The team is peaking at the right time! Go Duke. As a seed team in the NCAA Tourny Duke's first game will be at home.
Duke's final regular season game will be played this Saturday (on Long Island) at 1300, against Saint John's. The Red Storm has lost eight of their last nine, so beating our Devils would redeem their entire season, which always creates upset potential. I have not found any television coverage, but "Game Tracker" is supposed to cover the contest.
On Sunday, 3 May, at 2100, ESPN-U will braodcast the NCAA Tournament selection; hopefully, Duke will be the top seed in either the Hofstra or the Naval Academy regional bracket.
The team is peaking at the right time! Go Duke. As a seed team in the NCAA Tourny Duke's first game will be at home.
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide
Inside Lacrosse's latest Bracketology has Duke as the overall number one seed. We'll see if that holds up.
Hofstra's loss to Villanova in the semis of the CAA tournament has the potential to knock Murlund out of the NCAAs. They are in the uncomfortable position of having to root for Hopkins to blow out Loyola tomorrow.
No idea who Duke will play in the first round.
Inside Lacrosse has some projections -- post Hofstra's loss -- of pairing s: http://blogs.insidelacrosse.com/2009...fstra-edition/. This weekend's (and particularly today's) games could significantly alter their estimates. It seems to me that IL's placement of Duke as the top seed in the Hofstra region give us a more difficult road to the national championship.
Hofstra Quarterfinal Bracket
1. Duke vs. UMBC
8. Cornell vs. UMass
3. Syracuse vs. Siena
6. Johns Hopkins vs. Hofstra
Navy Quarterfinal Bracket
5. North Carolina vs. Navy
4. Princeton vs. Maryland
2. Virginia vs. Villanova
7. Notre Dame vs. Brown
Link--- http://blogs.insidelacrosse.com/2009...ology-weekend/
I do not like Cuse, Hop, and Cornell in our bracket as much as UNC,Princeton ,and ND in the Navy brackett. Is this an appropriate reward for Duke's being the #1 seed?
Duke women are projected as 5th seed.
Our guys still must take care of bidness today vrs. St. John's.
Which bracket should we be in (our's or UVA's)?
Best--Blueprofessor
Last edited by blueprofessor; 05-03-2009 at 11:31 AM.
The Duke women are number four in the coaches' poll and number five in RPI - neither of which presumably takes Penn's upset loss to Stanford yesterday into consideration. They are number three in the laxpower.com computer rankings. And they are number seven in SOS.
Any seed between three and five would be difficult to argue against, but my personal view is that if they take care of business against Dartmouth today, they should be seeded third. They don't have any losses as bad as Penn's loss to Stanford or Carolina's nine-goal drubbing by Penn, and they won the season series against Carolina by eight goals on aggregate.
Likely first-round opponents? If you assume that Stanford jumps up three or four places in the rankings and the RPI by beating Penn, then Duke is most likely going to face Vandy, Penn State, or Dartmouth in the first round. Stanford and BU would be less likely first-round opponents.
My understanding is that there is a sort of pod system in effect for assigning teams to quarterfinal sites, based on travel distance and fan base. If Duke is assigned to the Hofstra site, that means that the NCAA thinks Duke's New York alumni base is bigger and more likely to show up than its DC alumni base, and is willing to pay to fly Duke to New York in order to test that hypothesis.
It's not necessarily the case that if, for example, Duke were to get assigned to the Hofstra site and win its quarterfinal game, it would face the other Hofstra quarterfinal winner on Saturday in Foxboro. I think that if Duke is seeded number one and advances to the semis, it would play the survivor of the 4-5-12-13 quarter of the draw.
The NCAA's desire to minimize travel costs also explains why even if Duke is the overall number one seed, it is likely to face either UMBC or Navy in the first round. The NCAA knows it has to fly some team out to South Bend to face Notre Dame if the Irish beat Ohio State in the GWLL final. By any ranking available, the MAAC champion will be the 16th best team in the field, but under existing travel guidelines the NCAA would have to fly either Siena or Manhattan to Durham to face Duke. So the MAAC winner is going to go to Syracuse, and UMBC and Navy are going to Duke and Virginia - take your pick.
http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...ATCLID=3732561
11 different Duke players scored a goal.
Duke led 12--1 at half.
Best regards--Blueprofessor
The Duke women beat 16th ranked Dartmouth 22-8 in their season final.
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide
This should be the Lax Power hyperlink for the NCAA's Division One 2009 Men's Tournament bracket, available later this evening: http://www.laxpower.com/update09/tou...racket_md1.php
The Woman's Division One link follows: http://www.laxpower.com/update09/tou...racket_wd1.php
It is my understanding that the NCAA Section Committee will announce this year's Men's brackets in an 1830 (Eastern) news teleconference, which will be broadcast at 2100 this evening on ESPN-U. There is no embargo on the brackets and I suspect they will be internet-available by approximately 1900.
Last edited by 4decadedukie; 05-03-2009 at 07:12 PM.
Looks like Duke is the NCAA Division I Men's Tournament's #3 overall seed. I am flabbergasted by the Committee's section as UVa as the overall #1 seed, since Duke's strength of schedule was marginally better and we defeated the Cavilers twice -- by decisive margins -- in head-to-head competitions. We play Navy at home next Saturday.
Last edited by 4decadedukie; 05-03-2009 at 09:22 PM.
One surmises that the loss to Harvard weighed heavily on the minds of the selection committee.
And a possible quarterfinal meeting with the Holes? Jeezus H. Keerist, could the committee have shown Duke any less love? We are all UMBC fans this week.
They draw Cindy Lou and all the other Hoos in the first round at home on Sunday.
If they advance, they play either Penn or Fairfield in the quarters.
Penn's loss to Stanford wasn't enough to get the Cardinal into the tournament, and it wasn't enough to drop Penn two places in the seeding.
As with the men, one bad loss (at Georgetown) seems to have come back to haunt Duke in the eyes of the selection committee. Otherwise, being seeded behind Carolina is utterly incomprehensible.
*1-Virginia (11-5)
Villanova (13-2)
Brown (12-3)
*8-Johns Hopkins (9-4)
*5-Cornell (10-3)
Hofstra (11-3)
UMass (9-5)
*4-Princeton (12-2)
************************************************** *************
*3-Duke (13-3)
Navy (11-4)
UMBC (12-3)
*6-UNC (11-5)
*7-Notre Dame (15-0)
Maryland (9-6)
Siena (12-5)
*2-Syracuse (12-2)
As a formerly projected #1 seed, instead of UMBC, now as a 3rd seed we get Navy and then possibly the Tar Heels.The 2 teams in the tourney to whom we lost (Cornell and MD) and our bete noire JHU are not in our draw until FF.
Comments?
Best--Blueprofessor
*First-round host
Watch on www.GoDuke.com also.
http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...ATCLID=3735206
Go,Duke!
Best--Blue Prof