Men's Lacrosse (LAX) in BTT Finals tonight against Maryland, 5:30pm ET BTN
Title says it all.
Men's Lacrosse takes on Maryland tonight at 5:30pm ET on BTN for the Big Ten tournament championship. The game will take place at Johns Hopkins' home field, in case any Baltimore-area folks are interested in supporting our boys in Maize and Blue.
They upset Penn State, which is #5 in the latest RPI, yesterday by a score of 17-14.
Maryland is also highly ranked, with an RPI of #6, compared to Michigan's rating of #22.
Michigan did knock off Maryland on April 1 in College Park by a score of 16-11, so let's go win this thing!
And that's all I know about Lacrosse :P
They are right on the bubble of making the NCAA tournament for the first time ever.
Win and they probably get an at-large bid. Lose and they'll be sweating on Sunday.
Wouldn't they get an automatic bid with a win?
I've been trying to look that up, and it's unclear. This site claims that Maryland is the AQ, but that could just be a proxy. Either way, if they win, they're going to be in.
Most people assume they're out with a loss, and it essentially boils down to losing to Marquette and Rutgers (mostly Marquette though). One of the many close regular season games going the other way would have gone a long way.
Oh well- win and in tonight!
If UM wins, they get the auto bid.
That site is just projecting Maryland right now for bracketology sakes, but it even says in the article that UM would steal a bid
I was wondering the same thing… Regardless, the team winning the B1G tourney (2nd best men’s lax conference this year?) has to be a lock for some kind of bid, right?
Does margin of victory matter? Say Michigan hangs tough and Maryland wins by three goals or fewer. Would Michigan be looking good for a 5 or 6 seed, or does any kind of loss make things dicey?
Is the B1G regular season champ the auto bid for the NCAA? I don’t think so - since it looks like PSU and Hopkins are tied in the regular B1G season standings - though PSU might have won the head to head. Regardless - Mary Land shouldn’t be penciled in based on regular conference season record.
If so, perhaps the B1G should change the criteria for the auto bid. My rationale is - the B1G regular season champ is going to make the NCAA tourney. And, the Conference Tourney could add a different team - as in this case - without a question.
Perhaps, the new B1G conference commissioner can look into this.
I'm pretty sure the winner of the B1G tournament gets an automatic bid (unless that has changed recently). ACC only has 5 teams and do not get an AQ so they don't even do their tournament anymore if I understand correctly.
BUT. I was rooting for Hopkins the other day because I thought the prospects of Michigan winning a rematch with them were better than beating Maryland for a second time. I thought that, with M coming into the week ranked #14 and then notching a top quality win over Penn State on Thursday, that would be enough to get them in. I think that W would be more important than a loss to Maryland in the conference championship. The B1G is arguably top-to-bottom the best conference, although the ACC is certainly loaded at the top and has the three best teams.
Scoring margin won't matter that much, but if Michigan plays them tight and goes down in a tough loss, that may make an impression on the committee.
Michigan didn't get any bubble help from the Ivy League last night: Lower seeds Yale and Princeton beat Cornell and Penn giving them much-needed late season quality wins (Ivy champ does get an AQ if I'm not mistaken). We should also root for Army against Loyola, Utah against Air Force, ND against UNC and Delaware against Stony Brook. GO BLUE!!
Rooting for ND in anything may not be possible - it’s probably in my DNA.
And, this September when the Buckeyes visit South Bend to play the Irish on the gridiron, my rooting interest is crystal clear… the meteor…
You're right, sorry.
Win and you're in. Lose and they're more than likely on on the wrong side of the bubble.
There's some conference tournament winners stealing at large bids today, so the bubble is getting smaller.
Go Blue! Twerp the Terps.
They seem to be turning a corner here. Overall record aside, they've been competitive in nearly every loss, and won the big games when they needed to. They should be proud of this season.
I wish I could have gone to the game but I have a basketball game at 6pm.
Not where I thought the season was heading following a loss to Marquette and struggling with Hofstra. Making the tournament would be monumental, but regardless this season is a major step in the right direction
Beat Mary Land… Go Blue!
Let’s beat them again.
Go Blue!
OK, so halftime of the Knicks game (if Michigan plays as bad as the Knicks are right now, someone please kill me...)
Keys for Michigan today will be of course, faceoffs and offensive efficiency. Rowlett and Wietfeldt had a great performance against Luke Wierman (who is great) in the first matchup so repeating that would be huge. Maryland is always a good defensive team and they're typically very smart and are pretty physical. But, in the first matchup Michigan really moved the ball and scored in transition and generally played with a lot of confidence on the offensive end. If they can play loose and score in transition and on unsettled situations, they might be able to repeat the upset. Michigan has gotten very balanced scoring the last few weeks.
Maryland has some emerging stars who can score but they don't have any lights-out phenomenal shooters like they've had in the past. But whoever is in goal - Carr or Taylor - will have to make some saves.
There's a lot on the line for Michigan in this one but honestly, they're not expected to win, so they really have nothing to lose. And nothing seems to really phase Coach Conry. GO BLUE!! BE THE CHAMPS!!
Let's Go Blue! Beat the Terps!
Dammit, gave up the equalizer. 1-1.
GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!
2-1 U-M!!
Michigan just scored to take a 2-1 lead. Under six minutes left in the first quarter.
Deleted .. dupe
Cohen makes it 2-1. Go Blue!
Rats, 2-2.
Can’t leave a shooter in front of the goal with shot clock going down. Terps tie it at 2
GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!
3-2 U-M!!!
Clay!!! That’s 3-2 Blue
GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!
4-2 U-M!!!!
Wow, as the shot clock was almost up!
Clay again with 1 on the shot clock!!! Huge goal. Great play from X.
GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!
5-2 U-M!!!!!
Boehm takes the iso and the offense is humming.
They score, 5-3 U-M.
Maryland gets one back late 1st. Our pole has to stay in front of that drive. And Rowlett gets leveled and draws a :30 Man up to start the 2nd.
That was a big hit by MD at the end of the quarter. Called a push.
GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!
6-3 U-M!!!!!!
Michigan seems really confident going inside for close shots. I read Maryland was likely down a couple of their best defenders, so I’m assuming that’s why Michigan is game planning to go inside?
They score, 6-4 U-M.
GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!
7-4 U-M!!!!!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!
8-4 U-M!!!!!!!!
Two in a row by Boehm!!
[Edit] 4 second apart!
GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!
9-4 U-M!!!!!!!!!
Michigan looking much better on face offs after Maryland won the first 2 clean.
Phew! Post save and MD crease violation.
GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!
10-4 good buddy! U-M!!!!!!!!!!
Boehm beauty shot low to high from a tough angle.
MD crosscheck w/contact to the head, 1 min penalty.
End of half, 10-4 U-M. WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent half except for a couple defensive lapses. Solid game plan and patient offense, getting quality opportunities. The freshman goalie is playing poised and heady.
Holy smokes. Couldn't have asked for a better first half.
They gotta stay on their grind though because 6 goals is not a huge lead, especially against a team like Maryland. Second half will be much tougher. Take care of business!!!! GO BLUE!!!!!!!
I think we have 55 sec left in our man advantage to start the 2nd half.