Ivy League Strong: Ryan’s Rundown Week 4

The Ivy League has made its presence known over the past few weeks. Conference play has officially started, and the non-conference slates are winding down. Oh, and the Ivies are FOR REAL. So, let’s dive into the rundown!

Scoreboard

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 17 v Syracuse 13 (Patriot v ACC)

Towson 11 v Loyola 8 (CAA v Patriot)

Siena 7 v Albany 11 (MAAC v AE)

Friday 3/4

VMI 8 v Mount St. Mary’s 7 (SoCon v NEC)

Saturday 3/5

Hampton 0 v St. Bonaventure 21 (SoCon v MAAC)

Penn St. 9 v Penn 10 (Big Ten v Ivy)

Detroit Mercy 7 v Marquette 13 (ASUN v Big East)

Johns Hopkins 8 v UVA 19 (Big Ten v ACC)

Umass Lowell 10 v Merrimack 16 (AE v NEC)

Robert Morris 13 v Mercer 11 (ASUN v SoCon)

Delaware 8 v Michigan 18 (CAA v Big Ten)

UMBC 10 v Towson 11 (AE v CAA)

Richmond 8 v Duke 14 (SoCon v ACC)

Hofstra 6 v Villanova 8 (CAA v Big East)

Manhattan 7 v St. John’s 8 (MAAC v Big East)

Navy 7 v Lehigh 11 (Patriot)

Ohio State 11 v Cornell 14 (Big Ten v Ivy)

Dartmouth 11 v Siena 9 (Ivy v MAAC)

Boston 18 v Colgate 6 (Patriot)

Monmouth 10 v Saint Joseph’s 15 (MAAC v NEC)

Binghamton 11 v Bucknell 17 (AE v Patriot)

Marist 8 v Air Force 17 (MAAC v ASUN)

Maryland 11 v Notre Dame 9 (Big Ten v ACC)

Harvard 16 v Fairfield 12 (Ivy v CAA)

Rutgers 17 v Stony Brook 16 (Big Ten v AE)

Bellarmine 4 v High Point 16 (ASUN v SoCon)

NJIT 5 v Wagner 7 (AE v NEC)

Loyola 14 v Lafayette 12 (Patriot)

Drexel 10 v LIU 8 (CAA v NEC)

Bryant 6 v Vermont 16 (NEC v AE)

Denver 16 v UNC 17 (Big East v ACC)

Umass 12 v Yale 13 (CAA v Ivy)

Brown 22 v Providence 10 (Ivy v Big East)

Princeton 10 v Georgetown 8 (Ivy v Big East)

Sunday 3/6

Cleveland St 12 v Canisius 10 (ASUN v MAAC)

Hobart 16 v Syracuse 18 (NEC v ACC)

Holy Cross 8 v Army 14 (Patriot)

Utah 16 v Jacksonville 10 (ASUN v SoCon)

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

This week definitely became interesting. Princeton’s huge win over Georgetown got the same level of correction as Ohio State did when they beat UNC. They went from unranked to 11. Meanwhile, I decided to go with Cornell at three. The scary thing for me is that with Cornell, their offense really doesn’t look that good and they’re still able to put 14 points up on Ohio State. When that group really comes together by the end of the season, they could absolutely be a title contender. The other major upset of the week was Utah of Jacksonville. I had Utah as by #20 going into the week (Jacksonville at 11), but that was a huge win for the Utes. Jacksonville was on fire going into this game, but it was still a game they needed to win.

With where we are in the season, it’s important to remember a few things. The first being that teams do not always play their best game. Who they are playing when they are not is how you wind up with upsets and so much movement in the rankings. Also, in terms of rankings, they evolve through the season. It’s not a week to week pick of who you think will be at Championship Weekend. The preseason ballot was all about potential, and absolutely subject to change. But where we are in the season now, preseason expectations have little to now weight, which is the same for a team’s potential. I really try to look at what a team has done on the field and adjust week to week based on that. Is Duke the 15th best team in the country based on talent and potential? Absolutely not. But given their schedule and where they are, I see that as a good spot for them THIS week. Next week, we’ll see how things shift based on their performance and those around them. If everyone played their best every game and the favored team always won, the polls would be boring.

