Big Ten 2022

[Farfromgeneva]

This is a pathetic debate about who did “better in free agency”. What a bunch of children.

Are you just incapable of not being an a-hole? Seriously, why even chime in?

Read your comment and reflect.

[NYterp09]

This is a pathetic debate about who did “better in free agency”. What a bunch of children.

Are you just incapable of not being an a-hole? Seriously, why even chime in?

Read your comment and reflect.

No one has ever cared about your opinion. For the love of god please stop commenting. Stick to the Hobart thread where you belong.

[Farfromgeneva]

This is a pathetic debate about who did “better in free agency”. What a bunch of children.

Are you just incapable of not being an a-hole? Seriously, why even chime in?

Read your comment and reflect.

No one has ever cared about your opinion. For the love of god please stop commenting. Stick to the Hobart thread where you belong.

Cool.

[Farfromgeneva]

This is a pathetic debate about who did “better in free agency”. What a bunch of children.

Are you just incapable of not being an a-hole? Seriously, why even chime in?

Read your comment and reflect.

No one has ever cared about your opinion. For the love of god please stop commenting. Stick to the Hobart thread where you belong.

Remind me again what position you played on the 06-09 teams after transcending your upstate NY upbringing to achieve the historic successes that have? Just trying to get the background details down.

[xxxxxxx]

Maybe that pillow fight is over.

Regarding the Big 10, someone who knows a lot more about college lacrosse than me says the days of the Big 10 being the number 2 conference are over for at least this year. His position "it is Maryland and everyone else". I agree, big questions coming into the year. Will Rutgers stay solid with the loss of so many veterans? Hopkins is young with a new enthusiastic coach and may be poised for the rebuild. Penn State was 4 - 7 and lost the greatest scorer in NCAA history and a 900 win fogo, how much do they have? OSU, I have no idea. Several other conferences are hot on their tail including the Big East, Ivy, and CAA.

[FannOLax]

Maybe that pillow fight is over.

Regarding the Big 10, someone who knows a lot more about college lacrosse than me says the days of the Big 10 being the number 2 conference are over for at least this year. His position "it is Maryland and everyone else". I agree, big questions coming into the year. Will Rutgers stay solid with the loss of so many veterans? Hopkins is young with a new enthusiastic coach and may be poised for the rebuild. Penn State was 4 - 7 and lost the greatest scorer in NCAA history and a 900 win fogo, how much do they have? OSU, I have no idea. Several other conferences are hot on their tail including the Big East, Ivy, and CAA.

I think Michigan merits mention, having won a Big 10 tournament game in 2021 and returning a lot for 2022. Yes, I agree that Hop is moving in the right direction, will be playing a terrific schedule in 2022. Ivy remains a big question mark, but could be back in the top tier soon. CAA? Hmmm...

[Laxfan#1969]

Maybe that pillow fight is over.

Regarding the Big 10, someone who knows a lot more about college lacrosse than me says the days of the Big 10 being the number 2 conference are over for at least this year. His position "it is Maryland and everyone else". I agree, big questions coming into the year. Will Rutgers stay solid with the loss of so many veterans? Hopkins is young with a new enthusiastic coach and may be poised for the rebuild. Penn State was 4 - 7 and lost the greatest scorer in NCAA history and a 900 win fogo, how much do they have? OSU, I have no idea. Several other conferences are hot on their tail including the Big East, Ivy, and CAA.

Looking back at 2021, lots of chatter about the big ten being no good...it was an odd year, they made a decision to stick to a conference only schedule which made most teams records look bad...in a normal schedule year, I feel, just my opinion, that the conference would have been viewed differently as they would have stacked up a fair share of non-conference wins...Maryland was fantastic, beat ND, beat Duke, then lost to UVA in the finals...Additionally the critique by some on this board (and other talking heads) of Rutgers all year was proven wrong and was erased in the NCAA as they man-handled Patriot Champ Lehigh and then took UNC to the brink and frankly stood toe to toe with UNC...the look back on the season shows Rutgers was a great team this past year and Maryland was fantastic...just not as good as UVA...kudos to the ACC and UVA...they were the best conference period, not debatable...but IMO, the B1G was much better top to bottom as the year progressed than they got credit for...UM and Hopkins were much improved late and will carry that momentum into 2022...

