Lacrosse

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NCF

Quote from: Vandy74 on May 27, 2013, 04:00:42 AM
Quote from: NCF on May 20, 2013, 08:17:32 AM
Now on to the men's championship:
http://www.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/lacrosse-men_d3_2012.pdf

An exciting back and forth game with Stevenson beating RIT 16-14.  Rochester led 13-10 going into the fourth quarter but a 5-0 Stevenson run was the answer.  The first time playing in the championship game for both teams.  Congratulations to Stevenson. 

It's time to expand the brackets from the 32 team format, at least for the men.  Very soon for the women as well, but that's a post for another day.
The numbers are large enough to support the expansion, especially since it looks like (from the numbers I found) that lacrosse is the fastest growing div 3 sport right now. I doubt, however, the NCAA will move quickly on tournament expansion.
CCIW FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
CCIW  MEN"S INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: TOTAL DOMINATION SINCE 2001.
CCIW MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: 35
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: INDOOR TRACK-'89,'10,'11,'12/OUTDOOR TRACK: '89,'94,'98,'00,'10,'11
2013 OAC post season pick-em tri-champion
2015 CCIW Pick-em co-champion

kate

Huge congratulations to Stevenson!!!   Very proud of one of our newer MAC members!!!

NCF

Quote from: kate on May 27, 2013, 10:14:39 AM
Huge congratulations to Stevenson!!!   Very proud of one of our newer MAC members!!!
Yes, congrats, but I hope to see a Midwest team win it all one day :)
CCIW FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
CCIW  MEN"S INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: TOTAL DOMINATION SINCE 2001.
CCIW MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: 35
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: INDOOR TRACK-'89,'10,'11,'12/OUTDOOR TRACK: '89,'94,'98,'00,'10,'11
2013 OAC post season pick-em tri-champion
2015 CCIW Pick-em co-champion

NCF

Duke vs Syracuse on ESPN now. 2-0 Orange
CCIW FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
CCIW  MEN"S INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: TOTAL DOMINATION SINCE 2001.
CCIW MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: 35
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: INDOOR TRACK-'89,'10,'11,'12/OUTDOOR TRACK: '89,'94,'98,'00,'10,'11
2013 OAC post season pick-em tri-champion
2015 CCIW Pick-em co-champion

NCF

Duke comes back after being down 6-1 to win the mens championship!
CCIW FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
CCIW  MEN"S INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: TOTAL DOMINATION SINCE 2001.
CCIW MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: 35
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: INDOOR TRACK-'89,'10,'11,'12/OUTDOOR TRACK: '89,'94,'98,'00,'10,'11
2013 OAC post season pick-em tri-champion
2015 CCIW Pick-em co-champion

Vandy74

Quote from: NCF on May 27, 2013, 01:17:43 PM
Duke vs Syracuse on ESPN now. 2-0 Orange

Syracuse.  Alma Mater of 1957 All-American and Lacrosse Hall of Fame member Jim Brown. 

NCF

Quote from: Vandy74 on May 27, 2013, 11:51:44 PM
Quote from: NCF on May 27, 2013, 01:17:43 PM
Duke vs Syracuse on ESPN now. 2-0 Orange

Syracuse.  Alma Mater of 1957 All-American and Lacrosse Hall of Fame member Jim Brown.
I stpped watching afterthe score was 4-0, and began grilling. Syracuse seemed to be in control, glad Duke came back strong!
CCIW FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
CCIW  MEN"S INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: TOTAL DOMINATION SINCE 2001.
CCIW MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: 35
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: INDOOR TRACK-'89,'10,'11,'12/OUTDOOR TRACK: '89,'94,'98,'00,'10,'11
2013 OAC post season pick-em tri-champion
2015 CCIW Pick-em co-champion

Vandy74

Quote from: NCF on May 27, 2013, 10:58:41 AM
Quote from: kate on May 27, 2013, 10:14:39 AM
Huge congratulations to Stevenson!!!   Very proud of one of our newer MAC members!!!
Yes, congrats, but I hope to see a Midwest team win it all one day :)

Denison has advanced to the Final Four twice.  I'm at the age when you remember something you used to know more often than you learn something new. ::)  What I really understand about lacrosse I've learned over the last 9-10 years from watching the team my sister-in-law coaches at Middlebury, but I did briefly follow the Midd men's team via some news clippings a friend would send me when I wasn't living in the area.  The Midd men's team won the D3 championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002.  Denison played them in regular season games in 1998, 1999 and 2000.  The team that won the title in 2000 beat Denison 17-9.  A Midd team that would lose in the NCAA quarterfinals in 1998 beat Denison 10-9 and in 1999 Midd won the match-up 11-9.  Both of those teams went to the Final Four that season.  Middlebury lost in the championship game.

