We’re a little more than halfway through the season, and a chip run seems wide open for the taking. There are some clear front-runners and more elite-level teams, but there have been upsets in every which direction, and if there’s anything history can tell us, it’s that anything can happen come the end of the season. We’ve got some teams who lived up to the hype, teams who are shaking up the field beyond what was expected of them, and some true disappointments. But hey, there’s still time left for a lower ranked team to climb the board, and for those at the top to fall off.
Leaders:
Notre Dame
This team has been firing on all cylinders. Led by the Kavanaugh brothers, the Irish offense is a constant highlight reel. BTB goals, overtime wins, blowouts… name a way to win and this ND squad has done it. And not to mention, they’ve had no cakewalk of a schedule. Marquette, Georgetown, Maryland, Ohio State, Michigan, Virginia, Syracuse and Duke are all top 20 ranked teams (except Marquette, despite receiving top 20 votes), 3 of which are ranked in the top 5 right behind ND at 1. The production they’ve had against some of the best talent out there shows that this team has what it takes to be the last man standing.
Virginia
The Cavs were our favorites coming into the season. They’ve dominated the number 1 spot for 7 out of 10 weeks so far this season. 2 big losses to Maryland and Duke landed them out of the top spot, but a pretty dominant win over Notre Dame has kept them at the 2 spot. Shellenberger, Dickson and Cormier are putting together what is probably the best offensive set on the field this year no matter who they are facing. We wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if the Cavs took it home this year.
Duke
This Blue Devils squad has definitely outperformed our pre-season expectations. Currently ranked at #3, this Duke team led by Brennan O’Neill has been turning heads. With quality wins against Virginia, UNC who has the #1 ranked defensive efficiency, Syracuse, Penn, Loyola, etc. – they are putting together a resume that could very realistically lead them to a finals appearance. It makes it easier when your top 3 players in O’Neill, McAdorey and Dyson Williams have already combined for 144 points.
Surprise Contenders:
Penn State
This is one we did not expect to see. Penn State currently sits at number 5 behind Maryland. They were left out of our pre-season top 10, but they were able to string some solid wins together, beating Yale, UPenn, Cornell, Ohio State and Johns Hopkins. TJ Malone and the Traynor brothers have led this team to a surprising ranking as we head into the latter half of the season. With a tough 2 games coming up at Michigan and home against Rutgers, we will see how this team can finish, which should give us an idea of how they will fair in the post-season.
Johns Hopkins
Hopkins was also left off our top 10 pre-season rankings, but have landed themselves at 7 (tied with Army). After a fairly disappointing season last year, Hopkins has by no means been perfect or even top-tier this season, but they have strung together some big wins. Jacksonville (who beat Duke), Georgetown, St. Joseph’s, Syracuse, Delaware, Michigan, and Rutgers were all big wins. The 4 losses don’t look great by any means, but Hopkins can gain some serious momentum if they pull out wins against Ohio State and Maryland in the final 2 games.
Cornell
Standing at 7-2 and ranked as #6, Cornell is right where we predicted them to be. With big dubs against Yale, UPenn, Dartmouth, and Ohio State, Cornell has been rolling. The surprising part here is that Cornell is leading the Ivy. CJ Kirst is leading this team with 52 points in 9 games. If they want to come out on top in the Ivy and have a serious shot at the title, this squad will have to start seeing some role players step up and play at the elite level.
Disappointments:
Georgetown
We’re a little baffled at the poor performance by this Hoya Squad, but they might be getting hot at just the right time. After a slow 0-3 start against Hopkins, UPenn and Notre Dame, the Hoyas have gone 6-0 in their last 6. Tucker Dordevic and Graham Bundy have the facilities to lead a team deep into playoffs, and with Will Bowen holding down the defense, we might see a run from this team that no one expected, despite a so far disappointing season.
Penn
This team is 4-5. A lot of people had them as their post-season dark horse to make a run at the chip. Sam Handley is the only player on this roster with more than 20 pts (33) 9 games into the season. It does not look good for Penn, we don’t even see them winning the Ivy. But hey, we’ve been wrong before. Maybe they will find something they’ve been missing but up to this point they’ve arguably just been a bad team.
Princeton
2 out of 3 of our disappointments are coming out of the Ivy, and maybe this is because they had such a strong year across the conference in 2022. We had them ranked at #5 pre-season and they are not even making the top-20. Even though they have an unfortunate loss to Penn that seems to be bumping them, we think they deserve a top 20 spot over teams like Penn and Ohio State. Their losses have been all to teams ranked in the top 20, and their wins have been pretty defining. When they win, they win by almost 9 goals, and they have 3 players with more than 20 pts, and 7 players in double digits. They close out against Dartmouth, Harvard and Cornell, and might be able to turn a more positive page. We’re scratching our heads on this one though, as our expectations were much higher for this squad.
What do you think? Let us know who your pick to win it all is this season!