As you look ahead to 2022...I think the big ten will be very solid top to bottom...Maryland is Maryland...Hopkins should be trending up...I'm not ready to discount Rutgers...they lost a ton of firepower, but they return a very very solid core especially in the middle of the field and on the backend...and they were very active in the portal...so I'm a wait n see on Rutgers

I think Michigan could be poised to make a jump...young and improving...let's see where they take it and I think OSU and PSU are in a bit of a transition mode, but again, like Rutgers, I would not count them out...

I like the conference in 2022. They will not be the ACC, have no idea about the Ivy's....but I'd be surprised if the Big East or Patriot were better than the Big Ten moving forward....next year anyway...

Should be fun...fall ball starts soon

[jhu06]

The acc is the class of the sport. Period. The big ten is really tilliman and 5 programs that you can't expect top 10/20 in some cases performances from week to week or year to year. More broadly the conference is clearly at a crossroads. Quint has made a strong argument that the negatives of the conference (the cash boom for the schools as the result of maryland/rutgers joining the big ten that was not shared w/hopkins), the de emphasis of traditional rivalries, moving rivalry games from april and late march when they drew better at homewood than big ten opponents like osu do, the conferences lack of investment and promotion in the sport-those big ten+tv games are garbage, far outweigh the benefits for Hopkins (the auto bid which frankly it's a failed season if the program needs it anyway). Michigan hasn't established itself as a top 20 program, osu/rutgers/penn state have not made the jump to regular ff threats and it hasn't really built off the conferences initial hype and the investment in the programs.

as far as next season goes, you're probably back to 5 acc schools getting at large bids, then you have patriot/big ten/ivy/big east fighting for what's left unless hopkins makes a charge back to top 5 or top 10 status.

[Henpecked]

The CAA is a conference that is overlooked by nearly everyone. But I don't think that there is that big a difference between the CAA, Big East, Ivy League, Patriot League and yes, the Big 10.

Over the last 4.5 seasons (2020 being the .5) the CAA has competed against all of the big guys and has won a bunch and lost a bunch of close games. The CAA has three teams that have made it to the Final Four in the modern era (2000 and beyond) with UMass, Delaware and Towson. They have also had five of the six teams (UMass, Delaware, Drexel, Towson and Hofstra) make it to the quarterfinals, meaning they have won at least one tourney game. Not every conference can say that.

Notable games over this 4.5 year stretch:

2021 (not a lot of OOC games against top teams no IVY no Big Ten):
Towson win over Loyola 8-7
Drexel with a tough loss in the tourney versus Notre Dame 10-8

2020 (Covid half season):
UMass win over Ohio State 9-7
UMass win over Yale 13-10
Umass win over Albany 17-12
Drexel win over Villanova 15-12
Hofstra win over Michigan 12-9

2019
Towson win over Hopkins 17-8
Towson win over Georgetown 14-8
Towson win over Loyola 12-10
Drexel win over Villanova 15-10
Drexel win over Michigan 17-16
Delaware win over Michigan 16-13
UMass win over Brown 14-7
Hofstra win over Lehigh 4-3
UMass one-goal loss to Yale 12-11
Towson one-goal loss to Maryland in Tourney 14-13

2018
Hofstra win over North Carolina 12-6
Towson win over Ohio State 7-6
UMass win over Brown 14-12
Drexel win over Georgetown 15-10
UMass loss in the Tournament to National Champs Yale 15-13

2017
Fairfield win over Bucknell 13-12
Delaware win over Villanova 13-10
Delaware win over then #1 ranked Rutgers 13-9
Hofstra win over Princeton 10-9
Hofstra win over Georgetown 11-9
Hofstra win over North Carolina 11-9
UMass win over Yale 11-9
Towson win over Georgetown 11-10
Towson win over Hopkins 13-8
Towson win over Penn State (NCAA) 12-8
Towson win over Syracuse (NCAA) 10-7
Towson one goal loss in final four to Ohio State 11-10

So, I am not saying that the CAA is a top 3 conference. But I am saying that not many top teams (especially ACC) want to schedule these guys because they don't believe the view is worth the climb. If you lose to a CAA team, which they often do, it looks bad. If you beat them, it is expected. The year that UNC won the national championship they lost handily to both UMass 14-9 and Hofstra 10-5. UMass was a 4-9 team that year. Those two losses almost kept UNC out of the tournament.

