MLax: Marquette, 1 at Duke, 20

[burnspbesq]

No way you saw this coming: with under nine minutes to go in Q4, Duke leads, 14-1. Yes, you read that correctly. Will have more to say after I've had a chance to watch the replay.

[fuse]

Watched the first half before finding something else to do after Duke was up 9-1.

Weird season if Marquette is ranked ahead of Duke.

Best analogy for the first half was watching Duke play a DII or DIII program.
Shots at a speed Fowler could easily see coming, and under handed cranks shots that spoke pretty clearly to me about the type of talent Marquette has presently.

Without researching, I'd guess Marquette is a fairly new lacrosse program.

[Native]

Looking as sharp as I've seen us all season.

Outstanding effort by the defense today. Holding any team – let alone a Top 25 squad – to a single goal (and a second half shutout) is not a small task.

Hopefully this is another occurrence of our guys peaking when it counts.

Congratulations and thanks to our seniors. What a way to finish.

[MCFinARL]

Watched the first half before finding something else to do after Duke was up 9-1.

Weird season if Marquette is ranked ahead of Duke.

Best analogy for the first half was watching Duke play a DII or DIII program.
Shots at a speed Fowler could easily see coming, and under handed cranks shots that spoke pretty clearly to me about the type of talent Marquette has presently.

Without researching, I'd guess Marquette is a fairly new lacrosse program.

And you would be right. This is their fourth year as a D1 lacrosse program. They have developed quite nicely and had a very good season. Very recently they took Notre Dame to overtime. But the overall talent level is not a match for Duke when Duke is playing their best.

The team is finally playing like their future depends on it--which it very definitely does. Hopefully they can carry this momentum into a successful rematch with Notre Dame, which might be enough to make the tournament. It helps a little that Loyola has been climbing back up through the rankings, so that is a better win than it was for a while.

[burnspbesq]

Well, the first seven minutes were as expected. Marquette, which came in with the number one defense in the country (in goals allowed), kept Duke in check, and its deliberate offense created a couple of good opportunities. It was 1-1 with 8:02 left in the first quarter. After that, Duke dropped the hammer. Ethan Powley had a career game against the Golden Eagles' top scorer, Ryan McNamara. Duke had seven caused turnovers in the first half. The offense consistently found gaps in the Marquette defense and the attack finished beautifully (50 percent offensive efficiency, on a night when the first midfield contributed only four goals). John Prendergast got his first career goal off a Teddy Henderson faceoff win. Two early goals from the second midfield added to the fun. Two little-used, hard-working seniors added goals in the fourth quarter; John Shaffer cashed a stepdown opportunity and Alex Prezioso dunked a rebound. Danny Fowler and Luke Aaron combined for 12 saves.

It was extraordinary on every level. Marquette is a very good team, and Duke just obliterated them.

With two goals and an assist, Myles Jones became the first D1 midfielder--ever--to record 100 goals and 100 assists in a career. He's currently sitting on 222 career points, only 31 behind the legendary Gary Gait in career midfield scoring. Duke has somewhere between two and seven games remaining; the closer that number gets to seven, the better Myles' chances of breaking the record.

Wow.

[dukebluesincebirth]

Anyone know where to find video highlights of the game? A close relative of mine actually officiated the game and I'd like to check it out.

[chrishoke]

Anyone know where to find video highlights of the game? A close relative of mine actually officiated the game and I'd like to check it out.

GoDuke.com has highlights.

[tbyers11]

Anyone know where to find video highlights of the game? A close relative of mine actually officiated the game and I'd like to check it out.

The entire game can be viewed on the WatchESPN app if you have access to that.

[DST Fan]

UNC has the #1 seed in the ACC tournament after coming back from 5 down in the fourth quarter and beating Notre Dame 17-15. Duke gets the #3 seed, based on the regular season win over Syracuse, and plays Notre Dame in the first round. It has been looking as though Duke would have to beat Notre Dame to lock up an NCAA bid and now it will have to be in the first round, rather than in the championship game.

[53n206]

Difficult to assess this team. But sometimes they look so incredibly good, and sometimes just they seen stodgy and inept on defense. If the best comes out and continues we can go all the way. Our defense must play their best.
. I love all the first-team midfielders.

[budwom]

UNC has the #1 seed in the ACC tournament after coming back from 5 down in the fourth quarter and beating Notre Dame 17-15. Duke gets the #3 seed, based on the regular season win over Syracuse, and plays Notre Dame in the first round. It has been looking as though Duke would have to beat Notre Dame to lock up an NCAA bid and now it will have to be in the first round, rather than in the championship game.

Perhaps...but some of the computer rankings have upped Duke to as high as seventh...sure would be nice to beat ND and wrap things up, but I think it's possible
we get in the tournament without beating them...

