Here are my picks for the weekend...
Fri:
#12 North Carolina vs Navy 7:30
Winner: North Carolina
I'm picking North Carolina in this game, but it isn't an easy pick. I think they have a lot they need to work on especially clears and ground balls. I think Navy can out heart the Heels. This will be a very close game if NC doesn't come out swinging to open an early league.
Sat:
#6 Cornell vs Hobart
Winner: Cornell
Don't see this game being close. It will be a decent look at Cornell since it will be their first game of the season.
#7 Hofstra vs #8 Princeton
Winner: Hofstra
This is more of a gut pick. Princeton will have a stingy defense as usual but I think Hofstra will find a way through. Again, hard to tell since this will be both teams first games.
#4 Maryland vs #14 Georgetown
WInner: Maryland
Georgetown will be outside the top 20 by season's end. This will be their first step. Maryland will get it's season going strong.
Pennsylvania vs #10 Duke
Winner: Duke
They will get their offense going after being shut down last week against ND. Duke needs to find more guys to draw doubles so Turri and other shooters can get some room.
#5 Stony Brook vs #1 Virginia
Winner: Virginia
This game is going to be a SHOOTOUT! This game could easily end with 25 goals split between the teams. The winner will be the team that can play more defense which will be Virginia. Stony Brook is one of the few teams that can keep up with Virginia's O. SB needs to find room for their big scorers somehow.
Towson vs #15 Loyola
Winner: Towson
I saw a lot of great things from Towson last weekend against Johns Hopkins. Towson just needs to find a quarterback to run the offense. Loyola is coming off a last second win against Navy, but I don't think the excitement will carry over to the this week.
#11 Umass vs #13 Ohio State
Winner: Umass
Ohio State beat an overrated unproved UNC squad. Ohio State was psyched up at home and came out with something to prove and they did. This week they have to face a much sounder UMass team that knows what it's offense is all about.
Sun:
#2 Syracuse vs #18 Army
Winner: Syracuse
This is a rematch of the playoff game last year that Army won in double OT. The end of this game will be nothing like the end of last spring for 'Cuse. This won't be close and there will be no mercy. Syracuse comes in with a chip on their shoulder the size of a Blackhawk helicopter.
Penn State vs #3 Notre Dame
Winner: Notre Dame
ND's stingy D will do a number on Penn St. offense. And Brenneman will do a number on the Nittany Lion's goalie. Here's a quick trip. He shoots high. There I just got you about 8 saves.
C.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Comments on New Rule Changes
Alright, if you haven't heard yet there are a few new rules coming into this season. There's really 3 of them that I'm going to talk about.
First, and frankly most important, is the increased penalties for checks to the head. Going off of the nation's new found awareness of concussions the NCAA has included the ability to asses 2 or 3 minute penalties for blows to the head, like cross-checks. The idea behind this change is to protect players from wild checks that can cause injury. Overall a great idea.....but there was an incident over the weekend that made me raise my eyebrows a bit.
Not sure if every watched the Duke v. Notre Dame game on Sunday, but on one of the face off D-man Chris Hipps (#27 on Duke) received a down right nasty cross-check to the back of the head which knocked him out of the game. I haven't heard anything about him since so I can only assume he is alright now. Anyway, the checker only received a 1-minute penalty. This play was a picture perfect example of why this new rule was made, but wasn't enforced. To be honest lacrosse is a fast sport and I will give the ref the benefit of the doubt and say he didn't see what exactly happened. Then there needs to be additions to the rule that allow officials to look at the hits later after the game to see how bad they were. Bad enough, and additional penalties should be enforced. You knocked a guy out of a game on an illegal check, well you should be taken out for a game too....only fair.
Second, is the change from the "down, whistle" procedure on faceoffs it is now "down, set, whistle". This is supposed to cut down on FOGOs "rolling" or getting early starts on faceoffs. It will also cut down on procedure calls for FOGOs lining up wrong. During the Hopkins v. Towson game they mentioned that the Hopkins coach looked back and said that 60% of the faceoffs his team lost was because of this rolling. He didn't happen to mention what percentage he won because of it, but that's another story. The outcome of this will be more false start procedure calls from FOGOs trying to anticipate the whistle, a more even faceoff, and more and longer epic camera closeups on the ball. All around good things.
Lastly, the new clearing time rules. The old rule was once the ball changes possession the offensive team had 20 seconds to get it over the mid-field stripe and then another 10 seconds to the box. New rule is the offensive team now has 30 seconds to get into the box. No break down. It's a great idea because it will keep the game going by cutting down on turnovers caused by balls getting hung up between mid-field and the box. Anything that keeps the game going makes me a happy lax fan. Maybe they can make the box smaller so it's easier to step out....just kidding.
That wraps up my comments on the new rules. Next post will be E and my picks for the weekend.
Later
C.
First, and frankly most important, is the increased penalties for checks to the head. Going off of the nation's new found awareness of concussions the NCAA has included the ability to asses 2 or 3 minute penalties for blows to the head, like cross-checks. The idea behind this change is to protect players from wild checks that can cause injury. Overall a great idea.....but there was an incident over the weekend that made me raise my eyebrows a bit.