Besides pointing out what I used to know :-[, that Denison has played serious men's lacrosse for quite a while (Denison's present lacrosse coach of 19 seasons only ranks 2nd in wins in that sport at the school), what these teams did this season without earning an NCAA tourney bid is evidence that the field must look to expand.  Both teams were ranked during the season.  Denison at least as high as 14th at one point and Middlebury 8th.  Denison was upset by Ohio Wesleyan in the NCAC tourney.  Middlebury was upset by #14 Wesleyan in the NESCAC tourney.  Neither team, both with rich lacrosse heritages, was given an at-large bid.  It would be understandable if every slot was occupied by a competitive team but there were 4-5 games that resulted in ridiculously lopsided scores.  Conference champions who will never get past the first round.  Also, the field was not even 32 teams.  3 teams were given 1st round byes.  And I am just speaking as a Middlebury fan replying to a poster from the Midwest.  You can be sure that there were many other teams who could have gone far into the tourney left out as well.  It's time to expand the tournament field. 


NCF

Quote from: Vandy74 on June 01, 2013, 12:15:05 AM
Quote from: NCF on May 27, 2013, 10:58:41 AM
Quote from: kate on May 27, 2013, 10:14:39 AM
Huge congratulations to Stevenson!!!   Very proud of one of our newer MAC members!!!
Yes, congrats, but I hope to see a Midwest team win it all one day :)

Denison has advanced to the Final Four twice.  I'm at the age when you remember something you used to know more often than you learn something new. ::)  What I really understand about lacrosse I've learned over the last 9-10 years from watching the team my sister-in-law coaches at Middlebury, but I did briefly follow the Midd men's team via some news clippings a friend would send me when I wasn't living in the area.  The Midd men's team won the D3 championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002.  Denison played them in regular season games in 1998, 1999 and 2000.  The team that won the title in 2000 beat Denison 17-9.  A Midd team that would lose in the NCAA quarterfinals in 1998 beat Denison 10-9 and in 1999 Midd won the match-up 11-9.  Both of those teams went to the Final Four that season.  Middlebury lost in the championship game.

Besides pointing out what I used to know :-[, that Denison has played serious men's lacrosse for quite a while (Denison's present lacrosse coach of 19 seasons only ranks 2nd in wins in that sport at the school), what these teams did this season without earning an NCAA tourney bid is evidence that the field must look to expand.  Both teams were ranked during the season.  Denison at least as high as 14th at one point and Middlebury 8th.  Denison was upset by Ohio Wesleyan in the NCAC tourney.  Middlebury was upset by #14 Wesleyan in the NESCAC tourney.  Neither team, both with rich lacrosse heritages, was given an at-large bid.  It would be understandable if every slot was occupied by a competitive team but there were 4-5 games that resulted in ridiculously lopsided scores.  Conference champions who will never get past the first round.  Also, the field was not even 32 teams.  3 teams were given 1st round byes.  And I am just speaking as a Middlebury fan replying to a poster from the Midwest.  You can be sure that there were many other teams who could have gone far into the tourney left out as well.  It's time to expand the tournament field.
I completely agree with you on this and say the same thing about football. It is a shame weak teams from weak conferences get an automatic bid,while good teams from tough conferences stay home.
CCIW FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
CCIW  MEN"S INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: TOTAL DOMINATION SINCE 2001.
CCIW MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: 35
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: INDOOR TRACK-'89,'10,'11,'12/OUTDOOR TRACK: '89,'94,'98,'00,'10,'11
2013 OAC post season pick-em tri-champion
2015 CCIW Pick-em co-champion

wally_wabash

Quote from: NCF on June 01, 2013, 08:37:18 PM
Quote from: Vandy74 on June 01, 2013, 12:15:05 AM
Quote from: NCF on May 27, 2013, 10:58:41 AM
Quote from: kate on May 27, 2013, 10:14:39 AM
Huge congratulations to Stevenson!!!   Very proud of one of our newer MAC members!!!
Yes, congrats, but I hope to see a Midwest team win it all one day :)

