Cornell didn’t get any assistance before it took the field Friday night. Then it couldn’t help its own cause, either.
The Big Red, perched at the edge of the projected NCAA tournament field, saw its wiggle room diminish when Loyola lost to Army in the Patriot League semifinals. The Greyhounds, the Patriot’s regular-season champion, will now use an at-large bid rather than secure their league’s automatic qualifier.
Then Cornell encountered a sharp Yale bunch, which never trailed in a 15-10 triumph in the Ivy League semifinals.
The Big Red’s RPI remains unchanged at No. 12, but it also does not have an opportunity to improve its chances over the next two days. At the moment, it appears Cornell and Maryland could be the topic of extended discussions for the NCAA lacrosse committee this weekend.
That assumes Towson handles business in the CAA final against Drexel on Saturday and doesn’t require an at-large bid of its own. For now, it looks like either Cornell or Maryland. A Tiger loss could very well turn that into neither Cornell nor Maryland.
With all that in mind, here’s the update through Friday’s conference tournaments games, with data courtesy of the NCAA. Projected conference winners are the top remaining seeds in each league tournament.
Automatic Qualifiers (9)
|
|
RPI |
SOS |
T5W |
T10 |
T20 |
26+ L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn State | 1 | 10 | 3-1 | 6-1 | 9-1 | — |
| Penn | 5 | 17 | 1-2 | 3-3 | 4-3 | — |
| Towson | 6 | 18 | 2-1 | 3-4 | 4-4 | — |
| Denver | 13 | 16 | 1-2 | 4-3 | 5-4 | — |
| High Point | 19 | 48 | 2-0 | 2-0 | 6-0 | Jacksonville (41), St. John's (57) |
| Hobart | 25 | 54 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 0-3 | Saint Joseph's (51) |
| Marist | 29 | 50 | 0-1 | 0-3 | 0-4 | Bucknell (37), Detrout Mercy (48) |
| Lehigh | 31 | 23 | 0-2 | 1-3 | 5-4 | Holy Cross (36), Bucknell (37), Hofstra (45) |
| Vermont | 38 | 56 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-4 | Boston University (27), Stony Brook (42), UMass Lowell (59) |
Penn State very much looked like the best team in the country Thursday, dismantling Rutgers just five days after struggling to dispatch the Scarlet Knights. The Nittany Lions play Johns Hopkins for the Big Ten title Saturday. … Penn did the edge of the field a favor by fending off Brown in the Ivy semifinals. The Quakers could be playing for a top-four seed when they play Yale in the Ivy final.
Towson’s chances of landing a home game improved a bit with Loyola’s loss in the Patriot League semifinals. The Tigers should spend the opening weekend at home if they can dispatch Drexel in Saturday’s Colonial final. … Denver gets Georgetown at home on Saturday to decide what will almost certainly be a one-bid league. …
High Point’s RPI and questionable losses wouldn’t make it a good at-large candidate. Fortunately for the Panthers, they get a chance to play their way in on their own field Saturday against Richmond. … Hobart is top seed left in the Northeast. The Statesmen get a rematch with Robert Morris, which ended the regular season with an overtime defeat of Hobart,
Marist goes for its first NCAA tournament berth since 2015 on Saturday when it plays host to Quinnipiac in the Metro Atlantic final. … Vermont is seeking its first league tournament title and will face UMBC, which hasn’t won the America East since 2009.
At-Large Bids (14 teams/8 slots)
|
|
RPI |
SOS |
T5W |
T10 |
T20 |
26+ L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yale | 2 | 19 | 1-1 | 4-2 | 6-2 | — |
| Virginia | 3 | 9 | 3-2 | 5-3 | 8-3 | — |
| Duke | 4 | 1 | 5-2 | 6-4 | 7-4 | — |
| Loyola | 7 | 11 | 2-2 | 4-3 | 6-4 | Boston University (27) |
| Notre Dame | 8 | 4 | 2-2 | 5-4 | 5-5 | — |
| Johns Hopkins | 9 | 3 | 0-5 | 3-6 | 5-6 | — |
| Syracuse | 10 | 8 | 2-2 | 5-3 | 8-3 | Colgate (47) |
| Maryland | 11 | 6 | 1-4 | 4-4 | 7-4 | — |
| Cornell | 12 | 5 | 2-5 | 2-5 | 4-5 | — |
| Ohio State | 14 | 24 | 2-1 | 3-2 | 4-3 | Michigan (34) |
| Army | 15 | 25 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 5-3 | Boston University (27), Lehigh (31) |
| Villanova | 16 | 12 | 1-2 | 2-5 | 2-6 | Drexel (26), Providence (46) |
| North Carolina | 17 | 2 | 2-5 | 2-7 | 3-7 | — |
| Georgetown | 18 | 35 | 0-2 | 1-3 | 3-3 | Marquette (39) |
Yale moved up two spots in the RPI on the strength of its Ivy semifinal rout of Cornell. The Bulldogs get a chance to avenge a triple-overtime road loss to Penn in Sunday’s title game. ...
