2015 NCAA Lacrosse Open Thread

[IrishLax]

First round of bracketology slots Notre Dame as the #1 seed with Cornell/Ohio State as the 8 & "9"... would be excellent for ND, given that the Ivy League is always terrible and overrated + we own Ohio State.

Tuesdays with Corey: Bracketology, First Edition - Lacrosse Magazine

 

[NDgradstudent]

The advantages Denver has being able (potentially) to play essentially at home in the semi-final round and in the altitude they are used to is frustrating. Is this how it is usually done?

 

[IrishLax]

The advantages Denver has being able (potentially) to play essentially at home in the semi-final round and in the altitude they are used to is frustrating. Is this how it is usually done?

It's following normal procedures. Quarterfinal sites are bid out to places hypothetically anywhere in the country that has a school willing to sponsor it. Last year they were Hempstead, NY (Hofstra) and Newark, DE (Delaware). This year they are Mile High Stadium in Denver and Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. They rotate yearly similar to how Notre Dame is able to have a "South Bend" regional for women's basketball sometimes.

I'm certain that the seeding will be jury-rigged to find a way to have Denver in Denver, which is a bit unfair, but not the end of the world. It is absolutely a huge advantage for Denver, but as long as that isn't ND's opponent I don't really care. They're basically going to get two home games though assuming they're a seeded team and host their first round matchup. The nightmare scenario is Denver drops another game somewhere as does ND and somehow we end up the #3 to their #6 or #4 to #5 or something like that. One thing to watch is that there is a new committee chair who may have absolutely no idea what they're doing.

Semifinals and finals are in Philly at the Linc. They're technically hosted by Drexel.

 

[PANDFAN]

I have NEVER played, nor have i watched an entire match of lacrosse...but watched entire ND VS syracuse 2 saturday's ago...man was that intense...my 6/7/8 year olds who are huuuge ND fans because of me were going nuts when they won...

 

[IrishLax]

ND up 4-2 after 1Q. Jack Nolan on the call for ESPN3 is... well, he's doing his best. He sounds absolutely befuddled though that teams get to keep the ball when they miss a shot LOL

And he just called Marquette's goalie Jim Marlatt... clearly reading the wrong roster.

6 straight for Notre Dame now. Timeout Marquette.

 

[IrishLax]

ND up 9-5 at half. Kavanagh and Doyle both out since about 8 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, same with PJ Finley. Corrigan letting the subs play basically the entire end of the half... clearly trying to give starters some rest.

Officiating keeping Marquette in the game with some questionable calls on ND. While the score looks good, have to think ND would like to be up more with the domination on faceoffs.

 

[IrishLax]

Terrible 3rd quarter. Notre Dame force feeding the crease for no reason and gave up two crappy goals to Marquette. Shane Doss having his worst game in a long time. Marquette has some 5'5" longpole on Kavanagh and it's working spectacularly well. He's just strong enough to hold up and is exceptionally quick. Kavanagh cannot get separation on him... just crazy.

11-7 heading into the 4th.

14-7 final. ND improves to 8-1.

BJ Grill or whatever that defender's name was played the best game of lacrosse I've seen from a defender in years. Completely shut down Kavanagh's dodging with little to no help.

 

[OrlaNDomer]

Not ND's best game, but still think this is the best team in the country and the best ND team since I started following.

 

[IrishLax]

Not ND's best game, but still think this is the best team in the country and the best ND team since I started following.

It's nice that we're at the point where we can nitpick beating a top 15 team by 7 goals lol....

I was disappointed by the mental lapses, turnovers, and force feeding the crease for no reason. Kavanagh got shut down in settled 6-on-6. And the game was still never in doubt after the first quarter.

 

[NDinL.A.]

It's nice that we're at the point where we can nitpick beating a top 15 team by 7 goals lol....

I was disappointed by the mental lapses, turnovers, and force feeding the crease for no reason. Kavanagh got shut down in settled 6-on-6. And the game was still never in doubt after the first quarter.

It's a classic let-down game LAX, and something one could see coming miles away. We first beat the #1 team in the nation in a crazy-intense game, and then put it on Duke and an emotionally-charged game, as we lost to them in the finals last year and were looking for redemption (on the road no less). And then just a couple days later we have to face a little-brother type team that was highly motivated to beat the #1 team in the nation. You just don't get up for games like this in the same way you would the previous two, no matter what the coach says or your own inner drive says (unless you're Russell Westbrook lol).

I get why you'd be disappointed bc you breathe this shit, but from just a sports guy perspective, this performance is not unordinary...

 

[IrishLax]

Ex-Duke coach on rape scandal, resignation - CBS News

Airing this Sunday on 60 Minutes on CBS at 7PM... a look at Mike Pressler (former Duke/Team USA coach) and how the false accusations and a cowardly university almost ruined a guy who might've been one of the all time great lacrosse coaches.

