IL Top 50 Players for 2022 Season | Syracusefan.com

IL Top 50 Players for 2022 Season

Powellfan

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Owen Hiltz at #50. Looks like they will release 10 a day. Women and men players included.

 
Owen Hiltz at #50. Looks like they will release 10 a day. Women and men players included.

As we have mentioned in past years, this ranking of men and women together seems kind of dumb.
It is a tough year to rank players with the Ivy League not having played last season.
43. Petey LaSalla - UVA (2nd team USILA AA)
44. Brendan Nichtern - Army (3rd team USILA AA)
46. Arden Cohen - ND (3rd team USILA AA)
47. Connor DeSimone - Hopkins
48. George Baughan - Princeton
50. Owen Hiltz (HM USILA AA)

Connor DeSimone is very good, but I don't know if I would put him in the top 25 male players, probably in the 2nd group of 25.

6 players - 6 different teams - is this one of those teams where they spread the love around? Of course, Duke won't be included in this spreading and will probably have 5 or so players in IL's top 25.
 
32. Asher Nolting High Point (3rd team USILA AA)
35. Brennan O'Neill Duke (HM USILA AA)
38. Brett Makar Maryland (2nd team USILA AA)
40. Nakeie Montgomery Duke (1st team USILA AA)

I'll have to give IL a little credit for holding down their promotion of O'Neill and putting him at #35, at about ~16 for the men. I would probably put Makar higher.

That's 2 Dukies, but they are the 2 that I would have expected to be higher. So my expectation of Dukies is down to 3 or 4. I might have expected to see Dukies like Adler, Carpenter, Nasso, Robertson in this range. Given that we have already seen Nichtern and Nolting, it is hard to see Robertson making the list.

So there are 15 to go: Gray, Kavanagh, Shellenberger, Moore and Wisnauskas should be there.
 
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Now that the borderline 10 have been chosen, it should be easy for us as good lacrosse fans to pick out who are in the top 15 men.
 
They may give some love to Gibby Smith or Will Bowen at GTown. Robertson despite having the better season than ONeill last year will be nowhere to be found. But I do think ONeill has the higher ceiling of the two. Desimone belongs most likely but I like Hiltz more (horribly biased opinion alert). Certainly think his ceiling is waaay higher. He beat him in ppg as a freshman and he wasn’t even our go to guy on offense. Do they give a goalie like Kirst a spot? Or the GTown guy there too?
 
Now that the borderline 10 have been chosen, it should be easy for us as good lacrosse fans to pick out who are in the top 15 men.

I think I'm actually having a hard time. I have the following players who I would consider Top 50 worthy.

1. Chris Gray - UNC
2. Conor Shellenberger - UVA
3. Pat Kavanaugh - UND
4. Matt Moore - UVA
5. Mike Sissleberger - Lehigh
6. Sam Handley - Penn
7. Gibson Smith - Gtown
8. Logan Wisnauskis - UMD
9. Jack Hannah - Denver
10. Peyton Cormier - UVA

Not sure of the players past this point -
............
11. Tucker Dordevic - Syracuse
12. Marcus Hudgins - Army
13. Will Bowen - Gtown
14. Matt Brandau - Yale
15. Nakie Montgomery - Duke
16. Joe Robertson - Duke
17. Joey Epstein - Hopkins
18. Jonathan Donville - UMD
19. Graham Bundy - Gtown
20. Owen McCelroy -Gtown


I know I must be missing someone. I have to imagine Duke will have more than two players, but I think Docthah is right, Robertson is the Rodney Dangerville of lacrosse. It sounds like Epstein is rolling back into his freshman year form. I can't beleive no Cornell players on my list. Maryland probably gets more than two right? So much of this is name recognition.
 
I had the same first nine as you.
Will Bowen was a 1st team AA
The luv Notre Dame so I'm guessing ND's goalie Lian Entenmann
Loyola's LSM Ryan McNulty was 2nd team AA
Probably a player from Yale, Brandau
Perhaps Georgetown's goalie McElroy who was 1st team AA

When one looks at IL's media All-Americans, they had Bundy 1st team and Duke's goalie Adler 2nd team.

For the Terps, I'd go with Kyle Long who was 2nd team AA midfield. Donville certainly has a shot, being a 2nd team AA in the 2020 season.

As for DeSimone, looking at the Big Ten, I would have Wisnauskas, Makar, Kyle Long Colin Kirst and Jack Myers (OSU) in front of him - and I'm not sure I would even have DeSimone at #6.
 