The ACC has fallen in love with playing the Southern Conference because of location, but also because they think they will generally beat those teams (save for a few upsets by High Point a couple years back that were ignored by the NCAA committee).

CAA plays hard. They don't roll over in the NCAAs to anyone.

[HopFan16]

The CAA is a conference that is overlooked by nearly everyone. But I don't think that there is that big a difference between the CAA, Big East, Ivy League, Patriot League and yes, the Big 10.

The CAA is 9-19 vs. the Big Ten since 2017. And that includes only one game against Maryland. So it wins less than a third of its games against the bottom five teams in the B1G.

Over that stretch, the CAA has had 1 Final Four and 1 quarterfinalist (Towson, 2017). In that same span, the Big Ten has had 8 quarterfinalists and 5 Final Four appearances. If you extend it to earlier than 2017 then obviously the numbers are even uglier.

That strikes me as a pretty big difference between the conferences.

CAA has had its moments. Looking to 2022, Delaware should be strong. UMass and Towson will likely improve. Hofstra may take a step back. But top to bottom, they are not in the same league as the Big Ten and frankly never have been.

I do think it's interesting Maryland never schedules any games against the CAA. They're the only B1G team that does so. Makes little sense that they never play Towson, Delaware, or Drexel given proximity. Perhaps in 2022.

[lorin]

The CAA is a conference that is overlooked by nearly everyone. But I don't think that there is that big a difference between the CAA, Big East, Ivy League, Patriot League and yes, the Big 10.

Over the last 4.5 seasons (2020 being the .5) the CAA has competed against all of the big guys and has won a bunch and lost a bunch of close games. The CAA has three teams that have made it to the Final Four in the modern era (2000 and beyond) with UMass, Delaware and Towson. They have also had five of the six teams (UMass, Delaware, Drexel, Towson and Hofstra) make it to the quarterfinals, meaning they have won at least one tourney game. Not every conference can say that.

Notable games over this 4.5 year stretch:

2021 (not a lot of OOC games against top teams no IVY no Big Ten):
Towson win over Loyola 8-7
Drexel with a tough loss in the tourney versus Notre Dame 10-8

2020 (Covid half season):
UMass win over Ohio State 9-7
UMass win over Yale 13-10
Umass win over Albany 17-12
Drexel win over Villanova 15-12
Hofstra win over Michigan 12-9

2019
Towson win over Hopkins 17-8
Towson win over Georgetown 14-8
Towson win over Loyola 12-10
Drexel win over Villanova 15-10
Drexel win over Michigan 17-16
Delaware win over Michigan 16-13
UMass win over Brown 14-7
Hofstra win over Lehigh 4-3
UMass one-goal loss to Yale 12-11
Towson one-goal loss to Maryland in Tourney 14-13

2018
Hofstra win over North Carolina 12-6
Towson win over Ohio State 7-6
UMass win over Brown 14-12
Drexel win over Georgetown 15-10
UMass loss in the Tournament to National Champs Yale 15-13

2017
Fairfield win over Bucknell 13-12
Delaware win over Villanova 13-10
Delaware win over then #1 ranked Rutgers 13-9
Hofstra win over Princeton 10-9
Hofstra win over Georgetown 11-9
Hofstra win over North Carolina 11-9
UMass win over Yale 11-9
Towson win over Georgetown 11-10
Towson win over Hopkins 13-8
Towson win over Penn State (NCAA) 12-8
Towson win over Syracuse (NCAA) 10-7
Towson one goal loss in final four to Ohio State 11-10

So, I am not saying that the CAA is a top 3 conference. But I am saying that not many top teams (especially ACC) want to schedule these guys because they don't believe the view is worth the climb. If you lose to a CAA team, which they often do, it looks bad. If you beat them, it is expected. The year that UNC won the national championship they lost handily to both UMass 14-9 and Hofstra 10-5. UMass was a 4-9 team that year. Those two losses almost kept UNC out of the tournament.

