Terry's Way Ahead Top 20

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Also Considered: Syracuse (4-10), Johns Hopkins (7-9), Villanova (9-6), Vermont (12-7, NCAA First Round), Richmond (11-5, NCAA First Round) It’s impossible to do a Top 20 without at least considering two of the most storied programs in the sport’s history. The Orange might have as many as five or six new contributors in their top nine offensively and, while that’s promising longterm, I doubt it’ll convert into a Top 20 finish against the schedule they’ll play — especially if they struggle to win face-offs. I also think fans and analysts who expect big things are underrating the loss of Tucker Dordevic, Brendan Curry, Owen Seebold and others. The return of Owen Hiltz, and his pairing with Joey Spallina, Finn Thomson and Orange transfers, will make them one of the most watchable teams in the country, though.

21. Utah (10-4, Missed NCAA Tournament)
20. Michigan (7-8, Missed NCAA Tournament)
19. Loyola (8-8, Missed NCAA Tournament)
18. North Carolina (8-6, Missed NCAA Tournament)
17. Jacksonville (14-3, Missed NCAA Tournament)
16. Saint Joseph’s (14-4, NCAA Tournament First Round)
15. Brown (10-6, NCAA First Round)
14. Boston U (12-5, NCAA First Round)
13. Delaware (13-6, NCAA Quarterfinals)
12. Harvard (8-5, NCAA First Round)
11. Ohio State (10-6, NCAA First Round)
10. Rutgers (15-4, NCAA Semifinals)
9. Duke (11-6, Missed NCAA Tournament)
8. Notre Dame (8-4, Missed NCAA Tournament)
7. Penn (11-5, NCAA Quarterfinals)
6. Yale (12-5, NCAA Quarterfinals)
5. Princeton (11-5, NCAA Semifinals)
4. Georgetown (15-2, NCAA First Round)
3. Cornell (14-5, NCAA Runners-Up)
2. Virginia (12-4, NCAA Quarterfinals)
1. Maryland (18-0, NCAA Champions)

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

Initially, I was like, what the hell? Then I realized he’s right. Faceoffs are going to be a nightmare.

 

[Whitey23]

Depressing!

 

[AD31]

Initially, I was like, what the hell? Then I realized he’s right. Faceoffs are going to be a nightmare.

Hopefully Richiusa is still coming in January. Not high on him but only because of his lack of size. If he got a little bigger and stronger he can maybe keep it around 50%. If not then all the upgrades and talented freshman won't matter. They might have to use Avilez to take some being he's strong and tough. He has experience back in HS. Hurts his D some but won't matter if no one can win any face offs anyway. He will be exhausted from playing D all game long and without possessions the offense can't score to keep us in games. Rather win some face offs and lose some of his D then not win any and get blown out every game. Murphy has taking some face offs at LIU his Sophomore yr to and he's the same he's strong and tough so will battle but using 2 SSDMs is not ideal at all. They should have grabbed Justin Joseph when they had a chance. That kid is a tank and was most improved player last season at LIU. He came to LIU overweight and didn't take any draws 2 yrs ago then lost weight and had a solid yr last yr. He could have improved even more this yr especially with coaching. He didn't have a FOGO coach last yr. Oh well only hope is Richuisa is still coming.

 

[DoctahLexus]

If Figueras and the ssdm transfers have an impact right away, Hiltz goes off in his return, spallina comes out of the gate hot (all reasonably possible)then I think we look about as good as every team about 13 and back on Foy’s list, even if the face off situation is as dire as it appears to be. Basically everyone around Harvard or Delaware and back has some pros and cons not to different from ours. If faceoffs are really the problem they seem to be it will be extremely difficult to push past that point though.

 

[Lax2020]

What happened to Richiusa ?

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Hopefully Richiusa is still coming in January. Not high on him but only because of his lack of size. If he got a little bigger and stronger he can maybe keep it around 50%.

You must have posted this like ten different times already. The greatest face off man in NCAA history was 5'9" 175. If he's good enough, he's good enough. Wing play needs to improve. Let's hope Richiusa is ready for the physicality of major D-1 lacrosse.

 

[ClvrUsrnm]

You must have posted this like ten different times already. The greatest face off man in NCAA history was 5'9" 175. If he's good enough, he's good enough. Wing play needs to improve. Let's hope Richiusa is ready for the physicality of major D-1 lacrosse.

One of the biggest problems the last couple years was Phaup winning the initial draw and then flinging the ball all over the place. Better wing play would help, but Phaup was so unpredictable with the ball that he didn’t exactly make it easy for his teammates.

 

[wgdsr]

Also Considered: Syracuse (4-10), Johns Hopkins (7-9), Villanova (9-6), Vermont (12-7, NCAA First Round), Richmond (11-5, NCAA First Round) It’s impossible to do a Top 20 without at least considering two of the most storied programs in the sport’s history. The Orange might have as many as five or six new contributors in their top nine offensively and, while that’s promising longterm, I doubt it’ll convert into a Top 20 finish against the schedule they’ll play — especially if they struggle to win face-offs. I also think fans and analysts who expect big things are underrating the loss of Tucker Dordevic, Brendan Curry, Owen Seebold and others. The return of Owen Hiltz, and his pairing with Joey Spallina, Finn Thomson and Orange transfers, will make them one of the most watchable teams in the country, though.

