2017 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament: Day 3 Overall Thoughts

We’re three quarters of the way done, and it stinks. We had nothing to really watch regarding the Men’s Division I side outside of two press conferences in the morning and the Major League Lacrosse draft at Toby Keith’s bar. But the women’s game put on a show, while the Men’s Division II and III games were won by familiar faces.

Below are my thoughts from today’s festivities.

• We’ll go chronologically, beginning with the morning press conferences. Both teams seem ready to go at this point, and not much was said from either team. They’re both very familiar with each other and won’t say a lot until the game is decided on Monday afternoon.
• I went to the MLL Draft over the women’s National Championship. But as I was walking by, there was certainly a crowd for that game, 11,668 altogether, which was a new record. Having the Boston College Eagles play may have also helped, as there was a huge fanbase for them coming in.
• Meanwhile, the MLL Draft was different to say the least. A small group of people watched the first round, but then after, everyone kind of dispersed and left. I left after the fifth round (there’s 10 altogether).
• Looking at everyone who was there in the crowd, I did not see a fan wear anything related to the MLL or an MLL team. Most of the room was decked out in their favorite college team’s attire. There was a noticeable Brown Bears contingency present, including head coach Mike Daly. I went to cheer on former Syracuse Orange midfielder Sergio Salcido as he got picked by the hometown Florida Launch, in a Syracuse tie.

• Dylan Molloy went No. 1 overall to Florida by the way, and they also got Nick Mariano at four.

• I left midway through with Jordan Evans who was also there. From what he told me, all there was in the back was drinks, food, and a bathroom. All of the guys left midway through the draft.
• Near the end of the draft, there was a mishap with the picks. That’s not good at all. And sometimes, some teams even “auto pick” late in the rounds. One year, a team wrote down a list of players they wanted to get in order and when they were up, the top player left was picked.
• We also had this. Oh no.

• That tweet is still up by the way, along with their original text tweet too. It’s actually Mikie Schlosser.

• Please improve, MLL. Not trying to rip the league and teams, but things like that show others that the league shouldn’t be taken seriously.
• One note about the women’s game that was going on simultaneously with the MLL Draft. That seemed like it was a good game, and 11,668 people saw it, which set a new record.
• Having the game at 11 in the morning is bad for the top women’s game of the season. It should be later in the day like it has been for the longest time. Maryland’s women celebrated a very long time, and the D2 title game didn’t get started until 2:36. That game’s start time was supposed to be at 2. Which meant we also had a late start time for the D3 game.
• I thought having the women’s Final Four along with the men’s was unique and very cool. But I think it’s just too much for the stadium crew and the NCAA, as well as the fans, to tolerate three games in one day.
• Another thing is that the field is an artificial turf field. It can certainly deal with eight games played in four days, as well as team practices. What if we were back at the Linc where they had grass turf? How bad would the field be for Monday’s title game?
• I’d like the women’s Championship Weekend to be near the men’s festivities, but having them inside a football stadium doesn’t look too good. If they were at Harvard Stadium or Nickerson Field, I’d be okay with that. It worked with Talen Energy Stadium the past two years in Philly.
• Moving on to the press box spread! No catered food again. Instead, pizza was delivered. I got the final two pepperoni slices, and they were pretty good, because how can you go wrong with pizza?
• Later on in between the D2 and D3 games, we got a voucher for a free meal down at the stadium’s field level venue. I got the chicken tenders and fries, and the tenders were good. But the fries, oh my. Some of them were cold, and most, if not all, of them were hard or somewhat not cooked all the way. That’s technically not part of the press box spread since we had to get it outside of the press box, but it’s a bad showing by the Gillette Stadium staff this weekend, besides Friday.
• I’d bump that number up to 70% right now.

• Oh how I miss Championship Weekend being in Philly. I loved how the press box was one floor and with good food. The elevator during games goes up right to the blue level (working area), with the red level being the relaxing area so to say. Some people before the games want to go to the red level while everyone else is going to the blue. Pet peeve, not the end of the world, but I hate those red level people.
• To the games, because I might lose you soon. I kind of didn’t know what I was doing for both games, but managed to look smart when tweeting.
• The Division II title game was alright. Luckily Marisa had to try and look like she knew what she was doing (she did), but Merrimack had a bad third quarter which caused them to lose the game.
• Kevin Reisman is Limestone’s FOGO and he had another big game for the Saints. In that third quarter, the Most Outstanding Player went a perfect 7-of-7 from the face-off X. He got drafted by the Ohio Machine earlier in the day, and might be an impact player in the MLL.
• The Division III title game wasn’t a very offensive battle at first, as most D3 games are. Salisbury led 2-1 after the opening quarter, and it was the lowest scoring quarter so far this weekend.
• Again, the third quarter hurt RIT, as they got dominated on ground balls, 18-5, and it also lost considerable ground on the scoreboard. Carson Kalama was the Most Outstanding Player with four goals and an assist, but the second midfielder played a huge game.
• I love Salisbury’s color combo of the maroon and bright yellow. It just looks chill.
• And speaking of chill, Salisbury’s legendary head coach Jim Berkman doesn’t sound like he looks. You’d think that a guy that looks halfway bald and kind of old, he’d sound like a old man. He sounded like a surfer dude’s dad, like so much younger than he is.
• It’s also his 12th national championship in his 29-year career. With over 500 career coaching wins, he’s certainly one of the greatest lacrosse coaches in any division.
• And could Salisbury beat an NCAA Division I team? They definitely could beat some of the bottom-dwelling teams, but where would it then turn from a beat down for the Gulls to an interesting game, before it turns to a beat down for the Division I team?
• I wonder is the Sea Gulls have thought about moving up to Division I. It could happen.
• The attendance overall was 31,560. The D2 and D3 games combined for 19,892. That number is a decrease from 2016, but a slight increase from the numbers in 2015, and a huge increase from 2012.
• The weather for tomorrow looks not ideal. It’ll be cloudy up until game time, where it looks like it’s going to rain for most of the game, if not the entire thing. That might affect how the game is played, and might affect attendance.
• I also did a video recap as well.