Polls for Mar 2: Media #10 / Coaches #10

[OrangeXtreme]

1. Notre Dame 421 (8)
2. Richmond 411 (9)
3. Princeton 404 (4)
4. Harvard 360 (1)
5. North Carolina 339
10. Syracuse 264

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Princeton Reasserts Top 3 Status in USA Lacrosse D-I Men's Top 20

Princeton climbed seven spots from No. 10 to No. 3 after a notable 2-0 weekend.

www.usalacrosse.com

1. Notre Dame
2. Richmond
3. Princeton
4. Harvard
5. Duke
6. North Carolina
7. Ohio State
8. Cornell
9. Army
10. Syracuse

 

[OrangeXtreme]

8. Syracuse
You could tell right away that Syracuse wasn’t sharp on Friday at Princeton. Joey Spallina didn’t look comfortable. The midfielders struggled to get a step. On defense, the shorties were once again exposed. Syracuse got off the bus and fell behind 6-0, severely regressing. Hard to come up with positives for the Otto in this 11-7 road loss at Princeton. One brutal play that stands out — trailing 9-5 Orange execute a basic clear up the box side and throw a routine cross field pass to a shorty, who mishandles the ball and falls to the turf, a poorly thrown pass or missed catch, your call. Either way the resulting Tiger goal in transition shut the casket. Demoralizing moment. Great teams do simple things well. Game over.

Immediate analysis postgame has me questioning the personnel in regard to the third attack spot and the overall quality of the SSDM’s. Tyler McCarthy has looked like a shortie all season long and they finally made a change on Sunday.

Sunday’s 9-8 overtime win over Penn was simply a survive and advance type game on short rest. Win ugly. And SU somehow pulled it off after trailing throughout. They didn’t play well, especially on offense. But won. And now have time to look themselves in the mirror and to try to improve. Michael Leo scored the game-winner on the first possession of overtime after Johnny Mullen secured the face-off. SU committed another foolish celebration penalty to add to their collection. Finn Thomson finished with a hat trick and Joey Spallina dished out three assists. Billy Dwan III nailed a critical goal to tie it.

Orange are in Baltimore at Homewood Field at 1 p.m

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Our buddy Foy voted us #10.

 

[Lax Mouse]

Our buddy Foy voted us #10.

Foy's logic continues to be hard to follow.

Catapulted Harvard to #1 because of the Cuse win but then severely punished Cuse for that loss to his now #1 team.

Holding Princeton at #4 despite their three top 20 (and 2 top 10) wins.

Dropping UNC all the way to #9.

Using his own poll as a metric his rankings 1-3 don't make sense. All undefeated (Harvard, ND, Richmond). Harvard's best win is his #10 Cuse. ND's best win is his #12 Georgetown. Richmond's is #8 Cornell. ND is the only of those three to now have 2 top 20 wins. Based on his own logic Richmond should be his first. Harvard probably has the weakest case.

Seems like he (and probably other pollsters) are trying to make sense of some very convoluted records and not really asking themselves the right questions. Focusing on early season record instead of quality of play and opponent is an easy way to spend all season scrambling while putting rankings together.

Princeton is clearly playing the best lacrosse right now.

I know it doesn't matter but it certainly gets tiring how these "professionals" don't really have a good grasp on what's happening and push narratives off that misunderstanding.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[FloridaCuse]

Our buddy Foy voted us #10.

I'm surprised he even has us in the top 20 at all. Or that he even recognizes we play men's lacrosse.

 

[cuselaxss26]

well he prob going off how we have looked the last couple games which hasn’t been good. Looking bad last few games on top of his bias n hatred for us he isn’t gonna give as a shred or inch of credit for anything. Team keeps winning he will eventually shut his mouth to point. But he beat home how we scored goals on man up n not all 6v6 like it matters at end. Terry foy is a crumbum plain n simple. Syracuse just had to continue beating these rank teams n keep getting solid wins. Come rip time it will be clear who played the better teams n deserve respect.

 

[cuselaxss26]

Also have 2 loses which were to two top 5 teams right now. Not that they measure how much lose or win by. But lost to harvard by goal n be honest cuse should have won that game. Then a very hott princeton who after getting punch in face of first qtr of psu game has been on a roll playing good lacrosse.

Syracuse needs to forget bout ranks n who’s hating n what not n focus on the game ahead of them. Just focus on one game at time or next team at time. Start playing better n better while getting wins. Can prove haters wrong with a strong finish n season. But really need to hunker down n get their own issues resolved n not worry bout anything else but what they can do n control.

Gotta go into next game n come out firing n start well. Can’t take full half to settle down or get moving. Gotta play full 60mins. Hopkins and denver can be 2 solid wins. Don’t look pass air force either. But really important to finish road trip strong n get ready for another tougher gauntlet of end of schedule.

 

[Lax Mouse]

well he prob going off how we have looked the last couple games which hasn’t been good. Looking bad last few games on top of his bias n hatred for us he isn’t gonna give as a shred or inch of credit for anything. Team keeps winning he will eventually shut his mouth to point. But he beat home how we scored goals on man up n not all 6v6 like it matters at end. Terry foy is a crumbum plain n simple. Syracuse just had to continue beating these rank teams n keep getting solid wins. Come rip time it will be clear who played the better teams n deserve respect.

Would I rank Cuse higher than #10? Yes. But I certainly understand that ranking right now. I feel like they've firmly established themselves in that 6-10 range.

Hopefully the reality of this takes some of the pressure off and they can get back to what they're capable of. But the maturity and composure hasn't really materialized yet this year. I'm hoping it does.

This next swing has a number of teams likely to finish in that 10-20 range, including now Georgetown. Have to take care of business. No better way to show you're a top 10 team than by beating the teams in that next tier down.

They'll have some time before they can prove they belong back in the top 5 - ACC play.

 

[Lax Mouse]

Foy's rankings have other issues right now, I'd say his assessment of Cuse isn't that far off for the time being.

 

[OrangeXtreme]