The ACC has fallen in love with playing the Southern Conference because of location, but also because they think they will generally beat those teams (save for a few upsets by High Point a couple years back that were ignored by the NCAA committee).

CAA plays hard. They don't roll over in the NCAAs to anyone.

Funny you left out score of Army vs Umass last 4 years, lol

[jhu06]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... expansion/

I have yet to understand what impact the current games of musical chairs played/contemplated by d1 schools for football $ reasons has/will have on lacrosse.

[Farfromgeneva]

The CAA is a conference that is overlooked by nearly everyone. But I don't think that there is that big a difference between the CAA, Big East, Ivy League, Patriot League and yes, the Big 10.

Over the last 4.5 seasons (2020 being the .5) the CAA has competed against all of the big guys and has won a bunch and lost a bunch of close games. The CAA has three teams that have made it to the Final Four in the modern era (2000 and beyond) with UMass, Delaware and Towson. They have also had five of the six teams (UMass, Delaware, Drexel, Towson and Hofstra) make it to the quarterfinals, meaning they have won at least one tourney game. Not every conference can say that.

Notable games over this 4.5 year stretch:

2021 (not a lot of OOC games against top teams no IVY no Big Ten):
Towson win over Loyola 8-7
Drexel with a tough loss in the tourney versus Notre Dame 10-8

2020 (Covid half season):
UMass win over Ohio State 9-7
UMass win over Yale 13-10
Umass win over Albany 17-12
Drexel win over Villanova 15-12
Hofstra win over Michigan 12-9

2019
Towson win over Hopkins 17-8
Towson win over Georgetown 14-8
Towson win over Loyola 12-10
Drexel win over Villanova 15-10
Drexel win over Michigan 17-16
Delaware win over Michigan 16-13
UMass win over Brown 14-7
Hofstra win over Lehigh 4-3
UMass one-goal loss to Yale 12-11
Towson one-goal loss to Maryland in Tourney 14-13

2018
Hofstra win over North Carolina 12-6
Towson win over Ohio State 7-6
UMass win over Brown 14-12
Drexel win over Georgetown 15-10
UMass loss in the Tournament to National Champs Yale 15-13

2017
Fairfield win over Bucknell 13-12
Delaware win over Villanova 13-10
Delaware win over then #1 ranked Rutgers 13-9
Hofstra win over Princeton 10-9
Hofstra win over Georgetown 11-9
Hofstra win over North Carolina 11-9
UMass win over Yale 11-9
Towson win over Georgetown 11-10
Towson win over Hopkins 13-8
Towson win over Penn State (NCAA) 12-8
Towson win over Syracuse (NCAA) 10-7
Towson one goal loss in final four to Ohio State 11-10

So, I am not saying that the CAA is a top 3 conference. But I am saying that not many top teams (especially ACC) want to schedule these guys because they don't believe the view is worth the climb. If you lose to a CAA team, which they often do, it looks bad. If you beat them, it is expected. The year that UNC won the national championship they lost handily to both UMass 14-9 and Hofstra 10-5. UMass was a 4-9 team that year. Those two losses almost kept UNC out of the tournament.

The ACC has fallen in love with playing the Southern Conference because of location, but also because they think they will generally beat those teams (save for a few upsets by High Point a couple years back that were ignored by the NCAA committee).

CAA plays hard. They don't roll over in the NCAAs to anyone.

The trick is when to count legacy seasons and attribute it to the current conference-RE UMass. They went to finals in 2006 as part of the ECAC until it got picked apart starting w the formation of the big east. They lost in first round with that special will manny team more recently as member of CAA.

[Farfromgeneva]

The CAA is a conference that is overlooked by nearly everyone. But I don't think that there is that big a difference between the CAA, Big East, Ivy League, Patriot League and yes, the Big 10.

Over the last 4.5 seasons (2020 being the .5) the CAA has competed against all of the big guys and has won a bunch and lost a bunch of close games. The CAA has three teams that have made it to the Final Four in the modern era (2000 and beyond) with UMass, Delaware and Towson. They have also had five of the six teams (UMass, Delaware, Drexel, Towson and Hofstra) make it to the quarterfinals, meaning they have won at least one tourney game. Not every conference can say that.

