College Crosse Prospectus - March 31, 2017: Rutgers vs. Johns Hopkins, Chris’ Power Rankings.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for March 31, 2017.

College Crosse News.

HUGE game today between Rutgers and Hopkins. RU’s The Daily Targum with a nice preview of the game.

Looking to rebound from its first loss of the season at the hands of Delaware, the Rutgers men’s lacrosse team will head to Baltimore for a Friday night contest against No. 13 Johns Hopkins (5-3) in what will be the Big Ten opener for both teams.

The No. 10 Scarlet Knights (8-1) will play three of their five conference games on the road and their game at Hopkins will set the tone for a crucial and difficult stretch in the season.

With all six Big Ten teams ranked — No. 2 Penn State leads the way — nothing will come easy for the team.

"The next game is the most important for us. We always live for the next game," senior defender Chris Groel said. "Obviously now that it's Big Ten play and it reflects on playoffs, we're gonna be definitely more hungry."

Chris’ Power Rankings are out!

9. Rutgers (Last Week: 1) - DELAWARE WAS A TRAP!

Shout out to BOSS Berkman!!

“New rule allows girls lacrosse helmets — but many don’t wear them.”

Girls lacrosse players on Long Island have the option for the first time this spring to wear standardized lacrosse-specific helmets after years of debate over whether helmets will make the game safer or lead to a more violent style of play.

Robert Moris University assistant coach Tim Cox talks about RMU's upcoming game versus St. John's .

Our man Edward Lee of the Baltimore Sun wrote some bangers this week. This one on how Hopkins went from one of the worst clearing teams in D1 to one of the best is a must read for any Hop fan. I also loved his post on Shack Stanwick, and really enjoyed this post BOSS Berkman of Salisbury and his 500th win.

Lots of good games this weekend!

Villanova week at Marquette.

BOSS Poskay of Wagner talks Seahawks lacrosse.

Our friend @OrangeLax has a nice preview of the Syracuse vs. Notre Dame game.

18 Stripes with a nice breakdown of some of Notre Dame’s best plays during the Michigan game. (Ed. Note: I also LOVED the Joe Keegs shout out!)

Our 18Stripes colleagues do a fantastic job breaking down football film, so we figured we’d take a shot at explaining a few of the more interesting lacrosse plays fans will witness this season. We will call these segments Lacrosse Playbook since all the other good names were taken.

Joe Keegan (twitter: @joekeegs) wrote a fantastic piece on CollegeCrosse.com about the impact of Pierre Byrne’s dodging on the 2017 Notre Dame Lacrosse offense. It’s an excellent read that we recommend highly. It outlines the various ways Byrne can initiate offense in the current Notre Dame setup.

One clip of the Michigan game that Keegan utilized in his piece illustrates well how good the Irish offense can be when everyone in on the same page. It’s a play that stood out to us even in our first watching of the game because of how precise the off-ball movement seemed in real-time. Basketball types may enjoy this as well, since many of the principles involved are similar to what you want to see in hoops.

Al Roker stopped by Loyola yesterday.

Penn State’s ready for Big Ten play.

Penn State went a perfect 9-0 through non-conference play. Now, the Nittany Lions are preparing for the ‘new season’ that is Big Ten play. A year ago, the Nittany Lions started non-conference play at 6-3. Then, they went 2-3 through Big Ten play and lost in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament after going 1-3 in one-goal games in conference play. Penn State’s perfect undefeated record will help the Nittany Lions qualify for the NCAA Tournament, but it is meaningless in selecting the four-team Big Ten Tournament field, which is decided solely on conference record.

These guys started a new lacrosse podcast!

#AnotherOne: Another Roy Simmons enters the lacrosse coaching arena.

Another Roy Simmons is coaching lacrosse in Syracuse.

Roy Simmons IV is the new boys lacrosse coach at Manlius Pebble Hill school. The 24-year-old graduate of Fayetteville-Manlius High School and Hartwick College is the latest in a line of those with one of the most famous names in lacrosse to try his hand coaching the sport.

Simmons is the descendant of Syracuse University lacrosse royalty. His father, Roy III, played at SU and has been part of the men's program for 27 years. He was a longtime assistant coach and is currently director of operations for the Orange.

His grandfather, Roy Jr., was an Orange All-American in the 1950s who coached the team to six national championships from 1971-98. His great-grandfather, the late Roy Sr., also was an All-American at SU and ran the Orange program from 1931-70. Both of them are in the national lacrosse Hall of Fame.

The Washington Post with an article on early recruiting.

What’s Up, Philly?

Philly’s next big beer garden is opening up soon.

Next month, the big patch of grass and greenery atop Cira Centre South’s parking garage called Cira Green will be home to Philly’s second sky-high beer garden (Skygarten being the first—and tallest), courtesy of World Cafe Live.

World/National News.

Start the season earlier!: New England expected to get 12 to 18 inches of snow on April Fool’s Day.

A major snowstorm is brewing just in time for April Fools' Day in parts of New England. The National Weather Service says the coastal storm is going to bring heavy, wet snow to Maine and New Hampshire starting Friday and continuing through Saturday afternoon. Meteorologist Tom Hawley says the "jackpot" is going to be 12 to 18 inches of snow in higher terrain between Nashua and Keene in New Hampshire. He says interior sections of southernmost Maine can expect 6 to 10 inches while lesser amounts are forecast farther north.

Your GIF for March 31, 2017: Let’s see that smile!!

That’s it for today!! I’ll see you out there!! Make sure you follow us on social media!

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Managing Editors: Safe Fekadu, Chris Jastrzembski, Ryan McDonnell.