College Crosse - College Crosse's Midseason Lacrosse AwardsAll the lacrosse news you can handle and plenty more!https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48527/crosse-fave.png2013-03-28T13:39:05-04:00http://www.collegecrosse.com/rss/stream/39142732013-03-28T13:39:05-04:002013-03-28T13:39:05-04:00Midseason Lacrosse Awards (Part IV)
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<figcaption>Rob Carr</figcaption>
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<p>Handing out a few more pieces of hardware in important categories of human lacrosse achievement.</p> <p>The college lacrosse season breached its halfway point this past weekend, and that's cause for an unnecessary celebration. Accordingly, <em>College Crosse</em> is prepared to give out the Internet's most important college lacrosse midseason awards ever considered in the entire scope of history: Really pointless ones concomitant with actually giving out midseason awards. Put on that top hat and monocle, friend; you're officially entering the most exclusive awards party this side of everywhere.</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD XI: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF PROVING THAT FACETS OF THE GAME ARE JUST FACETS</strong><br><em>Winner</em>: Bryant Bulldogs</p>
<p>I was flipping through the ol' Twitter machine yesterday and came across this tweet from the voice of Syracuse lacrosse, Brian Higgins:</p>
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<p>While @<a href="https://twitter.com/cuse">cuse</a> lax would rather avoid another 2/24 FO performance, keep in mind Bryant leads the country(68%)...and is (1-8)</p>— Brian Higgins (@BrianHigginsSU) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianHigginsSU/status/317050884221722625">March 27, 2013</a>
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<p>Ignoring the Syracuse-related implications of Higgins' tweet, let's focus on the Bryant aspect of it: The Bulldogs are leading the nation in face-off percentage -- due exclusive to Kevin Massa's work at the dot -- but Bryant is just 1-8 (and just recently earned that victory in a somewhat stunning 10-9 upset of Stony Brook). How is that possible? Answer: The Bulldogs' offense is basically a train that crashed into an already-burning garbage fire and is now part of a very special train wreck/garbage fire. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.collegecrosse.com/2013/3/22/4128000/faceoffs-lacrosse-ncaa-college" target="new">Tim touched upon this in a piece last week</a>, but Bryant is a nice example of showing that what a team does with possession is more important than simply generating possession. For the Bulldogs, the team has had no problem this season with earning tons of offensive possessions -- only five teams hold a stronger possession margin per 60 minutes of play than Bryant's 4.53 mark -- but the Bulldogs simply can't put the ball in the net at a rate that allows them to keep pace with their opponents. LOOKIT:</p>
<ul>
<li>Only four teams -- VMI, Michigan, Detroit, and St. Joseph's (teams that have combined for a 5-29 record) -- hold an adjusted offensive efficiency value worse than Bryant's 23.40 goals per 100 offensive opportunities mark. That is a disastrous level of offensive competence and it's driving away the Bulldogs' ability to stay competitive: If Bryant's offense operated at the national average -- about 30 goals per 100 offensive opportunities (meaning that the Bulldogs would have needed to score 22 more goals this season) -- the team's adjusted efficiency margin (the team's efficiency in scoring goals less the team's efficiency in surrendering them) would move from -6.65 to +0.33 (a mark that would rank 32nd in the country). Based on Bryant's pace of play -- about 70 possessions per 60 minutes of play -- the Bulldogs are playing at a level that puts them about four-and-a-half goals behind their opponent due to an offense that can't find anything. All that is keeping the Bulldogs from being a nationally-average team is an average offense. The face-off play isn't driving the bus here.</li>
