OrangeXtreme
The Mayor of Dewitt
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We're down to the last of our DI section of the #LMRanks collegiate preview, which took a look at each of the Top 20 squads in the land before the season kicks off this weekend with Delaware visiting High Point. We'll have one last bit of business to come - with the release of our staff pick for Preseason Player of the Year and LM's Preseason All-America nods - but for now, we leave you with a look at the Top 5 teams through the eyes of opposing coaches...
4. Syracuse (ACC)
"Plenty of firepower to fill graduation holes, minimal losses on the defensive end."
"How do they balance all the offensive pieces? Sorting out the personnel will be a key question."
"Any offensive coordinator would love to go into their first practice with players like Rice, Donahue, and Staats on the attack unit. They all are slick, can handle the ball, and can dodge when push comes to shove. As skilled a unit as you will see in the country."
"If they solve faceoff issues could be No. 1 team. New rules may help them there, allowing athletes to be more involved from wings."
"A ton of other upperclassmen on the offensive side of the ball such as Schoonmaker, Galasso, Lecky."
"Defensively is where this team has improved in recent years, but the goalie play has continued to be so inconsistent. Warren Hill may finally be the answer in the cage."
"The faceoff X continues to be a huge issue. This team keeps winning games without a presence there but it is something than eventually came back to bite them in 2014 in the Carrier Dome in the first round."
"I thought Syracuse at the end of last year was playing as well as anybody in the country. In a single-elimination tournament, you're always vulnerable. Everybody knows that. You can lose on any given day, and they did. But they had as complete a team as anybody out there, and I would expect from that group that they'll be very good again. Clearly one of the teams to beat."
"They just have a ton of guys. John has handled that kind of roster as well as anybody does. That's a survival-of-the-fittest kind of team. When they finally survive, they usually have battle-hardened, talented kids in key roles. The Rice kid is terrific, an Donahue's a nice attackman. Staats gives you another dangerous guy. They have a lot of pieces, but they haven't been dangerous consistently enough in the midfield. They still have to establish that, I think. ... They have an ability to be confident, even if it's unreasonable. Syracuse's expectation that they're back is going to be very real. You're going to have to beat them down to beat them."
http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_...nks_di_mens_preview-_enemy_lines_on_the_top_5
4. Syracuse (ACC)
"Plenty of firepower to fill graduation holes, minimal losses on the defensive end."
"How do they balance all the offensive pieces? Sorting out the personnel will be a key question."
"Any offensive coordinator would love to go into their first practice with players like Rice, Donahue, and Staats on the attack unit. They all are slick, can handle the ball, and can dodge when push comes to shove. As skilled a unit as you will see in the country."
"If they solve faceoff issues could be No. 1 team. New rules may help them there, allowing athletes to be more involved from wings."
"A ton of other upperclassmen on the offensive side of the ball such as Schoonmaker, Galasso, Lecky."
"Defensively is where this team has improved in recent years, but the goalie play has continued to be so inconsistent. Warren Hill may finally be the answer in the cage."
"The faceoff X continues to be a huge issue. This team keeps winning games without a presence there but it is something than eventually came back to bite them in 2014 in the Carrier Dome in the first round."
"I thought Syracuse at the end of last year was playing as well as anybody in the country. In a single-elimination tournament, you're always vulnerable. Everybody knows that. You can lose on any given day, and they did. But they had as complete a team as anybody out there, and I would expect from that group that they'll be very good again. Clearly one of the teams to beat."
"They just have a ton of guys. John has handled that kind of roster as well as anybody does. That's a survival-of-the-fittest kind of team. When they finally survive, they usually have battle-hardened, talented kids in key roles. The Rice kid is terrific, an Donahue's a nice attackman. Staats gives you another dangerous guy. They have a lot of pieces, but they haven't been dangerous consistently enough in the midfield. They still have to establish that, I think. ... They have an ability to be confident, even if it's unreasonable. Syracuse's expectation that they're back is going to be very real. You're going to have to beat them down to beat them."
http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_...nks_di_mens_preview-_enemy_lines_on_the_top_5
