jkrun80
Postdoc
Posts: 3305
Age: 65
Reg: 05-07-12
|
04-20-18 09:49 PM - Post#255624
In response to jkrun80
BU vs. BU in the Quarterfinals. Lehigh vs. Colgate in the other.
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
04-21-18 10:47 AM - Post#255626
In response to jkrun80
Bison trailed Lehigh last night 5-3 early in the second period. Then they outscored them 11-2 the rest of the way, with LU's only two goals being one at the buzzer to end the second period and near the end vs the Bison second team.
Bison All-American Will Sands had 7 more assists to give him 53 for the year, which is a new Bucknell record. Sands is currently 3rd in the nation in assists per game. Also, Sean O'Brien had an incredible 15 shots, en route to a 5-goal game.
To make the NCAA tournament, the Bison have to beat Boston U and then beat Navy to get to the finals. Even then, there are no guarantees.
Game article: http://www.bucknellbison.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_O...
|
HuskyColonial
PhD Student
Posts: 1976
Age: 50
Reg: 02-17-12
|
04-22-18 07:48 AM - Post#255637
In response to Bison137
Considering how hot this team is to end he season and the number of top 15 wins without a loss, that seems an unfair bar. But I agree
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
04-22-18 10:38 AM - Post#255642
In response to HuskyColonial
Below are links to two sites that do lax bracketology. For background, remember that 17 teams make the tournament, including nine automatic qualifiers (AE, Big East, Big Ten, CAA, Ivy, MAAC, NEC, PL, Southern). The winners of four of the nine confrerences (CAA, NEC, SoCon, and MAAC) will be teams that otherwise would not qualify for the tournament. Once you account for the four AQ's from the weak conferences, that leaves 13 spots for the strong teams. In theory, that means that the top 13 from these models would make the tournament IF none of the weaker teams in the strong leagues steals a bid.
One of the sites has Bucknell ranked 13th in probability of making the tournament, while the other has them 12th with a probability of 72%. Remember that these are calculated as if the selection were done today. If the Bison beat Boston U, their probability barely changes. But if they then beat Navy (#16 in RPI) on a neutral field and lose at Loyola (#4 in RPI) in the final, their RPI and chance of making the tournament would go up a fair amount.
The teams for Bison fans to root against over the next two weeks are Notre Dame, Penn State, Denver, and Rutgers - who are all bubble teams. Also need to root against the most likely bid-stealers - teams who can't get in without winning their conference tournaments - Penn (Ivy), Princeton (Ivy), Georgetown (Big East), and Michigan (Big Ten). Teams to root for in their conferences are Yale (especially) and Cornell in the Ivy, Villanova in the Big East, and Maryland or Johns Hopkins in the Big Ten.
http://www.laxpredictions.com/#/default - select Bucknell from the dropdown menu.
http://www.laxbytes.com/binmenstats18/ncaapb0 1.htm
- - - - -
P.S. Some may be puzzled by the absence of the ACC. Having only five teams (Notre Dame, UVA, Duke, Syracuse, and UNC), the league doesn't qualify for an AQ. Duke and Virginia are sure things for at-large berths; Syracuse has a high probability but could get knocked out by losing to UVA in the ACC tournament and then losing to Colgate in the season finale; and UNC is done (barring successful bribery of the committee).
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
04-22-18 07:50 PM - Post#255647
In response to Bison137
Yale blew out #1 Albany today, which can only help the Bison cause. The win will move Yale into the top five in RPI and make it likely they will at least finish as a top ten team.
|
KenZ
Postdoc
Posts: 2777
Reg: 01-23-06
|
04-22-18 08:03 PM - Post#255648
In response to Bison137
do we have a preference in the Rutgers - PSU game? (Rutgers up 7-3 at the half)
|
KenZ
Postdoc
Posts: 2777
Reg: 01-23-06
|
04-22-18 08:06 PM - Post#255649
In response to KenZ
oh and Navy beat Syracuse yesterday which should also help the PL.
|
jkrun80
Postdoc
Posts: 3305
Age: 65
Reg: 05-07-12
|
04-22-18 08:06 PM - Post#255650
In response to Bison137
Yale blew out #1 Albany today, which can only help the Bison cause. The win will move Yale into the top five in RPI and make it likely they will at least finish as a top ten team.
Navy also won over Syracuse, scoring two goals in the final 15 seconds to win by one. https://www.ncaa.com/news/lacrosse-men/art icle/201...
Assuming Bucknell beats Boston, I would think the winner of that semi is in line for an at-large.
Albany's best player left the game with an injury. That could mess up the at-large picture if they lose in the AE playoffs.