<li>Only two teams hold a raw shooting percentage worse than Bryant's 20.60 percent mark. Good gracious. There is a reason that opposing keepers have combined for a 59.14 save percentage -- Bryant probably can't even see the twine, nevermind having trouble tickling it. Of the Bulldogs' double-digit point producers so far this year, only one -- Shane Morrell (35.1 percent) -- is shooting above <em>25 percent</em> (Alex Zomerfeld is shooting 22.0 percent, Colin Dunster is shooting 14.1 percent, Peter McMahon is shooting 18.2 percent, Mason Poli -- admittedly a pole -- is shooting just 23.3 percent, and Brian Schlansker is shooting just 15.2 percent). These players are Bryant's offensive core -- over 70 percent of the team's shots have come from this sextet -- and the group is shooting just 20.46 as a whole. Kevin Massa winning lots of draws doesn't impact this; being blinded by the moon impacts this.</li>
</ul>
<p>Bryant can win all of the face-offs for the rest of time and it won't necessarily impact the Bulldogs' successes until the offense starts to do something with those extra possessions.</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD XII: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF PERFORMING AMATEUR SELF-SURGERY ON FOOT WITH A SHOTGUN</strong><br><em>Winner</em>: Sacred Heart Pioneers</p>
<p>The Pioneers aren't all that hot this season. Currently in <a href="http://www.collegecrosse.com/reverse-survivor-and-wagner-cup" target="new">Reverse Survivor contention</a>, Sacred Heart's 0-8 record -- an effort that has yielded four results with less than a three-goal margin (a 9-11 loss to Holy Cross, back-to-back 10-12 losses to Providence and Stony Brook, and a 7-8 overtime loss to Vermont this past weekend) -- is the kind of thing that you don't let children read because it isn't suitable for their impressionable eyes. It's not all misery and pain for the Pioneers in 2013 -- notably, Stephen Kontos remains a stomping monster at the dot -- but Sacred Heart suffers two afflictions that bad teams tend to wrap themselves in for masochistic comfort: The Pioneers are exceptional at losing the bean and are really good at failing to follow the rules of college lacrosse. To wit:</p>
<ul>
<li>Only three teams -- VMI, Lafayette, and Detroit -- have a worse turnovers-per-100-offensive-opportunities value than the Pioneers' 59.77 mark. That's . . . well, that probably requires so many wind sprints that the university should just fold its lacrosse program into its cross country efforts. That value has two nasty elements to it: first, only two teams are committing unforced turnovers (on a 100-possession basis) at a rate higher than Sacred Heart's 30.45 mark; second, the Pioneers are getting bamboozled by opposing defensemen, suffering caused turnovers (on a 100-possession basis) at a rate of 29.32 (the 59th "best" mark in Division I). So, basically, the Pioneers have been mind-bendingly sloppy with the pill, essentially erasing the 2.74 possession margin per 60 minutes of play it enjoys. (No team loses functional offensive possessions due to turnovers more than the Pioneers -- 56.85 percent of the team's trips to the attack box feature a turnover.) Against a schedule ranked right around the national average in terms of strength, that isn't going to get the job done.</li>
<li>The Pioneers' sloppy play isn't just limited to turnovers, though. Nope. Sacred Heart is also an impressive violator of the law, taking penalties at a rate that ranks 56th in the nation (the rate is about two penalties higher than the national average). This has forced the Pioneers -- currently rolling with a defense ranked 61st in adjusted offensive efficiency (yielding about 41 goals per 100 defensive opportunities) and a goaltending situation that has featured two stoppers that have combined for a 49.47 save percentage (that value ranks 51st in the country) -- to play around 16 man-down possessions on a 100-possession basis (only one team holds a worse mark than that value). When compounded with the fact that opponents are scoring around 16 percent of their goals against Sacred Heart with the extra-attacker (that mark rank 56th in the nation), it becomes clearer that a major part of the Pioneers' problems in stopping defenses is due to the team's proclivity for doing proscribed things. That's double-plus ungood.</li>
</ul>
<p>It's really hard to win games when you put yourself behind the eight ball, and the Pioneers' effort this season has proven that.</p>
https://www.collegecrosse.com/2013/3/28/4157066/ncaa-college-lacrosse-awards-midseasonHoya Suxa2013-03-27T13:00:07-04:002013-03-27T13:00:07-04:00Midseason Lacrosse Awards (Part III)
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<figcaption>Winslow Townson</figcaption>
