2017 MLax NCAAs

[burnspbesq]

Duke @ Hop, 2:30 p.m. Saturday

[burnspbesq]

Hop has not been good on faceoffs this year. I love this matchup.

[burnspbesq]

Towson @ Penn State and Yale @ Cuse completes the bracket.

[OldPhiKap]

Duke @ Hop, 2:30 p.m. Saturday

The war starts from here. Good luck Devils!

[Native]

Hop has not been good on faceoffs this year. I love this matchup.

Agree — we could've done way worse. Looking at the four teams in our "pod" — I'd much rather face the OSU/Loyola winner than one of UMD/UNC/Albany. Not a bad draw at all, but we'll still need to bring our A-game.

[duke2x]

We are underrated pretty badly, but we have a very, very, very winnable road game with Hopkins. Duke is more on par with the top 4 seeds from what I've seen, but the computers rule this sport. Unlike last year, we didn't have multiple wins v. the top of the field. You had to know before the season that the Big 10 would distort the computer rankings. Duke isn't going to play Big 10 teams in February, will never play Maryland, and Hopkins would not if we asked.

For the second year in a row, Duke was 1 spot ahead of UNC and was given the bus trip instead of the flight. Albany is a whole lot better than Marquette.

I assume we are in Delaware over NYC in an attempt to sell tickets.

[MCFinARL]

And a Jake Seau sighting!

What happened to Jake Seau? Has he been injured again this year? I know he missed pretty much all of last year with an injury.


Agree — we could've done way worse. Looking at the four teams in our "pod" — I'd much rather face the OSU/Loyola winner than one of UMD/UNC/Albany. Not a bad draw at all, but we'll still need to bring our A-game.

I agree. Ten years ago Hop is the last team I would have wanted to see in Duke's draw. But this could be a lot worse, given we didn't get a seed. A little surprised Hop got the sixth seed, since even by the criteria of the committee, their resume is only the tiniest bit better than Duke's--two of our ranked wins--UNC and Loyola--are the same. Each team has a top 5 win--PSU for Hop and ND for Duke--and each has another top 20 win (besides Loyola)--BU for Duke and the admittedly "better" Rutgers for Hop. Both teams lost in OT to Syracuse. Hop is 8-6 and barely beat UVA in overtime.

OSU Loyola winner will be tough if we get there but, for sure, I'd rather have to beat one of them (and Hop) to get to Memorial Day weekend than face Md, Albany (a weirdly undervalued team) or even UNC again.

[MCFinARL]

We are underrated pretty badly, but we have a very, very, very winnable road game with Hopkins. Duke is more on par with the top 4 seeds from what I've seen, but the computers rule this sport. Unlike last year, we didn't have multiple wins v. the top of the field. You had to know before the season that the Big 10 would distort the computer rankings. Duke isn't going to play Big 10 teams in February, will never play Maryland, and Hopkins would not if we asked.

For the second year in a row, Duke was 1 spot ahead of UNC and was given the bus trip instead of the flight. Albany is a whole lot better than Marquette.

I assume we are in Delaware over NYC in an attempt to sell tickets.

I thought they said on the selection show that, assuming we get to the second game, we are in LI, not Delaware.

[JasonEvans]

http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/lacrosse-men_d1_2017.pdf

full bracket

[ryetales]

Plus the game is a half mile from my home. Looking forward to cheering on the devils.

[duke2x]

I thought they said on the selection show that, assuming we get to the second game, we are in LI, not Delaware.

Thanks. I'm not getting ESPN-U for a weekend only to watch the selection show. I like a NYC game even better. Delaware isn't exactly a hub for Duke alumni, particularly compared to NYC.

[TKG]

http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/lacrosse-men_d1_2017.pdf

full bracket


Kentucky got screwed.

[TruBlu]

Kentucky got screwed.

Yea! I'm all for that.

The only thing better would be unc getting screwed . . . which they so greatly deserve.

[Tom B.]

Duke @ Hop, 2:30 p.m. Saturday

And if we win, a trip back to Coach Danowski's old stomping grounds at Hofstra.

[MCFinARL]

An important goal for this game: keep the infernal Hopkins band quiet. Having sadly been present for a couple of Final 4 Duke losses to Hop, at one of which I was seated unfortunately close to said band, I hope never to hear that annoying little song they play after every goal again.

[53n206]

An important goal for this game: keep the infernal Hopkins band quiet. Having sadly been present for a couple of Final 4 Duke losses to Hop, at one of which I was seated unfortunately close to said band, I hope never to hear that annoying little song they play after every goal again.
Obviously, to help you, we must shut them out. But having spent a number of years at the John, I do not wish that we shut them out. Just beat them soundly.

[burnspbesq]

Obviously, to help you, we must shut them out. But having spent a number of years at the John, I do not wish that we shut them out. Just beat them soundly.

I'd happily settle for a reprise of the last NCAA first round meeting between Duke and Hop, an 18-5 win for Duke in 2010.

