You have to earn it. The fall from grace and resurrection are old news. The repeat titles are two years old. Beat ND and strengthen the case. Win the tournament and clinch a spot. The committee in the past has shown slavish adherence to RPI. Some tournament upsets and we are outside looking in.
Yes, it is anybody's guess what will happen to bubble teams this year. As the sport achieves more parity, things get really tight with 10 AQs (a couple of which go to pretty marginal conferences) and only 18 spots. Any non-favorite who wins an AQ makes things that much tighter for everyone else. From that perspective, a 24-team tournament would be much better and would provide more room to accommodate multiple teams from conferences that are, overall, higher quality than others.
But there are still only 70 division one lacrosse teams. Having a third of them qualify for post-season play would be a lot--by comparison, 68 of 351 D1 basketball teams, or just under 20%, make the tournament. Much as I would like to see that happen, I doubt it will.
I don't know that the narrative is that important any more (although it will likely be mentioned by the commentators if Duke does get in), but Myles Jones--and the potentially explosive Duke offense, which makes the game fun to watch--might tip the scales if there is, essentially, a toss-up call for the last spot. At this point, though, I suspect we may have to beat Notre Dame even to be in that spot, unless a lot of other things happen just exactly the way we would need them to--all favorites for AQs win them and as many as possible at large teams stumble down the stretch.
Slightly off-topic question (and I apologize if this has been discussed before). Is there a particular reason the ACC has been holding the conference tournament at somewhat random sites for the past few years? The suburbs of philly and atlanta aren't just neutral sites, they're both pretty far from all of the conference's lacrosse schools (and in the case of philly, there's no connection to the conference at all). Seems odd to me, and a bit of a poke in the eye to fans (although obviously any site is going to be inconvenient for at least some fans).
Demented and sad, but social, right?
1. Primary reason. Maryland was slated to host the ACC tournament the year before they left the conference. This was another way to inflict pain on Maryland before they left.
2. Recruiting. Atlanta has a lot of growth in lacrosse. Most people at the tournament will probably be kids and parents as opposed to fans. Philadelphia is closer to a traditional recruiting base but much less than NYC/Baltimore.
I am planning to watch the Duke-ND game, if possible (I think it will be on TV here). This will be my first lacrosse game, so thanks to this board for bringing it to my attention
Go Duke!
Last edited by Doria; 04-26-2016 at 01:24 PM. Reason: Omitting that comma...go, me. Sigh
You might find it helpful to review some of the simple rules of the game. I don't know what you find that. Substitution, offsides, play around the crease, and face-offs. Perhaps you already know these facets of the game, but if you don't it might be easier to follow the flow when you're there.
Besides the wonderful pace and generally abundant scoring, it is also possible for teams to come from WAY behind to win because after you score
the opponent doesn't get the ball, there's a faceoff...unc was down something like five goals to ND and ran off seven or so in a row for the win.
Kind of like doing the center jump for hoops after each bucket...makes a good faceoff man absolutely critical.
My daughter was an all-state lacrosse goalie. Sadly, she didn't want to play in college.
Through her many years of play, the rules changed significantly over time. I haven't watched much men's lacrosse, but other than the obvious differences in what's allowable with regards to checking, are there any other basic rules differences from the women's game?
Thanks again, both of you! I will probably just browse wikipedia (which should be reliable enough in this case); I am familiar with NHL rules and kind of familiar with soccer rules, so I'm hoping that will be enough that I won't be totally lost.
It will be nice if I can add another Duke sport I enjoy watching, though I don't know how many games are streamed in my area during the season. I can still follow the recaps, though.
I don't claim to be a lax expert, by any means (but I'm learning, albeit slowly!). All three of soccer, lax, and hockey move in similar ways. But there are subtle, important differences - just look at the out of bounds rules between soccer, lax, and (um...) hockey. Very different tactics required...
-jk
Yes, very true. I am just trying to get up to basic speed (enough to enjoy the game). Any advanced tactical understanding will have to wait. But hockey did give me enough of a grasp that I was able to enjoy watching some soccer games that my roommate's mother had tickets to, when she visited us. So I am hoping that the learning curve will be likewise generous to me.
However, if anyone knows of any good sources of general info, aside from wikipedia, that they can point me toward, I would gladly check them out. Unfortunately, I just won't have enough time between now and Friday to read a ton of detailed information. My weekly work schedule is backloaded this (TV) season.
Try http://www.uslacrosse.org/about-the-sport/history.aspx.
I always felt lacrosse is more similar to basketball in the way the game moves. Hockey and soccer are very similar.
A basic view of the basic rules: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUcZkAcUC7M
-jk
Unlike college hoops which I watch almost entirely with the sound off (saving me from the likes of Elmore, Vitale and Bilas), I find that
generally speaking, the college lax announcers on ESPNU do a good job of describing the game, and if you watch a few games over a period
of time, the basic important rules will become clear quickly.
There are a lot of differences--at least there were a lot of differences in 2004. My daughter also played high school lacrosse, with her last season being 2004, though she wouldn't have been a candidate to play in college.
Some big differences, in addition to the limits on checking: in women's lacrosse, defensive players are not allowed to move between an offensive player looking to shoot and the goal if they are not already there when the player gets the ball. There is no such rule in men's lacrosse. The men also play quarters instead of halves. And the men's sticks are allowed to have deeper pockets than the women's, so it's somewhat easier for men to dodge with the ball than women, who may pass more often instead.