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<p>Handing out even more hardware in important categories of human lacrosse achievement.</p> <p>The college lacrosse season breached its halfway point this past weekend, and that's cause for an unnecessary celebration. Accordingly, <em>College Crosse</em> is prepared to give out the Internet's most important college lacrosse midseason awards ever considered in the entire scope of history: Really pointless ones concomitant with actually giving out midseason awards. Put on that top hat and monocle, friend; you're officially entering the most exclusive awards party this side of everywhere.</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD VIII: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF MAN LOVE (THE TOTALLY PLATONIC KIND)</strong><br><em>Winner</em>: University at Albany Great Danes</p>
<p>I know that not everyone shares my taste in preferred lacrosse style -- up-tempo (controlled, but aggressive), with lots of offense generated through emphatic offensive talents -- and I'm generally cool with that. (Although, some of you knuckleheads are masochists that need to spend days in lacrosse therapy.) What Albany has done so far this season, though, should make everyone send a giant Vermont Teddy Bear -- it's the tangible expression of affection for emotional cripples -- to Scott Marr and the rest of the crew in the Great Danes program: Albany is the most exciting thing happening in college lacrosse right now, and the team's 5-3 record -- a year following the Great Danes contending for Reverse Survivor honors until the bitter end -- has little to do with that.</p>
<p>Albany has been the template for the kind of lacrosse that I want to man-hug until the situation becomes awkward and weird. No team in the country is playing more possessions per 60 minutes of play than the Great Danes (78.31) and only four teams -- Denver, Duke, St. John's, and Princeton -- hold adjusted offensive efficiency values that top Albany's 37.35 goals per 100 offensive opportunities. The Great Danes are streaking the field like Japanese businessmen running in fear from Godzilla, generating tons of offensive opportunities per 60 minutes of play (around 37, which is the seventh highest mark in the country), turning those offensive opportunities into functional offensive possessions at decent clip (only 28 teams having a stronger functional offensive opportunities ratio than Albany), whipping the bean all around the attack box (only one team generates more assists on a per-possession basis), and making the most of those opportunities at a rate that is eye-bulgingly impressive. This is jet-pack-lacrosse meeting razor-like precision. This is the epitome of play that makes your head spin in the really good way.</p>
<p>(Of course, Albany has all kinds of problems in the overall -- the defense is still a flaming mess of depression, the team couldn't win a face-off if freeing the princess from the castle was on the line, and the Great Danes are turning the ball over at a fairly high rate -- but those are just problems, man. Embrace the great stuff for a second before you ruin everything for everyone else.)</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD IX: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF FAILING TO ACHIEVE WHILE WRAPPED IN A COCOON OF PAIN</strong><br><em>Winner</em>: Villanova University Wildcats</p>
<p>There are teams that have schedules that are more difficult than what Villanova has faced this season -- Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, and Massachusetts are in the discussion -- but none of those schools have suffered the way that the Wildcats have to start the season: With just a 2-5 record, Villanova has attempted to summit Kilimanjaro in a single step while wearing shoes made of ice.</p>
<p>Through yesterday's games, the Wildcats' schedule currently ranks fourth in the country in aggregated opponent adjusted efficiency margin, fourth in opposing offenses faced on an adjusted efficiency basis, and with respect to opponent Pythagorean win expectation, no team in the country has faced a slate more difficult that what Villanova has endured over its first seven games. It has been a brutal stretch for the Wildcats to start their 2013 campaign, and the two aspects of Villanova's play through these seven games that creates a bit of optimism in Philadelphia around the team -- (1) In three of Villanova's losses (Lehigh, Drexel, and Princeton), the Wildcats were in a position to win the game if it weren't for disastrous fourth quarters; and (2) Villanova is actually a pretty average team, ranked -- at the moment -- 34th in adjusted efficiency margin and 34th in Pythagorean win expectation -- is somewhat muted because things aren't going to get any easier for the Wildcats the rest of the way: Villanova still needs to play St. John's, Notre Dame, and Penn State over the next few weeks.</p>
