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Message: [QUOTE="LaxAddict38, post: 5666272, member: 9891"] Disagree. Under-rated losses to Syracuse and changes to college lacrosse landscape took place after 2020 going into 2021: - Nick Mellen, Andrew Helmer, Jared Fernandez, and David Lipka were all major pieces that didn't return and the replacements were not at the same level. Defense was significantly worse in 2021 and the 2nd line very much missed David Lipka who thrived in a similar role at ND. - Dominant FOGO Jake Phaup went from 60%+ at the X to struggling with the rule change in the 2020-2021 off-season and hovering at or below 50% for much of 2021 (before bouncing back in 2022). - Every other top school was also able to load up on portal additions / quality freshmen to bolster their roster in 2021. Duke had just lost to Air Force in 2020 and had little offensive fire power, then added Sowers via portal and O'Neill as a freshman. UVA had just lost to Brown in 2020 and appeared to be struggling, then added Bertrand via portal and Shellenberger as a freshman (was redshirting in 2020). - Other schools were very good but playing true freshmen, which can be hard. Would Maryland's McNaney or Notre Dame's Entenmann and Kavanagh have been as dominant as true freshmen in 2020 as they were with another year under their belt in 2021? This is the one area I would be willing to concede, maybe they were just that good, regardless. These 2 teams, looking back, would have been Final 4 contenders, no doubt. I don't know if Syracuse would have won the championship in 2020 or dudded out of the first round, major what if. But I don't think using the 2021 season to make the argument that 2020 was over-rated makes much sense. Completely different Syracuse team and completely different college lax landscape, imo. [/QUOTE]

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