My 3 month Hiatus is over and I’m back for the best time of the year, May lacrosse. I’m here right in time for the beginning of conference playoffs that obviously has a ton of effect on who will hear there name called on selection Sunday. Some teams have already done enough to punch their ticket but much is still up in the air. Let’s see how much my little brain got right from my original blog to start the year.

ACC

Virginia takes the one seed as I called in February lead by Connor Shellenberger and the Velociraptor Hoos defense. Like I said “Shelly” can do it all, 28 goals and 40 assists he can beat you to score and don’t slide to quick because he’s one of the best dishers in college lacrosse. Petey Lasala has done Petey Lasala things and when all things are said and done, he will have shattered the all time face offs wins in Virginia history. Matt Moore has had an awesome year and just became the all time points leader in program history on his way to being most likely the  second over all pick in the PLL draft. Moore beat out Steele Stanwick for most points in Virginia history… I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of him?

Coming in second in the conference is Notre Dame. My original pick for second place was North Carolina, I should have never trusted a Shoreham Wading River kid. Besides losing to, in my opinion, the top 3 teams in the country, ND has been basically perfect. Sure a loss to a good Ohio State team happens, but besides that it has been business as usual for the Irish; a stout defense and a Kavanagh making people look stupid on offense.

Like I originally called, coming behind ND in the conference is Duke. Duke has spread their losses out more this year than in years past. The issue I see for Duke is the they’re not peaking going into the conference playoffs like we usually see for their run to championship weekend. Adler has been great between the pipes and O’Neil has been an unstoppable force. Overall they just haven’t been consistent across the board to be a real contender this year. What the hell do I know, they’ll probably end up right where they belong at championship weekend.

Carolina comes in at 4th in the conference only due to maybe the worst year in Syracuse history. Breschi consistently brings in a top 5 recruiting class and this year brought in some incredible transfers. Besides the all time leader in points in NCAA history and number 1 over all pick in the PLL draft Chris Gray the heels have been so inconsistent. The were terrible down the stretch going 1-4 with the only win coming against Syracuse. Its sad to see such talent go to waste every year (no, its not fuck Carolina).

Last and definitely least is a brutal Syracuse team. The tandem of Gait and Petro wasn’t meant to be this year not that anybody really expected it. What nobody expected was the surprise of Tucker Dordevic entering the transfer portal. Wirth all the adversity these Syracuse 5th years had to overcome with the coaching change and their incredible strength when standing up against the domestic violence case that tanked their season last year, it is really tough to see the best Cuse player walk away. It would have been nice to see him team back up with Hiltz and mentor the young 22 next year.

America East

My 1 and 2 picks were correct in Vermont and Stony Brook. Vermont who has fallen off in non conference play started the year really strong and has figured out a way to stay perfect in conference play. For those true fans (fan) know how I feel about how disgusting it is what this conference has done to Stony Brook who continues to get better. I thought Albany had more in the tank still but they have continued to fall from grace since there quarter final appearance a few years back. Coming in at number 3 and 4 is UMBC and Binghamton who finished 3-3 in conference. I’m glad to see Binghamton be able to be strong and push their way into the playoffs after the tragic loss of their goalie, Robert Martin. Rounding out the conference is Albany, Umass Lowell, and NJIT better luck next year losers. I think we end up with a 1 vs 2 in the conference finals with Vermont taking home the crown for a second straight year.

ASUN

I was all over the place with this conference, only getting Bobby Mo coming in at number 2 and Cleveland State coming in last. Number 1 Utah takes on number 4 Bellarmine and number 2 Bobby Mo takes on number 3 Air Force this Thursday. Utah has been hot lately going 6-0 in their last 6 and I don’t see them slowing down during the conference playoffs.

Big East

I was so close with getting this conference perfect but Georgetown really stuck it to me and proved they are the real deal. They Finished up Georgetown, Denver, Villanova, Marquette, Providence, and lastly St. Johns. I’ve been pretty impressed with how Villanova has been able to stay close in all their big games this year. I think we see the Wildcats take on Georgetown in the conference championship and the Hoyas take home the crown.

Big Ten

I almost nailed this one again picking the Terps and Rutgers to finish one and two. Ohio State and Hopkins flip flopped and finished three and four. The first losers are Penn State and Michigan coming in fifth and sixth place. Similar to the NCAA tourney, this conference has been a race to come in second place because Maryland is going to skull fuck anything in their way. Maryland and Rutgers will see each other in the finals with ease and then Maryland will take Rutgers out for a nice4 seafood dinner and never call them again.

CAA

Again I was all over the place with the conference but picked the top spot right. Delaware takes on Drexel and Umass takes on Towson. Delaware has been cutting it close down the stretch and I think that leaves the door open for somebody else to take the conference crown. Umass and Towson are going to battle to the death so I think who ever wins this wins the championship game. I’m a “what have you done for me lately” guy and I just had a nice convo with Coach Cannella from Umass last week, so I will be taking the minutemen to win the championship against Delaware.

Ivy League

Larken Kemp and Bruno stuck it to me taking the number one spot in the Ivy tournament. My Boys in red come in at number two followed up by number three Yale and four Penn. None of this really matters because all four of these teams, and possibly Princeton and Harvard, will all be making the tournament. Its been an insane year for the Ivy and I cant wait to watch more of it. I think Sam Handley and the Quakers will take down Bruno in the first round. Ill take my big red taking down Yale and then eventually Penn on their way to another Ivy League championship.

MAAC

This conference I was completely wrong about.  Not even close, so that shows how small my brain actually is. St Bonaventure, lead by the best goalie in the country, took home the number one seed and will face Sienna. Marist takes on Manhattan and immediately after there will be a ceremony where Manhattan will hoist #68 into the rafters to honor the legendary Jake Nicolosi’s last game. I have Marist winning the conference and getting back into the NCAA playoffs.