21. Utah (10-4, Missed NCAA Tournament)
20. Michigan (7-8, Missed NCAA Tournament)
19. Loyola (8-8, Missed NCAA Tournament)
18. North Carolina (8-6, Missed NCAA Tournament)
17. Jacksonville (14-3, Missed NCAA Tournament)
16. Saint Joseph’s (14-4, NCAA Tournament First Round)
15. Brown (10-6, NCAA First Round)
14. Boston U (12-5, NCAA First Round)
13. Delaware (13-6, NCAA Quarterfinals)
12. Harvard (8-5, NCAA First Round)
11. Ohio State (10-6, NCAA First Round)
10. Rutgers (15-4, NCAA Semifinals)
9. Duke (11-6, Missed NCAA Tournament)
8. Notre Dame (8-4, Missed NCAA Tournament)
7. Penn (11-5, NCAA Quarterfinals)
6. Yale (12-5, NCAA Quarterfinals)
5. Princeton (11-5, NCAA Semifinals)
4. Georgetown (15-2, NCAA First Round)
3. Cornell (14-5, NCAA Runners-Up)
2. Virginia (12-4, NCAA Quarterfinals)
1. Maryland (18-0, NCAA Champions)

i'll eat my hat if utah finishes top 20. i guess their conference isn't murderer's row.

chalk up another year umich gets a top 20 preseason nom. gotta be right one of these years.

 

[AD31]

You must have posted this like ten different times already. The greatest face off man in NCAA history was 5'9" 175. If he's good enough, he's good enough. Wing play needs to improve. Let's hope Richiusa is ready for the physicality of major D-1 lacrosse.

If he played like one of the best last yr in the MAAC I would say no worries but did he? I think he is talented but with some size he can be solid that's all. Sorry that bothers u it's just my opinion in what I like in a FOGO. I like a strong tough kid who will battle unless he's ridiculously skilled. I also said I hope he's still coming being he wasn't on the roster. I think he can hold his own. Nothing bad about the guy at all. More like it's gonna be bad if he's not coming

 

[DoctahLexus]

What happened to Richiusa ?

Potentially nothing at all. Name just didn’t appear on a roster they released. But they are known to make errors with that as it is. No word of any problems with him coming here.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

If he played like one of the best last yr in the MAAC I would say no worries but did he? I think he is talented but with some size he can be solid that's all. Sorry that bothers u it's just my opinion in what I like in a FOGO. I like a strong tough kid who will battle unless he's ridiculously skilled. I also said I hope he's still coming being he wasn't on the roster. I think he can hold his own. Nothing bad about the guy at all. More like it's gonna be bad if he's not coming

It doesnt bother me. You are entitled to your opinion. If you don't think he's good enough as a tactician, that's fine. But if you dont think he will be good enough because he's small, that seems to be an overly simplistic conclusion.

 

[AD31]

Only because I watched some of his tape from the Air Force game last yr. He looks skilled he does but sometimes he lost due to getting pushed around. He's very skinny so I figured if he started working out and put on 15 LBs of muscle it could help him. I think he was probably told he needs to hit the weights and get stronger. He is tough and scrappy he battles for sure. That's why I hope he is still coming because if he did put some muscle on with his skill set and scrappiness he can hold his own this yr. If he can stay around 50% then he will be good to go. I have been around the LIU program and Conner Farrell was a LB on the football team. He was big, strong I mean super strong, tough and then kept working on his technique. He developed his skills so by his senior yr he was 82% at the dot. Saw him win 32 out of 35 against Merrimack. Now he's in the PLL. So I believe u can take a strong tough kid and develop him into a solid Fogo. U have others who are naturally gifted and don't need the size and strength. I mean I would think u still need strong wrists and forearms but I never took a face off in my life so no idea. Lol I do think everything will be ok if he is still coming. He works with TD too so that's great and I'm sure TD told him to hit the weight room now that he's gonna be playing in the ACC. U can see on tape he's a tough scrappy kid and will work hard to win.

 

[nyclax]

If he got a little bigger and stronger he can maybe keep it around 50%. If not then all the upgrades and talented freshman won't matter.

Faceoffs are important and the current situation is not ideal but faceoffs deficits can also be overcome with efficiency. Rutgers made the Final Four last year despite being weak on faceoffs because they were efficient on both ends of the field. The issue for the Orange is that the defense was atrocious last year and quite literally one of the least efficient in the country. That has to improve or faceoffs won't matter. Better efficiency beats out a possession advantage most of the time. Faceoffs given current personnel look like they will be a harder thing to improve than the defense with the addition of Mark, new SSDMs, freshmen, another year in the new system, etc.

 

[AD31]

Faceoffs are important and the current situation is not ideal but faceoffs deficits can also be overcome with efficiency. Rutgers made the Final Four last year despite being weak on faceoffs because they were efficient on both ends of the field. The issue for the Orange is that the defense was atrocious last year and quite literally one of the least efficient in the country. That has to improve or faceoffs won't matter. Better efficiency beats out a possession advantage most of the time. Faceoffs given current personnel look like they will be a harder thing to improve than the defense with the addition of Mark, new SSDMs, freshmen, another year in the new system, etc.

That's true I didn't think of Rutgers last yr. No way they won over 50% but it did hurt them against Maryland each time they played them. They had a high octane offense but couldn't win face offs and get there offense on the field enough. Agajnst everyone else they were efficient and good enough to win. Didn't think about Rutgers situation last yr.