Final Four Predictions 2023

[Zack80]

Will Georgetown finally make it? They are good enough to make it, but I am not picking them.
My Picks:
Maryland - Maryland's offense seem to be the main question. They have very good offensive talent, but how will it come together. Defense, goaltending, and face-offs all look strong. I think they have enough offense to make the final four, but whether it is enough to win the title remains to be seen.
Virginia - Virginia looks very deep offensively. Will some other stars emerge to go with Shellenberger? They need better goal play from Nunes as he enters his sophomore year. Face-off depth has improved with the addition of top recruit, Eldridge to go with LaSalla and Braun. Defense looks prety good.
Cornell - CJ Kirst emerged as a star last season. He has Long beside him, although John Piatelli is gone. Also return Kelleher, Coyle and Blake. Adler returns to lead the defense, and Ierlan returns in goal
Penn - Sam Handley returns for his senior season with Dylan Gergar beside him. Sophomore Ben Smith started coming on towards the end of the season. Goal play and Face-offs are question marks.

 

[nyclax]

maryland - they deserve the benefit of the doubt even though i have real questions about their depth on offense. faceoffs, defense, goaltending, and coaching should take them a long way even if the offense falters

princeton - so much offensive talent returning for a team that reached the final four in 2022. i think their senior/grad class will have a chip on their shoulders in what will be their last year at princeton, since they weren't able to use the "semester off" eligibility exploit like penn, cornell, and yale could

notre dame - i don't buy the #RevengeTour narrative after being snubbed last season but i do buy their roster. no major weaknesses. Tevlin a big portal addition

st. joe's - this is a shot in the dark but they were 14-4 last year, pushed yale to the brink in the NCAAs and bring back literally everybody including one of the best FOGOs in the country. i don't think they will have much trouble winning the A10 and getting into the tourney and from there they just have to get hot

 

[Zack80]

I think Notre Dame has some weaknesses. There are questions about how well they fill out their offense with Jackobice gone. Their leading face-off man, Lynch, was only around 50% last year. They lose some guys off the defense too.

 

[nyclax]

I think Notre Dame has some weaknesses. There are questions about how well they fill out their offense with Jackobice gone. Their leading face-off man, Lynch, was only around 50% last year. They lose some guys off the defense too.

they were tied for 4th in the country in goals per game last year and jackoboice was highly overrated. he only had 19 pts on 26% shooting last year. that's entirely replaceable. defense is a wash since they added fake and CT machine conlin. could argue that's an improvement over what they had. lynch was a freshman and was good in 2nd half of season - outdueled duke and unc fogos.

in any case, "questions" are not the same as weaknesses

 

[Zack80]

they were tied for 4th in the country in goals per game last year and jackoboice was highly overrated. he only had 19 pts on 26% shooting last year. that's entirely replaceable. defense is a wash since they added fake and CT machine conlin. could argue that's an improvement over what they had. lynch was a freshman and was good in 2nd half of season - outdueled duke and unc fogos.

in any case, "questions" are not the same as weaknesses

Perhaps that would be just semantics when one considers the high bar set by final four contenders. In the end, Notre Dame seems like a reasonable pick for the final four.

 

[AD31]

maryland - they deserve the benefit of the doubt even though i have real questions about their depth on offense. faceoffs, defense, goaltending, and coaching should take them a long way even if the offense falters

princeton - so much offensive talent returning for a team that reached the final four in 2022. i think their senior/grad class will have a chip on their shoulders in what will be their last year at princeton, since they weren't able to use the "semester off" eligibility exploit like penn, cornell, and yale could

notre dame - i don't buy the #RevengeTour narrative after being snubbed last season but i do buy their roster. no major weaknesses. Tevlin a big portal addition

st. joe's - this is a shot in the dark but they were 14-4 last year, pushed yale to the brink in the NCAAs and bring back literally everybody including one of the best FOGOs in the country. i don't think they will have much trouble winning the A10 and getting into the tourney and from there they just have to get hot

