Lacrosse polls 2013

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Wow, polls are screwy this week.

We are #7
Maryland #4

Meet your new #1....Denver

West coast bias.

Nope. ACC bias.  As usual.

[ugarte]

Having lost to #5 and #15, a ranking in the neighborhood of 6-7 doesn't feel like an affront.

[Swampy]

Having lost to #5 and #15, a ranking in the neighborhood of 6-7 doesn't feel like an affront.

No, it doesn't. But comparatively speaking, Maryland is over-ranked.

[margolism]

And rankings don't look at the losses more qualitatively:

Both one goal losses
Loss to Buckness was without leading scorer playing

[billhoward]

And rankings don't look at the losses more qualitatively:
Both one goal losses
Loss to Buckness was without leading scorer playing

Good points. Except leading goal-scorer Mock played vs. Syracuse and was held to one goal. Syracuse is trending upward and at least for last week's meeting, shut down our attack reasonably after Q1. I think we still have as good a shot as anyone to do well in the tournament.

[Al DeFlorio]

Yikes! Hobart over Syracuse tonight, 13-12.

[Swampy]

Yikes! Hobart over Syracuse tonight, 13-12.

Does this hurt or help our RPI? ::wtf::

[Swampy]

Yikes! Hobart over Syracuse tonight, 13-12.

Does this hurt or help our RPI? ::wtf::

Answered my own question. We now rank fourth in RPI. But what was our previous RPI? Ah, here's the answer. So Hobart just raised us from #6 to #4. Thanks Statesmen! ::cheer::

[billhoward]

Yikes! Hobart over Syracuse tonight, 13-12.

Does this hurt or help our RPI? ::wtf::

Answered my own question. We now rank fourth in RPI. But what was our previous RPI? Ah, here's the answer. So Hobart just raised us from #6 to #4. Thanks Statesmen! ::cheer::

The story projects us the 8-seed hosting Loyola. Penn State would be seeded ahead of us. It predicts the last four out as Bucknell, Ohio State, Princeton, amd Johns Hopkins. No other Ivies make the playoffs. Obviously a lot can happen in the season's last two weeks, but if we're lingering at #8 seed now, a loss anywhere along the way might put us on the road. And Princeton, Penn and Yale have more incentive to win the tournament; it could be their only way in to the NCAAs. First, let's beat Brown Saturday to lock up the Ivy title and home field for the Ivy tournament.  

The projected matchups and the QF sites from the bracketology story http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_men/DI/2012-13/news/041513_bracketology_who_is_in_out_and_on_the_bubble

Indianapolis (QF site)

(1) Notre Dame vs. NORTHEAST/Bryant
( IVY/Cornell vs. Loyola

College Park

(4) COLONIAL/Penn State vs. Yale
(5) Syracuse vs. PATRIOT/Lehigh

College Park

(3) North Carolina vs. BIG EAST/Villanova
(6) Maryland vs. AMERICA EAST/Albany

Indianapolis

(2) ECAC/Denver vs. METRO ATLANTIC/Marist
(7) Duke vs. Penn

[Al DeFlorio]

Yikes! Hobart over Syracuse tonight, 13-12.

Does this hurt or help our RPI? ::wtf::

Answered my own question. We now rank fourth in RPI. But what was our previous RPI? Ah, here's the answer. So Hobart just raised us from #6 to #4. Thanks Statesmen! ::cheer::

The story projects us the 8-seed hosting Loyola. Penn State would be seeded ahead of us. It predicts the last four out as Bucknell, Ohio State, Princeton, amd Johns Hopkins. No other Ivies make the playoffs. Obviously a lot can happen in the season's last two weeks, but if we're lingering at #8 seed now, a loss anywhere along the way might put us on the road. And Princeton, Penn and Yale have more incentive to win the tournament; it could be their only way in to the NCAAs. First, let's beat Brown Saturday to lock up the Ivy title and home field for the Ivy tournament.  

The projected matchups and the QF sites from the bracketology story http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_men/DI/2012-13/news/041513_bracketology_who_is_in_out_and_on_the_bubble

Indianapolis (QF site)

(1) Notre Dame vs. NORTHEAST/Bryant
( IVY/Cornell vs. Loyola

College Park

(4) COLONIAL/Penn State vs. Yale
(5) Syracuse vs. PATRIOT/Lehigh

College Park

(3) North Carolina vs. BIG EAST/Villanova
(6) Maryland vs. AMERICA EAST/Albany

Indianapolis

(2) ECAC/Denver vs. METRO ATLANTIC/Marist
(7) Duke vs. Penn

Terry Foy's bracket at Inside Lacrosse has Cornell playing at Albany.::worry::

[billhoward]

Terry Foy's bracket at Inside Lacrosse has Cornell playing at Albany.::worry::

Ouch. A shot across Cornell's bow about strength of schedule? Why did Cornell pick up Siena? Did Cornell believe Siena was ready for a breakout year (i.e. powerful enough to give us a quality win) with its best player departed after a 2011 NCAA appearance?

All this is just speculation for now as to where Cornell would play.

[Jim Hyla]

Terry Foy's bracket at Inside Lacrosse has Cornell playing at Albany.::worry::

Ouch. A shot across Cornell's bow about strength of schedule? Why did Cornell pick up Siena? Did Cornell believe Siena was ready for a breakout year (i.e. powerful enough to give us a quality win) with its best player departed after a 2011 NCAA appearance?

All this is just speculation for now as to where Cornell would play.

or if we make the tourney.

[RatushnyFan]

Yikes! Hobart over Syracuse tonight, 13-12.

USCHO fan forum flashback........oh, the humanity.

[billhoward]

That was last year, Jim. Lightning doesn't strike tw-- oops

[Swampy]

Given how zany this year has been, I've heard it's called "parity," any of the top teams has a realistic chance of winning or losing on any night, especially as we get into the conference championships and then the tournaments. So, as we saw with Hobart/Cuse, our record could change drastically for better or worse even if we win the Ivy AQ (cf. e.g., Yale v. MD on Saturday). And this will affect seeding when the NC tournament begins.

Although I usually don't like what he has to say, Quint Kessenich was right on the money with his analysis this week. He points out that the Cornell-Syracuse game was "won by a margin of centimeters." In fact, Cornell is just four goals away, in two one-goal games, from being undefeated and ranked #1.

More troubling, he identifies our weaknesses (correctly IMHO): lack of depth at ssdm, a defense that is not lock-down, good but not great goal tending, and a weak second midfield.

Hopefully the long layoff before the Brown game has given the coaching staff time to address some of these weaknesses, although most of them seem to be matters of personnel rather than coaching. Let's hope it doesn't rain on Saturday, and we see improvement in all these areas after what amounts to a week and a half mini-camp!