<p>This is helmets-on territory for the Wildcats and stuff is exploding all over the place.</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSEAWARD X: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF "AW, HELL!"</strong><br><em>Winner</em>: Georgetown University Hoyas</p>
<p>Georgetown didn't hire Kevin Warne because the Hoyas were in a place where rainbows are always on the horizon and it rains only jellybeans. Simply: You don't let Dave Urick step aside and look for a new program navigator if everything is perfect. And when new faces are brought in to perform program-resuscitation, the first year of the process is often painful and an incomplete picture of what the future may hold. Compared to the pool of schools that were in the market for a new head coach this past offseason, though, Georgetown had the appearance of a program that could surprise in 2013 based on the volume of upperclass and raw talent hanging around The Hilltop combined with Warne's (and his staff's) coaching acumen. Unfortunately, things have gone sideways for the Hoyas in Warne's first rodeo in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>As things stand currently, the Hoyas are arguably one of the 10 worst teams in the country. Ranking only 53rd in adjusted efficiency margin (basically, the difference between the Hoyas' ability to generate goals against their ability to limit opponent tallies), Georgetown, on a 100-possession basis, is about nine goals worse than their competition this season. (For contextual purposes, Georgetown is sandwiched between Bryant (-7.03), Jacksonville (-7.30), Marquette (-9.02), and Lafayette (-9.67) in the adjusted efficiency margin rankings. That's not the company that many -- including myself -- thought that the Hoyas would keep in 2013.) This marks a fairly notable regression from 2012 for Georgetown, a season in which the Hoyas finished 34th in the metric.</p>
<p>Now, this doesn't mean that Warne and his staff are doing a bad job or that Georgetown is worse off today than they were around 365 days ago. Growing pains are going to exist relative to any new regime change and the notable injury to offensive stud Brian Casey has stunted Georgetown’s growth a bit, but it's a little shocking to see where Georgetown is now compared to the potential they seem to have at the sunrise of the 2013 season. (<em>Face-Off Yearbook</em> ranked the Hoyas 30th in their preseason rankings and <a href="http://www.collegecrosse.com/2013/1/9/3824850/2013-college-lacrosse-preview-surprises-darkhorse-navy-ohio-state-st-johns-georgetown" target="new">I was somewhat bully on the Hoyas as well</a>.) I don't know where Georgetown goes the rest of the way this season, but where the Hoyas have been thus far -- including hammerings at the hands of Mount St. Mary's, Duke, and Loyola and a weird season-opening overtime loss to Lafayette -- isn't a place that many people Georgetown expected to be.</p>
https://www.collegecrosse.com/2013/3/27/4150626/ncaa-college-lacrosse-awards-midseasonHoya Suxa2013-03-27T10:00:05-04:002013-03-27T10:00:05-04:00Midseason Lacrosse Awards (Part II)
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<figcaption>Rob Carr</figcaption>
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<p>Handing out more hardware in important categories of human lacrosse achievement.</p> <p>The college lacrosse season breached its halfway point this past weekend, and that's cause for an unnecessary celebration. Accordingly, <em>College Crosse</em> is prepared to give out the Internet's most important college lacrosse midseason awards ever considered in the entire scope of history: Really pointless ones concomitant with actually giving out midseason awards. Put on that top hat and monocle, friend; you're officially entering the most exclusive awards party this side of everywhere.</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD V: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF SELFISHNESS</strong><br><em>Winner</em>: Maryland Terrapins</p>