St Joes really could shock the country and make it to MMD wknd. I got to watch them a lot the last 2 seasons playing against LIU. There 3 Attackman are ridiculously talented especially the Canadian Levi Anderson who's playing for team Canada. They have some talent on D but did lose there top 2 SSDMs. They were trying to get Murphy to transfer there. He had great games vs them and there HC is a defensive coach. He was thinking about it but couldn't pass up playing for Syracuse and being coached by Petro. Anyway Zach Cole is a top FOGO but the one guy no one talks about is the other All American Middie Tucker Brown. That kid has a rocket lefty shot. They lost to Deleware I believe by 1, lost to Penn in OT by 1 in which Tucker Brown hit the post in OT so they were inches from winning that game too then they had Yale but due to inexperience they kind of fumbled the game in the final 2 mins. I think with that experience they will be even better this yr. They are very well coached. Taylor Wray played at Duke then took over a winless program there. U can tell there a well coached disciplined team. Would not be surprised to see in the final 4 at all.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

Syracuse, Princeton, UVa and Hopkins…all is right with the world

 

[Hoo's That]

Syracuse, Princeton, UVa and Hopkins…all is right with the world

"A blast from the past."

 

[Zack80]

Syracuse, Princeton, UVa and Hopkins…all is right with the world

I really don't see Hopkins making it this Spring.

 

[Powellfan]

Fun debate. I'll give my predictions, which most certainly will be wrong.

Princeton: They return a lot from a final four team last year, English, Macksey, Slusher and Vardaro should be a really exciting offense. On defense they lose their goalie and their top d-man Baughn. Gianforcaro was a pretty highly regarded recruit so I feel like he'll be the frontrunner as goaltender. The senior class does have a "last dance" vibe to it but curious if it will turn into a distraction with so many guys trying to figure out where they'll play next year.

Maryland: I've come around to the Terps being really good next year. They do have to replace a really stellar group of SSDMs, and they'll be relying on some new faces on offense. But they have a great spine in goal and FOGO and their defense should be really scary from a long stick perspective. I doubt they finish undefeated next year but they will still be really good.

Notre Dame: Good goaltending, strong defense. I think their fortunes really changed once their freshman fogo got a handle on things. I do think Kavanaugh is a little overrated based on the monster numbers he puts up against Syracuse - can they find a strong secondary scorer? I think it was supposed to be his brother last year but that didn't really happen. Jake Taylor really helped their offense last season when he was inserted but he's out for a good chunk of the season. P Kav scored almost twice as many points as the teams next highest scorer (64 vs 33).

Yale: I really like their offense as they return nine of their top 10 scorers including all five of their top scorers. Matt Brandau returns after scoring 99 points in 17 games. They lose Fake and Tevlin but that seems about it. They get their top FOGO back but that spot seems to be the biggest qustion mark as he won a decent 54%. Paquette returns in goal after saving 52%. Also feels a bit like they are coming in under the radar after being cream of the Ivy League crop pre-pandemic.

I also don't like Georgetown making it all the way, just seems like they have too many new faces to integrate. Ohio State is a team I like as a sleeper. I also like Delaware as they return almost everyone and DeLuca is a good coach. I do think Duke could make some noise as they may be underrated at this point. But their goalie situation scares me and the program does seem to have "stink" on it with their performances the last two seasons. Still have to feel like a team with McAdory, O'Neil, Williams, Brower, Carpenter and Naso has to figure it out at some point right?

One team I feel very confident that won't make it back to Championship Weekend is Cornell. I just feel like they had a relatively easy path to the big game last year with Georgetown losing and were lucky to be in the "soft" side of the bracket. They should be very good next year but I think their performance last year will cloud their outlook this year if that makes sense.

 

[nyclax]

Fun debate. I'll give my predictions, which most certainly will be wrong.

