Big East Troubles: Ryan’s Rundown Week 3

The Big East is off to a shaky start as March lacrosse starts to roll around. Many teams are starting to find their footing as every conference has competed in multiple games now. Only time will tell which teams will rise to the top, but we are starting to get a good gauge on what teams have all of the pieces to make a run this season.

Scoreboard

Monday 2/21

VMI 15 v Hampton 6 (SoCon)

Tuesday 2/22

Canisius 10 v Michigan 23 (MAAC v Big Ten)

Binghamton 9 v Princeton 22 (AE v Ivy)

Bellarmine 12 v St. Bonaventure 13 (ASUN v MAAC)

Drexel 11 v Lafayette 13 (CAA v Patriot)

Delaware 14 v Duke 19 (CAA v ACC)

Wednesday 2/23

Siena 10 v Army 20 (MAAC v Patriot)

Brown 11 v UNC 14 (Ivy v ACC)

Friday 2/25

St. John’s 10 v Stony Brook 17 (Big East v AE)

Quinnipiac 10 v Sacred Heart 13 (MAAC v NEC)

LIU 14 v Hofstra 11 (NEC v CAA)

UMBC 8 v Mount St. Mary’s 9 (AE v NEC)

Saturday 2/26

Utah 12 v Marquette 11 (ASUN v Big East)

Saint Joseph’s 15 v Providence 8 (NEC v Big East)

Albany 12 v Drexel 14 (AE v CAA)

High Point 14 v Navy 13 (SoCon v Patriot)

Cleveland St. 5 v Michigan 13 (ASUN v Big Ten)

Richmond 16 v Towson 15 (SoCon v CAA)

Fairfield 9 v Villanova 16 (CAA v Big East)

Cornell 9 v Lehigh 5 (Ivy v Patriot)

Binghamton 13 v Lafayette 12 (AE v Patriot)

Princeton 10 v Maryland 15 (Ivy v Big Ten)

Umass 7 v Boston 16 (CAA v Patriot)

Georgetown 16 v Notre Dame 11 (Big East v ACC)

Harvard 12 v Ohio State 17 (Ivy v Big Ten)

Duke 13 v Penn 14 (ACC v Ivy)

Jacksonville 11 v Denver 9 (SoCon v Big East)

Rutgers 13 v Loyola 12 (Big Ten v Patriot)

St. Bonaventure 9 v VMI 8 (MAAC v SoCon)

Vermont 11 v Brown 12 (AE v Ivy)

Hampton 3 v Bellarmine 23 (SoCon v ASUN)

Dartmouth 11 v Bryant 9 (Ivy v NEC)

NJIT 4 v Army 18 (AE v Patriot)

Bucknell 15 v Marist 7 (Patriot v MAAC)

Yale 6 v Penn State 10 (Ivy v Big Ten)

Monmouth 6 v Delaware 17 (MAAC v CAA)

Wagner 5 v Manhattan 11 (NEC v MAAC)

Syracuse 11 v UVA 20 (ACC)

Sunday 2/27

Siena 14 v Umass Lowell 10 (MAAC v AE)

Jacksonville 15 v Air Force 9 (SoCon v ASUN)

Merrimack 11 v Holy Cross 9 (NEC v Patriot)

Johns Hopkins 10 v UNC 15 (Big Ten v ACC)

Canisius 9 v Denver 20 (MAAC v Big East)

LIU 6 v Stony Brook 10 (NEC v AE) – Long Island Cup Finals

St. John’s 6 v Hofstra 12 (Big East v CAA) – Long Island Cup Consolation

My Top 20

Since transparency is a good thing, here’s my Inside Lacrosse Media Poll ballot for this week:

1. Maryland
2. Virginia
3. Georgetown
4. Notre Dame
5. Ohio State
6. Penn
7. UNC
8. Rutgers
9. Syracuse
10. Yale
11. Jacksonville
12. Duke
13. Denver
14. Johns Hopkins
15. Villanova
16. Delaware
17. Army
18. Michigan
19. Cornell
20. Utah

This week didn’t see too many wholesale changes, but there were a few key movers. Georgetown and Notre Dame swapped spots at three and four due to their head to head matchup. Jacksonville also continue their rise, and they currently sit at 11 following their major statement win over Denver. Penn and Duke actually wound up switching spots completely from the previous week for me. The only other big mention is adding Cornell into the Top 20. I still have them lower than most of the other voters, but they are rising!

