Balt Sun: Premature men’s lacrosse rankings for 2018, Part 1

[Delmar]

The bane and blessing of being a Syracuse lacrosse fan is the legacy of teams that were juggernauts. There are no more teams like that. No team that can win 5 championships in a decade as we did in the 2000's. No 2006 Virginia team.

As we size up where we are next year our comparisons should be against other teams, and not the ridiculous standard of excellence of our past. The spread of the game (which is good) and the diffusion of talent brings inevitable parity. I am hopeful for two reasons: we did pretty well this year for a team that wasn't supposed to win 8 games (See Quint's analysis after the Army loss); and as a resident of the Capital Region, I've been able to chart Lucas Quinn's performance this year. Good players still want to come to Syracuse, and we have improved our recruiting the last couple of years.

 

[CuSeLaX]

Syracuse lost 4 starters from thier defensive unit; Firman, Ciferri, Gillis and Molloy. Three of them were captains and the heart of the team. Replacing a goalie isn't easy, have you seen what happened out their between Galloway and Molloy? Hopefully Mellen comes back healthy, but at this point there has to be concerns with his longevity. My real hope is the Willie Klan wins the starting job and is a multiple time All-American in goal. It would be beneficial for the team to have a 3 year starter anchoring the defense. I just hope they don't go back to goalie by committee, it doesn't work. 16 may be under rating Syracuse, but its not far off based on what the returning players have shown to date.

I agree I hate the two goalie thing we have tried in the past. My main point is Mellen cancels out the Firman loss. Gillis looked terrible verses Towson and wasnt impressive at all during the year. Same for Malloy he really had a very average statistical year. Paolo is a heck of a player and will be hard to replace. With all of our long poles back, to me the core of that defense stays intact. Malloy was ranked 49th in the country in save percentage. I have to believe that one of our goalies can match that. Leadership may be the biggest lots but talent wise our defense looks strong

 

[outoftownie]

Part 2, 15-11. Some odd choices, SU probably should have landed somewhere in this range. SU, MD, JHU, UNC, ND and Ohio St all outside top 10, curious to see who is in.

Premature men’s lacrosse rankings for 2018, Part 2

 

[Orangtiz]

Part 2, 15-11. Some odd choices, SU probably should have landed somewhere in this range. SU, MD, JHU, UNC, ND and Ohio St all outside top 10, curious to see who is in.

Premature men’s lacrosse rankings for 2018, Part 2

This list officially means nothing if this guy really think that Ohio St and MD are going to be in the range of 15-11 in terms of best teams next year he's got something else coming. You could legitimately make the case he should be fired for this tomfoolery.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Premature men’s lacrosse rankings for 2018, Part 3

10. PSU
9. UVA
8. Loyola
7. Princeton
6. Hofstra

 

[Delmar]

This list is the work of a flamer. It is based in maximizing the number of hits, shares and retweets the story gets.

Putting JHU and Syracuse in the 16-20 category insured further readership. Given this thread, he succeeded.

 

[4evaOrange]

Introducing number 1. UMBC!!!!

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Premature men’s lacrosse rankings for 2018, Part 4

5. Duke
4. Denver
3. Rutgers ???
2. Yale
1. Scooby

 

[outoftownie]

This list is the work of a flamer. It is based in maximizing the number of hits, shares and retweets the story gets.

Putting JHU and Syracuse in the 16-20 category insured further readership. Given this thread, he succeeded.

This ^^^ and maybe drugs. Rutgers, Albany and Yale top three? Princeton at 7 when they have to replace currier? He was Williams and Mariano for them. Probably to most valuable single player for any team last year.

 

[laxsummit]

Preseason polls mean little, just a early assessment that could be initially right. It might not be bad to have lower expectations so some time is allowed before any eventual outcry. My take is Cuse will have a lesser regular season record as some of those close games are due to go the other way. Team is relatively young n inexperienced at certain spots.Open questions will need to be answered but my expectation is that most will and we will be a stronger team by year end and perched in the top ten

 

[CreaseRat]

Preseason polls mean little, just a early assessment that could be initially right. It might not be bad to have lower expectations so some time is allowed before any eventual outcry. My take is Cuse will have a lesser regular season record as some of those close games are due to go the other way. Team is relatively young n inexperienced at certain spots.Open questions will need to be answered but my expectation is that most will and we will be a stronger team by year end and perched in the top ten

Agree with this. I think 4-5 loses during the year and a 3 or 4 seed in ACC tournament play. Would like to see the young team grow like Duke did this year.