Princeton: They return a lot from a final four team last year, English, Macksey, Slusher and Vardaro should be a really exciting offense. On defense they lose their goalie and their top d-man Baughn. Gianforcaro was a pretty highly regarded recruit so I feel like he'll be the frontrunner as goaltender. The senior class does have a "last dance" vibe to it but curious if it will turn into a distraction with so many guys trying to figure out where they'll play next year.

Maryland: I've come around to the Terps being really good next year. They do have to replace a really stellar group of SSDMs, and they'll be relying on some new faces on offense. But they have a great spine in goal and FOGO and their defense should be really scary from a long stick perspective. I doubt they finish undefeated next year but they will still be really good.

Notre Dame: Good goaltending, strong defense. I think their fortunes really changed once their freshman fogo got a handle on things. I do think Kavanaugh is a little overrated based on the monster numbers he puts up against Syracuse - can they find a strong secondary scorer? I think it was supposed to be his brother last year but that didn't really happen. Jake Taylor really helped their offense last season when he was inserted but he's out for a good chunk of the season. P Kav scored almost twice as many points as the teams next highest scorer (64 vs 33).

Yale: I really like their offense as they return nine of their top 10 scorers including all five of their top scorers. Matt Brandau returns after scoring 99 points in 17 games. They lose Fake and Tevlin but that seems about it. They get their top FOGO back but that spot seems to be the biggest qustion mark as he won a decent 54%. Paquette returns in goal after saving 52%. Also feels a bit like they are coming in under the radar after being cream of the Ivy League crop pre-pandemic.

I also don't like Georgetown making it all the way, just seems like they have too many new faces to integrate. Ohio State is a team I like as a sleeper. I also like Delaware as they return almost everyone and DeLuca is a good coach. I do think Duke could make some noise as they may be underrated at this point. But their goalie situation scares me and the program does seem to have "stink" on it with their performances the last two seasons. Still have to feel like a team with McAdory, O'Neil, Williams, Brower, Carpenter and Naso has to figure it out at some point right?

One team I feel very confident that won't make it back to Championship Weekend is Cornell. I just feel like they had a relatively easy path to the big game last year with Georgetown losing and were lucky to be in the "soft" side of the bracket. They should be very good next year but I think their performance last year will cloud their outlook this year if that makes sense.

agree with most of this. on Yale - i just don't think their defense is good enough. it was awful last year and losing Fake probably won't help (though i've always thought he was a bit overrated). they don't have a dominant FOGO to make up for that like they did with Ierlan a few years ago. just feels like their moment has passed and they're going to fall back to the pack in the Ivy league. still a good team but not a great one. and if all of these fawning articles about Tevlin are to be believed then they are going to really miss his leadership, in addition to his two-way ability

i considered Ohio State but the noise lately is that Hudgins is not going to play due to some mysterious eligibility issue transferring in from West Point. they also have two significant departures in Jackson Reid and Justin Inacio, though the backup FOGO from Hobart is pretty good. not 100% sold on Myers as a coach either. ultimately i'd say a lot has to break in their direction for them to be a FF team

i like Cornell but Piatelli is an enormous loss - he scored a billion goals and people seem to just be kinda writing it off because they return Kirst and Long

 

[DoctahLexus]

I also don't like Georgetown making it all the way, just seems like they have too many new faces to integrate. Ohio State is a team I like as a sleeper. I also like Delaware as they return almost everyone and DeLuca is a good coach. I do think Duke could make some noise as they may be underrated at this point. But their goalie situation scares me and the program does seem to have "stink" on it with their performances the last two seasons. Still have to feel like a team with McAdory, O'Neil, Williams, Brower, Carpenter and Naso has to figure it out at some point right?

One team I feel very confident that won't make it back to Championship Weekend is Cornell. I just feel like they had a relatively easy path to the big game last year with Georgetown losing and were lucky to be in the "soft" side of the bracket. They should be very good next year but I think their performance last year will cloud their outlook this year if that makes sense.

