Lacrosse 2015 NCAAs

[billhoward]

Cornell gets in as the last home seed (strongest SOS in Ivies)
From Ivies, Yale, Brown and Cornell but not Princeton.
From New York State, Syracuse, Cornell, Colgate, Albany, Marist (play in)

For all our griping about Cornell's season being below expectations, think how Princeton (possible first team out) feels about the last decade: 2006 7-seed lose second round to Syracuse, 2007 lose first round to Georgetown, 2009 4-seed lose second round 6-4 to Cornell, 2010 6-seed lose first round to Notre Dame, 2012 lose first round to Virginia. 2010-2015 four no-invites plus two one-and-dones.  

The NCAA wants bus trip games first round (or is the round of 16 now the second round?) where possible, but are they also telling Cornell: You beat Albany once, you have a home not neutral game this time, prove your worth, do it again. And as a reward you get to play (most likely) 1-seed Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.

NCAA printable bracket: http://cdn.assets.insidelacrosse.com/docs/2015_DI_Men_Bracket.pdf (Actually, Inside Lacrosse bracket. NCAA's didn't load.)


(First team hosts)
Denver bracket
1. Notre Dame (10-2) vs. Towson (11-5, CAA)/High Point (10-6, SoCon) Saturday, 5 p.m., ESPNU [play-in game for Towson/High Point]
8. Cornell (10-5) vs. Albany (15-2, America East) Saturday, Noon, ESPNU (Albany losses 16-9 to Cornell at Dallas, 17-12 at Syracuse.)
Winners play in Denver
 
5. Duke (12-5) vs. Ohio State (11-6) Saturday, 7:30 p.m., ESPNU
4. Denver (13-2, Big East) vs. Brown (12-4), Sunday, 3 p.m., ESPNU
Winners play in Denver Saturday

 
Annapolis/Navy Marine Corps Stadium bracket
3. North Carolina (12-3) vs. Colgate (10-5, Patriot) Sunday, 5:15 p.m., ESPNU
6. Maryland (12-3) vs. Yale (11-4), Saturday, 2:30 p.m., ESPNU

7. Virginia (10-4) vs. Johns Hopkins (9-6, Big Ten), Sunday, 1 p.m., ESPNU
2. Syracuse (12-2, ACC) vs. Marist (13-3, MAAC)/Bryant (8-9, NEC), Sunday, 7:30 p.m., ESPNU
Winners play Sunday

[billhoward]

What are the potential first round upsets? I like Yale against 6 Maryland esp. since Yale beat them 10-6 in the RS back in February. Could Ohio State get lucky against 5 Duke? Brown get incredibly lucky against 4 Denver?

Three rematches (winner first):
Cornell - Albany
Yale - Maryland
Virginia - Hopkins

This is the 40th anniversary of Maryland's last NCAA title. Since then, seven trips to the title game and bubkes.

[jtwcornell91]

Wait, lax has a play-in now?  I wonder, if the MAAC autobid situation in hockey happened now, if they would have let us go from 12 to 13 teams with a playin...

[Robb]

Wait, lax has a play-in now?  I wonder, if the MAAC autobid situation in hockey happened now, if they would have let us go from 12 to 13 teams with a playin...

You only get a playin if the number of autobids > number of tourney slots / 2.  That is, at least half the participants (in the main tourney) have to be at large.  Lacrosse has 10 conferences and a 16-team tourney, so they have 2 playin games among the four lowest-rated conference champions.

[Johnny 5]

And, if I might add, it was heart-warming to hear everybody involved with the Syracuse lax program whine and moan on TV last night, after being insulted by a #2 seed in the tournament.
I guess being "great" is meaningless unless the world repeatedly tells you that you are??

::wank::

[rss77]

Looked at Syracuse roster and they are carrying 61 on their roster with one-quarter being "redshirts".  I guess Desko is stockpiling talent and at the same time keeping other teams from getting talented players.  The same strategy that Bear Bryant used at Alabama back in the day.

[Trotsky]

Looked at Syracuse roster and they are carrying 61 on their roster with one-quarter being "redshirts".  I guess Desko is stockpiling talent and at the same time keeping other teams from getting talented players.  The same strategy that Bear Bryant used at Alabama back in the day.

Why go there and be deep on the depth chart than another top school and start?

[upprdeck]

also have to wonder about red shirting close to 15 kids when you only get a limited number of scholies..

[billhoward]

Albany 11, Cornell 3 at the half. From 2-0 Cornell to 11-2 Albany. Ouch!

[ithacat]

Said it before the hire and nothing's changed: Kerwick is an average coach and he'll turn Cornell into an average program.

[Robb]

Every so often - less than once per generation - a player, coach, or team introduces something new that fundamentally alters the way the game is played.  No, I'm not talking about Lyle Thompson's amazing performance and career - I'm talking about the 2015 Cornell offense, who will go down in history as the unit which caused the NCAA to start keeping track of a new stat: the Shotover.  Shots so poorly conceived and executed that they would have been better off just throwing the ball out of bounds so the defense can at least get set.  

