I wanted to try this.  I'll probably work on this more as the blog gets going, but I wanted to do a weekly piece on recruiting. 

So I looked at IL.com's recruiting page and it seems like next year's senior class has all decided.  It's the rising junior class that's still undecided (they seem to get to 'em quicker in lax than they do in hoops).

Of course, as for most college sports, recruiting rankings are usually BS; top prospects aren't necessarily gonna be your best options.  Maryland, for example, routinely brings in the 2nd or 3rd best class; they never win the title and almost always disappoint in their season.  This year, according to IL, UNC has the best class, including the top attackman and the top face-off specialist (coming from two of the top high schools in the country: West Islip and Boys' Latin).  It's nice to see Ohio State and Penn in the top ten for recruiting class; Ohio State's success is good overall for the sport considering their westerly location.

The top 20 recruiting classes for next year are:

1. UNC

2. Syracuse

3. Maryland

4. Virginia

5. Dook (forgive me; it's basketball season)

6. Hopkins

7. Penn

8. Ohio State

9. Harvard

10. Princeton

11. Notre Dame

12. Cornell

13. Towson

14. UMBC

15. Army

16. Yale

17. Penn St

18. Navy

19. Stony Brook

20. Fairfield

As for the next year, here's a list of schools and the number of top 50 rising seniors:

Hopkins (7)

Maryland (6)

Virginia (6)

UNC (5, including the top attackman and top defenseman)

Notre Dame (4)

Syracuse (4)

Duke (3)

Harvard (3, including the top goalie)

Albany (1) (Albany has the #1 recruit in the nation; he's a middie)

Army (1)

Georgetown (1)

Hofstra (1)

Loyola (1)

Massachusetts (1)

Ohio State (1)

Penn St (1)

Princeton (1)

Villanova (1)

Yale (1)

One recruit is still undecided.

The recruits, as always, mostly come from Maryland prep schools and Long Island.  A lot of the rising juniors come from Massachusetts this year.

Starting next week, I'll probably start discussing future news on the recruiting front.  If anyone knows any other good sites besides IL's Recruting page, please let me know.