Not talked about a lot with GTown due to all the names gained, but Owen McElroy in goal and Dylan Watson are both serious losses. Watson burries the rock at an elite level. Maybe Solomon helps to replace that with his finishing ability, but Watson was on a whole other level. The sheer number of goals speaks to a him having good chemistry with the Gtown dodgers and feeders. 38 gbs too for good measure. Tough to replace despite his lack of dodging.

McElroy has been a top 3 goalie in college lax for at least the last two years. You can steal games and discourage shooters with the type of numbers he puts up in goal. Another loss that you can cover up but not fully replace.

Other major losses (or at least im 95% sure they graduate) include Trippi and Morin, who were both solid off the dodge. Trippi and Morin may be better offensive players than transfers Kelly and Solomon from UNC. LSM Gibby Smith and ssdm Zack Geddes also hit the road. Some serious work cut out for them despite all the portal success.

 

[Zack80]

Fun debate. I'll give my predictions, which most certainly will be wrong.

Princeton: They return a lot from a final four team last year, English, Macksey, Slusher and Vardaro should be a really exciting offense. On defense they lose their goalie and their top d-man Baughn. Gianforcaro was a pretty highly regarded recruit so I feel like he'll be the frontrunner as goaltender. The senior class does have a "last dance" vibe to it but curious if it will turn into a distraction with so many guys trying to figure out where they'll play next year.

Maryland: I've come around to the Terps being really good next year. They do have to replace a really stellar group of SSDMs, and they'll be relying on some new faces on offense. But they have a great spine in goal and FOGO and their defense should be really scary from a long stick perspective. I doubt they finish undefeated next year but they will still be really good.

Notre Dame: Good goaltending, strong defense. I think their fortunes really changed once their freshman fogo got a handle on things. I do think Kavanaugh is a little overrated based on the monster numbers he puts up against Syracuse - can they find a strong secondary scorer? I think it was supposed to be his brother last year but that didn't really happen. Jake Taylor really helped their offense last season when he was inserted but he's out for a good chunk of the season. P Kav scored almost twice as many points as the teams next highest scorer (64 vs 33).

Yale: I really like their offense as they return nine of their top 10 scorers including all five of their top scorers. Matt Brandau returns after scoring 99 points in 17 games. They lose Fake and Tevlin but that seems about it. They get their top FOGO back but that spot seems to be the biggest qustion mark as he won a decent 54%. Paquette returns in goal after saving 52%. Also feels a bit like they are coming in under the radar after being cream of the Ivy League crop pre-pandemic.

I also don't like Georgetown making it all the way, just seems like they have too many new faces to integrate. Ohio State is a team I like as a sleeper. I also like Delaware as they return almost everyone and DeLuca is a good coach. I do think Duke could make some noise as they may be underrated at this point. But their goalie situation scares me and the program does seem to have "stink" on it with their performances the last two seasons. Still have to feel like a team with McAdory, O'Neil, Williams, Brower, Carpenter and Naso has to figure it out at some point right?

One team I feel very confident that won't make it back to Championship Weekend is Cornell. I just feel like they had a relatively easy path to the big game last year with Georgetown losing and were lucky to be in the "soft" side of the bracket. They should be very good next year but I think their performance last year will cloud their outlook this year if that makes sense.

I don't agree with you on Cornell. They bring in a top 25 recruit, Cascadden, to help Petrakis on face-offs. Losing Piatelli hurts but they bring back the next 6 leading scorers, and one should expect some improvement from Kirst in his 2nd year.
I don't see Princeton's leading scorer, Chris Brown, on their roster.

I think leaving out UVa is a mistake. They return a lot and have added a lot of quality guys to their hoard. Just as you say Cornell had a soft road to final four, UVa lost to the eventual champions in the quarterfinals, and perhaps could have made the final four with a better seeding. They demolished the one Ivy League team they played. I tend to feel UVa is 60% plus to make the final four this coming season.