<p>Nobody in the country is playing with possession in their favor more than Maryland this season; that's the kind of unfairness that makes Congress drag people to Washington, D.C. for important questioning about greed and how it relates to the American Dream. On the year, the Terrapins, over the course of 60 minutes of play, are generating about eight-and-a-half more offensive opportunities than their opponents (on a percentage basis, Maryland holds a 56.60 possession percentage based on total possessions played). That's . . . well, that's just <em>mean</em>. In two of the major possession-generating statistics -- face-off play and clearing rate -- the Terrapins have very few peers: Maryland is drawing, on a raw basis, at 61.27 percent (fifth nationally, buoyed by Charlie Raffa's 58.5 winning percentage and Curtis Holmes' 66.7 winning percentage) and is clearing at almost 91 percent so far this year (eighth nationally). This level of creating and maximizing offensive possessions (note: Maryland is pushing around 95.26 percent of their offensive opportunities into the attack box to create a functional offensive opportunity) is the driving force behind the Terrapins' totality of dangerousness:</p>
<ul>
<li>Maryland is currently ranked sixth in adjusted offensive efficiency (37.24 goals per 100 offensive opportunities). It doesn't take a super genius to understand that an already efficient offense with extra opportunities is going to create damage.</li>
<li>When Maryland shoots, they simply don't miss: Only one team -- Denver -- has a better raw shooting percentage than the Terrapins' 38.43 mark. Connectedly, opposing goaltenders probably want to try out a less demanding sport than lacrosse when facing Maryland (may I suggest Scrabble?): Opposing keepers are only holding a 40.61 save percentage, the second lowest mark in the country. (Those goalkeepers are also only ending about 26.48 percent of their team's defensive possessions with a save (the fifth lowest value nationally), which emboldens the notion that Maryland really hates people standing between the cages they hope to ruin.)</li>
<li>When Maryland matriculates the ball into the attack box, they rarely give away scoring opportunities (only 38.59 percent of the Terps' trip into the attack zone have been lost due to a turnover, the 21st strongest mark in the nation) and when Maryland is in the box they are buzzing around and creating all kinds of problems for the opposing field defense -- only six teams are generating assists on a per-possession basis more than the Terrapins.</li>
</ul>
<p>Maryland would still be a handful offensively if the Terps weren't playing with a ridiculous possession margin in their favor, but as they are, it makes Maryland one of the most dangerous teams in the country.</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD VI: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF "YA SUSPECT!"</strong><br><em>Winner</em>: Marist Red Foxes</p>
<p>6-1 records aren't created equal, college boy, and as a result, I'm not sure that Marist is as strong as the Red Foxes' current record indicates. On the year, Marist's schedule ranks only 61st in opponent efficiency margin (based on opponents already played) and in opponent Pythagorean win expectation, the Red Foxes' already-played slate ranks a measly 60th. This isn't to say that Marist is a bad team -- they're not, and Keegan Wilkinson should receive a parade through downtown Poughkeepsie for the work he's done with his team in 2013 -- it's just that when you look a little deeper into how Marist has built its record, the Red Foxes haven't exactly toppled Berlin and then immediately beat back the oncoming robot revolution with only a gallon of ice cream and a big spoon.</p>
<p>Fortunately for Marist, though, they're not staring down a road ahead of them lined with explosive devices. <a href="http://tempofreelax.herokuapp.com/teams/41/2013" target="new">Based on log5 predictions</a>, the Red Foxes are -- at this point -- going to be heavily favored in their remaining games, but the questions surrounding just how legitimate Marist is -- relative to the rest of the country -- aren't going to fade any time soon: With an overall adjusted efficiency margin that ranks just 33rd in the country and a team Pythagorean win expectation of just 51.45 percent (33rd nationally), Marist still has work to do to prove that they're a crushing force of nature tucked away in Dutchess County.</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD VII: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF TAKING A BEATING FROM THE BOOMSTICK</strong><br><em>Winner</em>: Jeff Lowman, St. John's</p>
