Paul Carcaterra -- former midfielder for Syracuse and one of ESPN's burgeoning cadre of lacrosse analysts -- starts counting down his preseason top 12 for Lax.com. From the above-video, here's Carcaterra's 12 through seven rankings and some selected quotes from his analyses:
12. Syracuse
"Have an opportunity to do great things." "Loaded on defense." "Midfield is a question mark." "JoJo Marasco is primed for a breakout senior season."
11. Lehigh
"You look at the coaching job, not only from a recruiting standpoint that Kevin Cassese has done down there in Pennsylvania, but the way they play defense."
10. Colgate
"They return the nation's most dynamic player in Peter Baum." "Baum is the type of player that can take an entire team on his back and win ball games."
9. Virginia
"They have some playmakers on the offensive." "Who plays attack?" "There's no shortage of talent in for the Cavaliers down in Charlottesville, but I look for pieces of the puzzle to mesh." "Marino is a spectacular goaltender but can he excel as a freshman?"
8. North Carolina
"I think this attack is going to have an incredible campaign in 2013." "Some questions at the midfield." "Defensively there are some question marks." [Hey! I wrote about this today!] "Don't be surprised to see Carolina make a deeper run into the playoffs."
7. Duke
"Need to replace some superstars, most notably C.J. Costabile." "Justin Turri is a big loss a midfield." "Jordan Wolf is a dynamic one-on-one player." "Dan Wigrizer has been a bit of a question mark over the last few years in the goal, but he has delivered in spots." "Duke has big shoes to fill in the midfield." [Hey! I'm writing about that tomorrow!]
The rest is apparently coming in part two. What do you knuckleheads think? Like it? Hate it? Make comments happen.