 

[DvlsAdvocat]

Virginia - Scary. They really didn't graduate anyone besides Matt Moore, and picked up McConvey, Miezan, and the number 2 freshman class. There may not be a bigger / deeper roster in D1. Schutz could be a major problem. I've heard he looked as good or better than Shellenberger all fall. Reminds me of a more athletic Will Yeatman. X-Factor is LaSalla, he seems to be a guy who either dominates or stuggles badly.
Maryland - Hard to pick against them at this point. Their jump from 2021 to 2022 was due to having zero players in their offensive top 6 who you could hide a SS on (Maltz/Bubba were those players in 2021). It was pick your poison all year. With their top 5 points producers all gone this season they won't be nearly as formidable in 2023, but their defense will keep them at an elite level.
Duke - Coming off the embarrassment of last year, they should be an easy group to motivate. I actually think the graduation of Nakeie will open things up on the offense. They had too many initiators and not enough off-ball players. If they consolidate more touches around O'Neill/Schelling and let the rest of the cast dodge bad approaches they should become more efficient. Reed Landin is a breakout candidate this year.

Having a hard time with #4. I can't pick G-Town until they prove they can stand up to the pressures of May. For ND, Fake/Conlin are a clear downgrade from Cohen/Reynolds. Fake has been on a downward trajectory since his great freshman year plus Hallenbeck is a big loss at SSDM. Yale doesn't have the defense. Cornell/Penn are intriguing.

Give me Harvard as my darkhorse #4 pick. They played a TON of freshmen last year and looked very formidable down the stretch. Those Yale/Princeton wins were eye opening. I think this group takes a massive leap next year under coach Byrne.

 

[Powellfan]

I don't agree with you on Cornell. They bring in a top 25 recruit, Cascadden, to help Petrakis on face-offs. Losing Piatelli hurts but they bring back the next 6 leading scorers, and one should expect some improvement from Kirst in his 2nd year.
I don't see Princeton's leading scorer, Chris Brown, on their roster.

I think leaving out UVa is a mistake. They return a lot and have added a lot of quality guys to their hoard. Just as you say Cornell had a soft road to final four, UVa lost to the eventual champions in the quarterfinals, and perhaps could have made the final four with a better seeding. They demolished the one Ivy League team they played. I tend to feel UVa is 60% plus to make the final four this coming season.

I don't think Cornell will be bad next year, I just think they are overvalued right now based on how far they made it in the tournament last year. I think they could be better (like you said, Cascaden helps the face-off, the Bryant transfer along with Kirst improvement might help replace Piateli), but I think some other teams may have passed them.

I think UVA will be very good next year, but their two big losses to Maryland makes me nervous. They were obliterated by the Terps, not once but twice last year. Good teams can suffer bad losses (2004 SU lost 17-5 to Hopkins, went on to win the NC). But it still sticks out like a warning sign to me. Plus they lose Matt Moore who was one of their all time great players. People have penciled in Schutz to take over from him, but that's not a sure thing. They are a team that has a lot of veterans returning, is it possible that things have gotten stale in C-Ville? Sometimes success can breed passivity.

I do wonder if the ACC will have a bounce back year. They probably won't get all five teams into the tournament, but last year was something no one could have predicted. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if three ACC teams were in the Final Four. I have to imagine things will revert to a more normal season with three ACC teams in the Tournament and at least one in the FF.

 

[Abclaxfan]

Not talked about a lot with GTown due to all the names gained, but Owen McElroy in goal and Dylan Watson are both serious losses. Watson burries the rock at an elite level. Maybe Solomon helps to replace that with his finishing ability, but Watson was on a whole other level. The sheer number of goals speaks to a him having good chemistry with the Gtown dodgers and feeders. 38 gbs too for good measure. Tough to replace despite his lack of dodging.

