Maryland goes 12-0 and their reward is to play Notre Dame in quarters in South Bend assuming we both do our work against tough first round opponents.
We are understandably ticked but how the F is Maryland 3?
How are we 6? If our out-of-conference schedule was soft how do you explain Georgetown's entire schedule, which included 7 wins against Providence, St. John's, Marquette, and Mt. St. Mary's.
Syracuse over Army is criminal and Tim Leonard- Townson's AD and Tourney Chair - said it was painfully close. What impressed them most? Syracuse's 14-goal loss to ND or their 12-goal loss to Carolina, where they gave up both times and got the s&%t betaen out of them. Perhaps it was the 7-goal loss to Army, the team at issue where apparently it was painfully close.
In the past, they've cited travel budgets and costs as factors but it clearly didn't matter this year. Otherwise, a team from Maine wouldn't be flying to Virgina, and teams from Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Maryland wouldn't be flying to Denver.
Winning twice against Virginia, including once on the road. Those were better quality wins than anything Army had. Without those wins, I think leaving Syracuse out would have been a no-brainer. On the other hand, maybe the Committee was simply excited about the possibility of matching up Syracuse and Georgetown, although that's more of a basketball rivalry than a lacrosse rivalry.
Even in a normal year, travel restrictions shouldn't be an issue in deciding between Syracuse and Army. It's 220 miles from Syracuse to West Point, and if you're talking about traveling to DC to face Georgetown, the difference is even smaller than that.
only look at the comparison of wins. UVA is a great team and those wins were impressive but they were blown out by others, including Army. That first loss wasn't a blip on the screen. It's who they are - a team capable of big games but also of major letdowns. I think if it's close you have to value head-to-head, especially this year when teams were mostly wedded to a limited non-conference schedule.
It's moot now and Syracuse has the talent to win at all or lose by 10 to Georgetown.
Agree on the travel budget having no impact on the decision between the two. My point was on the seeding not Army v. Syracuse.
I think it's pretty safe to assume the 2-flight rule and higher seeded teams getting 1st round home games will be put back in place next year once the COVID situation is resolved.
Bryant is in Rhode Island, not Maine, BTW. There would have had to be some major reshuffling of the bracket to stay within the 2-flight rule since someone would have had to fly from the East Coast to Denver and SB.
However. Unless the intention was to put each team into a sort of bubble at the first round sites, I don't think this was a good idea.
As it is, instead of 8 teams traveling to first-round sites, this year 13 teams are traveling to first-round sites (all except North Carolina, Duke and Virginia). 10 of those 13 teams will have to fly to first-round sites (exceptions are Georgetown, High Point and Loyola).
If the tournament ever adds a round prior to the Round of 16, I think that four sites for the Round of 16 would be an excellent idea. I don't think it was a good idea for this year.
As far as the two air travel games rule goes, I think the NCAA has occasionally allowed three air travel games, and I think they would have done so this year as well. The only two unseeded teams in the bracket within bussing distance to Duke and North Carolina were High Point and Loyola. Matching up Loyola against Duke would not have been fair to either team, and moving Denver to the unseeded part of the field so that they could face ND (a move which would have saved one air travel game) wouldn't be fair to either team as well.
same bracket with #7 Duke, #3 Cuse with #6 Florida in the same bracket. ND starts against Robert Morris at home and then if they win gets winner of UConn/UVA also at ND. If they win that, the qtrs.
For the ND Women to get to the Final 4, they are going to have to figure out how to get past BC who have been to the championship game the last 3 lacrosse tournaments, all 3 ending runner-up. They also beat us pretty bad both times we played this season at Chestnut Hill. At least BC doesn't get a bye like the top 3 seeds get.
..over Stony Brook. Blue Devils have no wins over seeded teams. and this seems to be a year when all concerned decided that numbers were ok to use or just rely on eye test and talk around the table. The committee chair cited "they played well" in defeats. Huh? To get seeded?
Well, in any case, regardless of #7 or #8 seeding, they end up playing Northwestern or North Carolina. Good luck to them and Stony Brook.
I've attached an article which goes into detail...
BTW, ND got seeded pretty much where I expected, given their record.
My gripe with the Irish this season isn't with the NCAA committee, it's with the ACC. I understand a lot of scheduling was done to cut down on COVID exposure. How was it that ND had not one, but two away doubleheaders against teams that ended up seeded in the Top 4? And had no doubleheaders scheduled in South Bend?
My biggest concern with the Irish right now is that Andie Aldvive is still not close to 80% (shows on faceoffs) and Sam Lynch is out, who was the Irish best creator.
Defenses are just pinpointing Ahearn and Choma now and daring Howe to score 8 goals.
UVA gets Georgetown in second round and avoids UNC, Duke, MD and ND?
A chalk Final 4 is 1 (UNC) playing 4 (UVa) and 2 (Duke) playing 3 (MD).
But the Hoos got the easiest draw to the final four. Who would you switch with?