Conference Comparison

This is the section of the rundown to keep track of how conferences are doing against each other. This year we actually don’t have any teams playing as independents, which is a huge step forward. The big reason I keep track of this is it helps roughly gauge how many teams from each conference to expect in the NCAA tournament at the end of the season. Unless you’re in the top 3 of conferences, you’re probably only sending one team. There are some rare exceptions, but it does help to be aware of what’s going on once everyone switches to conference games and beat eachother up.

The Big Ten’s percentage actually shot up a little bit, which definitely helped via Penn State’s win over Yale especially. The ACC fell a few tenths, but that didn’t hurt their second place status because the Ivy League also dropped following losses by Yale and Brown most notably. But the biggest mover was actually the NEC, overtaking the Big East, Patriot League, and the CAA.

This Week’s Games

Monday 2/28

Canisius 8 v Air Force 9 (MAAC v ASUN)

Tuesday 3/1

Mount St. Mary’s 4 v Georgetown 21 (NEC v Big East)

Michigan 12 v Marquette 10 (Big Ten v Big East)

Fairfield 19 v Sacred Heart 16 (CAA v NEC)

Hobart 12 v Cornell 15 (NEC v Ivy)

Duke 18 v High Point 14 (ACC v SoCon)

Villanova 14 v Brown 15 (Big East v Ivy)

Bellarmine 12 v Bryant 16 (ASUN v NEC)

Wagner 7 v Monmouth 9 (MAAC v NEC)

St. Bonaventure 3 v Richmond 17 (MAAC v SoCon)

Wednesday 3/2

Army v Syracuse (Patriot v ACC)

Towson v Loyola (CAA v Patriot)

Siena v Albany (MAAC v AE)

Friday 3/4

VMI v Mount St. Mary’s (SoCon v NEC)

Saturday 3/5

Hampton v St. Bonaventure (SoCon v MAAC)

Penn St. v Penn (Big Ten v Ivy)

Detroit Mercy v Marquette (ASUN v Big East)

Johns Hopkins v UVA (Big Ten v ACC)

Umass Lowell v Merrimack (AE v NEC)

Robert Morris v Mercer (ASUN v SoCon)

Delaware v Michigan (CAA v Big Ten)

UMBC v Towson (AE v CAA)

Richmond v Duke (SoCon v ACC)

Hofstra v Villanova (CAA v Big East)

Manhattan v St. John’s (MAAC v Big East)

Navy v Lehigh (Patriot)

Ohio State v Cornell (Big Ten v Ivy)

Dartmouth v Siena (Ivy v MAAC)

Boston v Colgate (Patriot)

Monmouth v Saint Joseph’s (MAAC v NEC)

Binghamton v Bucknell (AE v Patriot)

Marist v Air Force (MAAC v ASUN)

Maryland v Notre Dame (Big Ten v ACC)

Harvard v Fairfield (Ivy v CAA)

Rutgers v Stony Brook (Big Ten v AE)

Bellarmine v High Point (ASUN v SoCon)

NJIT v Wagner (AE v NEC)

Loyola v Lafayette (Patriot)

Drexel v LIU (CAA v NEC)

Bryant v Vermont (NEC v AE)

Denver v UNC (Big East v ACC)

Umass v Yale (CAA v Ivy)

Brown v Providence (Ivy v Big East)

Princeton v Georgetown (Ivy v Big East)

Sunday 3/6

Cleveland St v Canisius (ASUN v MAAC)

Hobart v Syracuse (NEC v ACC)

Holy Cross v Army (Patriot)

Utah v Jacksonville (ASUN v SoCon)

Games to Look Out For

This week marks the start of the Patriot League’s league schedule, as a few teams are playing some within the league. But the game from there that makes me want to tune in is Navy and Lehigh. These were both preseason Top 20 teams, and their ambitions are still on the league title. With this being a league game, the stakes are very high for both teams after stumbling in their non-conference games.

The other games where teams have something to prove are Penn State against Penn and Delaware facing Michigan. Penn State struggled out of the gate BIG TIME, but then scored a huge upset over Yale last week. Now, they will face Penn, who is fresh off their own win over Duke. This sets up a great game between two teams coming off of big highs the week before. For Delaware and Michigan, it’s not quite the same stake, but Michigan is looking to really be in the Big Ten mix and a win over Delaware would definitely reinforce that. With Delaware currently sitting at the top of the CAA standings, they need to show that they can go toe to toe with the big three conferences.

Sneaky Good Matchups

Utah v Jacksonville (ASUN v SoCon)

Ohio State v Cornell (Big Ten v Ivy)

Denver v UNC (Big East v ACC)

Not So Sneaky Matchups

Maryland v Notre Dame (Big Ten v ACC)

Princeton v Georgetown (Ivy v Big East)

Johns Hopkins v UVA (Big Ten v ACC)