College Crosse Prospectus: Teams Getting Ready for the First Round

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Only one day to go until the NCAA Play-In game! Here are your links for May 9, 2017.

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What You Missed

Former Cornell Big Red head coach Matt Kerwick announced his resignation, and Peter Milliman was named the Interim Head Coach for 2018.

Maryland has the best chance to win the NCAA Tournament in The Stakes, but the second best team may surprise you.

All the Selection Sunday stuff you need to see.

One of those NCAA Tournament teams is Ohio State, and our pal Joe Keegan wrote about how the Buckeyes have benefited from staying in the middle all season.

Lacrosse The Nation

BOSS John Desko previews May Mayhem and Syracuse’s First Round game against Yale.

Daniel Bernstein from The Diamondback says Maryland faces a very difficult slate to win an NCAA championship.

While Maryland beat both potential quarterfinal opponents earlier in the campaign, the Great Danes and Tar Heels would still represent a difficult second-round test. The Terps beat Albany by just one on April 12 and fell to North Carolina, 14-13, in the championship game last year.

[John] Tillman claimed the early tournament challenge is indicative of an improving field. Every year, he said, Maryland seems to face tougher opponents at the start of the competition.

While the Terps have won four first-round tilts in a row, they were upset at home in the opening round by Cornell in 2013, making the coach wary of an early disappointment this season.

"I always go into it realizing that every game is going to be tough in the NCAA tournament," Tillman said. "The way the sport is now with it growing … everybody is getting better, so the difference between the top team and the bottom team I think every year gets [smaller and smaller]."

STAND UP, JERSEY! NJ.com has 25 high school alums that will impact the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA posted a great read on how the teams are selected for the NCAA Tournament.

Finally, not everyone is happy with the 17 teams selected. One of them is Army West Point, from Sal Interdonato of the Times Herald-Record.

Committee chairman Gene Doris said Army was “the first team out” (just missing the tournament) on Sunday on the Inside Lacrosse’s podcast. Army’s exclusion was puzzling, considering its resume. [Gunnar] Miller said Army was tournament-worthy based on a 14-13 win at Syracuse, the win over Notre Dame and five top-20 victories.

“If you look, the No. 2 (Syracuse) and No. 4 (Notre Dame), we beat both of them,” Miller said. “Syracuse has been arguably the best team in the country throughout the year and we are the only team to go up to the Dome and beat them there.

“That’s a really tough place to win. They have great fans. It was a packed house. It was pretty upsetting not being able to get that bid. But, we should have just won the Patriot League tournament, I guess.”

The tournament field consists of nine teams, which receive automatic bids as a conference champion, and eight at-large teams. Army lost 13-4 to Loyola (Md.) in the Patriot League title game.

Jerry Carino of the Asbury Park Press highlights the career of Villanova attackman Jack Curran.

It all came together against St. John’s, when he scored eight goals in an 18-3 win. That gave him the single-season goals record, surpassing a standard that was set in 1991.

“I was lucky enough to hit my shots that day,” he said. “Every year my shooting percentage has gone up. It showed in that game for sure.”

The Rumson-Fair Haven High School grad, who owns a degree in finance, took a postgrad year because he lost his freshman season to a knee injury. It was the lone bend in a memorable road.

“I’ve played since day one and I haven’t looked back,” Curran said. “I couldn’t have imagined it any other way.”

High Point is going to be wearing Adidas next season, joining Rutgers.

Harvard BOSS Chris Wojcik recaps the team’s 2017 season.

A great thank you letter from Richmond Assistant AD for Athletic PR Scott Day.

I've been fortunate enough to spend the past two seasons with this group and the program as a whole. In my first few weeks on the job, I was told over and over again about the uniqueness of the Richmond student-athlete. I can truly say there are no better examples of that than the 14 seniors in the men's lacrosse program.

I've seen them pour their hearts and souls into practice, film, leadership training, and networking with Richmond alums in New York City. Everything they've done, they've done with a purpose, class, and integrity.

Of course I wanted us to win the SoCon Championship and watch this group of guys become champions yet again, but unfortunately storybook ending didn't happen. While the loss was incredibly difficult, the toughest part was knowing that I wouldn't be around that group of seniors.

As I spoke with their coaches, both before, during, and after the season, it was easy to tell the emotion and love that those guys bring out in the people that surround the lacrosse program. A foundation has been laid and the ability to compete against some of the country's most storied programs is because of the culture that this group of young men has left behind.

Over at the high school level, St. Paul’s BOSS Rick Brocato reflects on 30 years of coaching, as he will step down from the position at the end of the season.

More school awards handed out:

And for some reason, there’s still weekly conference awards.

Philly Jawns

A beloved Northern Liberties mural has been vandalized.

Could the Philadelphia Eagles trade center Jason Kelce for New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram?

World News

American Idol is coming back to ABC!

Video of the Day

This is the most talented chicken I’ve ever seen.

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