Cornell's offense was just unbelievably bad - it was perfectly clear that they were only thinking one step at a time, and if that move didn't work, they had no clue what to do next, so they either had to pull it back to midfield to start over or take the terrible shot anyway.  Ugh.  Nobody was cutting, there was no movement whatsoever.  One dodger (usually from 40 yards out) and 5 spectators.  I'm not sure I remember making Albany pay for an early slide a single time - we just waited for the double team and shot right into it.  The shots they managed to take were late, slow, and off balance with no leverage.  That's a recipe for wasting a dominating faceoff performance every time.

All season, Cornell's offense has found ways to be less than the sum of its parts.  If I were coach, this summer's practices would all take place on a basketball court so the offense can figure out how to create space that's not 30 yards away from the goal.

[Jim Hyla]

Said it before the hire and nothing's changed: Kerwick is an average coach and he'll turn Cornell into an average program.

Unfortunately, I'm close to agreeing with you.:-/

[scoop85]

Every so often - less than once per generation - a player, coach, or team introduces something new that fundamentally alters the way the game is played.  No, I'm not talking about Lyle Thompson's amazing performance and career - I'm talking about the 2015 Cornell offense, who will go down in history as the unit which caused the NCAA to start keeping track of a new stat: the Shotover.  Shots so poorly conceived and executed that they would have been better off just throwing the ball out of bounds so the defense can at least get set.  

Cornell's offense was just unbelievably bad - it was perfectly clear that they were only thinking one step at a time, and if that move didn't work, they had no clue what to do next, so they either had to pull it back to midfield to start over or take the terrible shot anyway.  Ugh.  Nobody was cutting, there was no movement whatsoever.  One dodger (usually from 40 yards out) and 5 spectators.  I'm not sure I remember making Albany pay for an early slide a single time - we just waited for the double team and shot right into it.  The shots they managed to take were late, slow, and off balance with no leverage.  That's a recipe for wasting a dominating faceoff performance every time.

All season, Cornell's offense has found ways to be less than the sum of its parts.  If I were coach, this summer's practices would all take place on a basketball court so the offense can figure out how to create space that's not 30 yards away from the goal.

You are so spot on; we devolved into the type of "offense" that you so well described.  The sad fact is -- and what seems to be a damning indictment of the coaching -- is that earlier in the season (think Yale) we actually showed some fluidity on offense. I frankly have ho idea what the hell happened to this team.

[BearLover]

Every so often - less than once per generation - a player, coach, or team introduces something new that fundamentally alters the way the game is played.  No, I'm not talking about Lyle Thompson's amazing performance and career - I'm talking about the 2015 Cornell offense, who will go down in history as the unit which caused the NCAA to start keeping track of a new stat: the Shotover.  Shots so poorly conceived and executed that they would have been better off just throwing the ball out of bounds so the defense can at least get set.  

Cornell's offense was just unbelievably bad - it was perfectly clear that they were only thinking one step at a time, and if that move didn't work, they had no clue what to do next, so they either had to pull it back to midfield to start over or take the terrible shot anyway.  Ugh.  Nobody was cutting, there was no movement whatsoever.  One dodger (usually from 40 yards out) and 5 spectators.  I'm not sure I remember making Albany pay for an early slide a single time - we just waited for the double team and shot right into it.  The shots they managed to take were late, slow, and off balance with no leverage.  That's a recipe for wasting a dominating faceoff performance every time.

All season, Cornell's offense has found ways to be less than the sum of its parts.  If I were coach, this summer's practices would all take place on a basketball court so the offense can figure out how to create space that's not 30 yards away from the goal.

Sounds like hockey!

[billhoward]

Saturday
Albany 19, Cornell 10 - hard to overcome an 11-goal run by Albany, No. 1 Notre Dame (or Towson?) gets Lyle Thompson and the Great Danes next week in Denver.
Maryland 8, Yale 7 - Yale can't hold a 7-4 lead, hits the pipe final 10 seconds. Question on whether Yale tied late and refs missed the goal http://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/fan-poll-did-yale-score-the-game-tying-goal-/32059. Ivy hopes now ride on Brown.
#2 Notre Dame 12, Towson 10 - who'd have thought so close against Towson, which needed the play-in to make the field
Ohio State 16, #5 Duke 11 - Defending champ Duke's season last 7 hours longer than Cornell's.

Sunday
Denver 15, Brown 9 - Three one-and-dones for the Ivies. Only Yale came close.
Hopkins 19, Virgina 7 - It was 13-2 at the half. Hopkins does peak later in the season, it seems. Started 4-6.
North Carolina 19, Colgate 12 - Colgate led 4-3 early
Syracuse 20, Marist 8 - Good, now two games where the winning margin was worse than Albany-Cornell.

Next weekend:

#2 Notre Dame vs #6 Albany 3:00 Saturday
#15 Ohio State vs. #3 Denver 5:30 Saturday

#2 Syracuse vs. Hopkins 12:00 Sunday
#3 UNC vs. #6 Maryland 2:30 Sunday