I had the same first nine as you.
Will Bowen was a 1st team AA
The luv Notre Dame so I'm guessing ND's goalie Lian Entenmann
Loyola's LSM Ryan McNulty was 2nd team AA
Probably a player from Yale, Brandau
Perhaps Georgetown's goalie McElroy who was 1st team AA

When one looks at IL's media All-Americans, they had Bundy 1st team and Duke's goalie Adler 2nd team.

For the Terps, I'd go with Kyle Long who was 2nd team AA midfield. Donville certainly has a shot, being a 2nd team AA in the 2020 season.

As for DeSimone, looking at the Big Ten, I would have Wisnauskas, Makar, Kyle Long Colin Kirst and Jack Myers (OSU) in front of him - and I'm not sure I would even have DeSimone at #6.

Kyle Long? That's a bit homerish. They played the same schedule and DeSimone outscored him in three fewer games. Better shooting percentage too. And he didn't get to play with Jared Bernhardt.

In any case, Inside Lacrosse makes it clear in the article that these are their top 50 players for the 2022 season. It's a prediction of sorts. So it doesn't really make sense to argue against any of this solely on the basis of what they did last year or what AA teams they may or may not have made. It's reasonable to have one of the top two Hopkins attackmen on this list if you think that team will take a step forward next year which it seems like IL does.

To bring it back to Syracuse, I'm expecting a monster year from Dordevic if he really does move to attack (and stays healthy).
 
I think I'm actually having a hard time. I have the following players who I would consider Top 50 worthy.

1. Chris Gray - UNC
2. Conor Shellenberger - UVA
3. Pat Kavanaugh - UND
4. Matt Moore - UVA
5. Mike Sissleberger - Lehigh
6. Sam Handley - Penn
7. Gibson Smith - Gtown
8. Logan Wisnauskis - UMD
9. Jack Hannah - Denver
10. Peyton Cormier - UVA

Not sure of the players past this point -
......
11. Tucker Dordevic - Syracuse
12. Marcus Hudgins - Army
13. Will Bowen - Gtown
14. Matt Brandau - Yale
15. Nakie Montgomery - Duke
16. Joe Robertson - Duke
17. Joey Epstein - Hopkins
18. Jonathan Donville - UMD
19. Graham Bundy - Gtown
20. Owen McCelroy -Gtown


I know I must be missing someone. I have to imagine Duke will have more than two players, but I think Docthah is right, Robertson is the Rodney Dangerville of lacrosse. It sounds like Epstein is rolling back into his freshman year form. I can't beleive no Cornell players on my list. Maryland probably gets more than two right? So much of this is name recognition.
I’d have to think curry is somewhere in the top 25, no?!?
 
Kyle Long? That's a bit homerish. They played the same schedule and DeSimone outscored him in three fewer games. Better shooting percentage too. And he didn't get to play with Jared Bernhardt.

In any case, Inside Lacrosse makes it clear in the article that these are their top 50 players for the 2022 season. It's a prediction of sorts. So it doesn't really make sense to argue against any of this solely on the basis of what they did last year or what AA teams they may or may not have made. It's reasonable to have one of the top two Hopkins attackmen on this list if you think that team will take a step forward next year which it seems like IL does.

To bring it back to Syracuse, I'm expecting a monster year from Dordevic if he really does move to attack (and stays healthy).
Perhaps you are the homer, with DeSimone being from Long Island and you being NYClax. Eh? I don't feel there is any reason you should be accusing me for mentioning someone who was 2nd team All-American. Kyle Long is a midfielder and did go off the field, and was probably out there only 2/3 of the time, so his scoring totals per minute were probably significantly better than DeSimone's. (44 * 3/2 = 66).

Honestly, I don't think it is reasonable to have one of the top two Hopkins attackmen on the list because you think the team will take a step foward - you should stick to ranking players.

Predictions have to be based on something to be good, so I think it makes perfect sense to discuss what they did in previous season.

Trivia question:
Who has scored more points in their career: Anthony DeMaio or Connor DeSimone?
 
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#23 Logan Wisnauskas Maryland
#25 Ryan McNulty, Loyola
#27 Graham Bundy Jr Georgetown
#30 Matt Brandau Yale

These are all guys mentioned above.
Wisnauskas came from PowellFan's first nine. I'd expect to see the rest of PowellFan's top 9 with Will Bowen, and maybe a couple of goalies from McElroy, Entenmann, or Adler.
Jonathon Donville or perhaps another face-off man (Cole or Naso) could slip in there
 
#23 Logan Wisnauskas Maryland
#25 Ryan McNulty, Loyola
#27 Graham Bundy Jr Georgetown
#30 Matt Brandau Yale

These are all guys mentioned above.
Wisnauskas came from PowellFan's first nine. I'd expect to see the rest of PowellFan's top 9 with Will Bowen, and maybe a couple of goalies from McElroy, Entenmann, or Adler.
Jonathon Donville or perhaps another face-off man (Cole or Naso) could slip in there

Oversight in my part would be Kevin Lindley from Loyola, he has a chance to be top 10. IL likes to spread these things around, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Cormier left off even though he’s deserving. They put all three Syracuse middies on the same spot last year which was a massive cop out.

