Cornell lacrosse 2019

[Swampy]

Maybe he just liked Yale more.

Some time ago I compared the web sites of Cornell's and Yale's economics departments. I found Cornell's to be dry and mostly about fulfilling requirements, while Yale's was exciting and about why studying economics at Yale was special. So what's his major?

He's an economics major at Yale, I think, but was looking at the Dyson school at Cornell.  Yale has no undergrad business school so econ is the closest major.

Well there you go!

[jeff '84]

Inside Lacrosse Bracketology 2

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/il-bracketology-men-s-division-i-second-look/54304

The Case for Cornell

With its 11-9 win over Notre Dame, Cornell placed itself back in the at-large conversation with a victory that is currently against a top 10 RPI team. In the process, Cornell moves from No. 15 in last week's RPI to No. 14, but more importantly, adds a second quality win to its resume to go along with its Towson victory. Last year at this time, Cornell was 10th in RPI and was in our projected bracket as an at-large team. So what are the reasons for selecting the Big Red as an at-large team this time around based on their body of work?

In terms of RPI, Cornell's 14th rank would not be the lowest to ever get an at large, with teams such as the 2016 National Champion North Carolina Tar Heels getting in with an 18th ranked RPI. Still, teams such as Towson and Johns Hopkins rank ahead of them in RPI. While Johns Hopkins may not have any top 10 wins to compare to Cornell's win over Notre Dame, Towson has its win over Loyola. In terms of wins against teams ranked 11th to 20th in RPI, Towson has two compared to Cornell's one (a win over Towson).

Head to head is a criteria of the selection process and one that would help give the edge to Cornell over Towson if the final at-large spot were to be decided between those two programs.

Another criteria that the committee will look at is average RPI win and average RPI loss. In terms of average RPI loss, Cornell has a rather compelling story.

Average RPI loss is defined as the average RPI of all opponents to whom a team has lost. While Cornell has four losses, all four are to teams currently in the top 5 in RPI, with Yale recently replacing Virginia in the top 5. Their average RPI loss is 3.5, which ranks tops in DI lacrosse. Dating back to 2010, any team with an average RPI loss of 5 or less has qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

Last year, Virginia (10th in RPI) had a similar resume to Cornell, ranking first in the country in terms of average RPI loss (5.2) while going 0-4 against top 5 RPI teams and 2-1 against RPI teams ranked Nos. 6-10. Their resume was enough to get them in the Tournament as an at-large against No. 6-seed Loyola.

For Cornell, their remaining schedule provides opportunities for them to add another quality win. While Brown and Princeton are both hovering around .500, the Ivy League Tournament could provide Cornell a great chance to improve its resume, as the conference ranks third in average RPI and has two of the Top 5 RPI teams in the country.
—B.C.

[billhoward]

"Quality Losses." This has been a Cornell strength in many seasons.

Another criteria that the committee will look at is average RPI win and average RPI loss. In terms of average RPI loss, Cornell has a rather compelling story.
Average RPI loss is defined as the average RPI of all opponents to whom a team has lost. While Cornell has four losses, all four are to teams currently in the top 5 in RPI, with Yale recently replacing Virginia in the top 5. Their average RPI loss is 3.5, which ranks tops in DI lacrosse. Dating back to 2010, any team with an average RPI loss of 5 or less has qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

[CU77]

C>B, Pe>D, Pr>H today.

Next week, HvY is now irrelevant to the ILT. Here are the remaining scenarios:

B>D C>Pr: Pe,Y,C,B
B>D Pr>C: Pe,Y,(B,C,Pr)*

D>B C>Pr: Pe,Y,C,B
D>B Pr>C: Pe,Y,Pr,C

* depends on Princeton's margin of victory (capped at 6 max) over Cornell:

MOV = 1,2: C,B
MOV = 3,4,5: B,Pr
MOV = 6: Pr,C (wrong before, now fixed)

[Al DeFlorio]

C>B, Pe>D, Pr>H today.

Next week, HvY is now irrelevant to the ILT. Here are the remaining scenarios:

B>D C>Pr: Pe,Y,C,B
B>D Pr>C: Pe,Y,(B,C,Pr)*

D>B C>Pr: Pe,Y,C,B
D>B Pr>C: Pe,Y,Pr,C

* depends on Princeton's margin of victory (capped at 6 max) over Cornell:

MOV = 1,2: C,B
MOV = 3,4,5: B,Pr
MOV = 6: Pr,B

Not sure you're right.  The key clause is ambiguous because of a grammatical error.  The clause reads "teams [plural] with the greatest goal differential gets [singular] higher seed (6-goal maximum differential per game)."  If it should be singular, as it reads in the next tie-break criterion, the team [singular] with the greatest differential would get the 3-seed, and the 4-seed would be determined by head-to-head.

