I'm looking at the bracket for the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament, and lo and behold, it looks to me like Drexel was the first team left out.
The Dragons are ranked No. 16 in the current coaches' poll. There are 16 teams in the tournament field, and of the top 16 in the poll, only two -- Drexel and No. 12 Bucknell -- aren't there.
The two teams in the field instead are unranked Providence, which won the MAAC and will face No. 1 seed Duke; and 17th-ranked Delaware, which will face No. 2 seed Virginia. Delaware won the CAA.
Now, here's the quiz: how did Delaware win the CAA Tournament? You guessed it: by beating Drexel in the semifinals at Vidas Field. The Blue Hens then beat Towson in the championship game.
So I looked at Maryland-Baltimore County, the 15th-ranked team in the poll and the theoretical No. 10 seed in the tournament. I say theoretical because technically, only the top 8 teams in the field get seeds, but it's not that hard to figure out.
The Retrievers' non-conference wins were over Brown, Air Force, Penn, Ohio State and Towson; they lost at Denver and Maryland. Of those, only Air Force was a road game. Towson and Brown are currently ranked. Ohio State got votes in the latest media poll.
Drexel beat then-No. 1 Virginia in Charlottesville, which you might recall was kind of a big deal (and got me a byline in the Inquirer, which was fun).
The Dragons also beat St. Joe's (who finished higher in the MAAC than Providence, but lost to the Friars in the conference title game), Binghamton, St. John's, Lafayette and VMI, and lost at home to Notre Dame. The St. Joe's and VMI games were on the road.
Seems to me that you have to give the non-conference strength of schedule edge to UMBC, and I'm inclined to think that would still be the case even if St. Joe's had beaten Providence. So perhaps this is where the Dragons' lacrosse story becomes something different from what happened to the basketball team.
The women's tournament draw comes down at 8 tonight. I'll warn you now that I might have to write about Penn, because they've got an automatic bid. But it looks like I'll be able to write about Penn State as well.
Comments (2)
What is the infatuation with, of all things, the Drexel Mens Lacrosse program?
Nobody -- I repeat NOBODY -- cares about this.
The fact that they failed to qualify is not newsworthy whatsoever. Sounds like the boys had a "nice season" but again, its Drexel and its Men's Lacrosse. A small school with a smallish size program in a non-revenue producing sport.
I admire your journalistic pursuits here but this is well below a non-issue.
Maybe another blog about the 4 X 400 All-American relay teams from St Somewhere in the West Indies would be better... Or perhaps a puff piece on the backup utility infielder on the Penn Softball team?
Steve
Posted by Steve Hardings | May 7, 2007 9:47 PM
Posted on May 7, 2007 21:47
Drexel beat Virginia
Delaware beat Drexel
Delaware beat Virginia
Seems like the right team made it to the tournament.
You're right, though, this was different than what happened to the basketball team. However, in both cases the Dragons choked.
Posted by Jon![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/pretzel/nav-commenters.gif)
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May 17, 2007 12:29 AM
Posted on May 17, 2007 00:29