LaxMag Bracketology (4/30/19)

[OrangeXtreme]

Bracketology: Penn State Looks Like a Lock for No. 1 Overall Seed

Hempstead, N.Y.
(1) BIG TEN/Penn State vs. NORTHEAST/Mount St. Mary’s-AMERICA EAST/Stony Brook
(8) Maryland vs. Syracuse

East Hartford, Conn.
(5) Yale vs. Towson
(4) IVY/Penn vs. COLONIAL/Massachusetts

Hempstead, N.Y.
(3) Virginia vs. SOUTHERN/High Point
(6) PATRIOT/Loyola vs. Cornell

East Hartford, Conn.
(7) Notre Dame vs. BIG EAST/Denver
(2) Duke vs. METRO ATLANTIC/Marist

Last three in: Syracuse, Cornell, Towson

First three out: Johns Hopkins, Ohio State, North Carolina

Moving in: Denver, High Point, Massachusetts, Mount St. Mary’s, Stony Brook

Moving out: Air Force, Albany, Hobart, Ohio State, Villanova

Multi-bid conferences: Atlantic Coast (4), Ivy (3), Big Ten (2), Colonial (2)

Syracuse might have cost itself its traditional 7:30 p.m. Sunday home game on the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament with its loss to North Carolina.

 

[Powellfan]

Feels like it would make more sense to send SU to Yale and Towson to Maryland. Not sure how Duke manages to stay number 2 after losing last weekend. Syracuse players must be kicking themselves for that loss to UNC. What a roller coaster of a year.

 

[creatorsgam]

Woof

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Feels like it would make more sense to send SU to Yale and Towson to Maryland. Not sure how Duke manages to stay number 2 after losing last weekend. Syracuse players must be kicking themselves for that loss to UNC. What a roller coaster of a year.

Who would be an easier 1st round matchup ... Maryland or Yale?

 

[DoctahLexus]

Who would be an easier 1st round matchup ... Maryland or Yale?

MD by far IMO. Playing MD in the first round wouldn't be a nightmare but playing them and then going right into Penn St. would be. They should just give us some sort of trophy if we had to beat Yale and Penn St. to get to the final four. I am in no mood to face TD Ierlan again.

 

[Orangello]

I think MD gets Towson and we will get Yale with Penn getting UMass. Pretty sure UMass played Yale in the regular season and lost.

 

[Orangello]

I would want MD over Yale in the first round. Ierlan and their defense would give us fits. They appear to be firing on all cylinders right now.

 

[MD Cuse Fan]

I think MD gets Towson and we will get Yale with Penn getting UMass. Pretty sure UMass played Yale in the regular season and lost.

Correct UMass lost to Yale 12-11 back on 3/2. I believe Mass was up like 7-1 in that game.

 

[upperdeck]

I think Cornell would sign up for this draw.. any draw that gets them in..

does High Point get in if they lose the southern AQ bid?

JH is the only team to screw things up i suppose at this point other than HP?

the final issue is what order they have ND/Cornell/SU in. two of them can lose again and if they lose to top teams do they fall below OSU/UNC ? it wouldnt seem so?

 

[MD Cuse Fan]

I think Cornell would sign up for this draw.. any draw that gets them in..

does High Point get in if they lose the southern AQ bid?

JH is the only team to screw things up i suppose at this point other than HP?

the final issue is what order they have ND/Cornell/SU in. two of them can lose again and if they lose to top teams do they fall below OSU/UNC ? it wouldnt seem so?

I just don't see there's a scenario in which OSU or UNC get in at this point.
OSU couldn't even make the B10 Tourney and has finished the season 1-4.
UNC beat Duke but lost to Syracuse, MD, Hopkins throughout the season.

 

[upperdeck]

so they if ND/Cornell lose as expected. does a JH win push one of them out?

seedings dont mean much in this because they move people around for travel.

Su/ND/Cornell all played a round robin.

I would think Cornell is the bottom of those 3

which would then put Cornell in the mix with the loser of the towson/Umass game at which point Umass winning again would give Towson a loss to Cornell and really only the game one JH win compared to the ND win for Cornell

A Umass loss to Towson gives them a split and Umass only the Towson win and again the Cornell win over ND trumps them.

really dont see either getting in over Cornell with a loss.. and if they both lose i really dont see either getting in over Cornell

 

[JeremyCuse]

Feels like it would make more sense to send SU to Yale and Towson to Maryland. Not sure how Duke manages to stay number 2 after losing last weekend. Syracuse players must be kicking themselves for that loss to UNC. What a roller coaster of a year.

The Colgate and the UNC games have really come back to haunt us. That UNC game especially, SU went from a 5/6 Seed to now having to play on the road and while a long shot potentially in trouble for the tourney itself if things go haywire in the conf tournaments. Duke staying 2 and a 100% lock does seem a bit off. However, they do have multiple quality wins and I assume that the Loyola and UVA wins are paying big dividends for them along with that Penn win as the computers are in love with Penn. Does seem SU is taking a much bigger hit for a 1st round loss then Duke is despite Duke being much less competitive. Still that Duke win is our feather in the cap for sure.

 

[orange79]

The Colgate and the UNC games have really come back to haunt us. That UNC game especially, SU went from a 5/6 Seed to now having to play on the road and while a long shot potentially in trouble for the tourney itself if things go haywire in the conf tournaments. Duke staying 2 and a 100% lock does seem a bit off. However, they do have multiple quality wins and I assume that the Loyola and UVA wins are paying big dividends for them along with that Penn win as the computers are in love with Penn. Does seem SU is taking a much bigger hit for a 1st round loss then Duke is despite Duke being much less competitive. Still that Duke win is our feather in the cap for sure.

