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So the 2016 season has been over for about two-and-a-half weeks, and we still miss it. So as Eri is taking a look at each individual team (god rest his soul), I'll be taking a smaller look at each team.
Yesterday, I took at look at the CAA. Today, we'll dive into the Big East that wasn't dominated by teams in the eastern part of the country. Geographically, the conference didn't live up to its name. But overall, Denver was good, but Marquette stole the show. Let's dive in.
The Good: That's tough. You beat Siena and got your lone Big East win against Georgetown in the season finale? Sophomore Jason DeBenedictis is your second best scorer?
The Bad: A lot. Tough losses to Jacksonville and Marquette. One win in conference play and one less win than in 2015. ZOINKS!
The Future: Hopefully it's bright. The Madsen twins, Mike and Joe, are Locust Valley attackmen coming to Jamaica, along with Connetquot attackman Matt Oehl. On the other side of the ball, PA kids Patrick Smyth (Springfield-Delco) and Timmy Kiel (Central Bucks East) hope to rebuild a struggling defense.
The Good: Wins over Hofstra and Providence and Daniel Bucaro was the Big East Freshman of the Year. Slightly better than St. John's (although you lost to them).
The Bad: A ton. Many people thought you'd work off of your impressive 2015 campaign, and well, it stunk. Tough losses to Towson, Mount St. Mary's (wow), Fairfield, Hobart (double wow), Loyola, Marquette, Virginia, and the aforementioned St. John's loss (triple wow), and three of those losses were by one goal. You're a competitive team, but not competitive enough to exchange those tight losses for wins.
The Future: Another impressive recruiting class is coming to D.C. Ranked recruits include defenseman and Under Armour All-American Jarrett Jones (Palos Verdes), goalie Jack Stephenson (Brunswick), defenseman Stephen MacLeod (St. Ignatius Prep), midfielder Cullen Morgan (Fox Lane), and FOGO Alex Bean (MICDS). Other notables include attackman Jake Carraway (St. Mary's) and offensive weapon Massimo Bucci (IMG Academy). Trust The Process?
The Good: Even though you won just one Big East conference game, you managed to get into the Big East Tournament. You also had a pretty good win over Hofstra, and freshmen Brendan Kearns and Tate Boyce played fantastic as an attackman and goaltender respectively.
The Bad: One conference win and losing Will Mazzone and now Jacksonville BOSS John Galloway aren't good, along with tight losses to Boston University, Bryant, and High Point. But after going 7-3 in your first 10 games, you lost your final six games, including tough losses to Georgetown and Marquette.
The Future: A ton of notable midfielders come in, first with Hill Academy's Damon Curry and Delbarton's Troy Higgins. Others include Will Perry (Greenwich), Sean Leahey (Seton Hall Prep), and FOGO R.J. Romeo (Wilton). LSM and defenseman Nick Tommasi from Mount Lebanon hopes to be one of the first big collegiate player from western PA.
The Good: You were really good for some time early in the season, and Jake Froccaro was putting up Dylan Molloy-like numbers before cooling off late. He eventually became an Honorable Mention All-American, along with midfielder Jack Curran. Devin McNamara looked to return to his form from his freshman season, and Joey Froccaro was another great steal for you guys. Your only good win was against Penn State.
The Bad: After going 6-1 in your first seven games, you finished 3-4 in your final seven and didn't have a strong resume for an at-large bid. Your losses weren't weak, but losing to Marquette twice wasn't good, as well as having Penn State as your best win. One-goal losses to Harvard and Denver could've helped boost your resume if they were wins.
The Future: You're on track to building upon your success in 2016 with a good amount of talented recruits, especially from New Jersey. A pair of Hun School attackmen in Owen Black and Luke Prybylski arrive to the Main Line, along with Lawrenceville midfielder Connor Kirst. You're even reaching New York with St. Anthony's midfielder Jared Nugent and Iona Prep defenseman Zach Kryza, as well as Calvert Hall attackman Jack Kinnear.
MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES (11-5) - Won Big East Tournament; Lost to North Carolina in NCAA First Round
The Good: Your first recruiting class graduated, and it was the best season in program history. You finished 13th in the media poll and won the Big East by upsetting Denver, and were very close to beating eventual National Champion North Carolina. Honorable Mention All-American Ryan McNamara looks to be a big-time player next season once again, and goalie Cole Blazer will be a junior.
The Bad: There are some bad spots to talk about. Tough loss to Ohio State early in the season, along with an overtime loss in South Bend to Notre Dame, then an EMBARRASSMENT against Duke and a loss in rainy Denver against the Pios before UNC in the NCAA Tournament. You're gonna lose Conor Gately, Blaine Fleming, Third Team All-Americans Jacob Richard and B.J. Grill, and Liam Byrnes, a Second Team All-American, next year, so really big holes to fill.
The Future: There are some holes to fill, and some freshmen might need to make big impacts right away. You had a strong defense last year, and with Byrnes and Grill gone, you might have to turn to another Grill. Nick Grill from Bridgewater-Raritan was the NJ.com Player of the Year. Other defensemen include Jackson Suarez from Dallas Jesuit and Ryan Granger of Penncrest. Connor McClelland is a midfielder from St. Michael's in Toronto, and could provide you guys a taste of Canada.
DENVER PIONEERS (13-3) - Lost Big East Tournament; Lost to Towson in NCAA First Round
The Good: You were one of the top teams for a long time, until you had a crash landing and yeah. Connor Cannizzaro is one of the top attackmen in the country, and along with midfielder Zach Miller, FOGO Trevor Baptiste, and defenseman Christian Burgdorf, was a First Team All-American. Tyler Pace was a Second Team All-American. Alex Ready was okay in his freshman year in goal, but has a lot of time to improve, and needs to.
The Bad: That two game losing streak to end the season is all that needs to be said. Oh, and that weird loss to Penn State.
The Future: You have three Under Armour All-Americans coming in for 2016. The top name is Culver attackman Ethan Walker, who's one of the two best recruits in the nation. New Canaan midfielder Kyle Smith and Upper Arlington middie Danny Logan are the other two All-Americans. Another top recruit comes from the west in St. Margaret's attackman Sam Harnisch. Other names to watch include McCallie attackman Zach Hutchko, Hill Academy midfielder Cameron Close, Regis Jesuit FOGO Alec Barnes, and IMG Academy LSM Nate Williams.