[buddy]

Perhaps...but some of the computer rankings have upped Duke to as high as seventh...sure would be nice to beat ND and wrap things up, but I think it's possible
we get in the tournament without beating them...

I think we need to win the ACC and get the AQ. Losing to ND makes us at best 10-7, with "signature" wins over Loyola, Syracuse, and maybe Marquette (which I expect to drop significantly by selection Sunday--they still have to play Denver). ND will get an at large bid. If UNC gets to the finals of the ACC. If we beat ND and lose to UNC, I would expect the cheaters to have a higher computer ranking, as well as a better "eye test"--especially since they would have beaten us twice. ACC may get 2 at large, but likely not three, and that assumes all the conference tournaments follow the chalk, which is unlikely. Losses to Richmond and Air Force (and probably Harvard) really hurt.

[duke2x]

Perhaps...but some of the computer rankings have upped Duke to as high as seventh...sure would be nice to beat ND and wrap things up, but I think it's possible
we get in the tournament without beating them...

It's playing with fire, but there's a chance you could be right. Duke is currently #10 in the RPI with #2 SOS. The RPI carries a lot more weight in lacrosse than basketball. For example, last year Duke (#5 RPI) hosted Ohio State (#12 RPI) as the #5 seed. The last at-large team was RPI #14 (Brown) that was chosen over RPI #13 (Georgetown).

Teams with lower RPI that might have a chance: Marquette, Air Force, Stony Brook, Bucknell, PSU, Rutgers, and Towson. Only Air Force has a persuasive argument over Duke for an at-large (OT win).

[burnspbesq]

I think we need to win the ACC and get the AQ. Losing to ND makes us at best 10-7, with "signature" wins over Loyola, Syracuse, and maybe Marquette (which I expect to drop significantly by selection Sunday--they still have to play Denver). ND will get an at large bid. If UNC gets to the finals of the ACC. If we beat ND and lose to UNC, I would expect the cheaters to have a higher computer ranking, as well as a better "eye test"--especially since they would have beaten us twice. ACC may get 2 at large, but likely not three, and that assumes all the conference tournaments follow the chalk, which is unlikely. Losses to Richmond and Air Force (and probably Harvard) really hurt.

Except that Carolina's bad losses, UMass and Hofstra, are even worse than Duke"s bad losses.

[budwom]

It's playing with fire, but there's a chance you could be right. Duke is currently #10 in the RPI with #2 SOS. The RPI carries a lot more weight in lacrosse than basketball. For example, last year Duke (#5 RPI) hosted Ohio State (#12 RPI) as the #5 seed. The last at-large team was RPI #14 (Brown) that was chosen over RPI #13 (Georgetown).

Teams with lower RPI that might have a chance: Marquette, Air Force, Stony Brook, Bucknell, PSU, Rutgers, and Towson. Only Air Force has a persuasive argument over Duke for an at-large (OT win).

Yup, it IS playing with fire...but I think we make it if we beat ND and lose in the finals, and depending upon how the rest of the field shakes out, we might make it with a loss to ND, but it's not advisable...

[buddy]

Except that Carolina's bad losses, UMass and Hofstra, are even worse than Duke"s bad losses.

Agreed But Carolina has one more Top 5 win than Duke at present. Beat ND and we equal them. Then maybe we can compare bad losses. (Sheesh, how I wish we had Richmond and Air Force back, or either one.)

[Indoor66]

Agreed But Carolina has one more Top 5 win than Duke at present. Beat ND and we equal them. Then maybe we can compare bad losses. (Sheesh, how I wish we had Richmond and Air Force back, or either one.)

But we all know that they cheat!

[budwom]

There's a guy over at Laxpower (good site) named Larry Feldman who does analysis based on previous years' selections, and he
has Duke's chances (now) of getting an at large bid at 58.72% (remember, precision trumps accuracy!)

That puts us in 15th place at this point...not much margin of error to be sure. I think a win vs ND would cement the deal.
(speaking of ND, what a total gack job vs the heels this weekend, ouch. )

[burnspbesq]

The bubble is not a place you want to be this year. Imagine what happens if Penn, Stony Brook, Richmond or High Point, and anybody other than Towson win the Ivy, America East, SoCon, and Colonial tournaments. There go half the at-large bids to teans you had penciled in as AQs. Bucknell? Don't go there. This is the best argument I know for a 24-team bracket. A couple of 2-3 semifinals in conference tournaments look like play-in games: Bucknell-Loyola and Villanova-Marquette for sure, and maybe Yale-Penn.

Nobody knows what to think about Duke: the Blue Devils' poll rankings range from 10 to 17, while Quint has them at number seven.

[fuse]

If you are on the committee, how do you leave out Duke?

You lose out on the narrative of a program fallen from grace, resurrected, multiple titles plus Myles Jones.

I'm in no way saying Duke is in. I am saying Duke being in the tournament is good for the sport.