Notable games over this 4.5 year stretch:

2021 (not a lot of OOC games against top teams no IVY no Big Ten):
Towson win over Loyola 8-7
Drexel with a tough loss in the tourney versus Notre Dame 10-8

2020 (Covid half season):
UMass win over Ohio State 9-7
UMass win over Yale 13-10
Umass win over Albany 17-12
Drexel win over Villanova 15-12
Hofstra win over Michigan 12-9

2019
Towson win over Hopkins 17-8
Towson win over Georgetown 14-8
Towson win over Loyola 12-10
Drexel win over Villanova 15-10
Drexel win over Michigan 17-16
Delaware win over Michigan 16-13
UMass win over Brown 14-7
Hofstra win over Lehigh 4-3
UMass one-goal loss to Yale 12-11
Towson one-goal loss to Maryland in Tourney 14-13

2018
Hofstra win over North Carolina 12-6
Towson win over Ohio State 7-6
UMass win over Brown 14-12
Drexel win over Georgetown 15-10
UMass loss in the Tournament to National Champs Yale 15-13

2017
Fairfield win over Bucknell 13-12
Delaware win over Villanova 13-10
Delaware win over then #1 ranked Rutgers 13-9
Hofstra win over Princeton 10-9
Hofstra win over Georgetown 11-9
Hofstra win over North Carolina 11-9
UMass win over Yale 11-9
Towson win over Georgetown 11-10
Towson win over Hopkins 13-8
Towson win over Penn State (NCAA) 12-8
Towson win over Syracuse (NCAA) 10-7
Towson one goal loss in final four to Ohio State 11-10

So, I am not saying that the CAA is a top 3 conference. But I am saying that not many top teams (especially ACC) want to schedule these guys because they don't believe the view is worth the climb. If you lose to a CAA team, which they often do, it looks bad. If you beat them, it is expected. The year that UNC won the national championship they lost handily to both UMass 14-9 and Hofstra 10-5. UMass was a 4-9 team that year. Those two losses almost kept UNC out of the tournament.

The ACC has fallen in love with playing the Southern Conference because of location, but also because they think they will generally beat those teams (save for a few upsets by High Point a couple years back that were ignored by the NCAA committee).

CAA plays hard. They don't roll over in the NCAAs to anyone.

Well if you can play in Feb in decent weather down the road it’s easy to see why Duke/UNC plays HPU every year.

[Henpecked]

The CAA is a conference that is overlooked by nearly everyone. But I don't think that there is that big a difference between the CAA, Big East, Ivy League, Patriot League and yes, the Big 10.

Over the last 4.5 seasons (2020 being the .5) the CAA has competed against all of the big guys and has won a bunch and lost a bunch of close games. The CAA has three teams that have made it to the Final Four in the modern era (2000 and beyond) with UMass, Delaware and Towson. They have also had five of the six teams (UMass, Delaware, Drexel, Towson and Hofstra) make it to the quarterfinals, meaning they have won at least one tourney game. Not every conference can say that.

Notable games over this 4.5 year stretch:

2021 (not a lot of OOC games against top teams no IVY no Big Ten):
Towson win over Loyola 8-7
Drexel with a tough loss in the tourney versus Notre Dame 10-8

2020 (Covid half season):
UMass win over Ohio State 9-7
UMass win over Yale 13-10
Umass win over Albany 17-12
Drexel win over Villanova 15-12
Hofstra win over Michigan 12-9

2019
Towson win over Hopkins 17-8
Towson win over Georgetown 14-8
Towson win over Loyola 12-10
Drexel win over Villanova 15-10
Drexel win over Michigan 17-16
Delaware win over Michigan 16-13
UMass win over Brown 14-7
Hofstra win over Lehigh 4-3
UMass one-goal loss to Yale 12-11
Towson one-goal loss to Maryland in Tourney 14-13

2018
Hofstra win over North Carolina 12-6
Towson win over Ohio State 7-6
UMass win over Brown 14-12
Drexel win over Georgetown 15-10
UMass loss in the Tournament to National Champs Yale 15-13

