2012 NCAA Lacrosse Open Thread

[IrishLax]

Georgetown just lost to St. Johns in OT.....................

Urich needs to be fired. Also, this is bad news for us as Georgetown could've been a top 20 win with some luck.... and now they'll also be very amped to play next week when we take them on in DC.

 

[IrishLax]

Duke currently down to Marist in the second half 7 to 5...... not good....

 

[IrishLax]

Duke squeaks by Marist 11-10. 'Cuse and Princeton in a dogfight right now 5-4 at halftime. Loser is in very shaky position to make the playoffs.

 

[Wolverine1997]

Is the Denver vs. Loyola game going to be on TV? And is there an ECAC tournament?

Unfortunately, no on the LU-DU game. I think ESPN decides which games they will do before the season, so they probably had no clue that this game would feature two top ten teams. It will be on denver's athletic site but you have to pay for it.

The ECAC Tournament Championship Game will be on ESPNU and the two semifinal games will be streamed FREE on denver's site as they are the host again. The tournament takes the top-4 teams and they have a 1v4 and 2v3 format.

Next year when Michigan becomes a full-member, the tournament will be an 8-team one. Hopefully, denver doesn't get to host the tournament again because that is a bunch of BS. Every team not in the state of Colorado has to take a flight there. Really hope it's a rotating site.

 

[IrishLax]

Huge win for Syracuse over Princeton 10-9. Syracuse now has a puncher's chance of making the playoffs even if they lose to Cornell and ND and in the Big East tournament... but it appears they still likely need to win one of those games to ensure they get in.

Bucknell goes down to Army 6-5 the same day IL runs an article on their "historic" offense. Irony at it's finest. And Colgate edges Lehigh to throw the Patriot League into complete disarray.

The Big East, Patriot League and Ivy League are all fighting for multiple bids. If the tournament started today, it's a really tough debate between Princeton, Syracuse, and Villanova for who gets in (if any of them). Denver is another team desperately searching for a quality win.

ND, ironically, was .005 points out of the #1 spot in the RPI today before playing their game. And because Providence is so bad we've dropped to #3 and a full .026 out of first place.

We take on a schizophrenic Georgetown team next weekend before closing the season against Villanova and Syracuse. If we beat Georgetown, we will be a lock to make the playoffs as 4 losses (our max) will definitely be good enough to get in.

 

[Wolverine1997]

USILA Coaches Poll Top-20

1. Virginia (9)
2. Massachusetts (2)
3. Johns Hopkins
4. Loyola
5. Cornell
6. Notre Dame
7. Duke
8. North Carolina
9. Maryland
10. Denver
11. Lehigh
12. Villanova
13. Syracuse
14. Colgate
15. Princeton
16. Penn State
17. Fairfield
18. Bucknell
19. Bryant
20. Yale

 

[Wolverine1997]

Saturday will be historic day in the ECAC. It will be the first that all conference teams will play another conference team.

Hobart at Bellarmine (1pm EST)
ohio at Michigan - Battle at The Big House I (2:30pm EST LIVE ON BTN)
#17 Fairfield at Air Force (4pm EST)
#4 Loyola at #10 Denver (11pm EST)

I would say all conference teams are playing league games, but Michigan is an affiliate member this season. Dave Brandon is very hopeful that the game Saturday breaks the all-time attendance record for a lacrosse game. If the weather is what it currently says it will be, there will be a huge turnout for the Spring Football game which is before the Lacrosse game.

 

[IrishLax]

Fun fact of the day: Brittany Mallory of the women's basketball team is going to be suiting up for the women's lacrosse team for the rest of the year. She was an AA in lacrosse in high school and hails from Baltimore. I met her family when ND was in the final four in Baltimore in 2010... all very nice people.

 

[micks60]

Saturday will be historic day in the ECAC. It will be the first that all conference teams will play another conference team.

Hobart at Bellarmine (1pm EST)
ohio at Michigan - Battle at The Big House I (2:30pm EST LIVE ON BTN)
#17 Fairfield at Air Force (4pm EST)
#4 Loyola at #10 Denver (11pm EST)

I would say all conference teams are playing league games, but Michigan is an affiliate member this season. Dave Brandon is very hopeful that the game Saturday breaks the all-time attendance record for a lacrosse game. If the weather is what it currently says it will be, there will be a huge turnout for the Spring Football game which is before the Lacrosse game.

OSU is doing the same thing. I think they will get more for their spring game than UM. I could be wrong though.

 

[AdmiralBackhand]

Fun fact of the day: Brittany Mallory of the women's basketball team is going to be suiting up for the women's lacrosse team for the rest of the year. She was an AA in lacrosse in high school and hails from Baltimore. I met her family when ND was in the final four in Baltimore in 2010... all very nice people.

Mallory joins Notre Dame lacrosse team - baltimoresun.com

Here is an article on the matter for those that want to read about it.

 

[IrishLax]

Michigan just picked up a pretty good player in the 2014 class out of the Culver Academy in in Indiana. Not a stud, but he had some interest from Notre Dame and a bunch of Ivies.

 

[IrishLax]

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Will be on TV this Saturday on NBCSN. Interested to see this piece. Run time will be 30 minutes.

 

[IrishLax]

Also, please go vote for Kevin Randall here:

Lacrosse | Lowe's Senior CLASS Award

 

[AllGoldEverything]

Is NBCSN the same thing that versus was?

 

[IrishLax]

Is NBCSN the same thing that versus was?

