Trudie’s Rankings/Seedings: 4/27

There is some movement in college lax after the ACC and Patriot League Tournaments, plus some of the regular season games. Here are my Top Eight rankings/projected seeds for the NCAA Tournament:

1. Princeton-The loss to Cornell almost made their chance to win the Ivy League impossible, but as Cornell lost Brown, they can probably still win thanks to some complicated tie-breakers only an Ivy League  scholar could explain. 

2. Syracuse-Just enough strength of schedule to keep them in the top 2 after losses by Cornell and UVA.

3. Notre Dame-Only undefeated team left in college lax. Weak schedule is only thing keeping them from #1 spot.

4. UVA-Big wins over other teams will keep them in top 5. Plus ACC Tournament doesn’t mean much.

5. Hopkins- Should win out the rest of their schedule. Toughest schedule in college lax will get them a good seed.

6. Cornell-Win over Princeton doesn’t look so good with losses against Syracuse and Brown.

7. Duke-Possibly a dark horse to win the NCAA Championship after winning its third straight ACC title. Beat a good UNC team in a shoot-out and destroyed UVA for the second time this year.  

8. UNC-Getting key wins at the right time. Loss to Duke may leapfrog them over UMBC for the final “seed”. They will still play each other though.

Also-Brown’s win over Cornell will give them at least an At-Large. Probably taking Maryland’s place. Navy and Bucknell should each get in the NCAA from the Patriot League.

Trudie Boo’s Saturday Review!

1. Brown Beats Cornell-Brown’s 11-9 win over Cornell will mean that next weekend’s game with Princeton will have a lot of tiebreaker possibilities. It might also give Brown a spot in the NCAA Tournament regardless of if they beat Princeton. Maryland is not looking very good right now after losing to Navy and Hopkins, and Brown may take their spot with a key win.

2. Another DIII Shut-out-After I noticed and posted the 17 other shut-outs in college lacrosse in 2009. Drew shut out Scranton today 10-0. Which is surprising because Scranton is one of the better teams in the Landmark Conference.

3. Salisbury is Back-Like I said last week after Salisbury won the CAC Championship, they are the DIII Hopkins. They won the War on the Shore again 12-11 over Washington College. Four straight wins going into the NCAA Tournament. They haven’t lost to WAC in seven years.

4. Notre Dame Wins Gimmick Game- Over 30,000 people filled the OSU Horseshoe to watch their hometown Buckeyes get trounced by Notre Dame  14-8. Breaking the record for most people at a regular season lacrosse game. I would like to see them try this again with a non-conference opponent like Hopkins, Syracuse, or UVA. Or even another Big-10 opponent in Penn State.

Conference Tournament Highlights: Part II

Colgate 8 Navy 9 (3ot)- With a 9-5 record, this probably means that Colgate will be on the outside of the NCAA tournament, unless they can upset Syracuse again like they did last year. Navy is now 10-4 going into Sunday’s game against Bucknell. Regardless of who actually wins the Patriot League championship, both teams should get in the NCAA tournament.

Duke 16 UVA 5-Duke’s 11 goal win over UVA is impressive, but something tells me that Starisa must have stepped off the gas once the possibility of winning the game ended. I am sure he wouldn’t mind taking an extended break for his team before the NCAA Tournament starts. They have no more games until then. Duke plays UNC for the ACC Championship. UNC lost to Duke at home earlier in the season 12-8. Duke could win its third straight ACC title.

What’s the Deal With All The Shut-Outs?

http://www.lax.com/scores.phtml?div=3

I’ve noticed the past few weeks that there have been an amazing number of shut-outs in college lacrosse in 2009. I attribute this to all the new programs that have started in the past few years, especially in DII and DIII. Some teams just don’t have enough talent to score a goal against their opponents. I must say, getting a shut-out or being shut-out in lacrosse is quite a feat if you think about it. Lacrosse games are pretty high scoring. A college lacrosse score averages about 20 goals between the two teams. Its easy to score a goal too. 36 square feet of goal, on a goalie that doesn’t wear much padding. Plus a shooter usually has a 65-100 MPH shot from 0-12 yards and can bounce the ball most often time off some gnarly dirt/grass, or field turf.

As a player for Goucher College, I don’t think my team ever came close to shutting out a team, the closest was allowing Centenary to score three goals. Although we did almost get shut out and lost 22-1 to Salisbury. I also created and coached a high school program in Northern Arizona for four seasons. We never got shut out either, and we used to have to play some great teams from Phoenix that had some DI talent. We would still lose by a lot of goals, but we would at least get one or two goals. Most games we would score 7-10 goals, and we did win a lot of games against similarly talented programs.