Denison has advanced to the Final Four twice.  I'm at the age when you remember something you used to know more often than you learn something new. ::)  What I really understand about lacrosse I've learned over the last 9-10 years from watching the team my sister-in-law coaches at Middlebury, but I did briefly follow the Midd men's team via some news clippings a friend would send me when I wasn't living in the area.  The Midd men's team won the D3 championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002.  Denison played them in regular season games in 1998, 1999 and 2000.  The team that won the title in 2000 beat Denison 17-9.  A Midd team that would lose in the NCAA quarterfinals in 1998 beat Denison 10-9 and in 1999 Midd won the match-up 11-9.  Both of those teams went to the Final Four that season.  Middlebury lost in the championship game.

Besides pointing out what I used to know :-[, that Denison has played serious men's lacrosse for quite a while (Denison's present lacrosse coach of 19 seasons only ranks 2nd in wins in that sport at the school), what these teams did this season without earning an NCAA tourney bid is evidence that the field must look to expand.  Both teams were ranked during the season.  Denison at least as high as 14th at one point and Middlebury 8th.  Denison was upset by Ohio Wesleyan in the NCAC tourney.  Middlebury was upset by #14 Wesleyan in the NESCAC tourney.  Neither team, both with rich lacrosse heritages, was given an at-large bid.  It would be understandable if every slot was occupied by a competitive team but there were 4-5 games that resulted in ridiculously lopsided scores.  Conference champions who will never get past the first round.  Also, the field was not even 32 teams.  3 teams were given 1st round byes.  And I am just speaking as a Middlebury fan replying to a poster from the Midwest.  You can be sure that there were many other teams who could have gone far into the tourney left out as well.  It's time to expand the tournament field.
I completely agree with you on this and say the same thing about football. It is a shame weak teams from weak conferences get an automatic bid,while good teams from tough conferences stay home.

I respectfully disagree with both of you regarding access to the championship tournament.  Always always always remember that the NCAA tournament fields in the team sports are not ever advertised as the best 32 or 29 or 61 or whatever the number of teams involved happens to be.  It's a tournament of champions, rounded out with whatever number of at-large invitations needed to get to whatever number the NCAA decides gets to be involved in that given tournament.  We can bemoan some of the one-sided affairs that happen in the first round of every one of these tournaments, but this is WAY better than having the entire field be determined by the subjectivity whims of a committee.  Everybody who starts a season knows how they can qualify for the championship tournament and everybody has equal access. 

I think the folly here is how conferences award their golden ticket...when the national tournament field is small and there aren't a ton of at-large bids available to act as a safety net, giving your league's bid away to a conference tournament champion puts your league's best team at risk of not getting to play the postseason.  Seems that would have been the case with Denison and Middlebury this year.  This isn't a problem in football because they don't have league tournaments.  It's much less of a problem in basketball because there are a ton of at-large bids.  But lacrosse...there's just not enough slots available to lose your league tournament and feel safe. 

And with that, Wabash has hired their first varsity lacrosse coach and the Little Giants will take the field next spring!  It's going to be a huge challenge for Wabash to get competitive in the NCAC, but one that I think the college and the college community is fully behind.  I like bringing aboard a veteran coach like Terry Corcoran to get the program off and running.  Varsity lacrosse has been a long time coming at Wabash and I'm ecstatic that the time has finally come for the Little Giants to participate in this sport at this level. 
"Nothing in the world is more expensive than free."- The Deacon of HBO's The Wire

NCF

Quote from: wally_wabash on June 25, 2013, 04:39:27 PM
Quote from: NCF on June 01, 2013, 08:37:18 PM
Quote from: Vandy74 on June 01, 2013, 12:15:05 AM
Quote from: NCF on May 27, 2013, 10:58:41 AM
Quote from: kate on May 27, 2013, 10:14:39 AM
Huge congratulations to Stevenson!!!   Very proud of one of our newer MAC members!!!
Yes, congrats, but I hope to see a Midwest team win it all one day :)

Denison has advanced to the Final Four twice.  I'm at the age when you remember something you used to know more often than you learn something new. ::)  What I really understand about lacrosse I've learned over the last 9-10 years from watching the team my sister-in-law coaches at Middlebury, but I did briefly follow the Midd men's team via some news clippings a friend would send me when I wasn't living in the area.  The Midd men's team won the D3 championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002.  Denison played them in regular season games in 1998, 1999 and 2000.  The team that won the title in 2000 beat Denison 17-9.  A Midd team that would lose in the NCAA quarterfinals in 1998 beat Denison 10-9 and in 1999 Midd won the match-up 11-9.  Both of those teams went to the Final Four that season.  Middlebury lost in the championship game.