2017
Fairfield win over Bucknell 13-12
Delaware win over Villanova 13-10
Delaware win over then #1 ranked Rutgers 13-9
Hofstra win over Princeton 10-9
Hofstra win over Georgetown 11-9
Hofstra win over North Carolina 11-9
UMass win over Yale 11-9
Towson win over Georgetown 11-10
Towson win over Hopkins 13-8
Towson win over Penn State (NCAA) 12-8
Towson win over Syracuse (NCAA) 10-7
Towson one goal loss in final four to Ohio State 11-10

So, I am not saying that the CAA is a top 3 conference. But I am saying that not many top teams (especially ACC) want to schedule these guys because they don't believe the view is worth the climb. If you lose to a CAA team, which they often do, it looks bad. If you beat them, it is expected. The year that UNC won the national championship they lost handily to both UMass 14-9 and Hofstra 10-5. UMass was a 4-9 team that year. Those two losses almost kept UNC out of the tournament.

The ACC has fallen in love with playing the Southern Conference because of location, but also because they think they will generally beat those teams (save for a few upsets by High Point a couple years back that were ignored by the NCAA committee).

CAA plays hard. They don't roll over in the NCAAs to anyone.

Funny you left out score of Army vs Umass last 4 years, lol

I was not hiding the fact that I was cherry picking the games when the CAA had success. And I did note that they won a bunch of games but lost a bunch as well.

UMass usually plays Army the first game of the season. There have been some unbelievably crappy performances by UMass during that time. You have to go back to 2014 for the last UMass win over Army.

Two years ago Army crushed UMass in the opener 17-4 and then Army lost to Marist 17-9 two weeks later. UMass went on to beat Ohio State, Yale and Albany that year before the season was brought to a halt with COVID. Game is crazy like that.

The only point I was attempting to make was that the CAA has some really competitive teams that show up for the big games when they are given the opportunity.

[Henpecked]

The CAA is a conference that is overlooked by nearly everyone. But I don't think that there is that big a difference between the CAA, Big East, Ivy League, Patriot League and yes, the Big 10.

The CAA is 9-19 vs. the Big Ten since 2017. And that includes only one game against Maryland. So it wins less than a third of its games against the bottom five teams in the B1G.

Over that stretch, the CAA has had 1 Final Four and 1 quarterfinalist (Towson, 2017). In that same span, the Big Ten has had 8 quarterfinalists and 5 Final Four appearances. If you extend it to earlier than 2017 then obviously the numbers are even uglier.

That strikes me as a pretty big difference between the conferences.

CAA has had its moments. Looking to 2022, Delaware should be strong. UMass and Towson will likely improve. Hofstra may take a step back. But top to bottom, they are not in the same league as the Big Ten and frankly never have been.

I do think it's interesting Maryland never schedules any games against the CAA. They're the only B1G team that does so. Makes little sense that they never play Towson, Delaware, or Drexel given proximity. Perhaps in 2022.

You make too much sense with your arguments.

Would be nice to see Maryland play Delaware or Towson again. The Delaware v Maryland game was an annual affair in the mid to late 80's.

[1766]

The Patriot League would have to take a fairly big step up to compete against the Big Ten.

While having very solid teams across the board one would have to consider the Lehigh game against Rutgers as an eye opener. It wasn't just how Rutgers won, but how they looked doing it. Much more athletic, bigger, and faster across the board. That disparity was not seen in other Big Ten games.

The Big Ten is more on par with Acc teams than PL teams are with Big Ten programs. Not to say they can't compete, but there is a different level of athlete down the rosters of Big Ten programs. This before you start getting to the bottom half of the PL.

[1766]

The Patriot League would have to take a fairly big step up to compete against the Big Ten.

While having very solid teams across the board one would have to consider the Lehigh game against Rutgers as an eye opener. It wasn't just how Rutgers won, but how they looked doing it. Much more athletic, bigger, and faster across the board. That disparity was not seen in other Big Ten games.

The Big Ten is more on par with Acc teams than PL teams are with Big Ten programs. Not to say they can't compete, but there is a different level of athlete down the rosters of Big Ten programs. This before you start getting to the bottom half of the PL.

[lorin]

The Patriot League would have to take a fairly big step up to compete against the Big Ten.