NEC

Close enough with this one. St. Joes is the number one seed who takes on the number four Sharks. Bryant will take on those Hobarts scum bags in the other semi final. As I said in my first blog I think St. Joes has pulled away from the rest of this conference and should take this AQ and run with it but the boys at LIU will definitely cover the spread (+4.5 is free money if I’ve ever seen it). 

Patriot League

This one is the hardest to break down because of the talent in this conference. From Nitchern to Sisselberger and everything in-between, this conference has a ton if talent and even better coaches. Loyola will take down Bucknell in the first match up of the tournament. I want to believe Coach Cassese has another win in him this year and I truly think Navy blew their last load against Army. I’m never right so I will be taking the team I formerly wanted to kick out of the Military. Nitchern aint done yet and will do quite literally everything to beat Loyola in the semi final. BU should have what it takes to take down an exhausted Navy team to advance to the conference championship. Finally I think Army takes down BU for the second time in a week to take the Patriot league crown.

SOCON

Jacksonville made a huge jump and has been dominant this year so far. They lost two games which if they played again today they would win. They will crush VMI in the semi final. High point Richmond might be my favorite game of the day in what should be an interesting match up of Asher Nolting vs a really good Richmond defense. I ultimately think Asher Nolting gets his way as he has all year. Ill continue that trend as I think the big man pushes High Point to the top of the mountain and they win the conference.

So basically I’m a wiz and id be shocked if I don’t pick every game correct this week. If I get even one game wrong you have the right to socially embarrassing me by retweeting this blog and letting people know how stupid I am. Ill see yall come selection Sunday the best god damn day of the year. Go State fuck Cortland and roll Tigers.

We kick off the week with a mid-week matchup in Piscataway, Marist vs Rutgers.
Marist isn’t LIU, so Rutgers won’t be able to throw it in cruise control for this matchup.
Marist returns a lot of scoring from last year, but I really like this Rutgers defense. The
way they were able to control one of the most explosive players in the country, Richie
LaCaladra, was impressive.

Happy hour lax gets started with Duke vs Manhattan Friday at 4. There should be
an ambulance and therapist on the sideline for this one. God only knows what kind of
pain Duke could potentially inflict on Manhattan. My player to watch will be #55 Jake
Nicolosi for Manhattan, this kids an absolute beauty. If you’re wondering, yes his brother
did pay me 50 bucks to write that. My thoughts and prayers will be with you Jake… and
Jet the fuck up.

Asher Nolting will continue to be a problem for defenses all year. He will have a
chance to put up big numbers in this one against Colgate.

I love this North Carolina Vs Richmond matchup. Richmond has been one of
those teams that has been able to beat “February Duke” the last few years. Paul
Richards, the defensive coordinator at Richmond, has done an incredible job of
frustrating high-powered offenses since he stepped on campus nine years ago. I think
whether it’s zone or man-to-man, they can slow down Chris Gray a bit. Chris Gray can
be slowed down but not stopped. My way-too-early Tewaaraton winner will do some
crazy shit in the second half and pull away from the Spiders. Disclaimer- Gray did
graduate from a high school which I have never beaten as a starter, so I am biased
against him.

Happy hour ends with a cross town rivalry, Hopkins vs Towson. This will be a
good chance for Hopkins to go 2-0 on the year. Towson has one of my favorite players
in the country in Koby Smith, but Smith alone will not be able to lift this team over a
decent Hopkins team.

11 o’clock Saturday at ol’ Hickox Field (Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium),
the sharks face Sienna. This is a much better matchup than they had with Rutgers. This
game has Richie LaCalandra written all over it. Games like this Richie and Will Mark
have proven they can put the team on their backs and take over.

The snoozer of the weekend is Umass Lowell vs Quinnipiac. Maybe just check
the live stats on this one throughout the day, no need to waste time watching this one. I
think Coach Zomerfeld’s squad will get the win in an ugly battle.

My Saturday thoughts and prayers game will be with NJIT as they host Lehigh.
Coach Cassese will be looking to start fast, and I don’t think NJIT will be able to do
anything about it.

Army vs Umass is the biggest “take the under” game of the weekend. These
guys are mirror images of each other, throw haymaker after haymaker and see who’s left standing at the end. The edge has to go to Army and the reigning player of the year
in the Patriot league conference, Brendan Nichtern.

Bellarmine has proven already they will not be making a run to championship
weekend this year. Marquette has been on a steady decline since they upset Denver in
the 2016 conference championship. With that being said, I give the slight advantage to
Marquette in this stinker.

Marist turns it around after its Rutgers matchup on Wednesday to head to one of
my favorite places in the world, Vestal, New York. They take on the Bearcats and what
should be a decent matchup. Binghamton hasn’t really been relevant in years and don’t
think this changes any time soon. Marist will be hungry to get their first win after losing
to Rutgers.

Boston U takes on the D2 boys of Merrimack, noon at home. BU is a very much
a “middle of the pack” team, like Hofstra, which Merrimack had a close one against last
week. I would assume this one would end in a similar fashion, a 1-2 goal game
unfortunately going against Merrimack.

Bryant and Providence have exchanged blows for the last 6 years. Back and
forth win loss win loss win loss its been quite the battle. Providence lost a one goal
game to kick off the year last year and I don’t want to mess with fate. God is telling us all
we need to take Providence in a very close game.

