| Will Cortland State finish
running the table and put up its first unbeaten
season? Cortland athletics photo by Darl Zehr Photography |
By Dave McHugh
D3sports.com
The men’s lacrosse bracket needs a jolt of creative juice. Maybe an IV line so that the creativeness goes straight into the blood stream and takes effect immediately.
For a long time, the committee seems to be more interested in regional games against teams who are close together than to find matchups early on that not only allows some of the best teams in the country to play each other later in the tournament, but also allows lacrosse fans to see teams from different regions on the same field early and often. It’s one of the last bastions of regionally based brackets, worse than a baseball bracket or a women’s basketball bracket.
Is it really that hard to move teams from the North and South Regions around? It isn’t that interesting to see Montclair State and Stevens located 16 ... yes, 16 miles from each other face off in the first round. Why not send Salisbury to Stevens and Montclair State down to Lynchburg? That makes two non-region games in the first round. The committee is allowed to send teams up to 500 miles, so why not move at least a third of the teams in each bracket to the other and come up with some great games? Sure, the travel will be tough, but this is the NCAA Tournament.
What is most glaring problem: brackets are basically two sides, the North vs. the South. The South Bracket features NO teams from the North and the North Bracket features at best four games before Philadelphia between non-regional opponents. And are you telling me Dickinson or Stevenson couldn’t have switched places with RIT? Imagine a North versus South region game in the semifinals?!
This is a major reason why Division III men’s lacrosse needs more than two regions, but seemingly that isn’t coming any time soon. I could go on about how I would blow everything up and rebracket including determining why some teams got in and others didn’t, but this is the bracket we have, so let’s take a look at what may happen.
In each of the brackets below, I look at an intriguing matchup while also picking a team likely to surprise, a disappointment and a champion. My surprise teams are likely to pull off at least one win you didn’t expect and a disappointment is a team, probably with home field advantage, which will lose earlier than even they expect.
The Cortland State Bracket
Aurora (16-3) at Ohio Wesleyan (13-5), winner plays Cortland
State (17-0)
Eastern Connecticut State (10-7) at Western New England (11-6)
Castleton (15-3) at Nazareth (14-4)
This may the easiest road to Philadelphia of all the brackets. Cortland State is the only team with less than three loses and there is only one other team ranked in the USILA Top 20 (No. 9 Nazareth). It also features the rare chance to see a non-regional game when the winner of Aurora and Ohio Wesleyan plays Cortland State in the second round.
Most intriguing matchup: Castleton vs. Nazareth. This will be just Castleton’s seventh game on the road and they are playing a Nazareth team which practically stumbled its way into the tournament. The game-within-the-game will be at the faceoff X where both teams are very successful with Castleton at .598 and Nazareth at .622. The battle between the Spartans’ Ben Roberts and the Golden Flyers’ Drew Simoneau for possession will be fun to watch. And who gets possession will be important. Castleton has the seventh-best scoring offense in the country at 15.3 goals a game and are led by Zach Davidson with 109 points. Nazareth will have to find an answer for Davidson without giving up too many goals because Castleton allows fewer than seven goals a game this year. The question is how that will
Most likely to disappoint: Ohio Wesleyan. The Battling Bishops have a storied history in men’s lacrosse including the second most tournament appearances in Division III history, but the committee wasn’t kind to OWU. Their second round opponent will be Cortland State as long as the Battling Bishops don’t overlook Aurora in the first round. I think Ohio Wesleyan has a team that could make a run in the tournament if they were placed anywhere else. So the disappointment may be before we even start with the fact the Red Dragons will most likely eliminate OWU this weekend.
Team likely to surprise: I am not predicting it will happen, but something about Castleton keeps gnawing at me. I am not that sold on Nazareth and feel there is a solid chance they could lose early in their tournament. If that were the case, Castleton would be the team to pull it off.
Champion: Cortland State over Nazareth.
The RIT Bracket
Norwich (12-4) at Tufts (14-4)
Montclair State (14-4) at Stevens (12-4)
Springfield (10-7) at Cabrini (14-3), winner to play RIT
(16-2)
There is a lot of scratching of heads in this bracket. There is some creativity by having teams from two different regions in the first round, but two other games will feature teams who are an average of 92 miles from each other. There is also most likely a top five matchup in the second round.
Most intriguing matchup: Cabrini vs. RIT
It is a potential battle of Top 5 teams ... in the second round! RIT gets the bye and Cabrini plays Springfield, but this game should have been further down the pike. This game is very even when looking at the two teams. They are both very good shooting teams who are solid with their man-up offenses. They also are disciplined, though RIT only allows a goal when down a man 19 percent of the time. This will be a great battle between two very good teams which again should have been a quarterfinal game at least.
Most likely to disappoint: RIT
RIT is certainly a good team which proved it could play with the best, losing to both No. 4 Stevenson and No. 1 Cortland State by 12-11 scores, both in overtime. However, RIT has never seemed to pass the eye test with me and many of their wins that looked significant at the time turned out to be against teams that ended up not having great seasons. The team got a bye thanks to the fact they are in the North Region and more South Region teams got in. I am not sure RIT will get past Cabrini.
Team likely to surprise: There aren’t many choices in this bracket for a surprise game, but Montclair State will probably beat Stevens and could end up giving Tufts a run for its money. Of course you could say Cabrini will surprise only because I think they will beat two Top 6 teams on the road.
