023 classes and look at the overall team rankings and top 100 players. Rutgers had 4 guys in the 2022 rankings and one in 2023. They had no one in the top 35 both years and only two in the top 50. For the overall team rankings I don't recall them being in the top 12 either year. Recruiting rankings aren't the end all be all but its no surprise that the teams who clean up each year ie UVA, Duke, Maryland, ND and a few IVY's are usually battling deep into the tourney.

Brecht did a good job using homegrown under the radar players and a mix of higher end transfers for the final four run in 2022 but that was never a strategy that was going to work long term. Not only was extra year providing additional players but a lot of the blue bloods were being ultra selective in who they targeted. As you saw this past year the portal had less players and the competition was fierce as it used to be prior to Covid. Brecht brought in a bunch of players but most were D3 transfers or lower level D1 guys. Doesn't mean they can't help but your playing at the peak of D1, most of those guys would have helped more in the Patriot and America East then the B10 schedule RU will play.

RU needs a major recruiting overhaul, NJ had one of it's deepest classes in 2025 and Rutgers didn't get one of the top end guys.

[Farfromgeneva]

IMO, we should have no conference playoffs, win the season games and be considered on the merits of your aggregate play. Make your in season games matter the most. The playoffs burn a weekend unnecessarily.

Wanna make an auto qualifier for conference champs? Then have a conference champion based on W's and L's and then various tie breakers in conference. Not a do over for teams that didn't win their in-season conference games.

and do a larger play-in for conference winners otherwise not chosen on the merits of their aggregate play.

For that matter, shorten the season overall. And move all later closer to spring in the north; go into June if necessary, with final weekend being championship games only in each division, men's and women's, same location. Don't need it to be Memorial Day weekend.

I mean tons to digest there but you replied that that nonsense. The idea of conference AQs being a mandatory determinant of playoff access is insane and illogical. It’s a gaming of the system. This is hilarious that anyone’s even responding to the lunacy of the assertions above you.

“So, after diligent analysis across with landscape and rigorous analysis I’ve just come to the totally agnostic pointing that things are stacked against the BigTen and towards the ACC. Previously this wasn’t my operating assumption but now, whoa Nellie!n the fixing! It’s a global conspiracy that the bought and paid for media just worn reveal to the masses!”

[JeremyCuse]

Take this link with all of the qualifiers....early in the season, still far out, lots left to be played...

But this guy has been a good follow for a couple of years. Look at his take on the ACC teams.

https://twitter.com/fieldystick/status/ ... EO2hFStaxg

IMO, it shows how badly Syracuse and Duke have hurt themselves by playing such bad schedules so far. If Cuse had lost to Hop this weekend, they probably would have had to run the table in the ACC to get in. Look at Duke's metrics on that tweet. Their OOC is so bad that they're going to have to be beat ND and UVA to feel good about getting in. If Duke or Cuse lose to UNC, they're probably bubble-out.

Cuse has more breathing room because they beat Hop. Duke's margin for error is really slim. If Duke's final resume has their best wins as Princeton, Syracuse, and UNC, they're in trouble. In the thread on here about schedules, when Duke's schedule came out, a couple of us posted how weak their schedule was and got laughed at.

I have to disagree somewhat with his thoughts on Cuse. While they have played some lower level teams they have also played 3 top 10 teams (2 of whom were in the top 5 when they played) in Army, Maryland and Hop and still have Cornell to go. Dukes schedule he has a point though they appear to have lucked out with Denver and Harvard both looking way better then their pre-season predictions.

[Wheels]

Take this link with all of the qualifiers....early in the season, still far out, lots left to be played...

But this guy has been a good follow for a couple of years. Look at his take on the ACC teams.

https://twitter.com/fieldystick/status/ ... EO2hFStaxg

IMO, it shows how badly Syracuse and Duke have hurt themselves by playing such bad schedules so far. If Cuse had lost to Hop this weekend, they probably would have had to run the table in the ACC to get in. Look at Duke's metrics on that tweet. Their OOC is so bad that they're going to have to be beat ND and UVA to feel good about getting in. If Duke or Cuse lose to UNC, they're probably bubble-out.

Cuse has more breathing room because they beat Hop. Duke's margin for error is really slim. If Duke's final resume has their best wins as Princeton, Syracuse, and UNC, they're in trouble. In the thread on here about schedules, when Duke's schedule came out, a couple of us posted how weak their schedule was and got laughed at.

I have to disagree somewhat with his thoughts on Cuse. While they have played some lower level teams they have also played 3 top 10 teams (2 of whom were in the top 5 when they played) in Army, Maryland and Hop and still have Cornell to go. Dukes schedule he has a point though they appear to have lucked out with Denver and Harvard both looking way better then their pre-season predictions.

Cuse's win over Hop was massive because losses are losses. Beating MD or Army matters. Losing to them even by a goal each doesn't matter. It's the Manhattans, UVMs, Utahs, and High Points that will drag down Syracuse. The Hobart game isn't going to help much, either. The Hop win will hold up for the entire season. Beat Duke or ND and Cuse probably feels pretty good as long as they don't drop one to UNC.