Besides pointing out what I used to know :-[, that Denison has played serious men's lacrosse for quite a while (Denison's present lacrosse coach of 19 seasons only ranks 2nd in wins in that sport at the school), what these teams did this season without earning an NCAA tourney bid is evidence that the field must look to expand.  Both teams were ranked during the season.  Denison at least as high as 14th at one point and Middlebury 8th.  Denison was upset by Ohio Wesleyan in the NCAC tourney.  Middlebury was upset by #14 Wesleyan in the NESCAC tourney.  Neither team, both with rich lacrosse heritages, was given an at-large bid.  It would be understandable if every slot was occupied by a competitive team but there were 4-5 games that resulted in ridiculously lopsided scores.  Conference champions who will never get past the first round.  Also, the field was not even 32 teams.  3 teams were given 1st round byes.  And I am just speaking as a Middlebury fan replying to a poster from the Midwest.  You can be sure that there were many other teams who could have gone far into the tourney left out as well.  It's time to expand the tournament field.
I completely agree with you on this and say the same thing about football. It is a shame weak teams from weak conferences get an automatic bid,while good teams from tough conferences stay home.

I respectfully disagree with both of you regarding access to the championship tournament.  Always always always remember that the NCAA tournament fields in the team sports are not ever advertised as the best 32 or 29 or 61 or whatever the number of teams involved happens to be.  It's a tournament of champions, rounded out with whatever number of at-large invitations needed to get to whatever number the NCAA decides gets to be involved in that given tournament.  We can bemoan some of the one-sided affairs that happen in the first round of every one of these tournaments, but this is WAY better than having the entire field be determined by the subjectivity whims of a committee.  Everybody who starts a season knows how they can qualify for the championship tournament and everybody has equal access. 

I think the folly here is how conferences award their golden ticket...when the national tournament field is small and there aren't a ton of at-large bids available to act as a safety net, giving your league's bid away to a conference tournament champion puts your league's best team at risk of not getting to play the postseason.  Seems that would have been the case with Denison and Middlebury this year.  This isn't a problem in football because they don't have league tournaments.  It's much less of a problem in basketball because there are a ton of at-large bids.  But lacrosse...there's just not enough slots available to lose your league tournament and feel safe. 

And with that, Wabash has hired their first varsity lacrosse coach and the Little Giants will take the field next spring!  It's going to be a huge challenge for Wabash to get competitive in the NCAC, but one that I think the college and the college community is fully behind.  I like bringing aboard a veteran coach like Terry Corcoran to get the program off and running.  Varsity lacrosse has been a long time coming at Wabash and I'm ecstatic that the time has finally come for the Little Giants to participate in this sport at this level.
That's one of the best features of these boards! They allow people to express opinions in a respectful manner(well at least most of the time ;D) However, when the NCAA calls the winner of their tournament the National Champion, the teams involved should be the best 32, 64, etc., not just the winner of the conference tournament. (As you have pointed out, the winner of the conference tournament may not be the best team in the conference.) Anyway...Good Luck to Wabash next season.
CCIW FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
CCIW  MEN"S INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: TOTAL DOMINATION SINCE 2001.
CCIW MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: 35
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: INDOOR TRACK-'89,'10,'11,'12/OUTDOOR TRACK: '89,'94,'98,'00,'10,'11
2013 OAC post season pick-em tri-champion
2015 CCIW Pick-em co-champion

pumkinattack

#191
Corcoran is a stud. He's going to perform incredibly well for Wabash.  I honestly think they'll be at least in the 2nd round of the tournament in five years (if not sooner). 

Indiana lacrosse if growing rapidly.  Culver is a great private school there sending kids to Hopkins (Brandon Benn is 1st team attack at Hopkins) and Hobart (Hobart has multiple kids from Culver including Colton Armitage, who was Indiana HS AA and Bud Graham who was Inside Lacrosse top 40 or so ranked out of all HS players) along with Corrigan's kid

I work with a guy who went to DePauw many years ago and his daughter is there now and he was torn in that he was happy to hear that Wabash had a great HC coming in but still hates the school. 