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.

There was actually very little movement in the standings this week. At the top, the Ivies overtook the ACC for the number two spot while the Big Ten is just barely hanging on. But after them, everyone else stayed put until the bottom. The ASUN picked up even wins at the expense of the MAAC’s losses to move up from the bottom spot in the table.

This Week’s Games

Tuesday 3/8

Saint Joseph’s v Drexel (NEC v CAA)

Quinnipiac v Fairfield (MAAC v CAA)

Albany v Umass (AE v CAA)

Sacred Heart v Providence (NEC v Big East)

Vermont v Dartmouth (AE v Ivy)

Binghamton v Hofstra (AE v CAA)

Wednesday 3/9

Canisius v Robert Morris (MAAC v ASUN)

Thursday 3/10

Virginia v UNC (ACC)

Mercer v Mount St. Mary’s (SoCon v NEC)

Friday 3/11

Cleveland St v St. Bonaventure (ASUN v MAAC)

Utah v UMBC (ASUN v AE)

Saturday 3/12

Colgate v Navy (Patriot)

Mercer v Wagner (SoCon v NEC)

Monmouth v NJIT (MAAC v AE)

Penn v Villanova (Ivy v Big East)

Marist v Delaware (MAAC v CAA)

Air Force v Bryant (ASUN v NEC)

Cornell v Penn St. (Ivy v Big Ten)

Drexel v Marquette (CAA v Big East)

Harvard v Michigan (Ivy v Big Ten)

Holy Cross v Lehigh (Patriot)

LIU v Massachusetts (NEC v CAA)

Manhattan v Hofstra (MAAC v CAA)

Rutgers v Princeton (Big Ten v Ivy)

Stony Brook v Brown (AE v Ivy)

VMI v Detroit Mercy (SoCon v ASUN)

Bucknell v Boston U. (Patriot)

Vermont v Providence (AE v Big East)

Georgetown v Richmond (Big East v SoCon)

Notre Dame v Ohio St. (ACC v Big Ten)

Albany v Maryland (AE v Big Ten)

Duke v Loyola (ACC v Patriot)

Fairfield v Binghamton (CAA v AE)

Siena v St. John’s (MAAC v Big East)

Towson v Saint Joseph’s (CAA v NEC)

Jacksonville v Bellarmine (SoCon v ASUN)

High Point v Robert Morris (SoCon v ASUN)

Army West Point v Lafayette (Patriot)

Sacred Heart v UMass Lowell (NEC v AE)

Sunday 3/13

Syracuse v Johns Hopkins (ACC v Big Ten)

St. Bonaventure v Cleveland St. (MAAC v ASUN)

Yale v Denver (Ivy v Big East)

Games to Look Out For

This weekend could be the one that either lets the Big Ten assert its dominance over the Ivies, or for the Ivies to take control of Division 1 Men’s Lacrosse. There are a few key games between the two, but the headliners in the head to head matchups are Harvard against Michigan and Cornell against Penn State AKA the Tambroni Bowl.  Cornell should easily win that one (ON PAPER), but Michigan and Harvard could either be a super close game or a Michigan blow out. I wouldn’t be surprised with either result, honestly.

Sneaky Good Matchups

Bucknell v Boston U. (Patriot)

Stony Brook v Brown (AE v Ivy)

Rutgers v Princeton (Big Ten v Ivy) [The Battle for Jersey!!]

LIU v Massachusetts (NEC v CAA)

Penn v Villanova (Ivy v Big East)

Not So Sneaky Matchups

Virginia v UNC (ACC)

Syracuse v Johns Hopkins (ACC v Big Ten)

Yale v Denver (Ivy v Big East)

Notre Dame v Ohio St. (ACC v Big Ten)