Cool Storyline Bro, Tell it Again: What Will the 2012 NCAA Lacrosse Tournament Field Look Like?

Getting you ready for the 2012 college lacrosse season. What, the season already started? Drats.

WHAT YOU KNOW
The 2012 NCAA lacrosse tournament is going to happen. First round games will be played at the home fields of the seeded teams; quarterfinal games will be held at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, and at PPL Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Championship Weekend will be held in Foxborough, Massachusetts, at Gillette Stadium.

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW
Who the hell is playing in this thing.

WHAT DO WE DO TO FIX THAT LAST PART
I make up some stuff, hope that it sticks, and then proclaim myself a genius in early-May.

All of 10 percent of the men's college lacrosse season has been played and there's no way any reasonable person could have enough of a read on all 61 Division I teams at this point to make predictions on NCAA Tournament participation. (Especially because, you know, 14 teams haven't even played yet.) And yet, here we are with me about to blow your minds with my prescience (or something like that).

16 teams will make the 2012 dance with seven conferences sending their tournament champions to the show: America East, Big East, THUNDERDOME!, ECAC, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, and Patriot. Putting on my Carnac the Magnificent turban,* this is how the automatic qualifiers will shake out:

America East: Albany
Big East: Notre Dame
THUNDERDOME!: Massachusetts
ECAC: Denver
Ivy: Cornell
MAAC: Siena
Patriot: Army

That's exactly how it's going to happen. Please inform the relevant conference commissioners of this fact.

The nine at-large selections, undisputably, will comprise the following teams:

ACC: Duke; Maryland; North Carolina; Virginia
Big East: Syracuse; Villanova
ECAC: Ohio State
Independent: Johns Hopkins
Patriot: Colgate

You don't have to thank me for this now. You can thank me in May when you can spend your Selection Sunday evening with your lady friend instead of sitting in front of the television, watching ESPNU and eating Cup o' Soup.

As a special bonus, I'm even going to seed the top-eight teams right now. I know; this is pretty amazing stuff. What's especially crazy is that I shouldn't even be telling you this because the government is monitoring me and any indications of my precognition is going to put them on my tail. They've been trying to harness my brain for purposes of military warfare for years now and I only just recently shook them. Anyway:

1. Virginia
2. Cornell
3. Notre Dame
4. North Carolina
5. Johns Hopkins
6. Denver
7. Syracuse
8. Duke

Is anyone going to challenge me on my foresight? If so, the comments are yours.

* Does anyone under 30 even know who Carnac the Magnificent is? Whatever, it's too late for edits. This thing is already on the Internet.