NCF

Quote from: pumkinattack on June 30, 2013, 10:25:17 PM
Corcoran is a stud. He's going to perform incredibly well for Wabash.  I honestly think they'll be at least in the 2nd round of the tournament in five years (if not sooner). 

Indiana lacrosse if growing rapidly.  Culver is a great private school there sending kids to Hopkins (Brandon Benn is 1st team attack at Hobart) and Hobart (Hobart has multiple kids from Culver including Colton Armitage, who was Indiana HS AA and Bud Graham who was Inside Lacrosse top 40 or so ranked out of all HS players) along with Corrigan's kid

I work with a guy who went to DePauw many years ago and his daughter is there now and he was torn in that he was happy to hear that Wabash had a great HC coming in but still hates the school.
CCIW FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
CCIW  MEN"S INDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: TOTAL DOMINATION SINCE 2001.
CCIW MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK CHAMPIONS: 35
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: INDOOR TRACK-'89,'10,'11,'12/OUTDOOR TRACK: '89,'94,'98,'00,'10,'11
2013 OAC post season pick-em tri-champion
2015 CCIW Pick-em co-champion

Vandy74

Quote from: wally_wabash on June 25, 2013, 04:39:27 PM
Quote from: NCF on June 01, 2013, 08:37:18 PM
Quote from: Vandy74 on June 01, 2013, 12:15:05 AM
Quote from: NCF on May 27, 2013, 10:58:41 AM
Quote from: kate on May 27, 2013, 10:14:39 AM
Huge congratulations to Stevenson!!!   Very proud of one of our newer MAC members!!!
Yes, congrats, but I hope to see a Midwest team win it all one day :)

Denison has advanced to the Final Four twice.  I'm at the age when you remember something you used to know more often than you learn something new. ::)  What I really understand about lacrosse I've learned over the last 9-10 years from watching the team my sister-in-law coaches at Middlebury, but I did briefly follow the Midd men's team via some news clippings a friend would send me when I wasn't living in the area.  The Midd men's team won the D3 championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002.  Denison played them in regular season games in 1998, 1999 and 2000.  The team that won the title in 2000 beat Denison 17-9.  A Midd team that would lose in the NCAA quarterfinals in 1998 beat Denison 10-9 and in 1999 Midd won the match-up 11-9.  Both of those teams went to the Final Four that season.  Middlebury lost in the championship game.

Besides pointing out what I used to know :-[, that Denison has played serious men's lacrosse for quite a while (Denison's present lacrosse coach of 19 seasons only ranks 2nd in wins in that sport at the school), what these teams did this season without earning an NCAA tourney bid is evidence that the field must look to expand.  Both teams were ranked during the season.  Denison at least as high as 14th at one point and Middlebury 8th.  Denison was upset by Ohio Wesleyan in the NCAC tourney.  Middlebury was upset by #14 Wesleyan in the NESCAC tourney.  Neither team, both with rich lacrosse heritages, was given an at-large bid.  It would be understandable if every slot was occupied by a competitive team but there were 4-5 games that resulted in ridiculously lopsided scores.  Conference champions who will never get past the first round.  Also, the field was not even 32 teams.  3 teams were given 1st round byes.  And I am just speaking as a Middlebury fan replying to a poster from the Midwest.  You can be sure that there were many other teams who could have gone far into the tourney left out as well.  It's time to expand the tournament field.
I completely agree with you on this and say the same thing about football. It is a shame weak teams from weak conferences get an automatic bid,while good teams from tough conferences stay home.

I respectfully disagree with both of you regarding access to the championship tournament.  Always always always remember that the NCAA tournament fields in the team sports are not ever advertised as the best 32 or 29 or 61 or whatever the number of teams involved happens to be.  It's a tournament of champions, rounded out with whatever number of at-large invitations needed to get to whatever number the NCAA decides gets to be involved in that given tournament.  We can bemoan some of the one-sided affairs that happen in the first round of every one of these tournaments, but this is WAY better than having the entire field be determined by the subjectivity whims of a committee.  Everybody who starts a season knows how they can qualify for the championship tournament and everybody has equal access. 

