It’s the best time of the year – tournament season. This year’s bracket feels like there are a few teams at the top who are most likely to pull it out, but we’re seeing some strong dark horses in the middle as well. When you get into the nuts and bolts of things, it’s really anyone’s tournament to win. We would love to see someone come up the pipeline and take down one of this season’s goliaths – who doesn’t love a good underdog story? Here’s what we’re seeing:
Top Tier:
Duke, Notre Dame, Virginia, Maryland
Most likely, one of these teams is going to win this tourney. These 4 have traded wins and losses between each other all season, and the top 4 rankings has been constantly rotating. There’s overwhelming star power across these rosters, and Tewaaraton finalists for days.
Duke and Notre Dame are our two favorites here. Brennan O’Neill on this Duke squad has been a problem for other teams this year, and we don’t see his elite campaign slowing down. With support from Dyson Williams and Andrew McAdorey, the Blue Devils can realistically run the table and walk away with a trophy. Their path is a bit difficult. Delaware isn’t the easiest of first round matchups, then they’re hitting either Cornell or Michigan in the second round if they make it. and it only gets harder from there…
The Kavanagh brothers are a force. With a combined 116 points they’ve been incredibly efficient and can definitely lead this team to a chip with the support of Dobson and Jake Taylor. If they get out of the first, they’ll most likely have to take on a tough Hopkins squad (if the Blue Jays beat Bryant). With Entenmann holding down the net and the Kavanagh team leading the way up front, this roster has the parts needed to win from top to bottom.
Virginia has arguably the best player in college lacrosse in Connor Shellenberger, whos racked up 62 points on 43 assists and 19 goals. But is he fully healthy? We hope so, we want the best competition there can be. With Dickson and Cormier out there with him, and McConvey leading the midfield, we would say Virginia has the most offensive firepower in the tournament. We’re curious to see how this team will handle the peak competition after we saw them drop Ls this season to Duke (2x) and Maryland.
Out of these 4 teams Maryland probably has the longest shot at claiming the trophy. They’ve dropped some tough losses this season to Loyola, Notre Dame, Michigan (2x) and Hopkins. We think they’ll handle Army in the first round, but from then on that side of the bracket is not friendly, with Penn St, Princeton, Michigan, Cornell, Duke and Delaware all standing in their way for a repeat from the 2022 season. They can pull it off, but it’s going to be a tough road.
Dark Horse Tier:
Georgetown, Hopkins
Georgetown and Hopkins both have some really impressive wins, and on their best day they can beat anyone, and they’ve shown it. Georgetown started the season off slow, with an 0-3 run against Hopkins, Penn and Notre Dame, but turned it around quickly to rattle off 12 straight wins, and some quality ones against teams like Princeton, Denver (2x), Loyola, Richmond, Marquette and Villanova. Led by former ‘Cuse attackmen Tucker Dordevic with 70 pts this season, and supported by the likes of Jacob Kelly and unltd athlete Graham Bundy, this squad can handle top tier talent on the other end when they show up.
Hopkins might be lackluster in the big name department on paper, but they are a well-balanced machine lead by Jacob Angelus, Russell Melendez, and Garrett Degnon on the offensive end. With an impressive resume from this season with dubs against Georgetown, Maryland, Michigan and Utah, they’ve also had some bad losses against Loyola, UNC, Penn St and Virginia. It really depends what version of this team decides to show up. They can run with the best, but fall to some lower talent depending on the day of the week. We’re labeling them as a dark horse for the upside potential they bring to the field, and we wouldn’t be shocked if they held the trophy high at the end of this thing.
Sneaky Good, But Probably Not Good Enough Tier:
Cornell, Michigan, Penn St, Army, Yale, Princeton
No knock to these teams, they’re solid, and they are coming off of great seasons. We just don’t think they stand up to the upper talent. Not to mention, they have some tough first round competition.
Cornell and Michigan have to play each other in the first round and this game should be awesome. Either team can come out of this one, but then they will most likely have to face Duke in round 2. Now, Michigan has two dominant wins against Maryland, so we can see them making a sneaky run. Cornell on the other hand doesn’t have many defining wins like that, and have some bad losses on paper to Harvard, Yale, and Penn St. Of these two we think Michigan has the better shot at making a run, but its looking like earlier round exits for these two.
Penn St has a solid resume this year, beating the likes of Hopkins, Michigan (1-1 split with them this season), Yale and Cornell. But on the other hand, they also dropped games to Villanova and Marquette, amongst Ls to Maryland and Michigan in their split. Anything is possible, and we think Penn St will come out on top in the first round against Princeton, but won’t make it much further than that.
Army got the short end of the stick with a first round matchup against the defending champs. They could theoretically pull it out, but we’re more comfortable taking Maryland in that matchup. Army deserves all the respect though after a great season where they went 12-3. And who knows, anything can happen…
Princeton and Yale are coming out of a competitive Ivy this year. Mostly dominated by Cornell, each team had some impressive wins and some bad losses. Yale and Princeton were both ranked pretty high pre-season, and have a chip on their shoulder after disappointing season. This extra motivation could see them sneak a run in and shock some people in the first round, but Princeton has a tough matchup against Penn St, and Yale is facing a Hoyas squad that is on a heater. Keep your eye on these teams, they might just suprise you.
Just Happy to Be Here Tier:
Delaware, Utah, Bryant, Richmond
Look, no disrespect at all. These teams had great seasons and making it to the tournament is a great accomplishment. Between the first round matchups and how this season went, we don’t see any of these teams making it beyond this point. But hey, prove us wrong. We welcome it. We thrive on the chaos.
Best of luck to all teams as we gear up for tomorrow!
