Vol. 13: Conference Championships and NCAA Tournament Breakdown
The NCAA Tournament starts Friday. Quick on the Draw previews the 29-team bracket: Which quadrant is stacked? Who will make a run to the Final Four?
Florida celebrates its 9-8 win over JMU in the AAC Championship. The Gators are now the No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Photo courtesy: Anthony Getz/Florida Athletics.
Get your brackets out. May Madness is back.
The 29-team field is set for another exciting NCAA Tournament. Three programs have occupied the top spot in this year’s Inside Lacrosse Top 25.
But all bets are off this time of year.
Quick on the Draw is back with another preview video, this time recapping the rest of conference tournament action and breaking down the NCAA Tournament bracket.
It’s a can’t-miss 35-minutes of women’s lacrosse discussion.
First, however, here’s a look at the lay of the land:
THE EIGHT SEEDS
Northwestern (17-1)
Syracuse (16-2)
Boston College (16-3)
North Carolina (14-4)
Denver (19-0)
Florida (16-3)
James Madison (17-2)
Loyola (17-2)
LAST FOUR IN
Penn State, Drexel, Marquette and UMass
FIRST FOUR OUT
Yale, Towson, Villanova and Stanford
Topic rundown…
Note: The time stamps for the video are in parentheses.
(0:30) — Recap of six one-goal conference championship games: There were six conference championship games decided by only one goal this year, including two in overtime. Sacred Heart beat Wagner, 7-6, to win its first NEC title since 2010 and return to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in program history. Penn outlasted Yale in the Ivy League Championship, 15-14 in overtime, becoming the only team from the Ancient Eight to make May Madness field this year. Mercer claimed its second consecutive Big South Tournament title with an 11-10 triumph over Campbell, booking its fifth-ever ticket to the NCAAs. In a game of runs, Jacksonville got the last laugh against Liberty, 14-13, taking home the ASUN trophy for the ninth time. Florida avenged its regular season loss to JMU and maintained its AAC reign with a 9-8 win. And don’t forget about UAlbany, which washed out the bad taste of nine straight American East Championship defeats with a 14-13 victory against Binghamton.
UAlbany junior attacker Bryar Hogg fires a shot on net. Hogg ran her season point total to 55 with two goals and three assists against Binghamton in the American East Tournament title game. Photo courtesy: UAlbany Athletics.
(12:00) — UMass is upset in the A-10 title game…again: Last year, it was St. Joseph’s that stole the Atlantic 10 automatic bid from UMass. This time around, it was Richmond, which used a 6-0 run in the second half to pull away from the Minutewomen, who entered the weekend on a 15-game win streak. The 20-13 Spiders victory vaults first-year head coach Anne Harrington’s team into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
(14:50) — Northwestern cements Big Ten bragging rights: Northwestern and Maryland are the sport’s royalty, and they faced off again in the Big Ten Championship, with the Wildcats prevailing, 14-9, courtesy of a strong defensive showing in the second half, during which they held Maryland to only three goals. Finding offense has been an issue for the Terrapins at times this season, and it yet again came back to bite head coach Cathy Reese’s squad. Led by Tewaraaton Award finalists Izzy Scane and Erin Coykendall, Northwestern is the Big Ten regular season champion and conference tournament champion. Plus, the Wildcats are the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Northwestern goalie Molly Laliberty, a grad transfer from Tufts, jumps in joy amid a 14-9 Big Ten Championship win over Maryland. Photo courtesy: Northwestern Athletics.
(19:10) — Roundup of remaining conference championship games: USC beat Colorado, 12-6, in the Pac-12 Championship. Central Michigan came out on top in the MAC with a 15-12 victory over Robert Morris. Loyola kept its Patriot League dominance going with a 13-8 win against Army. New conference, no problem: Stony Brook crushed Towson in the CAA final, 19-4. Fairfield won the MAAC after blowing out Siena, 17-4. And Denver got the best of UConn in the Big East Tournament title game, 11-6.
(19:45) — NCAA Tournament bracket takeaways: The elephant in the room is that Denver, the lone undefeated team in the country, is only the 5-seed. The Pioneers accounted for seven ranked wins this year. That includes victories over ACC champion BC and Big Ten runner-up Maryland, both programs that have won at least one national championship in the last half decade. Syracuse is still the 2-seed, despite losing two of its final three games. Marquette and Army are making their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearances. One more thing: While Stony Brook isn’t an 8-seed, the Seawolves might as well be—they’re yet again in a pod with the 1-seed.
Denver senior attacker Julia Gilbert lines up for a free-position shot. Gilbert leads Denver with 50 goals this season and scored four times against UConn in the Big East Championship. Photo courtesy: Denver Athletics.
(25:55) — Biggest snubs? Did the committee get it right?: For the most part, yes. There wasn’t a glaring omission to the NCAA Tournament this year. The team we feel for is Yale, which found itself in the “first four out” for the second season in a row. Go back to Week 8 of the IL Poll, and the Bulldogs were No. 13 in the country. But losing three of your last four games is never good for an NCAA Tournament resume, especially in a not-so-intimidating version of the Ivy League.
(31:40) — First-round games to watch: Richmond-Marquette pits a pair of top-five offenses against each other. Marquette’s Mary Schumar leads the nation with 3.83 assists per game, and Richmond’s Colleen Quinn is second in shot percentage (65.1%). Then there’s JMU-Army, which features the highest combined win total (32) of any first-round game in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
(34:00) — Updated Final Four picks and Elite Eight “sleepers”: Andy and David update their preseason Final Four picks now that this year’s NCAA Tournament bracket is out. They also each share an under-the-radar team that could make a run to the Elite Eight.
Numbers to Know:
2 – In each of the last two seasons, the Elite Eight has gone completely chalk, as all eight seeds advanced past the second round. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Can we please get some upsets this year?
5 – In five of the last 10 NCAA Tournaments, the No. 1 overall seed has won it all. UNC accomplished the feat last year to cap off an undefeated season, and Maryland won four separate times as the top seed (2014, 2015, 2017, 2019).
2003 – The last time a team outside of the top-four seeds captured the national championship. The Princeton Tigers defeated 3-seed Virginia, 8-7, in overtime in the title game. The Tigers were unseeded, but partially because the NCAA only seeded four teams. The tournament switched to eight seeded teams in 2005.
Tewaaraton Finalist Overview:
Syracuse graduate attacker Meaghan Tyrrell is now a two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist. She’s the first player in program history to eclipse the 400-point career mark. Photo courtesy: Syracuse Athletics.
The Tewaaraton Foundation announced its five finalists for the sport’s most prestigious award Thursday…
Erin Coykendall, Sr. — Attack (Northwestern)
First-team All-Big Ten
Jenn Medjid, Grad. — Attack (BC)
First-team All-ACC
Isabella Peterson, Jr. — Attack (JMU)
AAC Attacker of the Year
Izzy Scane, Grad. — Attack (Northwestern)
Big Ten Attacker of the Year; 2021 Tewaaraton finalist
Meaghan Tyrrell, Grad. — Attack (Syracuse)
ACC Attacker of the Year; 2022 Tewaaraton finalist
The winner will be revealed on June 1, following the conclusion of the season, in Washington D.C.
Our Brackets:
ANDY’S PICKS
DAVID’S PICKS
Want to join in on the bracket-making fun? Lacrosse Reference has you covered. Just click on the link in the tweet below to get started.
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