Bryant

[TexanMark]

I remember last year they brought a bunch of students. I expect to see them on Sunday (vice Siena). Massa could keep them in the game. I surely won't overlook them this year.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I remember last year they brought a bunch of students. I expect to see them on Sunday (vice Siena). Massa could keep them in the game. I surely won't overlook them this year.

Siena has the better offense, if they can muck things up at the X (a tall order for sure) don't be surprised if Siena wins. Bryant struggled down the stretch after a one goal win over Albany.

 

[TexanMark]

I'd much rather play Siena...Bryant really tried to slow the game down.

 

[CuseTroop]

I'd much rather play Siena...Bryant really tried to slow the game down.

When do these guys play eachother?

 

[Orangello]

When do these guys play eachother?

this Wed.

 

[orange79]

When do these guys play eachother?

Tomorrow (Wednesday) at 4 PM. At Bryant. No TV that I know of.

 

[Orangello]

Tomorrow (Wednesday) at 4 PM. At Bryant. No TV that I know of.

Bryant College TV

 

[JeremyCuse]

I'd much rather play Siena...Bryant really tried to slow the game down.

Bryant has a great faceoff guy in Massa and a really good goalie, they rely heavily on those two guys to win games. I dont think they have the depth or really the offense to beat Syracuse especially if Daddio is even winning 35% of the draws. The one concern I would have about a matchup with Bryant would be if Massa gets in one of those grooves like last year when hes pretty much unstoppable and our O has just an awful game (unlikely but not impossible I guess) and Bryant is able to win the game like 7-6 or something like that.

Bryant's offense is better then last year and they have a few nice players including a guy who is a pure crease finisher like Maltz. But I just dont see the kind of offensive firepower needed to beat Syracuse. Desko will surely be in the officials ear about the timer on and the Syracuse offense is playing at a really high level right now.

For Bryant to be in this game in the last few minutes or even be leading the following would have to happen;

Massa gets in Daddio's head again and just has a monster game, maybe not 21 for 22 or whatever he was last time but lets say pretty close to that.
Bryant goalie would have to stand on his head, were talking at least 12+ saves and probably would need 15+ if I am being honest.

Bryant successfully scores at least 2 or 3 timer on goals right as the clock is about to expire after taking 3-4 minutes off the clock

Syracuse has a repeat of the stretch they had against ND in the 3rd quarter where bryant is somehow able to reel off 4 or 5 straight goals by playing make it take it with Massa.

Is all of that possible? I guess, they pretty much used that exact blueprint to beat Albany 12-11 this year. Syracuse is a better team then Albany and has a much better Defense and overall depth on offense. To me the key is to simply get any sort of decent lead and Syracuse should be able to use that to eventually pull away like they did against hobart. A team like Bryant isnt built to make a comeback against the team a caliber of Syracuse. If you force them to have to press out and play an uptempo style because there down they lose that slow down style and will start to make mistakes. Even last year they jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter and endedup losing by 5 goals 12-7. I know this years Syracuse D isnt nearly as good as it was last year but with Mullins, Young, Firman, Jenkins, and Grimm its still an above average unit. As I pointed out above it would take a disasterous performance from Daddio and the Defense to lose.

 

[wvlax]

Are Syracuse and Duke at a disadvantage not knowing who their 1st round opponent is?
Courtesy of insidelacrosse.com:

Duke and Syracuse, can’t scout and prepare for their upcoming opponent quite the same as they have in years past because they aren’t sure who that opponent will be with the introduction of play-in games this year. As No. 1 seeds they are obviously still heavy favorites to win their eventual games, but it does introduce a bit of surprise. And in looking ahead at those match ups, I can’t help but think Syracuse is in a tougher spot than Duke. The Blue Devils are guaranteed to play a team that is making it’s first tourney trip, and the two squads combine for a 16-15 record. The Orange are guaranteed to play a team that has been their before, with Sienna and Bryant combing for a 25-9 overall record. If the Cuse draws Bryant, that is a particularly tough matchup as we all know Bryant’s face-off prowess, plus the Bulldogs just played in the Dome in last year’s playoffs and stayed competitive with Syracuse until the fourth quarter. That should give them confidence that should exceed you’re normal No. 2 - “No. 14” matchup. My guess is this potential game will be a favorite pick for “upset watch.”

 

[wvlax]

Are Syracuse and Duke at a disadvantage not knowing who their 1st round opponent is?
Courtesy of insidelacrosse.com:

Duke and Syracuse, can’t scout and prepare for their upcoming opponent quite the same as they have in years past because they aren’t sure who that opponent will be with the introduction of play-in games this year. As No. 1 seeds they are obviously still heavy favorites to win their eventual games, but it does introduce a bit of surprise. And in looking ahead at those match ups, I can’t help but think Syracuse is in a tougher spot than Duke. The Blue Devils are guaranteed to play a team that is making it’s first tourney trip, and the two squads combine for a 16-15 record. The Orange are guaranteed to play a team that has been their before, with Sienna and Bryant combing for a 25-9 overall record. If the Cuse draws Bryant, that is a particularly tough matchup as we all know Bryant’s face-off prowess, plus the Bulldogs just played in the Dome in last year’s playoffs and stayed competitive with Syracuse until the fourth quarter. That should give them confidence that should exceed you’re normal No. 2 - “No. 14” matchup. My guess is this potential game will be a favorite pick for “upset watch.”