I think the folly here is how conferences award their golden ticket...when the national tournament field is small and there aren't a ton of at-large bids available to act as a safety net, giving your league's bid away to a conference tournament champion puts your league's best team at risk of not getting to play the postseason.  Seems that would have been the case with Denison and Middlebury this year.  This isn't a problem in football because they don't have league tournaments.  It's much less of a problem in basketball because there are a ton of at-large bids.  But lacrosse...there's just not enough slots available to lose your league tournament and feel safe. 

And with that, Wabash has hired their first varsity lacrosse coach and the Little Giants will take the field next spring!  It's going to be a huge challenge for Wabash to get competitive in the NCAC, but one that I think the college and the college community is fully behind.  I like bringing aboard a veteran coach like Terry Corcoran to get the program off and running.  Varsity lacrosse has been a long time coming at Wabash and I'm ecstatic that the time has finally come for the Little Giants to participate in this sport at this level.

I don't mean to suggest that any conference champion shouldn't be allowed to compete in the NCAA tournament, but I share NCF's frustration that champions from conferences that never improve their level of play are guaranteed a bid when so many very good teams are left out.  I also agree with him that if the winner of the tournament is to be declared the National Champion it should be won against a field of competitors that includes the vast majority of teams capable of doing so.  There ought to be enough at large bids to guarantee such a field.  That is my main concern.  And I like conference tournaments but in the deeper conferences there is always at least one other team just as good as the winner and the format of NCAA tournaments has grown to include as many such teams as possible.   My original post was really the result of discovering that Denison and Middlebury were excluded as part of a decision to make a 32 team field include only 29.  If 32 teams (including Middlebury) had been named to the tournament  I probably wouldn't have thought any more about it, but now I realize  there must be other very good lacrosse teams that don't receive at-large bids each year.  I don't know how many that would be but please note that the 29 teams selected this year did not include at least 5, and I believe 6, that were ranked in the Top 20.  I know 5 Top 20 women's teams were omitted from their tournament.  Imagine that happening in basketball or the football bowl games.  I know basketball has spoiled us and lacrosse is far from being able to supply a field of 64.  It would, however, make more sense to use first round byes as a way to increase the number of worthy competitors rather than decrease it.  A full slate of 32 plus a play-in game in each bracket would increase the field to 40.  I'm sure there are that many teams worthy of the opportunity and the increased exposure that these added games would provide is good business for a rapidly growing collegiate sport.

And yes, it looks like Wabash is taking up lacrosse with serious intent.  Corcoran's credentials are first-rate.  He would be a legitimate candidate for any D3 coaching job in the country.  He would not have taken on the task of building a new program affiliated with the NCAC if he didn't have the school administrators' guarantee that they want/expect him to be successful.  Best of luck to the Little Giants!


NCF

#194
Quote from: Vandy74 on July 02, 2013, 03:46:11 AM
Quote from: wally_wabash on June 25, 2013, 04:39:27 PM
Quote from: NCF on June 01, 2013, 08:37:18 PM
Quote from: Vandy74 on June 01, 2013, 12:15:05 AM
Quote from: NCF on May 27, 2013, 10:58:41 AM
Quote from: kate on May 27, 2013, 10:14:39 AM
Huge congratulations to Stevenson!!!   Very proud of one of our newer MAC members!!!
Yes, congrats, but I hope to see a Midwest team win it all one day :)

Denison has advanced to the Final Four twice.  I'm at the age when you remember something you used to know more often than you learn something new. ::)  What I really understand about lacrosse I've learned over the last 9-10 years from watching the team my sister-in-law coaches at Middlebury, but I did briefly follow the Midd men's team via some news clippings a friend would send me when I wasn't living in the area.  The Midd men's team won the D3 championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002.  Denison played them in regular season games in 1998, 1999 and 2000.  The team that won the title in 2000 beat Denison 17-9.  A Midd team that would lose in the NCAA quarterfinals in 1998 beat Denison 10-9 and in 1999 Midd won the match-up 11-9.  Both of those teams went to the Final Four that season.  Middlebury lost in the championship game.