[CU77]

That's how I intended to do it (and I have confirmation from an informed source that this is correct), but I now realize I did the MOV=6 case the other way, and it should be Pr,C. I believe the others are correct.

[Al DeFlorio]

Still not clear to me. What if Pr wins by 5, so both Pr and B finish +1?  Does that leave the 3-seed indeterminate, so we go to the next criterion: goal differential against highest seed?  If so, then Cornell gets the 3-seed and Brown the 4-seed.  Or would that eliminate C at -2?  Strange stuff.

[CU77]

What if Pr wins by 5, so both Pr and B finish +1?

Then Cornell is -2, and eliminated from the tie (and the ILT). Then B gets the #3 seed because they beat Pr.

I didn't previously realize that this tie-breaking system can be so wacky. If Cornell is losing to Princeton late by 3, 4 or 5 goals, then they should score some own goals so that they lose by 6 or more.

Similarly, Princeton should have lost to Brown by 6 or more, instead of by 4. Then Princeton would get in to the ILT by beating Cornell by any margin. As it is, they must win by 3 or more to get in.

[Al DeFlorio]

What if Pr wins by 5, so both Pr and B finish +1?

Then Cornell is -2, and eliminated from the tie (and the ILT).

Where does it say that in the criteria?  It should, but I don't see it.

I didn't previously realize that this tie-breaking system can be so wacky. If Cornell is losing to Princeton late by 3, 4 or 5 goals, then they should score some own goals so that they lose by 6 or more.

That's what I wrote on the lax forum backup thread.  Robin Harris and company better hope Cornell wins or they could be dealing with a real fiasco.

[Jim Hyla]

What if Pr wins by 5, so both Pr and B finish +1?

Then Cornell is -2, and eliminated from the tie (and the ILT).

Where does it say that in the criteria?  It should, but I don't see it.

I didn't previously realize that this tie-breaking system can be so wacky. If Cornell is losing to Princeton late by 3, 4 or 5 goals, then they should score some own goals so that they lose by 6 or more.

That's what I wrote on the lax forum backup thread.  Robin Harris and company better hope Cornell wins or they could be dealing with a real fiasco.

Unfortunately another reason to give up on college lacrosse. At least until they get their sh*t together.

[jeff '84]

Cornell's Teat and Petterson: The Ultimate Linemates

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/cornell-s-teat-and-petterson-the-ultimate-linemates/54276

"They're like Gretzky-Kurri," says Dan Teat....

[billhoward]

Good thing Binghamton is off the Cornell schedule if we want to play opponents with high RPIs. Instead we got St. Bonaventure, barely better, but it's their first season in D1. RPI rankings April 22.

Code Select Expand


[b]14. Cornell[/b]
41. Colgate (played 2018, and lost)
65. St. Bonaventure  
70. Binghamton  (played 2018)  

Playing Lehigh we got the #27 RPI team instead of Bucknell #34.

Hobart is up to #26 in RPI and also-got-votes in the poll this week.

[billhoward]

USILA poll https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/lacrosse-men/d1/usila-coaches has Cornell #9, +1 places.

1. Penn State
2. Marylandd
3. Duke
4. Yale
5. Penn
Saturday opponent Princeton is marked as also Receiving Votes.

Media poll https://www.insidelacrosse.com/league/DI/polls has Cornell #9, +1 places. The top 5:

1. Penn State
2. Maryland
3. Duke
4. Penn (was 5)
5. Yale (was 4)
Also receiving votes: Princeton

In RPI, Cornell is 14, Princeton 26, Brown 31.

[jeff '84]

Bracketology: https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/il-bracketology-men-s-division-i-fourth-look/54420

Also, an interesting Tourney related post by Dom Starsia (inside lacrosse)

Starsia: A 'Leap of Faith' to Allow Automatic Qualifiers into NCAA Tournament

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/starsia-a-leap-of-faith-to-allow-automatic-qualifiers-into-ncaa-tournament/54403

[semsox]

I think it's bad that Hopkins won tonight. Leap frogs them over us as a potential at-large.