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Conference Tournament Time! D1 Rundown

It’s Conference Tournament time!!!

To be totally accurate, it is really only conference tournament time for a handful of schools, but everyone else has their tournament on their mind RIGHT NOW. With all the volatility this year, getting your conference’s automatic qualifier is increasingly important to NCAA hopes.

There were a few games that are going to shake up the polls this week, and there were also only two overtime games all week. Yawn. Anyway, buckle up and get ready for what is shaping up to be one of the best months of college lacrosse we’ve ever seen. Seriously. This is going to be a great May!

As always, check out Connor’s Media Poll submission to get his take (or a possible President’s take) on how individual teams are shaping up.

NCAA D1 Scoreboard

Tuesday
12 Bryant vs. Mount St. Mary’s 7
16 Brown vs. Providence 10
8 Sacred Heart vs. Hartford 9
7 UMBC vs. Penn 8
10 Maryland vs. Navy 5
11 UMass Lowell vs. Dartmouth 10

Wednesday
13 Syracuse vs. Binghamton 5

Friday
15 Bucknell vs. Lehigh 7
16 Duke vs. Marquette 1
11 Holy Cross vs. Boston U. 7
12 Loyola vs. Army 6
7 Navy vs. Sacred Heart 1
9 Lafayette vs. Colgate 14
15 Rutgers vs. Penn State 14

Saturday
5 Furman vs. High Point 10
16 Harvard vs. Princeton 12
7 Mount St. Mary’s vs. Wagner 3
7 Providence vs. Denver 17
8 Richmond vs. Air Force 9
13 St. John’s vs. Villanova 18
18 Towson vs. Fairfield 11
17 North Carolina vs. Notre Dame 15
6 VMI vs. Bellarmine 15
13 Yale vs. Albany 14 OT
15 Bryant vs. Hobart 2
5 Cornell vs. Brown 22
4 Dartmouth vs. Penn 11
5 Jacksonville vs. Mercer 12
5 Monmouth vs. Quinnipiac 8
13 Robert Morris vs. Saint Joseph’s 8
5 Delaware vs. Drexel 6
9 Massachusetts vs. Hofstra 10
10 NJIT vs. Marist 14
4 Hartford vs. Vermont 13
13 Michigan vs. Johns Hopkins 19
9 Canisius vs. Detroit 5
7 Georgetown vs. Virginia 8
11 Manhattan vs. Siena 16

Sunday
11 Binghamton vs. Stony Brook 16
8 UMass Lowell vs. UMBC 9 OT
10 Maryland vs. Ohio State 8

The Stat Freaks

Freak of the week: While going though these, I was all set to crown Navy’s John Connors for his 90% save percentage, eight ground balls and two caused turnovers as a no-brainer. That was until Penn’s Reed Junkin went and grabbed eight ground balls also, and saved 81% of his shots. I’m still going to give the nod to Connors, but congrats to Junkin for making it interesting. I also feel that I need to commend Fairfield’s Colin Burke. He went up against a goalie who averages under seven goals against and scored five… by himself.

conference tournament
photo credit: Craig Chase

Offense: The Cutoff here is a combined 7 goals and/or assists

Robert Morris’ Like Laszkiewicz 8G, 1A vs. Canisius
Rutgers’ Jules Heningburg 6G, 2A vs. Penn State
Albany’s Connor Fields 3G, 5A vs. Yale
Siena’s Chris Robertson 5G, 3A vs. Manhattan
Villanova’s Devin McNamara 3G, 4A vs. St. John’s
St. John’s Eric DeJohn 4G, 4A vs. Villanova
Fairfield’s Colin Burke 5G, 2A vs. Towson
Harvard’s Will Walker 6G, 1A vs. Princeton

Defense:  For here, you need 8 GBs, CTs, and/or points

UMASS-Lowell’s Sean Tyrrell (A) 8GB, 1G, 3A vs. Dartmouth
Dartmouth’s Wiley Osborne (A) 10GB, 1CT, 2G vs. UMASS-Lowell
Dartmouth’s Timmy Burke 7GB, 2CT vs. UMASS-Lowell

Yes, THREE players from one game qualified here. WOW.