Not sure if every watched the Duke v. Notre Dame game on Sunday, but on one of the face off D-man Chris Hipps (#27 on Duke) received a down right nasty cross-check to the back of the head which knocked him out of the game. I haven't heard anything about him since so I can only assume he is alright now. Anyway, the checker only received a 1-minute penalty. This play was a picture perfect example of why this new rule was made, but wasn't enforced. To be honest lacrosse is a fast sport and I will give the ref the benefit of the doubt and say he didn't see what exactly happened. Then there needs to be additions to the rule that allow officials to look at the hits later after the game to see how bad they were. Bad enough, and additional penalties should be enforced. You knocked a guy out of a game on an illegal check, well you should be taken out for a game too....only fair.
Second, is the change from the "down, whistle" procedure on faceoffs it is now "down, set, whistle". This is supposed to cut down on FOGOs "rolling" or getting early starts on faceoffs. It will also cut down on procedure calls for FOGOs lining up wrong. During the Hopkins v. Towson game they mentioned that the Hopkins coach looked back and said that 60% of the faceoffs his team lost was because of this rolling. He didn't happen to mention what percentage he won because of it, but that's another story. The outcome of this will be more false start procedure calls from FOGOs trying to anticipate the whistle, a more even faceoff, and more and longer epic camera closeups on the ball. All around good things.
Lastly, the new clearing time rules. The old rule was once the ball changes possession the offensive team had 20 seconds to get it over the mid-field stripe and then another 10 seconds to the box. New rule is the offensive team now has 30 seconds to get into the box. No break down. It's a great idea because it will keep the game going by cutting down on turnovers caused by balls getting hung up between mid-field and the box. Anything that keeps the game going makes me a happy lax fan. Maybe they can make the box smaller so it's easier to step out....just kidding.
That wraps up my comments on the new rules. Next post will be E and my picks for the weekend.
Later
C.
Who is this Clown?
Well...it's kind of a long story.
Basically I am a 22 year old recent graduate from St. Norbert College, a little liberal arts college in De Pere Wisconsin. I first learned about lacrosse when I was a senior in high school and it was love at first sight. When I saw that the college I had just committed to had a team I decided to give it a go. My first year was rough, but something inside of me clicked and from then on lacrosse was my sport. Before lacrosse I played baseball, tennis, and basketball and my commitment to lacrosse dwarfed all of those combined. My second year was rough too, but I could see my hard work was paying off, I just needed more in game experience. Third year was promising. Started a few games and tallied a few goals and assists here and there. Then my senior year was great. All of my hard work had finally come together to produce a great season.
Now, I live in Beloit (the armpit of) Wisconsin. Working hard to find an entry level job in the business field. Oh, and a total laxaholic. I currently play on Mad Cow Lacrosse Club (based out of Madison, WI) who play in the Great Lakes Lacrosse League (GLLL) and Prestige Worldwide Lacrosse Club (Chicago, IL) which is a tournament team that this summer will be going the Vale Lacrosse Shootout and Lake Placid, NY. Right now I am trying to get back into shape before my season starts in late March.
That about covers it. I'm not from a hotbed by any means. I am a product of the wide sweeping expansion of lacrosse. The fact that there are only a few laxers in my city make me feel special in a way. I train at a school near my house and I always get people coming over to ask me about what I'm going. It's a great feeling. I am actually trying to get a little exhibition together this spring to really introduce the city to the game by getting a couple of mens teams and a couple of high school teams to play in town.
There we go. Now we can get into the real stuff. This blog is to get my ideas out there about current lacrosse doings. Written to make sure people who don't know a lot about lacrosse will understand. I have another buddy of mine helping out. I think we are going to do weekly picks which should be fun and competitive. That's about it... later.
Basically I am a 22 year old recent graduate from St. Norbert College, a little liberal arts college in De Pere Wisconsin. I first learned about lacrosse when I was a senior in high school and it was love at first sight. When I saw that the college I had just committed to had a team I decided to give it a go. My first year was rough, but something inside of me clicked and from then on lacrosse was my sport. Before lacrosse I played baseball, tennis, and basketball and my commitment to lacrosse dwarfed all of those combined. My second year was rough too, but I could see my hard work was paying off, I just needed more in game experience. Third year was promising. Started a few games and tallied a few goals and assists here and there. Then my senior year was great. All of my hard work had finally come together to produce a great season.
Now, I live in Beloit (the armpit of) Wisconsin. Working hard to find an entry level job in the business field. Oh, and a total laxaholic. I currently play on Mad Cow Lacrosse Club (based out of Madison, WI) who play in the Great Lakes Lacrosse League (GLLL) and Prestige Worldwide Lacrosse Club (Chicago, IL) which is a tournament team that this summer will be going the Vale Lacrosse Shootout and Lake Placid, NY. Right now I am trying to get back into shape before my season starts in late March.
That about covers it. I'm not from a hotbed by any means. I am a product of the wide sweeping expansion of lacrosse. The fact that there are only a few laxers in my city make me feel special in a way. I train at a school near my house and I always get people coming over to ask me about what I'm going. It's a great feeling. I am actually trying to get a little exhibition together this spring to really introduce the city to the game by getting a couple of mens teams and a couple of high school teams to play in town.
There we go. Now we can get into the real stuff. This blog is to get my ideas out there about current lacrosse doings. Written to make sure people who don't know a lot about lacrosse will understand. I have another buddy of mine helping out. I think we are going to do weekly picks which should be fun and competitive. That's about it... later.
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