Here’s all the shut-outs in college lacrosse in 2009 (all in DIII):

Nichols 18 Mitchell 0

Mt. Ida 25 Lyndon State 0

St. John Fisher 21, Utica College 23, Marywood 25  Wells 0

Nichols 22, Assumption 21, Roger Williams 17 Anna Maria 0

Hampden-Sydney 17, Eastern 18, Lynchburg 24, Greensboro 14, Christopher Newport 18 Randolph 0

Widener 17, Messiah 22, Fairleigh-Dickinson 21 Alvernia 0

Goucher 18 Susquehanna 0

That’s 17 shut-outs so far in 2009, with two weeks of regular season to go. Keep in mind that not all the teams that got shut-out are doughnut teams. Many of them won a few games. They just happened to play against teams that are a lot better than they were. Randolph is the exception, they’ve only scored single goals in the games that they were not shut out. So you can probably count the goals of the teams leading scorer on on hand.

Conference Tournament Highlights: Part I

Bucknell vs. Army-Bucknell is still undefeated in Patriot League play with their seventh overall conference win. With a trip to the conference title game, and a 9-6 record, they should at least get an At-Large bid to the NCAA Tournament now.

UNC vs. Maryland-The Tar Heels had their first win in the ACC in five years with the 16-10 win over Maryland. They get to go to the ACC title game against either Duke or UVA at home.

Coming later…Results of the other ACC and Patriot League semi-final games.

Cody Jamieson is Being Screwed!

http://www.nllinsider.com/2009/04/23/source-lacrosse-star-cody-jamieson-to-play-for-syracuse-on-saturday-at-umass/

Cody Jamieson was finally cleared by the NCAA to play this season. With two regular season games left. One against UMass and another against Colgate. Not only does this only give him the maximum of only playing in six games this season if Syracuse makes it to the NCAA Championship, but next year is the last season Jamieson is eligible to play NCAA lacrosse. Due to playing one season at Onondoga in 2007, and taking the past year and a half to get eligible at Syracuse. NCAA rules dictate you only get five years to play four seasons once you start.

I find it controversial because I’ve seen stories on how hard Jamieson had to work to get into Syracuse. He should be either rewarded with an extra year of eligibility, or the year he spent trying to get into school shouldn’t count against him. Cultural factors are involved in this situation because of Jamieson’s Native American upbringing. I’ve heard and I know from experience living near the Navajo reservation that going to a public school as a Native American has its challenges. It takes a while for a Native American to assimilate and do well. Which is why Jamieson had to go to OCC to being with. I had a few Native American friends in high school who had difficulty getting into the state colleges because of the cultural barrier.

The NCAA should do the right thing and give Jamieson another year to play!

Trudie: The REAL Bracketologist

http://blogs.insidelacrosse.com/2009/04/22/playoff-push-inside-lacrosse-bracketology-part-iii/

Fixing what Inside Lacrosse screws up…Here’s what the NCAA Tournament will really look like:

Automatic Qualifiers:

Ivy League-Cornell Beat Princeton, no Ivy Tournament, so they get the AQ with the best overall conference record.

GWLL-Notre Dame-No competition in the GWLL. Already have the AQ locked up.

ECAC-UMass or Loyola-No post-season tournament. If AQ goes to best conference record than UMass has to beat Rutgers, Loyola has to beat Hobart. However, UMass has the tiebreaker as they beat Loyola.

 CAA-Conference Tournament-Don’t crown Hofstra just yet. Even though they are undefeated in the CAA, they still have to win one regular season and two tournament games to get the AQ. Villanova or Towson could pull an upset.

America East-Conference Tournament-Don’t crown UMBC either, they are good enough to get an At-Large bid, but they share the same conference record as Albany and Stony Brook, plus they lost to Hartford last weekend. Hartford has only won one other game this year. Albany or Stony Brook could get an upset in the conference tournament.

Patriot League-Conference Tournament-How is Bucknell not the favorite to win the Patriot League AQ? Sure they haven’t won any big out of conference games, but they are undefeated in the Patriot League, which includes Colgate, Army, and Navy. They are the #1 Seed so they play Army, and will either play Navy or Colgate on their home field. If Vegas had money on this game, there are too many factors not to go with Bucknell.

MAAC-Conference Tournament-Sure Siena is undefeated in the MAAC. It is the largest conference in college lacrosse with nine teams. However, most of those teams are lousy. Providence is the only competition with Siena in the conference tournament and I think they can pull an upset. Providence did have Syracuse and North Carolina on their schedule…So what if they lost by 19 to the Orange? They only have to win one game against Siena to get in. And its not the one this weekend either, which is the regular season finale.

At-Large Bids:

Syracuse-Strength of Schedule, Record, Power wins

Hopkins-Strength of Schedule, Power wins

All ACC Teams-Every team has a good strength of schedule, UVA, UNC, Duke have Power wins, Only UVA has the good record.

Patriot League 2nd Place- As long as Navy beats Colgate in the Patriot League Tournament they will get in for sure. Don’t count them out to win the Patriot League outright. If Colgate beats Navy they will get an At-Large, and I don’t see why Bucknell would get the shaft if they lose in the Patriot League Championship. They have quality wins over Navy and Colgate in the regular season.

Loyola-They are likely to not win the ECAC, but they play a good schedule and they have some great wins against most of their conference.

Princeton-Won’t win the Ivy League, but as a former #1 team who beat Hopkins and Syracuse, they will be seeded higher than Cornell.