My brain is completely screwed by this Hobart-Canisius game. My brain will
forever remember Canisius playing Loyola in the tournament so I have to think they can
do it again. On the other hand, it is in my blood to hate Hobart with every fiber of my
being. My dad lost every year in the semifinals to Hobart back in the mid 80’s and it
would be a sin to root for them. I will defend my father’s honor and take the Griffins.
(What the hell even is a Griffin?)

Ohio State should still be in prison for their actions last weekend with that live
stream. Unfortunately for Cleveland State they have been released on bail. This one will
not be close.

Stony Brook will be playing angry this entire season after being screwed over by
those scum bags in charge of the America East. I am a huge Coach Gilardi fan and will
ride with the Seawolves forever. Fairfield stinks and better get off the tracks because
the Dylan Pallonetti train is coming.

#StandWithWolfie

Hofstra takes on, arguably, the worst team in all of division one lacrosse, Sacred
Heart (sorry od). Congrats to Coach Tierney on being inducted into the Long Island
Metro Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Enjoy the HOF and enjoy the win this weekend.

Lafayette must be feeling themselves right now after their close game against
Penn State. If you asked me about this game a week ago, I probably would have given
the edge to VMI but not anymore. I love the Leopards big over VMI in this game.

Loyola will need to start this year the way they ended last year if they want to
compete with the Terps in this matchup. Ryan Mcnulty is back to cause some havoc on
both the offense and defensive side of the ball. He will need to be a huge factor in this
one if the Greyhounds want to keep it close.

Can Navy defend their honor and try and prove they’re not the worst military
branch in the country? I hope so, and I believe they will. If they can’t pull off this win
against a gritty Mercer team then we as a nation need to rethink our qualifications to
enter the Naval Academy.

St. Josephs will win their game vs St Bonaventure, thanks for reading.

Utah-Vermont could be the best game of the weekend. These teams showed
they can play with the big boy’s last weekend. Vermont has Ryan Cornell who last
weekend looked as good as Holly Barry in the 1994 Flintstones movie and for that
reason, I’m on the Catamounts.

It looks like Gary and Petro will be able to start their tenure with the Orange 1-0. I
love coach Reppert but he will need years to build this Holy Cross program. Cuse by a
billion in this one.

Over the years I have become a huge Bobby Mo fan. Don’t get me wrong, they’re
not great, but I love the way they play. They are scrappy, they talk shit, they aren’t afraid
of anybody… they’re awesome. This Bucknell matchup should make for an interesting
game. Bucknell beat a below average Mercer team last week that should have them
feeling good. Bobby Mo has proven they can compete with most teams in the country
and I think they will win this one.

Michigan should be a top team in the country, it’s so easy and I don’t understand
it. For now, they are off to a good start putting up an impressive 22 goals in week 1.
This matchup against Detroit should give them a good opportunity to build off that win
from week 1.

St Johns will be looking to get their first win since week 1 last year. Rutgers might
have something to say about that. This should be an easy one for the Scarlet Knights,
but that’s why they play the game; you never know what’s going to happen.

Denver scared me last weekend against Utah. If air force can start off the way
they did against Virginia, I don’t think The Pios will be able to crawl their way back. Air
Force is one of those teams that plays top 20 opponents well in February and I like
them in this one.

Villanova was a solid team last year. They competed in almost every game, beat
the teams they were supposed to and lost to the ones they were supposed to minus an
impressive win against Lehigh. Penn State scared me, that close one with Lafayette will
affect my brain the rest of the year when it comes to picks. Because of the consistency
from Villanova, I will be picking the wildcats.

North Carolina will be looking to stretch its wings and fly in its matchup with
Colgate. After a game in which it will be tough to flex its muscles offensively against
Richmond, this Sunday game will be the opportunity to show their offensive firepower.

Coach Galloway and Perzinski will have their hands full trying to slow down this
Duke offense. I just don’t think they will be able to and will be looking at an 0-2 record to
start the year.

Coach Warne has done nothing but get better and better in his ten years
at Georgetown. The Hoyas come in as the #4 ranked team in the country this year. I
think they will be sending the most obnoxious pep band in the history of music home
early in this one.

High Point matches up with another top 5 opponent early in the season vs
Virginia. As I’ve said, Asher Nolting is a problem, and he will not be going away in this
one. If High Point could put up 13 against the meat grinder that is Maryland’s defense, I
think they can put up even bigger numbers against Virginia. The only problem with that
for High Point is they gave up 21 to a post Jared Bernhardt terp offense. Virginia has a
few dudes of their own that will be lighting up the score board. Take the over and give
me Virginia.

I have a tiny brain and make tiny brain decisions all the time. Last year I bet my buddy $50 bucks Brennan O’Neil would never be a finalist for the Tewaaraton. I then told this same friend Duke wouldn’t cover the 7.5 spread Friday against Bobby Mo. Believe it or not I may have also said they would not cover the Sunday matchup against Vermont. It also took me six years to graduate from college, do we see the picture here?

Duke starts off the year hot going 2-0 on opening weekend. O’Neil leads the way with 9 goals followed by the usual suspects Robertson, Montgomery, and Williams. Maybe the old “duke in February” is starting to fade away, or watch them go 2-3 in there next 5 to make me continue to look like an idiot. Adler and Cornell were the real stars in this one going save for save in the first half. Cornell’s assist was one of the more exciting plays over the mid line a goalie has had since Blazes run a few years back. Vermont showed they are the real deal with some real scorers, defenders, and most importantly a goalie and face off guy. Duke just had more dudes then them yesterday but this will bowed well for them the rest of the year especially in conference.

Denver pulls out a close one on Saturday against the Utes on the back of Coach Ts defense. This might have been the best game of the weekend with all the back and forth and how close it was late into the game. Denver goes on a 4-0 run to start to pull away but the Utes didn’t go down with out a fight. Image 2 years ago if I told you Utah would be down 1 with the ball with a minute left in the game against Denver? Id be more shocked then when a PLL player literally got his finger bitten off.