[Native]

I'd happily settle for a reprise of the last NCAA first round meeting between Duke and Hop, an 18-5 win for Duke in 2010.

Not a first round matchup, but our 2014 tilt in the NCAAT quarterfinal (https://youtu.be/jKSiyLde0TM?t=1056) was also a great win for the good guys.

(Sidebar: if you haven't watched that whole video, you should. Great detail on the 2014 squad that went back-to-back. A lot of speed and heart in that group.)

[burnspbesq]

Didn't take long for the coaching carousel to start spinning. Matt Kerwick is out at Cornell.

[DevilFalcon]

Let's play like we did ND @ Duke, the first one. I was at that blowout. Lots of fun.

[75Crazie]

I'd happily settle for a reprise of the last NCAA first round meeting between Duke and Hop, an 18-5 win for Duke in 2010.
I've been thinking for two days now that this is a repeat of last year's first round game when Duke traveled to Baltimore and lost. After your statement, I had to look it up and confirm that it was Loyola we lost to last year. Here's hoping this first-round trip to Baltimore has a happier conclusion.

[budwom]

I'd happily settle for a reprise of the last NCAA first round meeting between Duke and Hop, an 18-5 win for Duke in 2010.

By and large I'm OK with the brackets, but Hopkins getting a home game after losing something like six of their last ten, including an 11 goal loss to Princeton, befuddles me.
Nonetheless, I know they're good enough to win on Saturday....

[MCFinARL]

By and large I'm OK with the brackets, but Hopkins getting a home game after losing something like six of their last ten, including an 11 goal loss to Princeton, befuddles me.
Nonetheless, I know they're good enough to win on Saturday...

Yes, I agree the Hop seeding seems bizarre--apparently the lacrosse committee uses their numerical formulas, and they don't but much weight on when wins and losses occurred--so, for example, Duke's loss to Air Force in February still hurts even though Duke is much improved since then (albeit Air Force, in the end, is a tournament team, their RPI is still not top 20). And Hop's late-season meltdown doesn't do them any more damage because it was late.

The team that really should be stewing is Albany--which got an 8 seed to Hop's 6, even though it lost only two games all season: by one goal each to the top two seeds, Maryland and Syracuse. They are punished for the relative weakness of their conference as Hopkins was rewarded for the relative strength of its conference.

If I am Maryland, I'm none too amused that my reward for the top seed in the tournament is a second round game against the Albany-UNC winner. I don't know whether Duke will beat Hopkins, nor whether, if they do, they will win a likely matchup against Ohio State. But I'd take that path any day over being in the Maryland-Albany-UNC pod.

[budwom]

Yes, I agree the Hop seeding seems bizarre--apparently the lacrosse committee uses their numerical formulas, and they don't but much weight on when wins and losses occurred--so, for example, Duke's loss to Air Force in February still hurts even though Duke is much improved since then (albeit Air Force, in the end, is a tournament team, their RPI is still not top 20). And Hop's late-season meltdown doesn't do them any more damage because it was late.

The team that really should be stewing is Albany--which got an 8 seed to Hop's 6, even though it lost only two games all season: by one goal each to the top two seeds, Maryland and Syracuse. They are punished for the relative weakness of their conference as Hopkins was rewarded for the relative strength of its conference.

If I am Maryland, I'm none too amused that my reward for the top seed in the tournament is a second round game against the Albany-UNC winner. I don't know whether Duke will beat Hopkins, nor whether, if they do, they will win a likely matchup against Ohio State. But I'd take that path any day over being in the Maryland-Albany-UNC pod.

I certainly agree, that Merlin/Albany/unc pod is ridiculous. In fact the entire bracket I'd say is as tough as the hoops bracket would be if it had only 32 teams.
They could expand the field by another eight teams and still have very worthy, competitive teams throughout.

[burnspbesq]

Tewaaraton finalists announced this morning, and the big news is the omission of Denver's Connor Cannizaro. The group of five consists of attackmen Connor Fields (Albany), Ben Reeves (Yale), Patrick Spencer (Loyola), and Matt Rambo (Maryland), and Denver FOGO Trevor Baptiste.

I can think offhand of three guys who are every bit as deserving as those five: Brown LSM Larken Kemp, Maryland SSDM Isaiah Davis-Allen, and our very own Justin Guterding.

[MCFinARL]

Tewaaraton finalists announced this morning, and the big news is the omission of Denver's Connor Cannizaro. The group of five consists of attackmen Connor Fields (Albany), Ben Reeves (Yale), Patrick Spencer (Loyola), and Matt Rambo (Maryland), and Denver FOGO Trevor Baptiste.

I can think offhand of three guys who are every bit as deserving as those five: Brown LSM Larken Kemp, Maryland SSDM Isaiah Davis-Allen, and our very own Justin Guterding.

Yes--as with the teams this year, the players this year include a lot of very, very good ones, but with few obvious standouts. So picking those last 5 must have been a real challenge.