McElroy has been a top 3 goalie in college lax for at least the last two years. You can steal games and discourage shooters with the type of numbers he puts up in goal. Another loss that you can cover up but not fully replace.

Other major losses (or at least im 95% sure they graduate) include Trippi and Morin, who were both solid off the dodge. Trippi and Morin may be better offensive players than transfers Kelly and Solomon from UNC. LSM Gibby Smith and ssdm Zack Geddes also hit the road. Some serious work cut out for them despite all the portal success.

Georgetown added Danny Hincks in goal from who has been a bright spot on some rather poor Dartmouth teams over the past couple of years. With the defense in front of him lead by Bowen, they should be fine. Hearing that they moved some o-mids to d-mid and are now 4-5 deep at that spot.

Starting attack should be Minicus, Dordevic, and Haley. Hearing that Minicus is the best dodger on the team and is extremely underrated nationally. Kelly and Solomon will find time running through the box with proven studs like Graham Bundy Jr and Declan McDermott. Their offense should still be pretty solid.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Georgetown added Danny Hincks in goal from who has been a bright spot on some rather poor Dartmouth teams over the past couple of years. With the defense in front of him lead by Bowen, they should be fine. Hearing that they moved some o-mids to d-mid and are now 4-5 deep at that spot.

Starting attack should be Minicus, Dordevic, and Haley. Hearing that Minicus is the best dodger on the team and is extremely underrated nationally. Kelly and Solomon will find time running through the box with proven studs like Graham Bundy Jr and Declan McDermott. Their offense should still be pretty solid.

Forgot about Hincks, but I would bet he is still a downgrade from McElroy.

Will believe it when I see it for Minicus being a better dodger than Dordevic and Bundy. That is quite the claim. Obviously a different situation, but I remember what a monster Griffin Brown looked like for Colgate when he was their main star and he ended up looking more like a solid second line mid after the jump in competition when he transferred to MD. Dordevic and Bundy have already produced against top defenses top cover guys. Colgate does not face a ton of elite defenses. Dont think Solomon and Kelly are good enough to start at attack on an elite offense, but they may be more scary coming out of the box against ssdms.

 

[DvlsAdvocat]

Georgetown added Danny Hincks in goal from who has been a bright spot on some rather poor Dartmouth teams over the past couple of years. With the defense in front of him lead by Bowen, they should be fine. Hearing that they moved some o-mids to d-mid and are now 4-5 deep at that spot.

Starting attack should be Minicus, Dordevic, and Haley. Hearing that Minicus is the best dodger on the team and is extremely underrated nationally. Kelly and Solomon will find time running through the box with proven studs like Graham Bundy Jr and Declan McDermott. Their offense should still be pretty solid.

Their SSDM problems are both a quality and depth issue. Geddes/Godine were a great tandem in 2022 but with Godine out in the tournament, Delaware feasted on the SSDM opposite Geddes the entire game. Godine is back this year but Geddes has graduated. If they don't find a top end starter that defense will have a clear weakness to attack.

 

[JeremyCuse]

agree with most of this. on Yale - i just don't think their defense is good enough. it was awful last year and losing Fake probably won't help (though i've always thought he was a bit overrated). they don't have a dominant FOGO to make up for that like they did with Ierlan a few years ago. just feels like their moment has passed and they're going to fall back to the pack in the Ivy league. still a good team but not a great one. and if all of these fawning articles about Tevlin are to be believed then they are going to really miss his leadership, in addition to his two-way ability

i considered Ohio State but the noise lately is that Hudgins is not going to play due to some mysterious eligibility issue transferring in from West Point. they also have two significant departures in Jackson Reid and Justin Inacio, though the backup FOGO from Hobart is pretty good. not 100% sold on Myers as a coach either. ultimately i'd say a lot has to break in their direction for them to be a FF team

i like Cornell but Piatelli is an enormous loss - he scored a billion goals and people seem to just be kinda writing it off because they return Kirst and Long

I tend to agree with your thoughts here. Yale has been very good under Shay but I think after the title run they have been slightly overrated. Still really good but much like the defender Fake I think sometimes people are just going off the name versus the actual results. I think the Ivy overall will be fascinating to watch as they hit a perfect storm last year that I think will be very hard to duplicate. ACC will likely get at least 3 teams in the tourney this year and I suspect the IYY overall will take a step back as the tourney showed Brown as a seeded team and Harvard getting in period was a mistake.