Is Penn State calling out for help? Do we as a society need to step in and help these guys? What a fall from grace this is since there Final Four appearance a few years back. They lose Ament after the Covid year and now graduate the best goal scorer in college lacrosse history. I understand they ended up winning by 5 but to be down at half time to in my opinion the worst lacrosse team in the country is absurd. Penn State I am here for you and will continue to have my eye waiting for your call to help.

It is very sad that we have lost a branch of our armed forces this weekend. Mt. Saint Mary’s marched onto campus in Annapolis and murdered the best Navy in the world. Its not that Navy has been this power house for a long time but to lose to a team like Mt. Saint Mary’s is not a good sign of things to come. When teams like Army and Nany lose you can almost always grantee its not because they weren’t ready to go or weren’t into it. This is the Navy were talking about these guys are ready to go at a moments notice. This to me means they don’t have the talent to compete with most of the country.

Hopkins Vs Jacksonville was a confusing game to read. Is Jacksonville really on the rise to compete with a team like Hopkins? Is Hopkins falling off even more after last year to be a middle of the pack team? I think it may be a little bit of both. Jacksonville seems to have built a pretty solid roster that continues to get better every year. Hopkins who was on the decline at the end of Petros tenure is still in no mans land. Coach Millmans first recruiting class is now on campus so he still needs time before his culture takes over this program.

The CAA as a whole and Ohio state should be sent to prison for there actions this week. 8 dollars a month to watch the most middle of the pack conference in division 1 lacrosse is crazy. I saw on twitter they charger you for the entire year package you couldn’t even buy month to month, what a load of shit. Paying for quality lacrosse I have no problem with and that’s why I bought the big ten network. There is one huge problem I have, Ohio State are you serious with that live stream? High school games had better streams last year then THE Ohio State. Hofstra pulls out a close one against the D2 boys and no surprise Ohio State beats up on Detroit.

Bucknell over Mercer, Delaware over NJIT, Providence over Holy Cross, Michigan over bellarmine, Virginia over Air force, Maryland over High point, Rutgers over LIU. Pretty standard stuff here minus the first quarter for virginial that got a little scary. The Big Ten is real with Maryland leading the charge. High Point and Asher Nolting showed they have the offensive to play with anybody after putting up 13 on a stout Terps defense. Rutgers looked solid against a lower level roster and kept LaCalandra in check. Putting up 22 against anybody isn’t easy so maybe Michigan is moving in the right direction.

I’ve been up all day researching this disaster that is SBU vs. AEC. I feel like Charlie Kelly searching for Pepe Silvia. ADULTS who are supposed to be in charge of the conference to protect the KIDS end up proving how childish and immature they are. Lets look back at the JMU situation that happened last year. When JMU decided to leave the CAA conference, they were banned from conference championship play, and the world went nuts. Covid abruptly ended the previous season and these players were potentially going to have their season cut short once again. Cut short because of an idiotic bylaw that could have been over turned by the board of presidents. The ego of these “adults” to make this decision to take more away from the student athletes is disgusting.

Its in the bylaws that a team that is leaving the conference will be ineligible to compete in the conference championships. My question to this is simple, WHY? Lets take stony brook women’s lacrosse for example, a very successful top 10 team in the country. When coach Spallina would have ultimately won this conference and gone on to the quarter finals, semi finals, and potentially all the way to championship weekend, isn’t that good for the America East? Who cares what they do next year, isn’t it more important to have that AE flag fly on the back of a top 10 team into the playoffs than punish this them for something they are doing next year. Another problem the women’s team now runs into is losing the AQ Bid. They have 5 top 15 teams in the country on there schedule. If they lose three or four of those games, they no longer have an AQ to fall back on to make the playoffs. Now, it seems like we are punishing a team for competing with the best teams in the country. This is such a sad and embarrassing precedent to set going forward.

To the board of presidents for the America East Conference, I hope you can wake up and see what you are doing is wrong. This is not about you, your ego, or even the conference. This is about the student athletes who have worked their entire lives for an opportunity to compete for a conference championship and beyond. Has it not been great for the conference for all the NCAA playoff games the men’s and women’s team have played in and hosted over the last 20 years? This conference was built on the players like Kevin Crowley, Jordan McBride, Tom Compotello, Ryan Hughes, Larry Cerasi, The Thompsons, Brendan Mundorf, Luke Daquino, Connor Fields, Blaze Riordan, Kasey Mitchell, Kylie Ohlmiller, Michelle Rubino, Ally Kennedy. Why are we hurting these players when we should be promoting them for as long as we have them

#StandWithWolfie

As if it wasn’t bad enough the first game of the year was two bottom 50 teams in the country and now I cant even stream it? What a crock of shit. At least last year Denver gave us the option to pay to see the game (which is still bull shit). How do we expect to grow this game if we cant even have division 1 teams stream their games? I truly believe Lacrosse is the best sport out there but we keep handcuffing ourselves by not doing everything we can to show the game to anybody who wants to watch. If we ever want to be taken seriously with the rest of the major sports in the world there has to be easy access to watch the sport.

Being able to watch the game is obviously problem number one. The other problem we had last weekend was Bellarmine vs Mercer. Look at the NFL, they start every year with the defending super bowl champs. College basketball has 120 games going on opening night. Why aren’t we adopting something like this in our sport? Have Virginia open up the season against literally anybody and people will want to see that game. If not that then lets postpone this Bellarmine game to this weekend when everybody is playing. This would give us the option to watch any other good game going on. All exposure is good for the game but why not try and put our best product out as much as we can.

