lacrosse bracketology

OMG OMG so late.  This is what family functions do to my productivity.  Happy Easter by the way, although by the time I hit "publish" on this bad boy it won't be Easter any more.  Whatever, this is the story this week:

The big news from a bracket standpoint is that Delaware got crushed by Penn State this week, knocking them off the CAA autobid perch and handing it to already-in Hofstra.  Did I say maybe the CAA could be a three-bid league?  Or they could be a one-bid league.  That throws one spot in this bracket wide open, so Hokieland means something this week.  The team that emerged when the dust settled was Loyola, but this next weekend could spin the merry-go-round again.

The big news from the standpoint of the stuff we really care about is seeing UVA on the road.  Ugh.  Would beating Penn change that?  I dunno.  Denver has a strong grip on that spot and the ACC is down enough this year that the committee might not want to have three of its teams hosting.  And Maryland won the RPI-fest that is the ACC tournament so they got a huge old boost, from "on the bubble like big-time" to hosting a first-round game.  From a tourney standpoint we really wanted Duke to win that.

Last week's games to watch and how they went:

Duke 19, Virginia 10 - Poop on everything.

Maryland 7, North Carolina 6 - The Terps helped themselves big-big-time by winning this and then beating Duke too.  Carolina, on the other hand?  They're probably in no matter what but man, they're sitting more precariously than we are.

Siena 12, Canisius 9 - It was a good run for UDM, but Siena reclaimed the MAAC autobid for now.  A Siena-Detroit rematch in the MAAC tourney will probably decide things for real.

Hofstra 14, UMass 5 - That'll be all for the Minutemen, and Hofstra continues to solidify their bid to the tourney even if they stumble in the CAA tourney.

Bucknell 12, Colgate 7 - A solid win for the Bison declares their Patriot dominance, but they still have to do it again in the tournament.  But, like Hofstra, they're continuing to make their case with or without an autobid.

This week's games to watch:

Yale at Harvard - Yale nudges out Penn State as the team most likely to take advantage if someone already in the bracket stumbles.  Harvard is a solid resume-boosting team, but Yale should still be able to handle them.

Loyola at Johns Hopkins - Welcome to the bracket, Greyhounds.  Here's your chance to prove you belong.

Pennsylvania at Virginia - Huh boy.  This was supposed to be more of a tuneup than anything, but fortunately Penn turns out to be a very solid team because the ol' resume needs a polishing up after Duke shat on it.  But will it matter?  Maryland and Denver have a solid grip on the last two host duties.  And I don't think we can fall out of the tourney with a loss here, but it might upgrade our tourney opponent some.

Penn State at Hofstra - If Yale and Loyola can't get it done, Penn State can pick up the gauntlet, especially with a win here against a very tough Hofstra team.

Notre Dame at Syracuse - #1 vs #2 cage match.  Also: WTFBBQ, man, how did #1 vs #2 end up in the Big East?