While having very solid teams across the board one would have to consider the Lehigh game against Rutgers as an eye opener. It wasn't just how Rutgers won, but how they looked doing it. Much more athletic, bigger, and faster across the board. That disparity was not seen in other Big Ten games.

The Big Ten is more on par with Acc teams than PL teams are with Big Ten programs. Not to say they can't compete, but there is a different level of athlete down the rosters of Big Ten programs. This before you start getting to the bottom half of the PL.

You had one good year with three 25 year old's at attack. Army beat Rutgers last 2 times out so slow down with better bigger, faster stuff.

[lorin]

The CAA is a conference that is overlooked by nearly everyone. But I don't think that there is that big a difference between the CAA, Big East, Ivy League, Patriot League and yes, the Big 10.

Over the last 4.5 seasons (2020 being the .5) the CAA has competed against all of the big guys and has won a bunch and lost a bunch of close games. The CAA has three teams that have made it to the Final Four in the modern era (2000 and beyond) with UMass, Delaware and Towson. They have also had five of the six teams (UMass, Delaware, Drexel, Towson and Hofstra) make it to the quarterfinals, meaning they have won at least one tourney game. Not every conference can say that.

Notable games over this 4.5 year stretch:

2021 (not a lot of OOC games against top teams no IVY no Big Ten):
Towson win over Loyola 8-7
Drexel with a tough loss in the tourney versus Notre Dame 10-8

2020 (Covid half season):
UMass win over Ohio State 9-7
UMass win over Yale 13-10
Umass win over Albany 17-12
Drexel win over Villanova 15-12
Hofstra win over Michigan 12-9

2019
Towson win over Hopkins 17-8
Towson win over Georgetown 14-8
Towson win over Loyola 12-10
Drexel win over Villanova 15-10
Drexel win over Michigan 17-16
Delaware win over Michigan 16-13
UMass win over Brown 14-7
Hofstra win over Lehigh 4-3
UMass one-goal loss to Yale 12-11
Towson one-goal loss to Maryland in Tourney 14-13

2018
Hofstra win over North Carolina 12-6
Towson win over Ohio State 7-6
UMass win over Brown 14-12
Drexel win over Georgetown 15-10
UMass loss in the Tournament to National Champs Yale 15-13

2017
Fairfield win over Bucknell 13-12
Delaware win over Villanova 13-10
Delaware win over then #1 ranked Rutgers 13-9
Hofstra win over Princeton 10-9
Hofstra win over Georgetown 11-9
Hofstra win over North Carolina 11-9
UMass win over Yale 11-9
Towson win over Georgetown 11-10
Towson win over Hopkins 13-8
Towson win over Penn State (NCAA) 12-8
Towson win over Syracuse (NCAA) 10-7
Towson one goal loss in final four to Ohio State 11-10

So, I am not saying that the CAA is a top 3 conference. But I am saying that not many top teams (especially ACC) want to schedule these guys because they don't believe the view is worth the climb. If you lose to a CAA team, which they often do, it looks bad. If you beat them, it is expected. The year that UNC won the national championship they lost handily to both UMass 14-9 and Hofstra 10-5. UMass was a 4-9 team that year. Those two losses almost kept UNC out of the tournament.

The ACC has fallen in love with playing the Southern Conference because of location, but also because they think they will generally beat those teams (save for a few upsets by High Point a couple years back that were ignored by the NCAA committee).

CAA plays hard. They don't roll over in the NCAAs to anyone.

Funny you left out score of Army vs Umass last 4 years, lol

I was not hiding the fact that I was cherry picking the games when the CAA had success. And I did note that they won a bunch of games but lost a bunch as well.

UMass usually plays Army the first game of the season. There have been some unbelievably crappy performances by UMass during that time. You have to go back to 2014 for the last UMass win over Army.

Two years ago Army crushed UMass in the opener 17-4 and then Army lost to Marist 17-9 two weeks later. UMass went on to beat Ohio State, Yale and Albany that year before the season was brought to a halt with COVID. Game is crazy like that.

The only point I was attempting to make was that the CAA has some really competitive teams that show up for the big games when they are given the opportunity.

That's a fair point.