[Off-topic] Lacrosse

[Al DeFlorio]

And some of the autobids are as controversial as the MAAC autobid in hockey (in particular, the Great Western Conference, which includes--believe it or not--Fairfield, in addition to Air Force, Butler, Denver, Notre Dame, and Ohio State).  There's the same groundswell of support to move from a twelve- to a sixteen-team tournament to minimize the effects of the autobids.

[Al DeFlorio]

Princeton took out their frustrations on Penn this evening. ::help::

[peterg]

With respect to the expansion of the field to 16 teams, I believe that the NCAA is considering expansion of both the D1- hockey and lacrosse tournament fields to 16 teams.  When proposed a few years ago to just expand hockey, it was voted down before it got out of committee.  I believe that the proposals were tied together to make more of an impact, and that it was approved at the committee level and is quite likely to be approved.

More teams=more games=more $$= happy NCAA.

[jeh25]

Damn.  ::uhoh::  poor penn.  I guess this means we have sole possession of the lowest GAA now.

[jtwcornell91]

Actually, IIRC they tied the men's ice hockey bracket expansion to a women's sport.  The former is providing the $$$ and the latter the gender equity, so it's an attractive package all around.

With regards to the controversy over automatic bids, selection committee chair Jack MacDonald says he thinks the tourney needs more auto-bids (gee, think his good feelings about auto-bids could have anything to do with the fact that he's the AD at Quinnipiac?) and that the NCAA has the "opportunity to create more automatics" with the Ivy League and Big Ten. ::uhoh::

http://www.uscho.com/news/2002/03/18_004304.php

[jtwcornell91]

Okay, I just checked, and apparently men's ice hockey, men's lacrosse, and women's softball are all tied together.

[DeltaOne81]

Yup, men's hockey for the $$$, women's softball for the Title IX, men's lacrosse because, well, they need it too :-).

Women's softball is hoping to expand from 48 to 64, so that's a total package increase of 16 women's teams and only 8 men's teams, looking like a nice Title IX move, which is one of the reasons it's on the top of the committee's priority list this season (as opposed to be seventh (?) last season).

So, can anyone explain to me this Fairfield being in the Great Western Lacrosse League thing? With the absence of an USCLO-style site, it's very hard to get objective history. At the very least, it seems like it'd be cheaper, if not easier, for Fairfield to just go independent, rather than flying to Denver and Colorado all the time.

-Fred, DeltaOne81 '03

[KeithK]

Yeah, but this way they can get an autobid.  Can't do that as an indy.

[DeltaOne81]

Seems like an awful lot of travel expenses for the hope of get an extra bid to the tourney every few years. My gut tells me there's some bigger story there .

[Al DeFlorio]

I think you need six teams in a league to qualify for an autobid.  

Maybe their expenses are being "subsidized" by the other teams in order to fill out the "sixsome."  Fairfield does in fact play all of the other five this season, travel issues or not.

[jeh25]

Well, in the absence of a PWR for lacrosse, the AQ becomes that much more important than in hockey. That having been said, some of the traditionally strong programs have managed to go the independent route and still make the tourney year in and year out.  Specifically, Syracuse and Hopkins are still both independents.  Unless I'm going crazy, I thought Loyola had traditionally been an independent but laxpower.com has them listed as the #1 team in the  Colonial League.

Also, be aware that although the ACC is, IMO, the toughest conference in college lax (with the Ivies being the 2nd toughest), the ACC only has 4 members. Thus, UVa, Duke, Maryland and UNC beat the piss outta each other with no advantage that I can see.  One wonders why they don't invite JHU and Loyola to join to round out the 6.  

Because of the lack of a formal PWR, *perceived* strength of schedule is very important in the selection process. Thus, a strong growing program like Georgetown doesn't necessarily get the respect that is given a fading program with history behind them, like Hopkins. (I'm not saying JHU doesn't have a great team, just that they aren't slugging it out in the final game game with Syracuse every damn year like they used to and that Georgetown is now consistantky a top 5 team.)

For example, Yale is 7th in Power Rating, yet only rates a 13th place spot in the polls. Meanwhile, Hopkins is 4th in polls while their power rating puts them in 8th.

Feel free to disagree with me. I wasn't able to follow lax from Cali last year so my perceptions may be out of whack.

[Al DeFlorio]

You probably didn't realize just how close New Haven is to the "Great West," John. ::nut::

[jtwcornell91]

Loyola?  I didn't know they played lacrosse in New Orleans!

Oh, you mean a different Loyola. :-P

[jeh25]

Well, to be fair, Notre Dame's program goes back 20 years and they have been the traditional GWLL powerhouse. Of course, until recently, that meant being the MAAC of the lacrosse world.

[Ben Doyle 03]

Hopkins, like Syracuse will never join a conference. They both have the Notre Dame football philosophy. . .we're good enough people will come to play us, attitude. The fact of the matter is, they are both that good :-)