Yes. It's the re-branded Versus. NBC Sports Network.

 

[micks60]

Is NBCSN the same thing that versus was?

Yes

 

[IrishLax]

Duke just plastered Virginia @ Virginia 13-5. Duke jumps to #6 in the RPI a mere .001 points behind Virginia with Notre Dame bumping up to the #3 spot as a result. If Duke can go on to win the ACC tournament, they'll likely be a top 5 RPI team which will do wonders for Notre Dame come seeding time.

Big games between Loyola and Denver, Hopkins and Maryland, and Notre Dame and Georgetown this weekend. The only top teams that don't have monumental games this week are UNC who gets a middling Hofstra and UMASS who gets a middling Drexel. Both of those teams are capable of upsets, but they're unlikely.

 

[peoriairish]

Duke just plastered Virginia @ Virginia 13-5. Duke jumps to #6 in the RPI a mere .001 points behind Virginia with Notre Dame bumping up to the #3 spot as a result. If Duke can go on to win the ACC tournament, they'll likely be a top 5 RPI team which will do wonders for Notre Dame come seeding time.

Big games between Loyola and Denver, Hopkins and Maryland, and Notre Dame and Georgetown this weekend. The only top teams that don't have monumental games this week are UNC who gets a middling Hofstra and UMASS who gets a middling Drexel. Both of those teams are capable of upsets, but they're unlikely.

Yeah, that UVA game made my Friday just that much better...

 

[IrishLax]

Yeah, that UVA game made my Friday just that much better...

Haha... did you go to UVa? That's a pretty eclectic bunch of teams you support judging by your icons.

 

[IrishLax]

Syracuse just opened up a can on Rutgers... 9-2 after the first quarter. Syracuse's season high in goals scored was 12 heading into this game.

 

[micks60]

Where is the UM guy that said they were getting a huge crowd for their lacrosse game.

 

[peoriairish]

Syracuse just opened up a can on Rutgers... 9-2 after the first quarter. Syracuse's season high in goals scored was 12 heading into this game.

Yeah, it's up to 19 at the start of the 4th.

No, I didn't go to UVA. I grew up outside Richmond though, go to college in central IL, and my gf is from Stl. Explains the UVA, Bulls and Cards (I'm a Braves fan at heart though due to the Richmond Braves)

 

[IrishLax]

Hofstra up on UNC right no 5-4 heading into halftime. Hofstra is lucky to have 5 goals and UNC is unlucky to have only 4.... so I doubt this holds up. Gvodzen has been a brick wall in cage for Hoftsra. IF Hofstra gets the upset that will be huge for ND.

 

[IrishLax]

Michigan vs. Ohio State underway on Big Ten network. This will be my first time watch Michigan live.

If you're an ND lacrosse fan, you are rooting for Ohio State to win to help our SOS.

 

[peoriairish]

Guh, theres those stupid #goblue field monstrosities.

 

[peoriairish]

And the Hoftra/UNC game is tied 9-9 with 9 minutes left. Going to be a good finish.

 

[IrishLax]

7-5 Ohio State over Michigan at halftime. Very interesting game. Michigan's goalie Weis and their faceoff specialist Greiner are both DI talents. And Michigan's offense honestly isn't that bad. Watching it in full it's a Denver-esque motion offense that looks primarily to feed the crease through back cuts. If they had a crease attackman worth his salt they'd have at least 3 more goals today.

The biggest issue with Michigan is their defense (goalei not included). Watching them live... they are literally the worst defense I have ever seen in Division I lacrosse. They are so poorly coached in terms of both individual technique and team defense it's a weird blend of comical and nauseating. They don't attack offensive players hands at all. It's insane. Both on ball and off ball they just let players catch and shoot as they please. If an OSU player wants to take a shot, all he has to do is pull up and shoot... there will be no pressure on his hands. And as far as body positioning goes, they clearly haven't been coached on how to play on the attacker's hip and turn them away. Defense 101 is to ride a dodgers hip if they're shielding their stick and drive them away from the goal. Or, if dodging from behind, keep them from getting topside with momentum.

But even more than individual technique.... I have never seen a team with such poor organization and rotation. Whenever they are forced to double, the recovery is either non-existent or painfully slow. The second slide isn't the issue, it's the backside coverage and rotation. There are just players routinely left wide open in shooting positions.

They need to go hire some real assistant coaches to address this issue. Because honestly, their offense really isn't bad.

 

[peoriairish]

HUGE win by Maryland over Johns Hopkins. IrishLax, how does this affect ND?

 

[IrishLax]

HUGE win by Maryland over Johns Hopkins. IrishLax, how does this affect ND?

Actually hurt us in the RPI as it bunched up the top teams. The Loyola vs. Denver game is now paramount for us.... we NEED Denver to win that game.

Right not we are T-4th in the RPI with Maryland and a whopping .001 points behind Virginia who is #3. If we beat Georgetown and Denver beats Loyola, we could jump up as high as #1.

Ohio State playing suck-*** Michigan has really hurt us as Ohio State just dropped out of being a top 20 RPI win. The results of the late games tonight and tomorrow are going to ultimately have a very big impact on us. We need Penn State to hold on and beat Towson and Denver to beat Loyola.... if those two results happen, we could realistically make a run at the #1 spot tomorrow.

 

[IrishLax]

This trailer is cool as hell.

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I can't believe I forgot to watch this special today. Got to see if it will re-air at some point.