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Message: [QUOTE="Powellfan, post: 5071940, member: 4819"] Always feels wrong to start talking about next season when the current one is still happening, but this is what message boards are for. I feel like next year will be one of the first where there will be no clear cut number one team to start the year. I think a team like Cornell, who missed the tournament completely this year, has a good claim to be top 5 next year. I still think the ACC will have some top five teams, but I think the Ivy League is set up really well next season, perhaps overtaking the Big 10 in terms of tournament bids. For the ACC, it should be interesting. I'm sure people won't want to say SU is preseason number one next year, but they'll have a good argument for it. If everyone who is expected to come back does, they'll have two very good attackmen, a very experienced and deep midfield, a good situation at face-off, three very good long sticks and at least one SSDM who is All American capable. The goalie situation is obviously something watch, and I'd feel better with more SSDM depth, but comared to the rest of the ACC, they seem to have the least amount of questions. Notre Dame I think will still be pretty good next year - three starters on offense come back (so long as Faison doesn't decide to ditch lacrosse to focus on football). They bring in a top recruiting class and they always have a good defense, no matter their losses. They'll be solid at face-off with Will Lynch. Will Angrik and Max Busenkell I imagine will get more playing time at midfield. I don't think they'll be nearly as good as this year, but I'm not expecting a huge drop off. I can see them being a top five team next year, though perhaps I'm crazy. Duke on the other hand, maybe they do suffer a big dropoff. Andrew McAdory showed against SU he can be a really good attackman, but who else will be his running mates? Going from Brennan O'Neil and Dyson Williams to anyone else will be a huge change. They have a good goalie in Jamieson, but lose a ton on defense and don't have the same history as ND on that side of the field. I can't really remember the last time Duke went through a true rebuild but next year might be one. Like ND they have a really good recruiting class next year. Virginia should be interesting - obviously Millon is a really good player, but he'll most likely go from being guarded by the third best defenseman to the best (like McAdory). Who joins him on attack? I am guessing one of the Colsey twins will take that left handed spot, and another one of their multiple top ten attackmen will take the third spot. But they've had depth issues this year, and now they are losing their best two offensive players in Shellenberger and Cormier. Defenses loses it's best longstick and ssdm. They should again be decent at face-offs and goal with Ghorbial and Nunes back. Still, they need their young players to hit the ground running. UNC should be interesting - if they really did land Gianforcaro in the portal, that's a big addition. Their defense was pretty good last year and adding a top end goalie should only make them better. They will have probably the best FOGO in the ACC with Wambach. Duffy and Petro should make a dynamic combo on attack, but they still have issues at midfield (though they welcome some five star midfielders to their recruiting class). I was ready to put UNC back at the bottom of the ACC for next year, but the goalie addition might change things. I still think the ACC is going to be very good next year, and SU will have some seriously challenging games on its hands. But they should be well positioned when compared to what they lost and what they bring back. [/QUOTE]

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