Seeding:

1. UVA plays MAAC AQ (likely Siena)- Best seeded team plays the worst team.

8. UMBC plays UNC- I think UMBC will still get the #8 seed, but they will have to play a good team like UNC.

5. Cornell plays Patriot League Champion- I think either Bucknell or Colgate will win the Patriot League, I think due to the economy the selection committee will place this game in proximity to Upstate NY.

4. Notre Dame plays Loyola-Seems like a good fit.

3. Syracuse plays Patriot League 2nd Place-Proximity game, plus the way the teams will end up it has to be this conference against Syracuse.

6. Hopkins plays Hofstra- Rematch of last year’s first round. Both teams are in the same position.

7. Duke plays UMass-Seems like a good fit.

2. Princeton plays Maryland-Maryland will be the 2nd worst team in the NCAA Tournament record wise. Talent wise they are in the middle.

Salisbury is the DIII Hopkins…

Just as Hopkins should never be counted out as long as they make it to the NCAA Championship, neither should Salisbury. Although Salisbury has not been in this position in a long time, in the past couple seasons Hopkins has won a national championship after a three game losing streak in 2007, and made it to the title game after a five game losing streak in 2008.

Salisbury had its worst record in six seasons losing three games in the regular season. But won the CAC Championship Tounament and AQ into the NCAA Tournament. They will probably win their first few playoff games with ease, and will have more of a challenge in later rounds, but don’t count them out for another appearance in the title game, and don’t think they might be a dark horse for the championship.

CAC Championship Webcast

For those DIII lacrosse fans who want to see a potential barn-burner…http://www.gomustangsports.com/sports/031309

I am hoping for a Stevenson win.

From the looks of this game there is about 1-2 thousand fans. Stevenson has a nice mini-stadium. They need to get a real scoreboard though!

I am surprised that Inside Lacrosse is not doing an In-Game Blog for this game. Stevenson better get it together…losing 4-0 in the 2nd quarter.

Stevenson is really playing poorly, losing 5-0 now.

Stevenson shut out in the first half…Down 6-0. This game is nothing like I thought I would be.

Stevenson finally scores in the third quarter, only took 32 minutes. 6-1 Salisbury.

Salisbury quickly scores again 7-1.

Such a joke…8-1 Salisbury. Looks like they will win the CAC again and get the AQ to the NCAA Tournament.

Stevenson was so desperate they just tried a hidden ball trick play…no goal though. I guess Stevenson did score a few seconds later though. I have lost interest.

Stevenson scores with about 11 minutes left in the game 9-3 Salisbury. Too little too late.

Salisbury scored off the face-off 10-3.

Both teams scored…11-4. Both teams scored again 12-5.

Salisbury scores a final goal…They win 13-5. Stevenson is pissy at the end of the game. Their fault for playing so terribly. You can’t get shut out of over half a game and expect to win.

Trudie’s Top 10: 4/20

Lots of upsets this weekend. Only a few weeks left in the regular season. Here’s my top 10 for the week:

1. UVA-After losing to Duke last weekend, they beat Dartmouth by seven. Perhaps proving that the Duke loss was just a fluke. Only the ACC Tournament left. Should get the #1 Seed in the NCAAs.

2. Syracuse-Won a close game over Albany last weekend. I think they are the second best team in the country and will probably get the second seed in the NCAA Tournament. UMASS and Colgate are their last two games, both on the next two Saturdays.

3. Princeton-Were beat by Cornell at Ithaca. Cornell has also beaten Duke. However, I think Princeton is the better team and will get either a #3 or #4 seed.

4. Notre Dame-Still undefeated, but have an easy schedule. I think they will be in shock when they have to play a good team in the NCAA Tournament, which could be right away because I don’t see them being seeded any lower than #4 or #5.

5. Cornell-They’ve had a few quality wins now beating Princeton and Duke. Probably could sneak in the NCAA Tournament at #3 or #4. Honestly don’t think they are a better team than Princeton, but they will get a better seed for winning the Ivy League

6. Hopkins-Two wins the past two weekends and three straight. Don’t count them out as the weather heats up and the NCAA Tournament starts. Three games against local teams Mt. St. Mary’s, Towson, and Loyola will get them three more wins. Should finish a respectable 9-4. #5 or #6 seed in the NCAAs.

7. Duke-Four straight wins, play the ACC Tournament this weekend and start off against UVA, who they just beat and they are playing just down the road from Duke. One final game against St. Johns in two weeks. Could go anywhere from 1-1 to 3-0 the next few games.

8. UMBC-Loss to Hartford was bad, but I don’t think it reflects the team overall. Might be just what they needed at the end of the season. Should have the America East AQ, and a #8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

9. North Carolina-Beat Hofstra by five last Saturday. Proving that they are worthy of an At-Large bid, as well as showing that Hofstra isn’t Top Ten worthy.

10. Bucknell-Only two wins outside of the Patriot League. However, they went undefeated in conference which will help them in the Patriot League Tournament as the #1 seed. Will play Army, then the winner of Colgate and Navy, (too close to call). Either way, I think Bucknell can win two more games and get the PL AQ.