Besides pointing out what I used to know :-[, that Denison has played serious men's lacrosse for quite a while (Denison's present lacrosse coach of 19 seasons only ranks 2nd in wins in that sport at the school), what these teams did this season without earning an NCAA tourney bid is evidence that the field must look to expand.  Both teams were ranked during the season.  Denison at least as high as 14th at one point and Middlebury 8th.  Denison was upset by Ohio Wesleyan in the NCAC tourney.  Middlebury was upset by #14 Wesleyan in the NESCAC tourney.  Neither team, both with rich lacrosse heritages, was given an at-large bid.  It would be understandable if every slot was occupied by a competitive team but there were 4-5 games that resulted in ridiculously lopsided scores.  Conference champions who will never get past the first round.  Also, the field was not even 32 teams.  3 teams were given 1st round byes.  And I am just speaking as a Middlebury fan replying to a poster from the Midwest.  You can be sure that there were many other teams who could have gone far into the tourney left out as well.  It's time to expand the tournament field.
I completely agree with you on this and say the same thing about football. It is a shame weak teams from weak conferences get an automatic bid,while good teams from tough conferences stay home.

I respectfully disagree with both of you regarding access to the championship tournament.  Always always always remember that the NCAA tournament fields in the team sports are not ever advertised as the best 32 or 29 or 61 or whatever the number of teams involved happens to be.  It's a tournament of champions, rounded out with whatever number of at-large invitations needed to get to whatever number the NCAA decides gets to be involved in that given tournament.  We can bemoan some of the one-sided affairs that happen in the first round of every one of these tournaments, but this is WAY better than having the entire field be determined by the subjectivity whims of a committee.  Everybody who starts a season knows how they can qualify for the championship tournament and everybody has equal access. 

I think the folly here is how conferences award their golden ticket...when the national tournament field is small and there aren't a ton of at-large bids available to act as a safety net, giving your league's bid away to a conference tournament champion puts your league's best team at risk of not getting to play the postseason.  Seems that would have been the case with Denison and Middlebury this year.  This isn't a problem in football because they don't have league tournaments.  It's much less of a problem in basketball because there are a ton of at-large bids.  But lacrosse...there's just not enough slots available to lose your league tournament and feel safe. 

And with that, Wabash has hired their first varsity lacrosse coach and the Little Giants will take the field next spring!  It's going to be a huge challenge for Wabash to get competitive in the NCAC, but one that I think the college and the college community is fully behind.  I like bringing aboard a veteran coach like Terry Corcoran to get the program off and running.  Varsity lacrosse has been a long time coming at Wabash and I'm ecstatic that the time has finally come for the Little Giants to participate in this sport at this level.

I don't mean to suggest that any conference champion shouldn't be allowed to compete in the NCAA tournament, but I share NCF's frustration that champions from conferences that never improve their level of play are guaranteed a bid when so many very good teams are left out.  I also agree with him that if the winner of the tournament is to be declared the National Champion it should be won against a field of competitors that includes the vast majority of teams capable of doing so.  There ought to be enough at large bids to guarantee such a field.  That is my main concern.  And I like conference tournaments but in the deeper conferences there is always at least one other team just as good as the winner and the format of NCAA tournaments has grown to include as many such teams as possible.   My original post was really the result of discovering that Denison and Middlebury were excluded as part of a decision to make a 32 team field include only 29.  If 32 teams (including Middlebury) had been named to the tournament  I probably wouldn't have thought any more about it, but now I realize  there must be other very good lacrosse teams that don't receive at-large bids each year.  I don't know how many that would be but please note that the 29 teams selected this year did not include at least 5, and I believe 6, that were ranked in the Top 20.  I know 5 Top 20 women's teams were omitted from their tournament.  Imagine that happening in basketball or the football bowl games.  I know basketball has spoiled us and lacrosse is far from being able to supply a field of 64.  It would, however, make more sense to use first round byes as a way to increase the number of worthy competitors rather than decrease it.  A full slate of 32 plus a play-in game in each bracket would increase the field to 40.  I'm sure there are that many teams worthy of the opportunity and the increased exposure that these added games would provide is good business for a rapidly growing collegiate sport.

And yes, it looks like Wabash is taking up lacrosse with serious intent.  Corcoran's credentials are first-rate.  He would be a legitimate candidate for any D3 coaching job in the country.  He would not have taken on the task of building a new program affiliated with the NCAC if he didn't have the school administrators' guarantee that they want/expect him to be successful.  Best of luck to the Little Giants!
Couldn't agree with you more-and I think in the next five years or so, there just could be enough teams to justify expanding the tournament. :)
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