Alright enough bitching from me for now. We are finally back and as furious as my girlfriend is that I wont be paying attention to her for the next 16 Saturdays I couldn’t be happier. As awesome as football season is this to me is really the best time of the year. Lacrosse is back, weather starts to warm up, before we know it it’ll be summer and championship weekend. I hope the O state boys have a year, the Tigers repeat and division 1 is an absolute blood bath to the championship.

Here’s a shout out to the real red dragons an the thing I know about the most, SUNYAC lacrosse. First things first ONEONTA IS THE ORIGINAL RED DRAGONS. Rumor has it a former Oneonta student later became a president or some higher up at Cortland and loved our name and color scheme so they adopted the same. I’m writing this assuming I know whos coming back for each team but with covid/ 5th years returning I could be wrong since rosters are not out yet. I’m not only an alumni I also coached at Oneonta for 3 years so I really do know the ins and outs of the entire conference so I hope the three people that read this enjoy.

#1 Cortland

If you go at the king you better kill him. It pains me to say but nobody’s been able to knock Cortland off the throne in what seems like 45 years (Besides Plattsburgh 2017) . Until somebody can take them down they will be at the #1 spot forever. In my opinion the program as a whole hasn’t been the same since emotional team leader and all around good guy Dakota Chin graduated in 2017, shout out 21. The 2 big pieces I’m looking for is if Williams and Nicholson return for an extra year. In the most Cortland thing of all time they recruit an attackmen who wasn’t getting much time so he goes to face off and dominates the conference for 4 years. If he’s back it puts a pretty good distance between Cortland and second place. Nicholson in my opinion has been the best LSM in the conference for the last few years. One of the most bad ass clips I’ve ever watched this kid took is hand off his stick and gave one of the best midfielders in the conference the olé come get some hand gesture. He then proceeds to de-twig the kid, it was amazing. One thing you can always count on for Cortland is some home town boys and this year specifically is the year of Homer for Cortland. Wainwright, Natale, and Yacavone have been staples in the starting line up for 4 years and these kids are awesome. The biggest returning piece by far is Troy Morris. This kid is an absolute stud and has been since he stepped on campus. Righty, lefty, dodge to feed/score this kid can dice you up in multiple ways and as I know first hand torments defensive coordinators. Coach Beville as usual will be ready to roll with an all star roster looking for bigger things then just a free t shirt on conference championship day.

#Geneseo

Coach Fiorentino leaving is devastating for this program. This team was on the rise and under Fiorentino I think was primed to take down Cortland and really take over the conference as top dog for a while. This roster is loaded and they are so well coached that even with out there head coach will be a powerful force in the conference. The revolving door that is the SUNYAC Conference sees Fiorentino leave to only be replaced by an in conference coach. Drew Bezek the former Oswego head coach takes over the helm. I think Drew is a really good coach but obviously there will be an adjustment period coming into a new team mid year.

#3 Oneonta

Yes we just graduated a very big and important class but I think Coach Owens has done a great job recruiting. This year will be our first recruiting class to graduate and in those years so much has changed but that’s a story for another day. We lose huge pieces like Mcrea, Stieve, Michalisn, Bennisutti, and Fay but I think some of our biggest pieces are returning. what are the two most important positions on the lacrosse field? Face off and Goalie can take you a long way even with an an average roster and Oneonta returns Berson and the Shan man. If Williams is out I really think Shanley can be the best draw man in the conference. The big reason for Shanley’s success has been and will continue to be Christian Moreno. This kids an absolute stud and I think will finally have his big break out season while playing the entire conference for the first time. Gallagher as we say last year is a force to be reckoned with and with the help of some more transfers on offense should shine again. The defense Lead by Berson is young but have more Lacrosse IQ then they have had in a long time. We are also more athletic down there that will allow them to play more aggressively if they choose to play more man to man this year. The shiniest toy Coach Owens has on the team is #21 Dean Cannon. Deano is as smooth as they come and has been a pain in the ass for defense to worry about since he stepped on the field his freshman year. As crazy as it is Owens is one of the more tenured coaches in the conference now. (not including Bezek whos starting over with a new team) I think that will be a huge advantage to help them make the playoffs for the second straight year.

#4 Brockport

I really didn’t think Brockport was very good but there game against Geneseo has my brain in a pretzel. They gave a really really good Geneseo team fits in there last game of the year. Maybe it was just one of those look ahead games for Geneseo and Brockport took advantage to keep it close? They also have a huge advantage competing against a new program, two new head coaches, and the wild card Potsdam to give them a chance to make the playoffs.

#5 Plattsburgh

Plattsburgh is an interesting one to figure out. This year will tell a lot about where the program is headed. The former Cardinal Coach Hauk enters his first real year as head coach. Can he turn things back to where they were headed under his former head coach Cavanagh? The team that won the SUNYAC a few years back was loaded with Cavanagh’s recruits. Time will tell and ill be here to watch.

#6 Oswego

After a tough defeated season and after losing there head coach its hard to put Oswego towards the top of the conference. They played a really tough schedule last year they are not a bad team by any means. The young interim head coach is going to have a ton on his plate and as a guy who was an assistant in a very similar situation in 2018 I know how hard this can be. I don’t really know much about Coach Eccles except his playing days at Albany so only time will tell how the Lakers will end up.

#7 Potsdam

If Josh Huiatt returns for Potsdam they might jump up to the number 2-3 spot he’s that talented. This kid was voted player of the year in a conference with Troy Morris in it so that says all you need to know. If he doesn’t return….. might be tough sledding for the Bears until the next Huiatt comes along.

