MLax: 2019 way-too-early top 25

[burnspbesq]

US Lacrosse magazine has been rolling out Patrick Stevens’ picks, five per day, all week. The top five will be revealed tomorrow, and it appears to come down to Duke, Yale, Maryland, Cornell, and Virginia. It will be interesting to see the order.

[budwom]

US Lacrosse magazine has been rolling out Patrick Stevens’ picks, five per day, all week. The top five will be revealed tomorrow, and it appears to come down to Duke, Yale, Maryland, Cornell, and Virginia. It will be interesting to see the order.

Paul, what do you think of next year's incoming class for Duke? Is there some immediate help? (I'd assume so)...I think you previously mentioned a couple of goalies...

[chrishoke]

Link?

[yancem]

Paul, what do you think of next year's incoming class for Duke? Is there some immediate help? (I'd assume so)...I think you previously mentioned a couple of goalies...

Yeah, I recently saw the rosters for the Under Armour AA game http://www.insidelacrosse.com/articl...ior-game/52372 and we've signed one of the goalies, a couple of middies and a couple of poles. I don't know a lot about high school lacrosse recruiting but it looks to be a pretty good incoming class.

[burnspbesq]

Duke is slotted in at number two, behind Yale. I think that’s a little optimistic: we lose a lot (a 110-point scorer, both LSMs, a starting SSDM, a starting close defender, and a starting goaltender). But we get back a ton of firepower and the guts of our defense, plus two big-name freshmen who had to take medical redshirts this year. If a 14-man incoming class that includes five UA All-Americans lives up to expectations ... February is likely to be ugly, but we may be pretty formidable by the time ACC play starts.

And yeah, it would be a real shame if Ierlan decided to come here (supposedly, Albany gave him a limited release that doesn’t allow him to transfer to any school on the Scoobies’ 2019 schedule, which likely rules out Cuse, Cornell, Yale, and Murlund).

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Duke is slotted in at number two, behind Yale. I think that’s a little optimistic: we lose a lot (a 110-point scorer, both LSMs, a starting SSDM, a starting close defender, and a starting goaltender). But we get back a ton of firepower and the guts of our defense, plus two big-name freshmen who had to take medical redshirts this year. If a 14-man incoming class that includes five UA All-Americans lives up to expectations ... February is likely to be ugly, but we may be pretty formidable by the time ACC play starts.

And yeah, it would be a real shame if Ierlan decided to come here (supposedly, Albany gave him a limited release that doesn’t allow him to transfer to any school on the Scoobies’ 2019 schedule, which likely rules out Cuse, Cornell, Yale, and Murlund).

In googling to see who Ierlan is (in the future, please remember that most of us aren't as familiar with the universe of lacrosse players as we are with, say, ACC basketball players, so a little description would be really helpful), it looks like he has a full release now and is likely to go to Cornell with his brother. For those like me who aren't as familiar, he set records by winning 79% of faceoffs this year, his sophomore year at Albany.

http://www.insidelacrosse.com/articl...-release/52491

[MCFinARL]

Does anyone know why Ierlan wants to transfer?

[yancem]

Does anyone know why Ierlan wants to transfer?

I have no idea but landing him will be huge for whoever does. He went toe to toe with Trevor Baptiste in the tournament. He's definitely worth a couple extra possessions a game.

[DST Fan]

Does anyone know why Ierlan wants to transfer?

Posters at the Albany thread at Laxpower suggests a variety of possible reasons: his brother will be an incoming freshman at Cornell; he is looking for better academics; he is not getting along with his teammates. Take your pick.

[burnspbesq]

Over at insidelacrosse.com, Christian Swezey’s way-too-early top 20 (plus two) dropped this morning, with Duke at number four behind Yale, Virginia, and Maryland.

http://www.insidelacrosse.com/articl...rankings/52534

One of the interesting common threads across the two lists is the lack of love for Cuse and Carolina. Carolina, in particular, is at a crossroads; there simply isn’t much talent there right now.

OT, and FWIW, I think Lafayette made a great hire in new head coach Pat Myers. It’s always been difficult to understand why the Leopards were so bad; the institutional resources are there for them to at least be competitive in the Patriot League. Will be interesting to watch.

[left_hook_lacey]

Didn't see the MLAX part of the thread title.

"Hand me my hand, excuse me ma'am, but where's the door?"---Hank Williams Jr.