One reason I loathe Duke is that they got rewarded for their unfair and cowardly actions. The NCAA awarded all their players another year of eligibility because Duke cancelled the season of their own volition and fired their coach. This allowed Duke to play from 2007 onward with a full extra class of players, including 2010 when they beat ND in OT for the championship. It also allowed seasoning and redshirting of other incoming players, which awarded Duke a competitive advantage in terms of depth/talent/experience all the way through last season. This is pretty much the first year where they've had to "rebuild" like normal teams do.

For those unfamiliar with the Duke lacrosse rape case, here is some sad and painful reading: Duke lacrosse case - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[irishrb]

Ex-Duke coach on rape scandal, resignation - CBS News

Airing this Sunday on 60 Minutes on CBS at 7PM... a look at Mike Pressler (former Duke/Team USA coach) and how the false accusations and a cowardly university almost ruined a guy who might've been one of the all time great lacrosse coaches.

One reason I loathe Duke is that they got rewarded for their unfair and cowardly actions. The NCAA awarded all their players another year of eligibility because Duke cancelled the season of their own volition and fired their coach. This allowed Duke to play from 2007 onward with a full extra class of players, including 2010 when they beat ND in OT for the championship. It also allowed seasoning and redshirting of other incoming players, which awarded Duke a competitive advantage in terms of depth/talent/experience all the way through last season. This is pretty much the first year where they've had to "rebuild" like normal teams do.

For those unfamiliar with the Duke lacrosse rape case, here is some sad and painful reading: Duke lacrosse case - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I remember the scandal but didn't know they ended up benefiting from it. Very interesting. Now I hate them even more!

 

[FDNYIrish1]

Coach Pressler is the reason I went to school where I did. I never got to play for the man, he left for Duke prior to my freshman season. He was revered by the guys who played for him and just had "it". Sitting across from him he just oozed passion. 3 years later after our loss in the national championship game, he walked up to me in the parking lot and remembered everything about me. Things we spoke of on my visit and my goals. I didn't think he'd remember my name. An awesome guy I regret not ever getting to suit up for. Blue collar, tough, loyal guy.

 

[NDgradstudent]

Ex-Duke coach on rape scandal, resignation - CBS News

Airing this Sunday on 60 Minutes on CBS at 7PM... a look at Mike Pressler (former Duke/Team USA coach) and how the false accusations and a cowardly university almost ruined a guy who might've been one of the all time great lacrosse coaches.

It was a classic example of The Narrative mattering more than the truth. I would not want to live in a community where certain types of accusations lead to unbelievable hand-wringing, threats, press attention, and so on, ruining people's lives even if they are ultimately not charged or acquitted.

Brooklyn College historian KC Johnson has written extensively about the case, he discusses it here.

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[IrishLax]

It's going to be another #1 vs #2 matchup this week in South Bend as #1 Notre Dame host #2 UNC for the regular season ACC crown. Winner gets Duke in the first round of the ACC tournament, loser gets Syracuse.

UNC has the best overall offensive talent in the country now that they're healthy, and they're coming off a 17-15 win over Syracuse. Where they're vulnerable is that they play "loose" and their defense can be had. Their only loss is to Maryland in a game where they got dominated in possessions and the fundamentals+goal keeping of Maryland kept their goals down. They should've lost to Denver for a similar reason... dominated in possession, not able to go on big runs.

For ND to win this game PJ Finley probably needs to go at least 55% and the offense can't take bad shots. I'd expect something like a 13-12 type affair... and after decades of failure we can rest assured that we'll see UNC's best effort as they'll want this #1 seed badly.

 

[FDNYIrish1]

It's going to be another #1 vs #2 matchup this week in South Bend as #1 Notre Dame host #2 UNC for the regular season ACC crown. Winner gets Duke in the first round of the ACC tournament, loser gets Syracuse.

UNC has the best overall offensive talent in the country now that they're healthy, and they're coming off a 17-15 win over Syracuse. Where they're vulnerable is that they play "loose" and their defense can be had. Their only loss is to Maryland in a game where they got dominated in possessions and the fundamentals+goal keeping of Maryland kept their goals down. They should've lost to Denver for a similar reason... dominated in possession, not able to go on big runs.

For ND to win this game PJ Finley probably needs to go at least 55% and the offense can't take bad shots. I'd expect something like a 13-12 type affair... and after decades of failure we can rest assured that we'll see UNC's best effort as they'll want this #1 seed badly.

Looking forward to this one Lax. 2 dynamic playmakers on that UNC attack with Bitter and Sankey. Like you said, they play wide open which I think favors the ND defense a bit. The ND system of slides and help really makes me confident against these dodging teams. UNC basically beat syracuse playing syracuse style. The orange were within striking distance a couple of times. And to be honest, even with their talent I think Breschi is an average coach. For a world class defenseman, his defenses are surprisingly susceptible.
The difference is now ND has the offensive firepower and horses at the midfield to score. This is going to be a good one!