#8 New Paltz

The new kids on the block will be spending some time down here in last place for a while. With any new program it takes time to establish yourself and get deep into the recruiting circuit. Besides being the closest SUNY to Long Island I think this is going to be a hard place to recruit good talent.

Family is super important to me and nobody more then my uncle Steve. I’ve grown up with some shitty family members who have made horrible decisions that have really effected me through out my life. They have made horrible financial decisions like falling into the biggest Ponzi scheme in human history. They are currently still paying an old employee 1.9 million dollars a year for another 15 years. They also have no sense for family history. We moved into a new home and there wasn’t one family photo on the walls.

My uncle Steve is different from the rest of those bozos. My uncle cares about family history and tradition and being smart with his money. For an example THE BLACK JERSEYS ARE BACK!!! A true fan favorite throw back jersey has been brought back to us thank god. In the short year and a half since uncle Steve has taken over the Mets he has brought back so much joy to this organization. He did what Mets fans had been begging the Wilpons to do for years, SPEND MONEY. We are the god damn New York Mets but spent like were a minor league team. He bought us our shiny new toy in Francisco Lindor. Max Scherzer ever heard of him? Yea I wish we signed Javy but we cant win em all. We are finally becoming the team we should have always been. A sick destination for free agents to want and come play because its god damn New York and we got a boat load of money.

The thing that uncle Steve has done that has touched me the most is his dedication to our past. Its a disgrace how the Wilpons never gave Tom Seaver a chance to see his statue unveiled while he was still alive. Don’t get me wrong what Jackie Robinson did and means to baseball is immeasurable but did the Yankees forget to put a Picture of Babe Ruth up at the new Yankee Stadium? How the fuck could we forget about our greatest player? Not even a picture of this guy in the hall way. Yes the Wilpons would go on to add a hall of fame club but it was to little to late in my opinion. Uncle Steve a Met fan himself heard the fans and got to work announcing that we will finally be unveiling the Seaver statue on opening day. Another thing that blows my mind the Wilpons only retired two players numbers in there history of owning the Mets. Seaver in ’88 and then ALMOST 30 YEARS LATER they retired Mike Piazza. What a sack of shit these guys were. Uncle Steve made the awesome decision to finally retire maybe the most influential Mets of all time, Keith Hernandez. #17 is arguably one of the best Mets players of all time but for a guy like me what he has done in the booth is why he is such a legend. “I’m Keith Hernandez” fuck yea you are and I’m glad ill get to see that #17 forever and always remember that.

Should the Johnson and Mara family be sent to prison? Don’t worry ill get to their choices of GMs and head coaches over the years, but we have to start off with the 1.6 billion dollar piece of cement shit they make us pay an ungodly amount of money to watch football games in. Lets be real its a giant tuna can…. A giant piece of cement covered with a few pieces of metal that light up green and blue on game days, sick! Its such a disgrace how much went into this thing and we cant even get pictures of our team up on the walls because we share this piece of shit. THEY HAVE CARPET INSIDE M&T BANK STADIUM AND I CANT EVEN LOOK AT A PICTURE OF CURTIS MARTIN RUNNING THE FOOTBALL AT METLIFE. Don’t even get me started about the PCL prices for season tickets that’s a story for another day. As a kid who grew up with season tickets to the jets and having to give them up because they want us to pay THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS to watch Geno Smith, Stephen Hill, Kyle Wilson, and don’t even get me going on the entire Gase era. Its just sad and in my opinion its criminal and These owners should be sent to prison for a long time. Woody and Chris can go think about the Gase hire for a while in solitary confinement since it will haunt me and the rest of the fans forever. Since I’m not a Giants fan I’ve reached out to the most cynical fan I know and asked how long John Mara should be sent to prison. “Life with no Parole” – Chris Wegil (@CTWeigs)

Remember Benny with the good hair? Giants fans have had some amazing head coach GM combos over the years. Pat Schumer was so unremarkable as the head coach I literally forgot he was the coach in-between Benny and Judge. Its been a brutal fall from grace since 2011 and Coughlin leaving town. The botched benching of Eli, QB sneaks on 3rd and 9, Players and coaches being held accountable by running laps, and my favorite a free medium Pepsi. My problem with Judge is he would probably be a sick middle school/ jv coach. Making a grown ass man run laps to hold him accountable is crazy. Yea maybe you win a game or two and things start to look like there changing and maybe some guys buy in. Once you start to lose a few games and all of a sudden a guy who makes 10 million a year doesn’t think running laps is very cool any more. I think its ultimately the right choice to clean house even though its disgusting they let Gettleman retire. There is a ton of great choices for there next head coach so lets hope they don’t botch it again. Imagine not having Joe Douglas as your GM and Bobby Salah as your head coach? could never be me.

For all of you booger eating morons that don’t think the jets are heading in the right direction go kick rocks. There are still a ton of holes in the roster but I truly for the first time think we are building something here. Rex was fun but as fast as he turned that Mangini roster into his #1 defense and ground and pound offense it quickly turned belly up. If Joe can match his draft from last year the Jets could be serious playoff contenders similar to how the Bengals have done it. Yes I could go on about The Gase era forever but why do that when we can do something we’ve never done as a fan base, look ahead. I’m not going to make the Joe Willy guarantee for playoffs next year but I do think we will be playing a meaningful game in December. I’m a JIM, Jets Islanders Mets fan so for me a meaningful game in December is more success then I can usually count on.