Don't agree with the potential Bryant game as a favorite for "upset watch". One could also argue that the Siena/Bryant winner is at a competitive disadvantage because they have to play 3 games in 7 or 8 days.

 

[Orangello]

It's in our interest to pick up the pace given either opponent. They will be coming off of a 3 day rest and our guys should be chomping at the bit. Very few teams can get into a horse race shoot out with us. As other have said, get up early and then wear them down with lots of running and subbing.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Don't agree with the potential Bryant game as a favorite for "upset watch". One could also argue that the Siena/Bryant winner is at a competitive disadvantage because they have to play 3 games in 7 or 8 days.

I don't agree either, while the game could certainly be close and Syracuse by far has the harder draw IL is going a little overboard here. First off the whole "has played Syracuse before and wont be intimidated" works both ways. Most times when upsets happen they come out of nowhere and the lesser team is able to surprise the favorite. There's zero chance of Bryant or Siena surprising Syracuse considering SU has played both in the last year including Siena a few months ago. If your trying to spring an upset the last thing you want is the media pounding home the fact you came close to pulling it off last year, good teams dont get fooled twice. Pressler can spin it anyway he wants but he knows Inside Lacrosse and everyone else mentioning the game last year is a big + for Syracuse.

Also lets be honest its not like Syracuse had to score 2 last second goals to beat Bryant, the final was 12-7 and it was clear by midway through the 4th that Massa could have won every faceoff from then to eternity and it wouldn't have changed the ultimate outcome.

Siena is not a great match-up for Syracuse and that was evidence by our blowout win earlier this year and the fact that the next closest team to Syracuse on their schedule Albany also blew them out. I dont usually say this about a Syracuse opponent but I just don't see any scenario where Siena would beat Syracuse if they got by Bryant tomorrow. Nothing against that program but Syracuse has the edge in nearly every facet of the game and while I wouldn't bet on a similar score to the first game I would still pick Syracuse to win going away.

As for Bryant I think there is a narrow path for them to beat Syracuse but as I noted in my post above they would need everything to go right and break there way while Syracuse has a bad game all around, again I just dont see it. Not only will Bryant or Siena not have the ability to sneak up on Syracuse they will have to come in and play a rested Syracuse team after one of them just slugged out a win on Wednesday. Bryant would need both Massa and Waldt to absolutely play out of there minds at the X and in goal and have there offense score at least 10 goals. Sorry I dont see it.

 

[Mark Lufkin]

With only a few exceptions I feel like the pace of play and timer on has been called consistently this year. This policy needs to continue into the playoffs. Hobart started to sit on the ball a little in the second half against SU and the refs quickly adjusted. The junk that Maryland pulled a few years ago in the playoffs is hopefully a thing of the past.

Even though Duke likely lost the ACC playoff game to SU because they didn't sit on it at the end it was nice that they had the stones to keep pushing the ball. It took a miraculous effort from Cuse to pull it off. Notre Dame did the same thing in the ACC title game. They could have also been burned by aggressive but I felt good lacrosse play. Dom made a great save ( he misses and we are down 2) and as a result Kevin Rice had a good shot at forcing overtime. That is the style of lacrosse that needs to be encouraged.

This has been a great season and I really hope that we don't end it because a team chooses to manipulate the game by slowing it down.

 

[Antiprodigy]

And so it will be Bryant.

 

[Delmar]

Bryant is no better at lacrosse than Dayton is at basketball. This should be an easy win.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Bryant's goalie came up lame. He could barely move. This is going to be like shooting fish in a barrel.

 

[Orangeyes]

Bryant edges Siena in NCAA lacrosse tournament play-in

 

[Delmar]

How easy is it to shoot fish in a barrel? I've never seen anyone do it, which is amazing when you think about all the things that get shot at in this country.

 

[CuseTroop]

Bring em on

 

[OrangeinBoston]

How easy is it to shoot fish in a barrel? I've never seen anyone do it, which is amazing when you think about all the things that get shot at in this country.

Hmmm...let me try this. It's going to be like eviscerating a trussed-up pig. Better?

 

[CuseTroop]

How easy is it to shoot fish in a barrel? I've never seen anyone do it, which is amazing when you think about all the things that get shot at in this country.

 

[orange79]

Hmmm...let me try this. It's going to be like eviscerating a trussed-up pig. Better?

One word - dynamite

 

[Antiprodigy]

Did somebody say Dynamite!!!

 

[Delmar]

Hmmm...let me try this. It's going to be like eviscerating a trussed-up pig. Better?

Better.

 

[Moontan]

Did somebody say Dynamite!!!