MLax: Way-Too-Early 2018 Rankings

[burnspbesq]

Did we all miss something? I could have sworn that our starting goalie, a three-year starter on defense, our best LSM, half of our SSDM rotation, our best FOGO, and a 45-goal scorer all graduated last month.

Yet, Christian Swezey of IL has Duke at number one in his way-too-early top 20.

http://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/swezey-s-way-ahead-2018-rankings/49763

[fuse]

Saw that article and it made me smile.

I'd love for that prediction to hold true.

[burnspbesq]

USLacrosse Magazine is releasing its way-too-early 2018 top 25 rankings, men's and women's, in daily groups of five. They are up to 11, and the Blue Devil men have not yet been mentioned. The Duke women are at number 14, but the reasons for slotting them there seems to simply be that they can't possibly be as bad as they were thos year.

[burnspbesq]

USLacrosse has Duke at number two, behind Denver. The most interesting five words in the piece?

"FIFTH-YEAR SENIOR DANNY FOWLER."

[MCFinARL]

USLacrosse has Duke at number two, behind Denver. The most interesting five words in the piece?

"FIFTH-YEAR SENIOR DANNY FOWLER."

Yes, DSTFan reported this at the end of the thread on the Duke-OSU game:


GoDuke indicates that Danny Fowler red-shirted in 2014. Although I have not seen confirmation, I assume he is likely to be back in 2018.

Fowler was listed as a senior on this year's roster, not a redshirt junior, but as DSTFan notes, his biography says he redshirted in 2014.

If he is, in fact, coming back, this is terrific news, although with the graduation of Kyle Rowe, Jack Bruckner, Tommy Zenker and Ethan Powley, I still find the ranking somewhat astonishing.

[duke2x]

It is way too early, but the recognition is nice. We have a big question at the X even though we've been able to plug and chug there for the past several years. The other major offseason fix I see is to handle "sudden changes" to defense, particularly after faceoffs.