This is it, you guys. The Selection Committee will unleash a Division I men's lacrosse championship bracket tonight at 9:00 on ESPNU. Anish Shroff, Quint Kessenich, and Paul Carcaterra will walk you through the thing, presumably in sharp suits and fancy haircuts. The stories of the night are threefold:
- How seeding will shake out (arguably the most important aspect of all of this as seeded teams are given home games in the first round);
- Where unseeded teams will head; and
- Which teams will sneak into the field, presumably without dropping a bag of cash with a big green dollar sign on it at the Selection Committee's door.
The play-in round will faceoff on Wednesday -- likely featuring some combination of Siena, Bryant, Air Force, and Richmond -- with first round games starting at noon on Saturday. Based on the latest bracket projection aggregation from highly intelligent people, your storylines for tonight look like this:
- Will Duke or Syracuse earn the top seed in the bracket?
- Which seeded teams will draw horrific matchups in the first round (teams like Albany and Denver), bracket-melting dates with the capability of making a seeded team weep in horror?
- Will Hofstra sneak into the bracket after losing the THUNDERDOME! championship yesterday? Is Harvard safe?
- How will the selection committee balance the Delaware and Long Island quarterfinals pods?
After ESPNU finishes its extravaganza, keep an eye out for a downloadable bracket and all kinds of other nonsense. The Big Barbeque is about to have its invitation list finalized. These are the good times, people.