I think the Giants will be cursed for the foreseeable future because of John Maras horrific take on the taunting penalty. The jets have only been cursed because the Johnson’s forefathers didn’t carry a madam Salah up the mountain so she could drink and get stronger. Guess whos climbing that mountain now bitch. Chris is holding Bobby’s legs and Woody is holding that bald beautiful head. Ill see you all at the super bowl real soon. #CantWait

ACC

#1- Virginia Cavaliers

I know its a huge leap I’m taking by putting the defending champs as my pick to win the conference again but sue me. Yes they lose some huge pieces in Connors, Dox, and Laviano but you cant help but love what that weirdo Lars has left in the cupboard. The old vet Matt Moore comes back for a GA year to help keep that unreal attack line together. One of my way to early Tewaaraton award finalist has to be Connor Shellenberger. He can do it himself off the dribble and slide to early? Tape to Tape going to his home boy inside Cormier, or over the top to one of the million shooters Virginia has. My biggest reason to have the Cavs repeat this year is based on the most important position in the game, the face off. The long island legend Petey Lasalla is back and ready to continue to torment teams not willing to slide to him off the draw. This kids ability to win the draw consistently and ether score himself or keep the ball with this offense is going to be hard to beat.

#2 UNC Tar Heals

This one pains me to put them this high because I hate them (for literally no reason). This one is pretty simple to break down. Yes Breschi brings in a top 5 recruiting class every year so that helps. The biggest reason is My way to early Tewaaraton winner Chris Grey. What cant this kid do? Score, feed, ride, this kids the ultimate grinder who works his bag off on top of being one of the most skilled players in the country. I truly think Grey can carry this team to a ACC championship appearance solo. A nice piece of the puzzle that will help UNC get there is one of the best goalies in the country, Collin Krieg.

#3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

As a defensive guy I love to watch ND grind out a 5-3 win against anybody. The defense is as consistent as Carc mentioning Yorktown, or Quint telling you how many times he was a 4 time All American. The reason I am putting this paint drying boring team over Duke and Cuse or should I say two reasons is #50 and #51. Alert the media there is a Kavanagh wearing #50 again at ND, PRAISE TOUCHDOWN JESUS! Mr. no pull out aka Mr, Kavanagh has blessed the lacrosse world yet again with another legend in South Bend. Pat sparked ND’s offense last year on his way to being names a Tewaaraton finalist. The only thing better then one Kavanagh has to be two right?

#4 Duke Blue Devils

I think Dino gets back to his old ways after graduating 75 seniors/transfers last year. I think we get the Duke drops a game in February to Bobby Mo and the world starts to panic. Not like his coaching style hasn’t worked out for Dino in the past I just thing they aren’t as talented as they have been in years past. When I say not as talented don’t get me wrong there a top 5-10 team in the country I just don’t think they have a Chris Grey to carry the team or a consistent unit like NDs defense or Cavs offense. O’neil is a freak but still think he is a year away before he can single handily sets the NCAA on fire. What the hell do I know anyway ill probably be eating my words when Dino and O’neil raise another trophy on memorial day.

#5 Syracuse Orange

Similar to UNC I’ve hated Syracuse for literally no reason my whole life. I liked Desko but when they fired him and hired Gary I dropped all my hatred and became A big orange guy, hiring my boy Petro didn’t hurt either. With that being said I just don’t think Cuse has the roster to really compete against these all star teams in this conference. There defense was shaky and losing Porter hurts big time. Owen Hiltz is a STUD and cant wait to watch this kid ball this year. With out some help from that top midfield line from last year he might be doing a lot of the work himself. That is until next year when him and Spalina will make D coordinators lose sleep.

America East

#1 Vermont

You have to love what the coaching staff has done over the last few years at Vermont. Coming off there conference championship win last year I think the Catamounts are confident to do it again this year.

#2 Stony Brook

I’m a huge fan of Coach Gilardi and what he’s done in his short tenure as the head coach for my hometown Sea wolves. He’s bringing his state school tough nose kid mentality he had with his Towson teams and bringing it here. I don’t think they have the talent yet to take down a solid roster like Vermont but give it a few more recruiting classes and I think SBU could be as good as they were in the Rick Sowell days.

#3 Albany

It was a magical decade long run of having Albany be Americas team. Led by the Thomson, Blaze, Ierlan, Fields, and the beauty himself Scotty Marr. The talent just isn’t there anymore unfortunately for the Great Danes. They will still compete for the conference championship for a long time because of there ability to recruit in state. I think Vermont and Stony Brook will have a good hold of the conference until the next Lyle Thompson comes to Albany.

#4 UMBC

The killer bees have lost there leader to Hopkins but they still have that killer mind set. A similar style of play like ND minus the ability to recruit top 100 players. There defense will continue to play well but the rest of the line up will need to do its part to try and get back to the #1 seed they earned last year.

#5 Bing

I’m a big upstate guy but Bing hasn’t put together a competent roster in forever. Ill always root for the bearcats but for the foreseeable future there isn’t much to cheer for.

#6 UMass Lowell

Not good

#7 NJIT

Terrible

ASUN

#1 Air Force

#2 Robert Morris

#3 Utah

#4 Detroit Mercy

#5 Bellarmine

#6 Cleveland State

Not much to say about this conference besides it sucks. Air force should run away with it unless those dirty bags at Bobby Mo can figure out a way to play a complete game. Utah is still building, with Holman Sr. gone I think will only help the program grow after hearing some horror story from past Utah recruits. Until then I think its Air force running away with it.

Big East

#1 Denver

#2 Georgetown

#3 Villanova

#4 Marquette

#5 Providence

#6 St. Johns

Georgetown has built quite the roster over the years and even after losing a player like Danny Bucaro they kept moving forward. Now after losing Jake Carraway how will GTown respond? I think they’ll be juts fine. The rest of the conference is decent but none that really stand a chance to rise to the top like they have in years past. Coach T and the Pios with a little help from the left over Yale Bulldogs should have an easy way to the NCAA tourney.