<p>Lowman, the keeper for St. John's, deserves something really nice to happen to him. I'm not talking about a free tour of the petting zoo where he gets all the balloon animals he can carry at the end. No, I'm talking about something <em>really </em>nice, like a lifetime membership in the eat-hamburgers-all-the-time-and-never-gain-weight-while-also-having-bowel-movements-that-are-actually-rainbows club. That kind of nice.</p>
<p>The senior keeper has seen an obscene amount of rubber this year, and despite the volume of balls being thrown at him at dangerously high velocity levels, Lowman has thrived. To wit:</p>
<ul>
<li>No team has seen their keeper end more defensive possessions with a save than the Johnnies. At 45.02 saves per 100 defensive opportunities, Lowman has been not only the last line of defense but, in many ways, the totality of the defense in turning away the opposition. That's an incredible value, and it probably comes with a free ice bath daily.</li>
<li>That saves-per-defensive-possession value is impressive on its own, but when you also consider that only one team in the country is permitting more shots per defensive possession than the Red Storm -- 1.37 per defensive possession -- you start to understand that Lowman isn't just ending defensive possessions with a save, but is also doing so while under heavy enemy fire (the volume at which makes others duck into a foxhole to avoid).</li>
<li>Then there is the issue of the St. John's defense doing a bit of ball watching, leaving Lowman out to dry to make stops. On the year, the Johnnies rank 44th in defensive assist rate, yielding about 19.12 assisted goals against on a 100-possession basis. And yet, Lowman is holding a 58.6 save percentage, the ninth-highest individual mark in the country.</li>
<li>Of course, it's also important to note that: (1) Lowman is doing this all as part of a defense that is currently ranked 41st in adjusted defensive efficiency; and (2) St. John's is playing in extra-man defensive postures at a per-possession rate that is slightly higher than the national average (the Johnnies rank 40th in the metric), forcing Lowman to make stops in difficult situations.</li>
</ul>
<p>Congratulations, Lowman (both for the effort and, like, surviving existence)!</p>
https://www.collegecrosse.com/2013/3/27/4150220/ncaa-college-lacrosse-awards-midseasonHoya Suxa2013-03-26T13:00:07-04:002013-03-26T13:00:07-04:00Midseason Lacrosse Awards (Part I)
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<figcaption>Winslow Townson</figcaption>
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<p>Handing out hardware in important categories of human lacrosse achievement.</p> <p>The college lacrosse season breached its halfway point this past weekend, and that's cause for an unnecessary celebration. Accordingly, <em>College Crosse</em> is prepared to give out the Internet's most important college lacrosse midseason awards ever considered in the entire scope of history: Really pointless ones concomitant with actually giving out midseason awards. Put on that top hat and monocle, friend; you're officially entering the most exclusive awards party this side of everywhere.</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD I: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF MAKING ME WANT TO STAB THE COUCH</strong> <br><em>Winner</em>: Canisius Golden Griffins</p>
<p>You have to give Canisius credit: Despite new rules designed to make the game go super fast and create tempo and pace, the Griffins have done that eye-roll thing that people do when they hear something that's so bonkers that simply doing a mouth-raspberry isn't condescending enough. On the season -- for the Griffs, seven games worth of lacrosse -- Canisius is playing just 59.43 possessions per 60 minutes of play. That's . . . that's an <em>impressive</em> level of trolling the rules committee. For perspective on this, last season's slowest team -- Hofstra -- played around 58 possessions per 60 minutes of play on an unadjusted basis.</p>
<p>So, congratulations to Canisius -- keep raging against the machine and don't let the man grind you down. Your diamond needs to shine, even if the glare makes me want to put it into a proton accelerator just to make things more interesting.</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD II: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF BEING DROP-DEAD SEXY</strong> <br><em>Winner</em>: Maryland Terrapins</p>
