The Swami speaks to his many Cornell fans...

[swami]

Please, please, please.  No more congratuatory emails.  The Swami likes to respond to each correspondent individually, but Cornellians make that difficult.

In 2002, the Swami predicted the Big Red lacrosse team would finish 7th, against the Face Off coaches poll consensus of 15th.  Cornell finished 7th.

In 2003, the Face Off poll tabbed Cornell laxers to finish 11th, while the Swami ranked them at 14th.  The Big Red finished 14th.

In 2004, once again, the Swami defied the consensus by picking Cornell to finish 7th, while Face Off forecast a #11 finish.

After upsetting Princeton, just as the Swami predicted, Cornell will be ranked 7th on Monday.

If you have recently sent the Swami an email related to lacrosse, please be advised that the Swami is backlogged until late June or early July.  Physics students, however, may still ask for the Swami's assistance with their final examination preparations.  Please be advised though, that the Swami is unwilling to answer questions regarding the terminus of the Universe for reasons that should be obvious.

[peterg]

Great to see The Swami on E-Lynah, even if only to beg for relief from an onslaught of Cornell lacrosse e-mail.

[Al DeFlorio]

[Q]swami Wrote:

 In 2004, once again, the Swami defied the consensus by picking Cornell to finish 7th, while Face Off forecast a #11 finish.

After upsetting Princeton, just as the Swami predicted, Cornell will be ranked 7th on Monday.
[/q]

However, as Swami Yogi once said, it ain't over 'til it's over.  And Cornell won't finish 7th until it deals successfully with both Brown and Hobart.  And that's no sure thing. ;-)

[DeltaOne81]

Hell, I'll just take Brown. If we do, rankings don't matter .

[Jim Hyla]

[Q]DeltaOne81 Wrote:

 Hell, I'll just take Brown. If we do, rankings don't matter .[/q]But what about who we get to play, at Ithaca, in the NCAAs.

The weather, if you believe "long" range forcasts, will be great next weekend. Forcasting 70.

[Al DeFlorio]

[Q]Jim Hyla Wrote:

 [Q2]DeltaOne81 Wrote:

 Hell, I'll just take Brown. If we do, rankings don't matter .[/Q]
But what about who we get to play, at Ithaca, in the NCAAs.
[/q]
Right.  Two wins might get us a top-eight seed, and a first-round game at home.  The second-round "north" games are at Schoellkopf.

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]Al DeFlorio Wrote:
Right.  Two wins might get us a top-eight seed, and a first-round game at home.  The second-round "north" games are at Schoellkopf.[/q]
Good point. What do they use use to determine the seedings?

I know they use record against top 15 for who makes it... what about seedings? Is it the same? or RPI? or whatever they feel like?

Second, would they definitely put us in the north region, for the draw if we should make the second round? Like hockey and most sports? Would they put us in the south for competitive equality (like basketball... unlikely)? Or would it be random?

[billhoward]

[Q]DeltaOne81 Wrote:

 [Q2]Al DeFlorio Wrote:
Right.  Two wins might get us a top-eight seed, and a first-round game at home.  The second-round "north" games are at Schoellkopf.[/Q]
Good point. What do they use use to determine the seedings?

I know they use record against top 15 for who makes it... what about seedings? Is it the same? or RPI? or whatever they feel like?

Second, would they definitely put us in the north region, for the draw if we should make the second round? Like hockey and most sports? Would they put us in the south for competitive equality (like basketball... unlikely)? Or would it be random?[/q]

With Cornell's luck, the rules that apply to NCAA hockey (host school stays in home region if invited (ie the Michigan Wolverines playoff security clause)) would not apply to NCAA lacrosse.

Here's the 2003 NCAA lax playoffs handbook
http://www.ncaa.org/library/handbooks/lacrosse/2003/m_d1_d2_d3_lacrosse.pdf

[Hillel J. Hoffmann '85]

Swami! What are you doing here? What a delightful surprise! Thanks again for your continued hard work.

A big wet kiss to you from all your (thicker-skinned) Cornell friends. And please forward our love to Ms. Bimbette.

Cheers,
Hillel

[Al DeFlorio]

[Q]DeltaOne81 Wrote:
I know they use record against top 15 for who makes it... what about seedings? Is it the same? or RPI? or whatever they feel like?
[/q]
Don't know how seedings are done.  Appears to be much fuzzier than hockey.

Seems to me the top four seeds get the bottom four seeds in the first round, but the "second band" of four are matched against the "third band" of four based on geography and avoiding rematches, or some such thing.

Here's a link to Hymie's RPI and strength-of-schedule rankings: http://www.tsir.com/hymie-cgi-bin/rpi?name=1

We're looking good there, but these last two games are gonna be tough ones for a team that seems to always live right on the edge.

[Tub(a)]

So if the RPI stayed the way it is now, we would be matched up at home against Ohio State? That seems to be the most geographically logical matchup between the second band and the third band.

[Al DeFlorio]

[Q]Tub(a) Wrote:

 So if the RPI stayed the way it is now, we would be matched up at home against Ohio State? That seems to be the most geographically logical matchup between the second band and the third band.[/q]
I suspect the seeding process involves much more than RPI.  The lacrosse committee is very much into "quality wins."