MAAC Lacrosse Tournament Participant Profiles: The Whole Kit and Kaboodle

Every Division I tournament. Every team. College Crosse has it all on lockdown. Please send cookies and naptime. Today we're slashing to bits the MAAC Tournament.

The original intention was to give the MAAC Tournament the deluxe treatment -- extended team profiles, all kinds of infographics, a brand new Cadillac, etc. That, however, just isn't going to happen today for two reasons: (1) Ryan is still spitting truth as a collegiate undergraduate; and (2) My employer hasn't seen my face for the better part of three days. So, it's time for another truncated run through the fields, frolicking among the daisies to which Siena will crush like a clear-cutter working for a nefarious perpetrator of environmental crimes.

Anyway, here's the heat on the MAAC.

Siena Saints: One-Seed

For a more complete, mind-bending picture of Siena, here's a .pdf of the complete report.

Detroit Titans: Two-Seed

For a more complete, mind-bending picture of Detroit, here's a .pdf of the complete report.

Canisius Golden Griffins: Three-Seed

For a more complete, mind-bending picture of Canisius, here's a .pdf of the complete report.

Marist Red Foxes: Four-Seed

For a more complete, mind-bending picture of Marist, here's a .pdf of the complete report.

Four pieces of incredibly important information from my brain to your eyes via your Internet computing machine:

• This Siena offense is one of the stronger units in the country. You probably didn't know that because the Saints have real estate holdings in the MAAC and that area has been ignored by developers due to its relative proximity to industrial waste facilities. Bryan Neufeld and Danny Martinsen are gifted goalie embarrassers -- They should receives Certificates of Achievement in the Field of Soul Crushing -- and the offense as a whole, while it runs through those two, is a strong unit. Siena shares the ball as well as anyone in the land (only two teams maintain a higher offensive assist rate) and the result is an offense that shoots fairly well (the team is currently ranked 15th nationally in raw shooting percentage) despite taking a bunch of attempts at the cage (only nine teams rattle off more shots per offensive possession than the Saints). The great thing about this offense is that it doesn't necessarily rely on the personnel imbalance to register tallies (only nine teams rely on the extra-man to generate goals less than Siena). This is an efficient offense -- rated 17th in the country -- that generally gets it in even situations. That's dynamite, son!
• There's no need to recreate the wheel: Great Lax State took a nice look at Detroit and what the Titans are with and without Joel Matthews. Go read it. Make your mind become full with information and your heart brimming with pride*. *Pride not guaranteed.
• Canisius' biggest problem this season has kind of been "Everything." This is not a particularly good team, and that's impressive in a league full of teams that aren't particularly good. There is one shining beacon of hope for the Golden Griffins, though: No team draws more penalties than Canisius and only one team -- Wagner -- plays with the extra attacker more than the blue and gold. So, that's something, right? (Don't tell anyone that Canisius is only 36th in the country in extra-man conversion rate at 33.33 percent and despite this mediocre conversion rate that only five teams rely on the personnel imbalance more than the Golden Griffins to score. Yeesh. Can you believe that this team hasn't beaten a team with a winning record yet this season? Actually, yes I can.)
• Marist has two nice offensive threats in Connor Rice and Jack Doherty, but for Marist to have some success in the MAAC Tournament (requiring something other than Siena forgetting that they have a game against them) the Red Foxes are going to need to really work on getting the possession margin in their favor. On the year, Marist is ranked 51st in possession margin, seeing about three more defensive possessions per 60 minutes play than offensive possessions. The biggest culprit of that is that the Red Foxes are winning draws at only a 43.65 percent clip, which is total "Woof!" A secondary problem plauging the Red Foxes is that Marist is giving away the bean as if they were engaged in a liquidation sale, squandering offensive opportunities at a 51.57 rate. (So, basically, per 100 offensive opportunities, about 52 of them end for the Red Foxes with a turnover.) The Red Foxes need to do a better job of protecting the ball and getting the ball into their offensive players' crosses to try and insulate a dicey defense -- the team is only ranked 43rd in adjusted defensive efficiency -- and allow their primary unit to try and win them games.