Weekend One-Liners: It's Been March Madness All Spring

Basketball’s March Madness got underway this week. Division I women’s lacrosse has been a rollercoaster since week one when James Madison beat North Carolina in overtime.

Nothing has settled since, with teams like Notre Dame (No. 2 this week) moving up and down the rankings. It’s been fun. There’s been very few guaranteed wins written in black ink.

In short, look away from hoops this weekend, or you might miss the latest “wait, really?” result.

TV LISTINGS | USA LACROSSE TOP 20

No. 1 Northwestern (8-1) at Penn State (5-4) – Friday, 7 p.m. (B1G+)

After a slow start, Penn State has rattled off three straight Ws but faces a tall task when the defending champs come to town on a seven-game winning streak.

No. 2 Notre Dame (7-2) at Clemson (6-3) – Friday, 7 p.m. (ACCX)

Keep an eye on the circle in this one between teams in the top 15 in draws per game, and note the Irish have the upper hand in percentage (63.3 percent to Clemson’s 57.5 percent).

No. 6 James Madison (7-2) at Cincinnati (8-3) – Saturday, 11 a.m. (ESPN+)

The Dukes don’t have much time to mull over Wednesday’s loss to Virginia, as they’ll hop on a flight to Ohio for a conference matchup with the Bearcats.

Louisville (5-5) at No. 15 North Carolina (6-4) – Saturday, 11 a.m. (ACCX)

Louisville stunned Clemson last week — can it pull off an upset against a Tar Heels team that looked nothing like itself in a 20-5 loss to Syracuse?

No. 3 Boston College (8-2) at Duke (6-4) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ACCX)

Duke has quietly won three in a row, while Boston College not-so-quietly fell to Notre Dame by one last weekend, so expect the Eagles to bring it to Durham. 

No. 8 Loyola (8-0) at Lehigh (5-2) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

The unstoppable Greyhounds cruise into Pennsylvania with an unblemished record, including recent wins over both academies.

Upset Alert: Cornell (5-2) at No. 18 Princeton (4-3) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

Even in a one-goal loss, Cornell hung with Penn State and should arrive in Jersey with confidence it can hang with the Tigers.

Harvard (5-1) at No. 10 Penn (6-1) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

Penn enters the game with the second-ranked scoring defense, while Harvard has the No. 1 scoring offense spearheaded by Callie Hem, the Division I leader in goals per game at 5.50.

Ohio State (6-3) at No. 11 Johns Hopkins (7-3) – Saturday, 1 p.m. (B1G+)

A relative unknown after an injury-shortened sophomore year, Ashley Mackin now leads the Blue Jays in scoring with 36 points, and JHU will need her in a matchup with a Buckeyes team on the upswing under first-year head coach Amanda Moore.

No. 16 USC (7-3) at Arizona State (5-4) – Saturday, 3 p.m. (ASU Live Stream)

USC can rebound from one of those aforementioned “wait, really?” losses to Dartmouth on Monday in a Pac-12 meeting with ASU.

No. 17 Yale (7-0) at Dartmouth (5-2) – Saturday, 4 p.m. (ESPN+)

Darien, Conn., native Katie Elders poured in five goals in Monday’s win over USC and now joins her Big Green teammates in welcoming one of her home state’s teams, Yale.

No. 6 Maryland (8-1) at Rutgers (5-4) – Sunday, 12 p.m. (BIG+)

Teams on different recent trajectories — Maryland has won five straight, and Rutgers has lost its last three — meet “On the Banks.”

No. 4 Michigan (10-0) at Marquette (3-6) – Sunday, 1 p.m. (FloSports)

You're missing out if you haven’t watched Michigan’s defense in action this season.

UConn (4-4) at No. 12 Denver (5-3) – Sunday, 2 p.m. (Pioneers All-Access)

Denver enters the Big East championship game rematch on solid footing after wins over Stony Brook and Stanford.