Most Improved Programs In 2022?

[gymman1031]

Here is what I say. Each program's 2021 record is next to their name and in parentheses.

Michigan(3-9)The Wolverines showed signs of promise this year, even with their final record. Coach Kevin Conry has recruited great. And most to all of the talent will finally be his, as he will be in his fifth season in Ann Arbor. Most of the 2021 team, a lot of which was composed of freshman and sophomores, will be back in 2022, too.

Binghamton(5-4)The Bearcats were close to making the America East Tournament in 2021. A lot of talent, including a tremendous goalie, return in 2022. In addition, all the talent now is Coach Kevin McKeown's, as he will be in year number six.

Lafayette(0-11)Yes, many people will say that the Leopards can't get any worse and have nowhere to go but up. However, the Leopards were competitive in multiple games in 2021, and almost their entire team was composed of freshman and sophomores. Coach Pat Myers will be in his fourth season, so even more of the talent will be his, too.

[987laxman]

I would mention LIU at 6-5 this year and Merrimack at 5-5, pretty good for second year programs

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Hopkins (4-9).

Book ‘em, Danno.

[Farfromgeneva]

Vermont Boston University, Bryant and U of Rich being a lot back.

[spartanslynx]

LIU & ND

[calourie]

Vermont impressed me with their consistency this year, and Drexel flew under the radar as a "sleeping dragon" until the tail end of this year due to a seemingly mediocre 3-3 2020 season, which when inspected more closely included three one goal defeats to some pretty good teams and a 15-12 win over Villanova.

[Farfromgeneva]

Both UVM and Drexel are beneficiaries of Syracuse between Levandowski and Donnelly.

[10 10 2]

For having pretty much only freshmen and sophomores on their teams, I thought Utah (4-7) and St. Bonaventure (5-5) had pretty good seasons this year. If they can hold onto their key players, there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to improve in 2022.

[Can Opener]

Brown was very impressive in their lone game of the season, defeating a solid BU squad 12-5. Brown received votes in the media poll the following week which I don’t believe had happened since 2019. If not for the Ivy administration’s travesty of a decision this spring, Brown had a real shot at making the tournament.

[Farfromgeneva]

Well if we are counting everyone then I’m going the Ivy League writ large on having a better season than in 2021

[PizzaSnake]

Well if we are counting everyone then I’m going the Ivy League writ large on having a better season than in 2021

It will be interesting to see what happens in the Ivys after this hiatus. Will the apocalyptic predictions of athletics de-emphasis occur and the programs recede? Or will the demographic reality of a shrinking applicant pool forestall any moves like that which might reduce perceived “culture” of on-campus experience?

[Dip&Dunk]

For three more years we get to attempt to differentiate between programs that organically improved their in-house and freshmen recruited talent versus adding grad transfers for instant improvement. Likewise you used to be able to go through the roster and see who they were going to lose through graduation. Now you have to look at the transfer portal posts and/or players remaining in the same school for their extra year of eligibility before you can say the impact of another year.

In the SOCON (for no other reason then it is the conference I know best), the 2 teams with the highest numbers of Graduate transfers met in the finals. The semi finals included two other teams of which one had the 4th highest number graduate transfers in the conference and a team that cannot take Graduate transfers (USAFA).

In a normal year it would be easy to predict Richmond to maybe drop back a notch losing 17 seniors/GTs, their top scorer, and their goalie who was rarely rotated. However, given their ability to attract GTs (they had 5 this year), it may be a case of not rebuilding but reloading.

Looking at the coaches' polls and the NCAA bids, with the exception of the Ivies for obvious reasons, it looks like you could take this year's teams, change the year to any year in the last decade and the lists would look basically the same +/- one or two teams. So if teams are improving, they are improving only so much.

So I will read stories of improved teams with interest and yet take them with a grain of salt. For now, the rich will get richer or at least stay rich.

[Antonio114]

ND. Looked quite meh to start the 2020 season which started off 2-3. The transfers they brought in have all been highly effective additions. Kavanagh seems to have found another level to his game. All this despite losing their best offensive player in Costabile.

[Farfromgeneva]

Has Leahy played much? I see sands picked it up.

[xxxxxxx]

Monmouth was 2-4 in last year's shortened season and just went 8-2 and won the MAAC, I think they would be in this conversation.

[Tonyp2566]

For having pretty much only freshmen and sophomores on their teams, I thought Utah (4-7) and St. Bonaventure (5-5) had pretty good seasons this year. If they can hold onto their key players, there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to improve in 2022.

Most of Bonnies are juniors. Just like every player they have that extra year they were granted but they’re not as young as everyone thinks.

[nyjay]

Well if we are counting everyone then I’m going the Ivy League writ large on having a better season than in 2021

It will be interesting to see what happens in the Ivys after this hiatus. Will the apocalyptic predictions of athletics de-emphasis occur and the programs recede? Or will the demographic reality of a shrinking applicant pool forestall any moves like that which might reduce perceived “culture” of on-campus experience?

Agreed - can't imagine that they all just pick back up like nothing happened. My guess is that there will be significant player exits, but it won't be a mass exodus, and the league ends up back where it was 4 or 5 years ago (i.e. a very good, but not great league, 2 bids max).

[old salt]

In the SOCON (for no other reason then it is the conference I know best), the 2 teams with the highest numbers of Graduate transfers met in the finals. The semi finals included two other teams of which one had the 4th highest number graduate transfers in the conference and a team that cannot take Graduate transfers (USAFA).

Same with the PL (had they played the final game). Lehigh & Loyola each had 4 x 5th year players.
BU had 1. I could find no others in the PL. I'd expect lax MBA students from those two again.

[GreyingHound]

Lafayette(0-11)Yes, many people will say that the Leopards can't get any worse and have nowhere to go but up. However, the Leopards were competitive in multiple games in 2021, and almost their entire team was composed of freshman and sophomores. Coach Pat Myers will be in his fourth season, so even more of the talent will be his, too.

I second this one. I watched Lafayette play Fairfield early in the season, and quite frankly, they did not look like a D1 team. At the end of the season in their second games against Lehigh and Loyola, and against Navy, they were MUCH more competitive.

[bauer4429]

This is for 2022, not the current season which xxxxxxx is reporting on. Hard to pick just one.