Champion: Cabrini over Tufts
The Dickinson Bracket
Otterbein (12-5) at Adrian (13-3), winner to play Dickinson
(17-0)
Susquehanna (12-6) at Salisbury (14-5)
Sewanee (15-4) at Washington & Lee (15-4)
Most intriguing matchup: Sewanee vs. Washington and Lee. The game really has me interested. Sewanee is scoring twice as many as it allows, convert on nearly four out of 10 man-up opportunities, are strong at the faceoff X, dominate in the groundball department and while its schedule doesn’t jump out at you it does have some items that caught my attention. Washington and Lee in the meantime is having a very good year including two one-goal defeats to Roanoke.
Most likely to disappoint: Salisbury. It may seem like a no-brainer that nothing should be expected from a five-loss team, but this is Salisbury we are talking about. In nine of the last 10 years, the Sea Gulls have played for a national title including years like this one where they were expected to struggle because they had lost so much talent from the year before. Of course they have won seven of their ten titles in the last decade as well. While their five losses this season are all to NCAA Tournament teams, including St. Mary’s (Md.) who is only in the tournament because it surprised Salisbury in the CAC title game, the Sea Gulls have struggled especially at home and made some teams look far better than they really are. Salisbury will probably get past a pesky Susquehanna squad before running into Washington and Lee. I don’t think they can exact revenge for their earlier loss and will have their earliest exit from the NCAA Tournament since 1989.
Most likely to surprise: This might be too big a leap of faith, but I could see Washington and Lee beating Dickinson to get to the semifinals. I already know there are some people shaking their heads, but I am not blown away by Dickinson. So if there is a team likely to surprise, it is going to be the Generals.
Champion: Washington and Lee over Dickinson.
The Roanoke Bracket
Christopher Newport (8-8) at Stevenson (17-2)
Colorado College (13-4) at Washington College (12-4)
St. Mary’s, Md. (12-6) at Lynchburg (12-5)
Centre (11-3) at Roanoke (15-3)
This is the most difficult bracket of the tournament. It is the only place where there is no bye and it has the most Top 20 teams with five (No. 4 Stevenson, No. 7 Roanoke, No. 11 Washington, No. 13 Lynchburg, No. 19 St. Mary’s). You also have some of the best story lines of the season with Washington College having resurrected a proud program capping it by winning the War on the Shore against Salisbury for the first time since 2002, St. Mary’s who became the first team other than Salisbury to win a CAC title, Christopher Newport who may not have the best record, but got an at-large big because of its tough schedule, Colorado College which is the poster child of the game’s westward expansion, and Stevenson who shifted conferences and finally won a conference title. Any number of teams could come out of this bracket or would be a favorite to get to Philadelphia if moved elsewhere.
Most intriguing matchup: Washington College vs. Stevenson. This second-round game would mark the first meeting between two teams since 2007 (when Stevenson was still Villa Julie) who are only separated by the Chesapeake Bay. These are two strong programs that many in Baltimore/Maryland lacrosse community would loved to see play more often. Maybe this can start a rivalry and turn the War on the Shore and the Stevenson/Salisbury rivalries into a non-conference triad to look forward to every year. This is also a game Stevenson may not want to see early in the tournament.
Team likely to surprise: Lynchburg. The Hornets could pull off one of the big upsets in the early rounds by beating Roanoke in the second round. Lynchburg has played some of the best teams in the country to close games playing most of them on the road – which is where they will face the Maroons. Earlier in the year, this was another one-goal game which went in the favor of Roanoke. However, I think the Maroons will not be able to beat Lynchburg for a second time.
Most likely to disappoint: With five Top 20 teams in this bracket there are going to be a number of teams that are going to disappoint. That makes for choosing one for this preview a little difficult; which one do you pick? You could make a strong argument for any of them.
With that in mind, I decided to go with the team I think has had the highest expectations to live up to: Stevenson. With several preseason polls placing the Mustangs at No. 1 or No. 2, nine returning All-Americans and an easier conference to compete in, this season has felt like it’s the championship game or bust. Of course, Stevenson gets placed in the toughest bracket making a run to Philadelphia a major challenge. While the Mustangs have certainly tested themselves with one of the best out-of-conference schedules in the country, the switch to the MAC Commonwealth didn’t help in terms of challenging them. Stevenson has also struggled to play a complete 60 minutes of lacrosse and have allowed a number of late game leads evaporate. Stevenson may get out of the bracket, but if they don’t reach the title game it will be a disappointment.
Champion: Stevenson over Lynchburg
The Semifinals
Cortland State over Cabrini: Experience and depth will be major factors in this one giving the undefeated Red Dragons the win and not only head to the championship game in back-to-back years, but win their fifth title and have their first undefeated season in program history. The game will be at Cortland State which will be a huge advantage against a Cabrini squad who will be playing its fourth Top 6 team in four games.
Washington and Lee over Stevenson: If I stick to my team to surprise and disappointment predictions, then I have to go with W&L over Stevenson. It is interesting since Stevenson could easily lose earlier in the tournament and it would mark the second time the Mustangs will have lost at home this season. No matter what, this will mark only the second South Region team not named Salisbury to play in the title game in over a decade.
Championship game: Cortland State over Washington and Lee.
When I started this process, I didn’t think either of the undefeated teams could win the national championship, but the bracket has aligned for Cortland State. Not only will they have come out of the easiest bracket probably allowing them to be more rested, but Washington and Lee will be yet another example of a team from the South Region being too beaten up from a bruising run through the bracket to be fresh enough to keep up with Cortland State.
This would mark the Red Dragons’ fifth national title (first since 2009) and first ever undefeated season.