Men's Lacrosse Still Ranked
If there's a restriction on threads to be solely about the game tonight, I apologize in advance, but men's lacrosse is ranked for the third time ever this week. After a loss to #2 Maryland Saturday, Michigan is ranked #18. A trip to #9 Rutgers in store this week. If this Michigan team has a tournament at-large chance, they will need to at least hang with the Scarlet Knights in a close game, if not get the win. The game is Sunday at noon on ESPNU.
Here is the top ten and other noteables:
1. Albany
2. Maryland (M lost to them)
3. Yale (M lost to them)
4. Denver
5. Johns Hopkins (M plays them April 21, noon, BTN Plus)
6. Duke
7. Villanova
8. Syracuse
9. Rutgers (M plays them Sunday, noon, ESPNU)
10. Cornell
12. Notre Dame (M beat them)
15. Penn State (M plays them April 28, 11 AM, BTN)
18. Michigan
Penn (21st, receiving votes, M lost to them)
Marquette (30th, receiving votes, M beat them)
Ohio State (not receiving votes, M plays them April 14, 11 AM, BTN)
UM hung tight with Maryland on Saturday for maybe 2/3 of the game. After closing the deficit to 6-5 in the 3rd quarter, the bottom dropped out in an eventual 13-5 loss.
Glad to see they're still ranked with many opportunities ahead for meaningful wins against Hopkins, Rutgers, and Penn St.
Penn State is better than I thought but Michigan can get them. That's the last game of the year and will be big for this team.
Ohio State is seriously down and that is a game Michigan needs to win. That Penn game is a real drag now though- M was up 3-0 before Penn knew what hit them or even touched the ball. I thought the Quakers would compete for an Ivy League title but they've returned to their usual mid-season middling form. If Michigan won that one, they would be an outside shot for an at-large bid right now, despite what happens in conference play.
Not sure what's going to happen against Rutgers and Hopkins but Michigan outplayed #3 for 3+ quarters and hung with #2 Maryland for 3 as well. I imagine those games will be dogfights. Hopkins is playing well for the first time in years and Rutgers is top 10 but I would be surprised if Michigan drops both of them. I think Michigan can steal one of those - and they will be much more competitive than last year, that's for sure.
Rest of the season could be real interesting.
JHU with the last-second goal to win it. Rutgers was at home, but they definitely played them tough.
Rutgers v PSU v U-M v Rutgers games will all be big. B1G got 4 to the NCAA last year, but I think 3 may be more likely this year.
I was rooting hard for those Great Danes when they were in the Quarterfinals against Notre Dame a few years back.
That was an extreme bummer of a game. Albany had the Thompson trio in full effect and ran out to a huge lead on ND. They would have been a huge hit in the Final 4 that year and would've been a much more interesting team than ND. It was so painfl to watch the lead slowly melt away and you just KNEW the Irish would end up winning. Sucked. Albany wasone of my all-time favorite teams.