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
04-22-18 08:14 PM - Post#255651
In response to KenZ
Hard to say. PSU is slightly behind the Bison in both models, and Rutgers is slightly behind PSU. Whoever wins will temporarily pass the Bison in at least one of the models - but a Bison run to the PL finals could reverse that. I would guess a Rutgers win is slightly better, as it will be hard for them to stay ahead of the Bison if BU advances to the PL final. Rutgers closes its regular season with Ohio State, while PSU closes with Michigan. Both those opponents have RPI's in the 25 range, so a win won't move the needle a huge amount- but it would be a lot better for the Bison if Ohio State and Michigan were to win. Those games are next weekend.
|
HuskyColonial
PhD Student
Posts: 1976
Age: 50
Reg: 02-17-12
|
04-22-18 08:21 PM - Post#255652
In response to Bison137
I’m sorry I asked I asked! 😊
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
04-22-18 08:22 PM - Post#255653
In response to jkrun80
Yale blew out #1 Albany today, which can only help the Bison cause. The win will move Yale into the top five in RPI and make it likely they will at least finish as a top ten team.
Navy also won over Syracuse, scoring two goals in the final 15 seconds to win by one. https://www.ncaa.com/news/lacrosse-men/art icle/201...
Assuming Bucknell beats Boston, I would think the winner of that semi is in line for an at-large.
Albany's best player left the game with an injury. That could mess up the at-large picture if they lose in the AE playoffs.
Albany's Connor Fields, who is the #4 leading scorer in lacrosse history, went down when his knee buckled as he was setting for a shot. He had just returned from missing a few weeks with a sprained MCL. He did walk off the field under his own power. Hopefully he will be OK for their tournament. A win by Vermont (or any other team) would be disastrous.
https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/college/men/fields-i...
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
04-22-18 08:35 PM - Post#255654
In response to KenZ
do we have a preference in the Rutgers - PSU game? (Rutgers up 7-3 at the half)
One small reason why a Rutgers win is better is that both Army and Lehigh played Rutgers (one win, one loss), so a Rutgers win would slightly improve the SOS for both Army and Lehigh, which would very slightly help the Bison RPI ranking. But you never know when a very small improvement can move a team ahead of another team.
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
04-23-18 11:57 AM - Post#255664
In response to Bison137
PL awards were announced today. Coach Fedorjaka gets a well-deserved COY honor. First team All-PL to Will Sands and Sean O'Brien. Second team to Connor O'Hara, Reed Malas, Matt Gilray, and Bennie Borgognone.
http://patriotleague.org/news/2018/4/22/patrio t-le...
|
Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
|
04-23-18 11:58 AM - Post#255665
In response to Bison137
Bison moved up to #10 in the new Inside Lacrosse poll. Three PL teams in the top 11. Yale is the new #1. Their last loss, of course, was to the Bison.
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/lacrosse-men /d1/insi...
|
DoCtoR62
Masters Student
Posts: 463
Reg: 05-18-08
|
04-23-18 02:35 PM - Post#255670
In response to Bison137
For all the conversation about the selection process, I'm surprised no one has mentioned that John Hardt is in his first year as chair of the selection committee. I wonder if he will have to recuse himself when the Bison are discussed since he oversaw the program for a portion of this academic year? Suffice it to say that if the Bison's inclusion/exclusion to the field is controversial, someone will bring up his role in it.
|
Bison89
Professor
Posts: 5370
Loc: Philadelphia
Reg: 11-14-07
|
04-23-18 03:22 PM - Post#255672
In response to Bison137
I shared this with my son earlier today. As a high school lax player, he was very impressed to see 3 Patriot League teams ranked so high. When I told him that Bucknell defeated #1 Yale earlier this year, he was even more impressed.
New season, new team, new dream . . . |
|
jkrun80
Postdoc
Posts: 3305
Age: 65
Reg: 05-07-12
|
04-25-18 08:43 AM - Post#255844
In response to Bison89
Well, that answers that question.
|
HuskyColonial
PhD Student
Posts: 1976
Age: 50
Reg: 02-17-12
|
04-25-18 04:42 PM - Post#255880
In response to jkrun80
Wow. Talk about laying an egg. How disappointing.
|
jkrun80
Postdoc
Posts: 3305
Age: 65
Reg: 05-07-12
|
04-25-18 06:17 PM - Post#255884
In response to HuskyColonial
Wow. Talk about laying an egg. How disappointing.
Losing would have been bad enough. Blowing a 5 goal lead and going scoreless for 20+ minutes is an epic collapse.
|
BUFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1936
Reg: 01-24-06
|
05-06-18 08:42 PM - Post#256467
In response to jkrun80
Selection show is at 9 pm. Sounds like Bucknell is firmly on the bubble, but sounding more likely on the wrong side of the bubble.
|