DeSomine kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. I feel like when the list is compete there will be a lot of attackmen left off that I would take over him. Ryan Lanchberry from Richmond comes to mind already.
 
#12 Mike Sisselberger Lehigh
#15 Matt Moore UVa
#16 Will Bown Georgetown
#18 Chris Fake Yale
#20 Dylan Hess Georgtown

Is this guy a Georgetown homer or what?

I think the guy doing this has painted himself into a corner, as there are more than 5 players left who should be in the top 25 men.
 
#12 Mike Sisselberger Lehigh
#15 Matt Moore UVa
#16 Will Bown Georgetown
#18 Chris Fake Yale
#20 Dylan Hess Georgtown

Is this guy a Georgetown homer or what?

I think the guy doing this has painted himself into a corner, as there are more than 5 players left who should be in the top 25 men.

It does seem like Georgetown should be ranked preseason number one based off this.

It seems like the top five will be Gray, Shellenberger, Kavanaugh, Handley and … Smith? Lindley? I honestly have no clue. There is no way to make everyone happy with something like this but this offers a lot of head scratchers.

Fake should not be on this list, he’s been living off his freshman year reputation for a while now. Moore should be top five, not sure what else that guy has to do.
 
It does seem like Georgetown should be ranked preseason number one based off this.

It seems like the top five will be Gray, Shellenberger, Kavanaugh, Handley and … Smith? Lindley? I honestly have no clue. There is no way to make everyone happy with something like this but this offers a lot of head scratchers.

Fake should not be on this list, he’s been living off his freshman year reputation for a while now. Moore should be top five, not sure what else that guy has to do.
He hasn't named a goalie yet. You also have Hannah, who was 1st team AA.

I don't think Hess belongs in the top 10. The author himself questions Fake's game, so why put him in the top 10 when there a lot of other outstanding players around?
 
Final group
#3 Connor Shellenberger UVa
#4 Chris Gray UNC
#6 Sam Handley Penn
#10 Pat Kavanagh Notre Dame
I believe that is only 23 men total

They left out 1st team AA midfielder Jack Hannah for Denver, and had no goalies on the team including 1st team AA McElroy.

In my opinion, this ranking on the men's side, has left several deserving players out and has a number of players in incorrect positions. If a semi-knowledgeable fan had put this ranking up I might give him a 'C' for his grade - for getting most of the top players in the ranking. Given that this is a proffesional magazine, one would expect at least that, so my grade is
D
Another example of subpar analysis by Inside Lacrosse.

I think, concerning Dordevic and Curry, that they both had off-years last season, which might keep them out of a top 23. They definitely have top 25 type talent. I would also put players like Dyson Williams, Bubba Fairman, Joey Epstein in this group.
 
Hess looked like a monster against us thats for sure. He had elite speed to put it lightly. But he didn't actually go crazy in terms of stats on the year. He could have a huge season this year, but if they are predicting future success like this you think they would put guys like ONeill and Hiltz higher. Or a guy like Dobson at ND who had similar freshman stats and also appears to have a bright future. And to have him so much higher than Graham Bundy on the same team who had a whopping 48 points and is only a sophomore?

Slightly unrelated, but is Wheaton Jackoboice no being on this list a sign that he will not return for Notre Dame next year? That would be a nice break as he tends to kill us.
 
I would sort of figure that Chris Gray was the #1 men's player going into next season. Shellenberger could rise up an surpass him, but Gray has established himself at a pretty high level over the last few seasons.
 
I just listened to the IL podcast discussing these rankings and Terry Foy has some of the worst takes I have heard in a while. I believe it was previously mentioned either here or on Fanlax, but Foy is obsessed with Dylan Hess from Georgetown. Hess is a good player on a good team, but he was also the Hoyas's 7th leading scorer last spring. At the end of the podcast, Foy mentioned that he could be the top men's player going into next season. He also danced around the topic of excluding Dordevic and one of the other hosts called him out on excluding Joe Robertson. Foy tried justifying it by saying that Robertson might not even start for Duke. The podcast really dropped my opinion of IL and Foy's knowledge of the game. I thought those guys would be more plugged in.
 

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