Seven of the NCAA’s ten Division 1 conferences decided their conference champion and AQ qualifiers Saturday, joining the ACC and the Patriot League, who decided their champion last Sunday. The Ivy League Final between Yale and Princeton is today at noon. Before watching that, here’s what happened yesterday, which might have been more entertaining than that Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight (hopefully you didn’t pay $100):
American East Final: Albany crushes Stony Brook 22-9
To continue linking lacrosse to boxing, the Great Danes gave the Sea Wolves multiple Mike Tyson haymakers in the second half to walk away with the American East title. They’re in the tourney, and they look dangerous as they were last year.
NEC Final: Bryant defeats host St. Joe’s 10-6
At first, early in the season, it looked like Bryant wasn’t the same team as they were ending 2014. Then, that 10-9 close loss at North Carolina started something, which came in fruition today, locking themselves into May Madness. I think they’ll be in another play-in game on Wednesday.
CAA Final: Towson defeats UMass 9-8
UMass almost pulled off the upset coming back trailing 5-2 at halftime, but Towson came out with the CAA title, behind a no-look, behind the back, Sportscenter Top 10 play from Justin Mabus. They’ll more than likely also play in a play-in game on Wednesday.
SoCon Final: High Point upsets Richmond 9-8 in 2OT
The Panthers pulled off a great upset against Richmond after trailing nearly the entire game. They have a surprisingly good attack led by Michael Leclair, Dan Lomas, and Matt Thistle, and could give whoever they play a scare if they make it through a play-in game Wednesday.
MAAC Final: Marist beats Quinnipiac 16-14
Marist continues their quiet run on the season, and will also most likely play in a play-in game Wednesday. They’ll have to fix a few things in order to be a threat in the tournament, but a strong first half looked very promising for the Red Foxes.
Big East Final: Denver doubles up on Georgetown 16-8
Denver’s in, probably as a four or five seed, but the story is Georgetown. The Hoyas are projected to be a bubble team, but does the fact that they reached the Big East final help them in their case for a final spot?
Big Ten Final: Johns Hopkins beats Ohio State 13-6
What a roller coaster season for the Blue Jays, from the tragic death of Jeremy Huber, to their early season struggles, to beating Maryland last week, to winning the Big Ten and guaranteeing themselves a spot in the NCAA Tourney. Does Ohio State also get in?
So now, here’s my version of Bracketology, which will be updated after the Ivy League Championship is decided. We’ll assume the higher seed remaining, which is Princeton, will be the champion:
Play-In Games (May 6):
Bryant vs. Marist
High Point vs. Towson
First Round (May 9-10):
#1 Syracuse vs. Bryant/Marist
#8 Albany vs. Colgate
Winners play in Annapolis May 17
#4 Denver vs. Georgetown
#5 Duke vs. Johns Hopkins
Winners play in Denver May 16
#3 North Carolina vs. Yale
#6 Virginia vs. Princeton
Winners play in Annapolis May 17
#7 Cornell vs. Maryland
#2 Notre Dame vs. High Point/Towson
Winners play in Denver May 16
EXPLANATIONS:
With Cuse’s win against Colgate, they have the top RPI according to laxpower.com; simple as that for the top seed. Colgate really impressed me yesterday and has been impressive in a crazy Patriot League, so I give them the “#9” seed.
Here’s where it becomes interesting: Yale and Georgetown are my last two teams in. Yale has had an impressive résumé for me, while Georgetown’s résumé is also impressive. I was contemplating whether to replace Yale with Brown, but Yale’s SOS is a little better than Brown’s. If Princeton loses, Brown has a better shot of getting in. I was also thinking about Ohio State and switching them with Georgetown, but also SOS and how they played against their opponents played a role for me. Look for these four teams to be in the hunt for these final two spots tonight.
I moved Virginia up to a #6 seed, but I’m not that confident in Cornell as a #7 seed taking on an unseeded Maryland squad. I think Maryland should not be seeded, but that may be too low. I also think Cornell shouldn’t be seeded, but that could all change later today.