Ohio State is an interesting team, did a nice job in the portal but if Huggins isn't eligible that's a killer blow. Reid is a massive loss and not one I think they can replace. Their Defense should again be very good but FOGO and Offense are major questions marks. The B10 overall is kind of a big question mark. Maryland looks like the clear #1 team again but even they have major question marks on offense (though not anywhere else). Rutty fans are adamant the team won't take a step back but I don't buy it. They lost a ton on D including the entire rope unit and their goalie. FOGO also remains a bit of question mark and adding Yale's third stringer doesn't change that. Their offense has some nice pieces in Scott, Knoblock, and Cameron but they don't have a big O transfer coming in this year and while they get Sprock back, he's coming of a major injury and missed all of fall ball.

Hopkins D should be pretty good much but they're a total mystery in goal and the offense is a lot of unknowns beyond Degnon. Melendez and Grimes have talent but have been hurt a lot and its unclear if Melendez can A Stay health and B hold up to Hops schedule. They have some young frosh players who I think can make an impact in Marquis and English but who knows what they can give as Frosh or how much time they will see. Michigan is on its 8th year of "this is the year" and has to do it before I will believe it. Penn State should be better then last year could be significantly better as there is almost no expectations for them.

 

[cuselaxss26]

final four

Syracuse -hiltz nuff said

Syracuse - spallina thompson

Syracuse- young defense with attitude(hehe)

Syracuse - Griffin Cook

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Maryland
Notre Dame
UVA
Cornell

 

[Zack80]

I think UVA will be very good next year, but their two big losses to Maryland makes me nervous. They were obliterated by the Terps, not once but twice last year. Good teams can suffer bad losses (2004 SU lost 17-5 to Hopkins, went on to win the NC). But it still sticks out like a warning sign to me. Plus they lose Matt Moore who was one of their all time great players. People have penciled in Schutz to take over from him, but that's not a sure thing. They are a team that has a lot of veterans returning, is it possible that things have gotten stale in C-Ville? Sometimes success can breed passivity.

Those losses do make me wonder if UVa will win the title. They might run into some other team that is hot in May. Most likely, they won't face that team till the final four though. UVa's depth on offense, experienced defense, LaSalla on FO's make them look like a probable winner in the first two rounds of the tournament, and should also get them into the tournament. With all their talent, there is also a chance the UVa will gel and be the unbeatable team in May.

Schutz might not be able to take over for Moore fully, but UVa also adds McConvey and the #2 recurit Truitt Sunderland.

 

[AD31]

UVA has the talent to make a run to MMD. Still don't mean they will do it tho. Losing Moore is huge but Schutz should be better in his 2nd yr and they have so much talent on offense. Not sold on Nunes in the cage tho. Last yr Maryland was just in a league of there own but they lost so many guys so even tho they will still be very good they won't be on a level all by themselves. It's wide open this yr any good team can get hot and win it. Who knows maybe by the end of the season this Cuse team gels and gets on a roll. Lol

 

[fieldystick]

I'll take a complete shot in the dark guess, too, I guess.

Virginia, Maryland, Yale, Notre Dame.

UVA national champions.

 

[Zack80]

It seems a little strange that we haven't gotten some sort of top 20 yet, particularly with the season starting so early. I guess IL stopped doing the Face-off magazine, which gave us a top twenty in December in the past.