Big Ten

#1 Maryland

No surprise here as Maryland will wipe the floor with the Big Ten again. Coach Tillman just keeps reloading year after year not ever really skipping a beat. Closing out my way to early Tewaaraton finalist is the new #1 Logan Wisnauskas. Big Groot is a force to be reckoned with and will lead these Terps back to the playoffs for another title run.

#2 Rutgers

Transfer U is back at it again with another solid team. They lost a ton of fire power from the oldest roster in the history of college lacrosse last year but it seems they have re loaded again.

#3 Johns Hopkins

Will Millimans first class/ transfers work out with players like Epstein and DeSimone? This team could easily be dead last in the conference but college lacrosse is juts more fun when Hopkins is good so suck it.

#4 Ohio State

I really don’t know what to think about Ohio State this year. After losing Terefanko and Leclaire who seemed to be there for a century this team lost its best players. I fell like they have a more well rounded roster then Penn State and definitely Michigan can put together.

#5 Penn State

There was a huge drop off after Penn State lost Grant Ament. Now to lose the number one goal scorer in NCAA history I see another drop off for the Nittany Lions.

#6 Michigan

It makes zero sense to me how a school like Michigan hasn’t been able to build a solid program. How the hell do you not get a recruit to come to the Michigan Ohio State football game for there over night. YOU COULD HAVE THE TOP 50 RECRUITS IN THE COUNTRY COMMIT IF YOU DID THIS!!!

CAA

#1 Delaware

#2 Hofstra

#3 UMass

#4 Drexel

#5 Towson

#6 Fairfield

This conference is a blood bath for the most average teams in the country. Coach Deluca is obviously a great coach so you can only expect Delaware to keep climbing the ladder. For now The Blue Hens are stuck in middle man hell. Sure some of these teams have made some great runs in the playoffs over the last 20 years but besides Umass none of it is consistent. Fairfield would get smoked if they got kicked to the liberty league and had to face RIT Ithaca and St. Lawrence. Drexel reminds me of an east coast Bobby Mo with some Canadian spin to there offense but not a great roster over all. Mark your calendar for Seth to have 3 below average years then boom have a player of the year and win the conference out of no where. After his son graduating I think the Pride are heading down the dark path again. As for UMass how can you not love Coach Cannella. His team is always tough as nails and if you don’t come prepared can beat any team in the country.

Ivy League

#1 Yale

#2 Cornell

#3 Penn

#4 Princeton

#5 Harvard

#6 Brown

#7 Dartmouth

Since we haven’t really seen the Ivy’s plays in 2 years its hard to rank this conference. Yale was dominant before they had to shut down the shop and Andy Shay is an absolute beauty of a coach so I have to lean on that. A Teat less Cornell will be weird to see but again led by a few studs in Connor Buczek and Jordan Stevens I’m all in on the Big Red. Realistically Yale Penn Princeton and Cornell could all be interchangeable leaving Dartmouth Brown and Harvard on the outs of the conference playoffs.

MAAC

#1 Marist

#2 Monmouth

#3 Quinnipiac

#4 Canisius

#5 Siena

#6 St. Bonaventure

Marist, if there President lets them play similar to St. Josephs has pulled away talent wise from most of the conference. I put Canisius 4th just because I see there name and think of the time they won the conference and got smoked by Loyola in the first round. Siena and St. Bonaventure should be sent to the moon. I will not say one bad thing about Quinnipiac because I’m still afraid Alex Zomerfeld will hit me with a shot like he did in practice in high school.

NEC

#1 St. Josephs

#2 Bryant

#3 LIU

#4 Hobart

#5 Merrimack

#6 Sacred Heart

#7 Mount St. Marys

#8 Wagner

The NEC and ASUN conference should be relegated minus St Josephs down to D2 for a few years to figure it the fuck out. Why LIU and Merrimack left to go get stomped on is beyond me (thanks a lot Debbie DeJong). My old stomping grounds at LIU is interesting with one of the best Goalies in the country along with my home town boy Richie LaCalandra. I think these two can drag LIU into some wins but not enough to make a run. The Pressler effect will always be there as long as Coach P is in Rhode Island. You will always have to bring your A game against those guys. St Josephs the past few years has done some great recruiting and pulled away from the rest of the conference.

Patriot League

#1 Lehigh

#2 Army

#3 Loyola

#4 Navy

#5 Boston U

#6 Bucknell

#7 Colgate

#8 Holy Cross

#9 Lafayette

This is a total conference ranking fuck the north and south division. I’m not not going to go with the legend Kevin Cassese to win the conference. (As you can see I have a home town bias) like a bunch of the other conferences this one is very top heavy. BU can maybe make a push for the #4 spot but besides that this conference is a 4 horse race. Don’t sleep on a holy cross future, coach Reppert brings a winning mentality and it’s infectious.

SOCON

#1 Richmond

#2 High Point

#3 Jacksonville

#4 Mercer

#5 VMI

#6 Hampton

5 and 6 speak for themselves, fighting for there lives to pull one off a win against a Cleveland state or Lafayette. Mercer is scrappy but so inconsistent, beat Air Force and barley squeak by Cleveland state. Galloway is slowly but surely building something but there just not there yet. My boy Coach Perzinski will have that defense rolling but will still need some next level recruits to compete with the big boys. The master of chaos Asher Nolting is back to give defense nightmares. High point also has one of the best all names teams (Dick, Rider, Nolting) not kidding check them out. Richmond has proven to have one of the best defense year in and year out. Coach Richardson has done a fantastic job either zone or man to man they can frustrate offenses and most importantly turn them over. I would not be surprised at all if we have the same out come as last year with HP and Richmond in the final and HP pulling the upset.