Virginia has nosed ahead of Duke in the RPI replica. The Cavaliers will probably stay there with a victory over Notre Dame in the ACC final. … By virtue of its high-end victories, Duke is going to end up as a top-four seed. Would the Blue Devils’ head-to-head victory over Virginia be enough to place them ahead of the Cavaliers regardless of this weekend’s results? And will the sheer quantity of top-10 triumphs be enough to place them ahead of the Ivy League champ? Good questions. …
Loyola cost somebody (Cornell? Maryland?) a spot in the NCAA tournament with its loss to Army on Friday. Even with that, the Greyhounds are safely in the field and might even manage to land a home game. …
Notre Dame’s chances of snagging a home game improved with Loyola’s loss. The Irish can leave no doubt about their first-round locale with an ACC tournament title game defeat of Virginia. … Also in the hunt for a first-round home game is Johns Hopkins, which would have a pretty good case if it owns one of two victories over Penn State. For now, Yale is the only team to defeat the Nittany Lions.
Syracuse, like Notre Dame, saw its chances of securing a home game improve with Loyola’s loss on Friday. Stumbles by Hopkins, Notre Dame and Towson on Saturday would all figure to benefit the Orange. … It’s going to be an anxious couple of days for Maryland, which suddenly sees its 16-year tournament streak in peril. The Terrapins will be rooting hard for Towson in the CAA final. …
Cornell really needs to hope a common result — beating a Notre Dame team that Maryland lost to — works in its favor. Of course, it works the other way, too; Maryland won at Penn, which in turn earned a one-goal win at Cornell. … Ohio State’s hopes probably withered away when Loyola lost. … Army won’t get an at-large bid, but it has a chance to secure a Patriot League title Sunday against Lehigh.
A victory over Yale isn’t going to get the job done this year for Villanova. … North Carolina added a top-30 victory when Marist moved up a couple spots in the RPI this week, but the Tar Heels aren’t getting in. … Georgetown will reach Selection Sunday without a top-10 victory, a big part of why the Hoyas need to beat Denver in the Big East final for the second year in a row to make the field.
PROJECTED BRACKET
A few reminders on piecing together the bracket:
-
The committee seeds the top eight teams and then assigns the unseeded teams based on geography in an attempt to limit air travel while trying to maintain bracket integrity.
-
Conference matchups are to be avoided in the first round.
-
If applicable, quarterfinal host schools are funneled into their own site. Hofstra and Fairfield are this year’s quarterfinal hosts.
-
Of the nine automatic qualifiers, the two with the weakest resumes are assigned to the preliminary round game the Wednesday before the first round. At-large teams are not selected for play-in games.
Hempstead, N.Y.
(1) BIG TEN/Penn State vs. METRO ATLANTIC/Marist-AMERICA EAST/Vermont
(8) Loyola vs. Syracuse
East Hartford, Conn.
(5) IVY/Penn vs. Maryland
(4) Yale vs. PATRIOT/Lehigh
Hempstead, N.Y.
(3) Virginia vs. SOUTHERN/High Point
(6) Notre Dame vs. BIG EAST/Denver
East Hartford, Conn.
(7) COLONIAL/Towson vs. Johns Hopkins
(2) Duke vs. NORTHEAST/Hobart
Last three in: Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Maryland
First three out: Cornell, Ohio State, Army
Moving in: Lehigh
Moving out: Cornell
Multi-bid conferences: Atlantic Coast (4), Big Ten (3), Ivy (2), Patriot (2)