Duke's best win right now is again, who, Princeton? I think they're #12 in RPI right now? They still have some dregs left of their schedule. Providence is 34 and BU is 35 right now in the RPI. Denver is only 11. Richmond has dropped to 27. It's cool their big guns got to run up a lot of points for the post-season honors and all, but Duke needs some T10 wins (right now, that's Cuse at 10, ND at 8, and UVA at 6). North Carolina is at 21.

Army will be an interesting case for the Committee. Their SOS is 39th right now. It's probably not out of the question for them to miss the tournament if they don't win the Patriot.

[blue angels]

There has been an absence of interest this season from Rutgers supporters. I am interested in the opinion of other supporters that may know what is going on within the program. I have an opinion on the entire Lacrosse world perspective and will share it. With the results so far and with 6-7 games into the season, the polls have positioned the ACC to get 4 at large births before conference play has even begun. In my opinion, it is not deserving that 4 ACC teams should ever get 4 at large births. The ACC is the ONLY conference that is not required to have a conference tourney to determine an auto bid. Why? Nobody reporting on fanlax has ever offered a reason why this is so. The ACC is comprised of 5 blue bloods and they dictate policy for the lacrosse world. All that said, I will predict who will get into the NCAA tourney by conference in advance of the conference seasons. The ACC will get 4 teams in, all at larges. The ten conference tourney champs will make up 10 more spots in the tourney. The BIG will get 2 spots in the tourney,the conference champ and 1 at large birth. The IVY will get the 2 remaining births. The same every year. There is no mystery. Regarding Rutgers, since they have dropped to 19th in the latest poll, they can only get an auto bid or beat UMass, Hopkins, Maryland, AND PSU for a chance at an at large bid. Good luck with that. See you next year.

yes. you say this every year, multiple times.
- polls do not mean anything when it comes to at large selections. anything can change with the committee and maybe this is the year they use "polls".
- none of the conferences are required to have a tournament to determine an auto bid, so they are all treated equally in that regard.
- there are 9 conferences that will get auto bids, 2 of which will be in a play-in. 17 total and 8 at larges, not 6 or 7. that number may expand as soon as next year.
- individual teams make the tournament through at larges, not conferences. if your team does well enough, they get in. lot of season left, chin up.

I am not sure if 1776 & Rurick are the same poster spewing the same stuff, but you think you have explained it to them multiple times. They are gonna insist that the ACC and the tournament committee has the deck stacked against Rutgers and the big 10 no matter what anyone says or what evidence is provided..........I am also pretty confident that neither went to Rutgers...........

[Farfromgeneva]

There has been an absence of interest this season from Rutgers supporters. I am interested in the opinion of other supporters that may know what is going on within the program. I have an opinion on the entire Lacrosse world perspective and will share it. With the results so far and with 6-7 games into the season, the polls have positioned the ACC to get 4 at large births before conference play has even begun. In my opinion, it is not deserving that 4 ACC teams should ever get 4 at large births. The ACC is the ONLY conference that is not required to have a conference tourney to determine an auto bid. Why? Nobody reporting on fanlax has ever offered a reason why this is so. The ACC is comprised of 5 blue bloods and they dictate policy for the lacrosse world. All that said, I will predict who will get into the NCAA tourney by conference in advance of the conference seasons. The ACC will get 4 teams in, all at larges. The ten conference tourney champs will make up 10 more spots in the tourney. The BIG will get 2 spots in the tourney,the conference champ and 1 at large birth. The IVY will get the 2 remaining births. The same every year. There is no mystery. Regarding Rutgers, since they have dropped to 19th in the latest poll, they can only get an auto bid or beat UMass, Hopkins, Maryland, AND PSU for a chance at an at large bid. Good luck with that. See you next year.

yes. you say this every year, multiple times.
- polls do not mean anything when it comes to at large selections. anything can change with the committee and maybe this is the year they use "polls".
- none of the conferences are required to have a tournament to determine an auto bid, so they are all treated equally in that regard.
- there are 9 conferences that will get auto bids, 2 of which will be in a play-in. 17 total and 8 at larges, not 6 or 7. that number may expand as soon as next year.
- individual teams make the tournament through at larges, not conferences. if your team does well enough, they get in. lot of season left, chin up.

I am not sure if 1776 & Rurick are the same poster spewing the same stuff, but you think you have explained it to them multiple times. They are gonna insist that the ACC and the tournament committee has the deck stacked against Rutgers and the big 10 no matter what anyone says or what evidence is provided..........I am also pretty confident that neither went to Rutgers...........

https://youtu.be/veH-NdODMjo?si=JQX_YS1oXxHAOgBK

[livelovelax]

If Rutgers beats UMass and can manage to beat Ohio State and Michigan, they will need to steal a game against either Hopkins and or Penn State, both of who are HOME games. Then win a Big tourney semi final game. That will put them as one of the final 2-4 "bubble" teams and their RPI will be strong enough for consideration.

Happy with the face offs so far and the goalie play but the offense has to stress the opponent more with another attackman who can score. Way to much reliance on Knobloch and Scott. Aimone is a threat too. The coaches better put more confidence on a second middy line or the #1 mids are going to be exhausted. Knobloch plays the whole freaking game, including going back on defense, in transition and sometimes on the FO wing. Gotta get him some relief.

If Kelly comes back and starts showing his pre season form, it can take some focus off of Scott and Knobloch. Great to see Mason Edwards back at SSM after his injury.