JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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Quick disclaimer this isnt a game preview, I will do a preview later in this thread or after Powellfan if he starts another thread.
Wednesdays matchup with Army is huge for SU and one they really need to find away to win. Before I get into why, I have to admit I don't love this game from a matchup perspective for Syracuse. Army presents a number of challenges and this is probably their best Offensive team that I can remember under Alberici. SU will almost certainly need to double pole the midfield for the first time this year so that alone will be interesting. Army does have a few potential weaknesses and I'll dive more into that in a separate post.
For the game overall, for Maryland loss puts SU in a tough spot. If they lose this game they likely need to run the table in the remaining OOC to have a realistic shot at the tourney barring multiple wins over the Big ACC 3. A loss wouldn't hurt #s wise as Army could realistically run the table (most likely wont) but at worst is probably losing 1-2 games tops. The issue for SU is that a loss here put enormous pressure on the Hop and Cornell games and also leads to the creeping thoughts of last year and the inability to finish a big win.
It's also big from an RPI standpoint as despite Gaits best effort I'm not sure the scheduling for RPI purposes is going to pan out. Utah looks poised to go on a run but Vermont is 1-3 and likely to be 1-5 after the next two games, Manhattan is 0-4 and looks like a 3 or 4 win team, Gate appears to be coming back to earth (they're schedule does lessen up a bit and that PSU win will carry), and Hobart has some significant struggles and will likely have issues winning more them 1 or 2 conf games. High Point should beat most of the non power teams on its schedule and Delaware is very solid so assuming SU can win both (no guarantee for Delaware for sure sure) those should be decent wins again especially Delaware.
SU needs to grab a Top 10 win prior to the ACC portion of the schedule, this would be a great place to start.
Wednesdays matchup with Army is huge for SU and one they really need to find away to win. Before I get into why, I have to admit I don't love this game from a matchup perspective for Syracuse. Army presents a number of challenges and this is probably their best Offensive team that I can remember under Alberici. SU will almost certainly need to double pole the midfield for the first time this year so that alone will be interesting. Army does have a few potential weaknesses and I'll dive more into that in a separate post.
For the game overall, for Maryland loss puts SU in a tough spot. If they lose this game they likely need to run the table in the remaining OOC to have a realistic shot at the tourney barring multiple wins over the Big ACC 3. A loss wouldn't hurt #s wise as Army could realistically run the table (most likely wont) but at worst is probably losing 1-2 games tops. The issue for SU is that a loss here put enormous pressure on the Hop and Cornell games and also leads to the creeping thoughts of last year and the inability to finish a big win.
It's also big from an RPI standpoint as despite Gaits best effort I'm not sure the scheduling for RPI purposes is going to pan out. Utah looks poised to go on a run but Vermont is 1-3 and likely to be 1-5 after the next two games, Manhattan is 0-4 and looks like a 3 or 4 win team, Gate appears to be coming back to earth (they're schedule does lessen up a bit and that PSU win will carry), and Hobart has some significant struggles and will likely have issues winning more them 1 or 2 conf games. High Point should beat most of the non power teams on its schedule and Delaware is very solid so assuming SU can win both (no guarantee for Delaware for sure sure) those should be decent wins again especially Delaware.
SU needs to grab a Top 10 win prior to the ACC portion of the schedule, this would be a great place to start.