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You spent the better part of four months meticulously dissecting the 2013 college lacrosse season. You shouldn't stop now because cold turkey is a bad way to go through life, man. College Crosse is providing decompression snapshots of all 63 teams and their 2013 campaigns, mostly because everything needs a proper burial.
I. VITAL SIGNS
Team: Bucknell Bison
2013 Record: 12-4 (5-1, Patriot)
2013 Strength of Schedule (Efficiency Margin): 1.68 (17)
2012 Strength of Schedule (Efficiency Margin): 1.17 (19)
Winning Percentage Change from 2012: +18.75%
2013 Efficiency Margin: 6.16 (12)
Efficiency Margin Change from 2012: -0.05
II. "ATTA BOY!" FACT
- I love the 10-man ride. If it was up to me, this site would be renamed 10-Man Ride and billions of people would read it every second of the day. With all the money I'd make from this newly-named site, I'd buy a small island in the Caribbean, rename it 10-Man Ride Island and all inhabitants -- me, mostly -- would be required to worship at 10-Man Ride Chapel. It'd be pretty perfect, and all the detractors that would be laughing at me would be -- eventually -- swarmed under by my sovereign nation policy of causing havoc and enjoying the economic benefit, growing my already sizeable fortune. This is, in function, the glory of Bucknell lacrosse under Frank Fedorjaka: Fury, but the kind of fury that gets results. The 10-man ride isn't a gimmick for the Bison; rather, it's a means to making preferable ends:
10-MAN MAN-WORK METRIC VALUE NAT'L RANK Opportunities per 60 Minutes Margin +2.00 15 Possession Ratio 51.52% 16 Faceoff Percentage 47.04% 43 Clearing Percentage 87.07% 29 Ride Percentage 21.20% 1 Estimated Functional Defensive Opportunities Ratio 88.28% 3
III. "YOU'RE GROUNDED UNTIL YOU QUALIFY FOR THE AARP!" FACT
- Aggressiveness isn't without consequence. For Bucknell, its systemic aggressiveness creates exposure, and while that is often an acceptable residue, the Bison had a variable this past year that was troubling: Former keeper Kyle Feeney wasn't unbeatable. The eighth-round selection of the Charlotte Hounds regressed from his form early in his career (a tenure that earned him all-league honors in 2012 and 2011), and it showed in his and his team's statistical profile:
BUCKNELL'S GOALKEEPING: A ENTERPRISE OF WANT METRIC VALUE NAT'L RANK Shots per Defensive Opportunity 0.91 3 Raw Defensive Shooting Rate 29.03% 41 Defensive Assist Rate 18.75 43 Saves per 100 Defensive Opportunities 26.95 61 Team Save Percentage 50.55% 44
IV. MR. FIX-IT HAS A ONE-FIX ENGAGEMENT, AND IT'S . . .
- Bucknell loses a handful of important assets going in 2014 -- Mike Huffner, Feeney, Chase Bailey -- but Fedorjaka has available to him a host of talent ready to crush faces -- Jackson Place, Ben Keller, David Dickson, Todd Heritage, Tom Flibotte, and a further cast of characters that is poised to challenge for the Patriot League title. The only "fix" I see is keeping the development arc on its trajectory and guarding against complacency. If Bucknell enters next year with the right state of mind and with consistent focus, the Bison could be a player in a crowded scene.