Brown’s Alec Tulett 8GB, 1CT, 1A vs. Providence
Syracuse’s Brandon Mullins 4GB, 4CT vs. Binghamton
Navy’s John Connors (G) 7GB, 2CT vs. Sacred Heart
Bryant’s Cody O’Donnell 6GB, 4CT vs. Hobart
Dylan Molloy (A) 5GB, 3CT, 3G, 3A vs. Cornell
Michigan’s Chase Brown 5GB, 4CT vs. Hopkins
Villanova’s John Moderski 5GB, 3CT vs. St. John’s
Towson’s Mike Lowe 8GB, 2CT vs. Fairfield
Furman’s Conner Kipke 5GB, 3CT vs. High Point
Penn’s Reed Junkin (G) 8GB vs. Dartmouth

Faceoffs: Greater than 70%, at least 10 attempts

Brown’s Will Gural 16/19 vs. Providence
Brown’s Ted Ottens 10/10 vs. Providence
Hartford’s Dylan Protesto 15/20 vs. Sacred Heart
Penn’s Chris Santangelo 14/19 vs. UMBC
Syracuse’s Ben Williams 12/15, 1G vs. Binghamton
Bucknell’s Jarett Witzal 22/24, 1G vs. Lehigh
Navy’s Brady Dove 7/10 vs. Sacred Heart
BU’s Sam Talkow 11/14, 1G vs. Holy Cross
Quinnipiac’s Will Vitelli 12/16, 1G vs. Monmouth
Cornell’s Tony Britton 6GB, 2CT vs.Brown
Denver’s Trevor Baptiste 20/23, 1G vs. Providence
Hartford’s Dylan Protesto 16/20 vs. Vermont
UMASS-Lowell’s Michael Rouskas 9/11 vs. UMBC

Goalies:  Greater than 70%

Navy’s John Connors 9/10 vs. Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart’s Greg Price 16/23 vs. Navy
Bryant’s Gunnar Waldt 10/12 vs. Hobart
Brown’s Jack Kelly 12/17 vs. Cornell
Mercer’s Mike Nugent 20/25 vs. Jacksonville
Vermont’s Jon Kaplan 14/18 vs. Hartford
Canisius’ Liam Ganzhorn 12/17 vs. Detroit
Drexel’s Jimmy Jo Granito 13/18 vs. Delaware
High Point’s Tim Troutner 15/20 vs. Furman
Mount St. Mary’s Frankie McCarthy 11/14 vs. Wagner
Penn’s Reed Junkin 17/21 vs. Dartmouth

The Big Upsets and Surprises

  • After the dust settled, a “struggling” UNC team is now serving as the top seed in the ACC tournament after beating Notre Dame. It also has me thinking that UNC Head Coach Joe Breschi may know a thing or two about this whole lacrosse thing. After their loss to Syracuse, he talked about how when his offense is one or two people, they struggle. When they all play together, they can be really good. In their seven goal run in the fourth quarter, they had five different goal scorers. How about that?
really like lacrosse_unc_syracuse
Photo Credit: Ryan Conwell
  • Perhaps an even bigger shocker was Duke over Marquette… by 15 goals! This game really should have been closer than it was, but that’s just what Duke does this year. Whatever you think will happen, they do the opposite. Their ACC game Notre Dame will help show how much of the 15 goal win was a fluke versus them perhaps finally finding their stride.
  • In a Patriot League shocker, Holy Cross upset their rival Boston University to gain entry into the league tournament, and kicking Boston out. BU had seen time in the top 20 this year and looked to be on the path for battling to the end for a conference championship. Perhaps, next year. Meanwhile, Holy Cross was left for dead weeks ago. Seeing them get at least one more postseason game is a great sign that second year coach Judd Lattimore might really have the ‘saders on the right path.
  • Albany’s win over Yale was a great sign of how much Albany has continued to grow through the season. Yale really struggled to contain the Great Danes and have now dropped two straight games after being unbeaten prior to that. I still would not dream of writing this team off, though. They still have Harvard, the Ivy Tournament, and a recent history of heartbreaking NCAA losses to drive them through May.

Conference Comparison

Conference

Record

%

# of Teams

ACC

31-14

.689

5

Big Ten

33-20

.623

6

Ivy

30-22

.577

7

Patriot

26-23

.531

9

Colonial

29-26

.527

6

America East

30-29

.508

7

Big East

26-26

.500

6

Northeast

28-30

.483

7

Southern

22-34

.393

8

MAAC

15-32

.319

7

So those are how the conferences stack up against each other. Now we get to the really fun part, which is: the conferences playing themselves. That’s right, it’s conference tournament time! A few of them are all set to go, but most of them are still trying to sort out the order.  Here’s what’s going right now…

Conference Tournament Time Preview

ACC – Field is now set
In: (1) North Carolina (2) Notre Dame (3) Duke (4) Syracuse
Out: Virginia, will play Brown in the Showcase Game

What needs to happen: UVA is likely out of the NCAA, but the four team playing in the main tournament all have a chance. Only Notre Dame can lose their first game and still feel comfortable on selection Sunday. Everyone else needs at least one win to feel a little more comfortable. The other thing to remember for this tournament. Since Notre Dame and Syracuse joined the conference in 2014, each team has won once, with no traditional ACC team claiming the title. At the same time, no #1 or #2 seed has won a game in the tournament in those two years. I guess what I’m trying to say is: I have no idea what is about to happen. Pretend previous meetings and the entire season leading up to this never occurred.