I would actually say Colgate (a game we should have won on paper and a loss outside the top 40) and UVa. UVa would have given us a 2nd top 5 win and potentially negated the Colgate game and the UNC loss. Just my opinion. At least before this week's games, had we beaten UVa we would have been the only team to have 2 top 5 wins.

 

[ivorytower]

Syracuse could easily be 11-2 against a tough schedule. They're not so their path gets alot harder but Cuse can beat any team when they play their game . Yep, prefer not to face PSU ,Yale, Maryland or even Penn and Cornell in first round but very likely their coaches are hoping for a different opening matchup as well. Respect all, fear none

 

[IHeartSUFball]

Looking less likely like Cornell unless win Friday and then in a 8/9. At this point just get in and make a final four or Fire desko imo

 

[ivorytower]

Looking less likely like Cornell unless win Friday and then in a 8/9. At this point just get in and make a final four or Fire desko imo

Yeh, lets return to salivating over all those coaching geniuses Pressler, Cassese, Karweck.

 

[Powellfan]

I am a little confused as to what I should be rooting for. If I root for chalk, Syracuse seems destined to be matched up with very good team on the road, probably Maryland, Yale or Penn. Not the end of the world, but also not great IMO. If I root for upsets, that might open the door for a home game, if a team like Loyola, or Maryland slide down the rankings. On the other hand, depending how how the committee views the Orange and too many upsets happen could they be on the outside of the tournament looking in? Bracketology is great, but I'd like to see someone try and predict what would happen if certain upsets happened.

 

[ivorytower]

Powell, Roulette table right now with too many scenarios to ponder for the layman. Need a quant

Most, myself included, thought UNC play in was rather insignificant as we were in but turns out seeding and even inclusion is now contingent due to some outcomes this past weekend.

Mad, mad lax world

 

[JeremyCuse]

Army is up 8-4 on Holy Cross in the third quarter of the Patriot League quarters. A win by them would put them at 12-4 and likely facing Loyola in the semis. Might bump our numbers a little bit.

 

[Orangello]

Army rolling HC in the 4th 13-4

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[JeremyCuse]

I am a little confused as to what I should be rooting for. If I root for chalk, Syracuse seems destined to be matched up with very good team on the road, probably Maryland, Yale or Penn. Not the end of the world, but also not great IMO. If I root for upsets, that might open the door for a home game, if a team like Loyola, or Maryland slide down the rankings. On the other hand, depending how how the committee views the Orange and too many upsets happen could they be on the outside of the tournament looking in? Bracketology is great, but I'd like to see someone try and predict what would happen if certain upsets happened.

At this point its all about SU being in the tournament versus any matchups, its unfortunate but the UNC and Colgate games have put us here. Root for chalk in the B10 on Thursday, Maryland beating Hopkins especially would be huge. I think Yale beating Cornell would be a big help as well, put Cornell on likely the wrong side of the bubble and with SU having the head to head win its hard to see how SU could get left out of the tournament. Loyola taking care of business as well is huge.

 

[Orangello]

Agreed. Root against JHU (easy) and Cornell with no surprises in the CAA tourney (e.g. Drexel or DE)

 

[DoctahLexus]

Agreed. Root against JHU (easy) and Cornell with no surprises in the CAA tourney (e.g. Drexel or DE)

I think the only chance of 2 teams getting in from the CAA is if UMass beats Towson in the tourney finals. Both UMass and Towson would be out if they lose their first round game. I dont think either team can take a 5th loss to a mediocre team. UMass' only quality win is when they actually played and beat Towson, with maybe Delaware also considered a solid win. And they already have 4 losses with a bad loss under their belt in Hofstra. Another loss and they are probably out, whether it's Towson or the first round team they play. Towson on the other hand has a couple truly quality wins with Loyola and Hopkins (which is looking way better after they beat MD). They have 4 losses and the closest they come to a bad loss is losing to UMass. I have heard people say otherwise but there is a chance they could take a second loss to UMass and still make it in. Last year Villanova got in with almost exactly the same scenario, 4 losses, a couple quality wins, and a loss in the conference tourney finals. Depends on how other tourneys shake out obviously.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

NCAA Committee Chair Says Criteria Doesn't Change; Scenarios Do

Here’s the question for committee chairman Jack Hayes: What’s the most important data point of all?

www.uslaxmagazine.com

Syracuse is in the clubhouse, but it surely wouldn’t mind seeing some combination of Towson, Loyola, Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins all lose this weekend to keep its chances of a home game alive. …

Hempstead, N.Y.
(1) BIG TEN/Penn State vs. METRO ATLANTIC/Marist-AMERICA EAST/Vermont
(8) PATRIOT/Loyola vs. Syracuse

East Hartford, Conn.
(5) Yale vs. Johns Hopkins
(4) IVY/Penn vs. Maryland

Hempstead, N.Y.
(3) Virginia vs. SOUTHERN/High Point
(6) Notre Dame vs. BIG EAST/Denver

East Hartford, Conn.
(7) COLONIAL/Towson vs. Cornell
(2) Duke vs. NORTHEAST/Hobart

Last three in: Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Cornell
First three out: Ohio State, North Carolina, Villanova

Moving in: Hobart, Johns Hopkins, Vermont
Moving out: UMass, Mount St. Mary’s, Stony Brook

Multi-bid conferences: Atlantic Coast (4), Big Ten (3), Ivy (3)