 

[FDNYIrish1]

Anyone watching? Ridiculous game going on here.

 

[clashmore_mike]

Awesome finish, ND scored 3 goals in the last 1:15 to win 15-14.

 

[NDgradstudent]

Just got back from the game! Unbelievable finish, I thought it was over for sure when they went up 14-12. Great crowd got what they came to see!

Other people who know more about lacrosse will have to help me: did Doss let in several goals that should have been saves? Or is that on the defense? They had several quick, unassisted goals from well outside the crease area that looked to me like they should have been saved, but I don't know enough about lacrosse to say for sure. As I understand it, UNC's offense is tremendous, but I wasn't sure how well our defense played, either.

The other thing was it seemed like our offense had a lot of trouble getting into a rhythm. Several wide-open misses early on, and then trouble scoring a goal when we had the lead. How much of this is on their play vs. ours?

 

[IrishLax]

More later but...

ACC CHAMPS BABY!!!!!

 

[IrishLax]

Just got back from the game! Unbelievable finish, I thought it was over for sure when they went up 14-12. Great crowd got what they came to see!

Other people who know more about lacrosse will have to help me: did Doss let in several goals that should have been saves? Or is that on the defense? They had several quick, unassisted goals from well outside the crease area that looked to me like they should have been saved, but I don't know enough about lacrosse to say for sure. As I understand it, UNC's offense is tremendous, but I wasn't sure how well our defense played, either.

He let in one goal that was very soft. He also missed a bunch of "saveable" shots. Give UNC credit, they were hitting corners. Great shooting. But you're right, many of the shots were ones where he could've caught up to it and just didn't make the save.

The other thing was it seemed like our offense had a lot of trouble getting into a rhythm. Several wide-open misses early on, and then trouble scoring a goal when we had the lead. How much of this is on their play vs. ours?

UNC really got all the bounces. They had a bunch of goals that were virtually sheer dumb luck, and Notre Dame on the other hand missed a lot of golden opportunities. One mistake was playing Runyon over Wynne for chunks of the game. Runyon missed two goals that Wynne would've surely converted. It's hard to be upset with 15 goals, but many of them were unsettled situations and really for a large chunk of the 3rd quarter until the end of the 4th the offense was just not good. But that was more them making adjustments than anything else.

 

[IrishLax]

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[yankeeND]

This team is incredible! They refuse to be denied. I can't remember having more fun watching any team fielded by ND in any sport. I hope they can bring home the NC this year!

 

[IrishLax]

ACC tournament semis tonight against Duke at 5:30. Duke peaking this time of year, pretty meaningless game for ND in the grand scheme of things as the Irish should be locked in to a #1 or #2 seed regardless of what happens in the ACC tournament.

Syracuse vs. UNC also tonight. Winners play Sunday for the tournament crown.

 

[irishrb]

Hey Lax,
How important is the difference between the 1 or 2 seed though? Looking at the bracket on Inside Lacrosse, I really like the draw of the #1 compared to the #2. Also, I can really see ND beating Duke tonight but then losing to unc or syracuse on Sunday. Let's say that happens, but they still manage to beat Army in their last game. 1 seed or 2?

 

[IrishLax]

Hey Lax,
How important is the difference between the 1 or 2 seed though? Looking at the bracket on Inside Lacrosse, I really like the draw of the #1 compared to the #2. Also, I can really see ND beating Duke tonight but then losing to unc or syracuse on Sunday. Let's say that happens, but they still manage to beat Army in their last game. 1 seed or 2?

I think it's really irrelevant. Your first round game will be equally easy between #1 and #2 seed.

The top 6 teams (Notre Dame, UNC, Syracuse, Maryland, Denver, Duke) are all appreciably better than the hypothetical #7 or #8 teams and their corresponding unseeded teams (basically, UVA [who we pretty much dominated before garbage time], Yale, Albany, Cornell). None of that pod of 4 are very good, and there's always potential that someone like Ohio State sneaks into that group and we absolutely own the Buckeyes. So basically... getting either the #1 or #2 is great, doesn't matter which...but being seeded in the top 2 is a HUGE advantage over being seeded #3 or lower. It's imperative not to fall below the #2 spot which makes Army to close the season much more important than any of the ACC tournament games for seeding (except that, obviously, it'd be nice to get another trophy).

I don't think anyone can project to the final four at this point.

 

[irishrb]

If that's the case, you could almost make the case that losing tonight would be okay/an advantage.....Give them an extra couple days off and prep for Army. I HATE duke though so hopefully they light them up.

 

[NDgradstudent]

Ok how much of that was their defense vs. our offense?

 

[IrishLax]

0-0 after 1Q. Duke playing defense the opposite of how they did in the first meeting, adjustments are needed. Notre Dame also missed a number of quality opportunities.

 

[IrishLax]

3-0 Duke. Probably going to end horribly, body language completely different between Notre Dame and Duke.