B1G – Still playing league games
Currently In: (1) Maryland (2) Rutgers (3) Hopkins (4) Penn State
Currently Out: Ohio State, Michigan

What needs to happen: Ohio State needs a win over Rutgers and a Penn State loss to Michigan to get in. Maryland’s an NCAA team no matter what. Rutgers and Penn State both need to win the tournament. Hopkins should be in the NCAA, and at least one win would help lock that in. Anyone not named Hopkins or Maryland winning puts even more strain on the at-large bids.

Ivy League – Field is set, seeding is not.
In: (1) Brown (2) Yale (3) Penn (4) Harvard
Out: Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth

What needs to happen: Brown and Yale are both in the NCAA tournament. Penn and Harvard need the conference tournament win to be in. Brown or Yale not winning puts more stress on bubble teams.

Patriot – Field is now set
In: (1) Navy (2) Loyola (3) Bucknell (4) Army (5) Lehigh (6) Holy Cross
Out: Boston U, Lafayette, Colgate

conference tournament Conference Tournament

What needs to happen: Last year’s conference champ Colgate is out, and BU’s season came crashing down with the loss to Turnpike rival Holy Cross. Navy is the only team I feel even remotely comfortable saying that they should be in the NCAA no matter what. I don’t see Holy Cross or Lehigh winning this tournament, but any of the other four have a reasonable chance at coming out on top to get the automatic qualifier.

Colonial – Still playing league games
Currently In: (1) Towson (2) Fairfield (3) Hofstra (4) Delaware
Currently Out: UMASS, Drexel

What needs to happen: The seeding is still not set, and Drexel does still have a chance. They need to beat UMASS and have Delaware lose to Fairfield to get in. Only Towson has a solid shot at an at-large bid (Hofstra’s very iffy), so teams in the Ivy and ACC are really hoping Towson does not get upset in the tournament. That could really mess up someone’s May.

America East – Still playing league games
Currently In: (1) Albany (2) Stony Brook (3) Vermont (4) Hartford
Currently Out: Binghamton, UMBC, UMASS-Lowell

What needs to happen: UMBC and UMASS-Lowell are definitely out. Binghamton needs a win over Vermont to be in, so while they are currently out, they control their own destiny. Albany will be an NCAA team. Stony Brook SHOULD be one. Upsets will be bubble bursting.

Big East – Still playing league games
Currently In: (1) Denver (2) Marquette (3) Villanova (4) Georgetown
Currently Out: Providence, St. John’s

What needs to happen: Providence can still get in by beating Villanova and having Georgetown lose to St. John’s. Denver is in the NCAA no matter what. Marquette took a big hit after getting blown out by Duke. A win here by anyone else really hurts the chances of bubble teams.

Northeast – Still playing league games
Currently In: (1) St. Joseph’s (2) Bryant (3) Hobart (4) Robert Morris
Currently Out: Mount St. Mary’s, Wagner, Sacred Heart

What needs to happen: Only the winner goes to the NCAA and will probably be in a play-in game. Only Robert Morris has not clinched a spot yet out of the four teams listed. If they lose to Wagner and Mount St. Mary’s beats St. Joseph’s, they’ll be out due to a head to head loss. A win over Wagner puts them in.

Southern – Still playing league games
Currently In: (1) Air Force (2) Richmond (3) High Point (4) Bellarmine
Currently Out: Mercer, Furman, Jacksonville, VMI

What needs to happen: Air Force and Richmond have both spent time ranked this year, with Air Force still up in the top 10. Everyone else has to win to make the NCAA, even Air Force would be part of a big bubble if they lost. That last spot is still up for grabs between Bellarmine, Mercer and Furman. Bellarmine and Furman play each other while Mercer plays Richmond. Bellarmine is a win and in team. Mercer needs to win and have Bellarmine lose. Furman needs to win and have Mercer lose.

MAAC – Still playing league games
Currently In: (1) Quinnipiac (2) Marist (3) Canisius (4) Siena
Currently Out: Monmouth, Detroit, Manhattan

What needs to happen: Win and you’re in. Nobody in this league has a strong enough resume to get an at-large NCAA bid. Manhattan is out. Detroit, Siena, and Monmouth are in a 3 way tie for that last spot right now. Detroit has Marist to play and Siena will face Monmouth. Detroit lost to Siena, so wins by both teams gives Siena the nod. Detroit beat Monmouth, so wins by both of them means the spot goes to Detroit. A Monmouth win and Detroit loss puts Monmouth in. I’m penciling in Siena right now since only they control their own destiny.