<p>The "Fun Factor" -- a stupid calculation that may or may not be useful -- attempts to rank teams based on a series of metrics -- overall competitiveness, the pace to which they play, and their ability to violently and efficiently make opposing goaltenders feel shame and seek therapy -- to determine which teams are the most fun to watch. Based on these tent poles, Maryland -- yes, that Maryland that finished eighth on the "Fun Factor" scale last year despite crawling all over the field in 2012 en route to the third-slowest pace in the nation -- is your midseason leader for most enjoyable team to watch. The Terrapins have been a monstrous force for most of the season, currently ranked fourth in adjusted efficiency margin and holding the second-highest offensive shooting rate in the land. The team's Pythagorean win expectation is among the strongest in the country at 79.65 percent (third nationally) and, most important of all, the Terrapins have a little giddy-up under the hood in 2013: Almost shockingly, Maryland is playing around 64 possessions per 60 minutes of play on an unadjusted basis, the 41st fastest mark in the country. </p>
<p>You're making me have strong emotional feelings about you, Maryland; given our strained relationship in the past, I'm not sure what this means but I'm willing to see where it goes.</p>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD III: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF CRUSHING A GOALIE'S SOUL</strong> <br><em>Winner</em>: Princeton-North Carolina, March 9, 2013</p>
<p>There always seems to be a game or two early in the season where two elite offenses meet and decide to detonate all the plastic explosives they've been carrying around just to see how much of the Earth they can demolish in one fit of uncontrollable joy. In the early part of the 2013 season, the Princeton-North Carolina meeting in Chapel Hill was that moment: Pitting Carolina's Death Squad of Death -- Joey Sankey, Jimmy Bitter, and Marcus Holman -- against Princeton's Hostile Takeover Firm -- Mike MacDonald, Tom Schreiber, and Jeff and Jake Froccaro -- college lacrosse witnessed the "KABOOM!" concomitant with eviscerating defenses and goalies without concern for collateral damage. In short, it was magnificent beauty. Carolina walked away with the 16-15 win, but both teams put on a display that deserves a Congressional citation for achievement in offensive art.</p>
<p>To wit:</p>
<ul>
<li>Team Raw Offensive Efficiency: Princeton -- 45.45; North Carolina -- 42.11. The national average (on a raw unadjusted basis) hovers around 30.16 at this point in the season. We're talking about each of these teams pumping in more than 10 goals on a 100-possession basis than what your run-of-the-mill offense produces. <em>And the Tigers and Tar Heels did it to each other in the same game</em>. </li>
<li>Carolina assisted on 75 percent of their goals; Princeton provided a helper on 53.33 percent of their tallies. That's some beautiful lacrosse that was being played, creating opportunities all over the attack box -- at both ends of the field! -- and basically creating a circumstance where the goalies were being given wedgies because they were defenseless and weak. On a per-possession basis, the Tigers were generating about 24.24 assists per 100 possessions (which is nice), but the Tar Heels were going bonkers, generating about 31.58 assists per 100 offensive possessions. People helping people is a beautiful thing, especially when it results in goalies wanting to maul those people being helped.</li>
<li>Here's the best part of all of this offensive beauty: The game had a fluidity due to a lack of garbage play marring the flow of the contest. The teams played around 71 possessions on the day but the play was controlled: Princeton turned the ball over on less than 40 percent of their possessions and Carolina turned the ball over on only about 37 percent of their offensive opportunities. (Both marks rank below the national average of about 46 percent). The game was just two murderous offenses making the most of their offensive opportunities. I want to hug that situation forever and forever.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>COLLEGE CROSSE AWARD IV: ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF UNLOCKING MASTICATION ACHIEVEMENTS</strong> <br><em>Winner</em>: VMI Keydets</p>
<p><a href="http://www.collegecrosse.com/2013/1/29/3926160/important-lacrosse-news-from-vmi" target="new">A man has got to eat, right? And when he needs to eat, he needs to eat in dinosaur portions, correct?</a> </p>
<p>College Crosse <em>will give out more midseason awards as the week progresses</em>.</p>
https://www.collegecrosse.com/2013/3/26/4143114/college-lacrosse-midseason-review-college-crosse-canisius-maryland-princeton-carolina-bellarmineHoya Suxa