(above) The DU Lacrosse team is ranked #5 on Monday
6 comments:
Anonymous
said...
This is an nice moment, considering DU has been playing without two of its top players (Patrick Rogers and Andrew Lay) and this is the first year that Tierney has been able to bring in his own recruits. DU is going to outgrow Barton Stadium pretty soon as well.
More broadly, DU has had three men's D-I sports ranked in the NCAA top 5 this year (Hockey, Skiiing and Lacrosse). Very impressive for a school with 5,000 undergrads and a long way to travel for most games. Even more improssive when you consider DU does all of this with a 3,2 athletic GAA and and 85% graduation rate.
Basketball is the tallest mountain for DU to climb. There are 350 schools trying to get there compared to 61 lax teams, 58 hockey teams and 21 ski teams.
DU is also handicapped by a lack of tradition, a poor local recruiting zone, tough academics and a Princeton offense that only appeals to a certain type of player.
DU has made big progress going from the bottom of the NCAA pack to mid-pack in RPI, and this year, was beset by injuries to key players all season, so it's hard to say how good the team would have been if they were healthyy. If some red-shirt guys come back for a final season and DU has better injury luck, they can contend for an NCAA berth. The Hallam Brothers, Brian Stafford, Trevor Noonan, Tyler Thalken and Chris Udofia form a good nucleus, and if Rob Lewis and/or Andrew Hooper come back for a another year (they will both graduate but have a year of eligibility left), DU will be a very experienced team.
DU also made a 50% jump in attendance, and while it's not hockey, there is no doubt atmosphere is improving. Several times last season, Magness looked and felt like a legitimate D-I hoops barn,
If DU does not make serious improvement this season, I think the heat will be on Joe Scott. At $400K or so, he makes more than Gwoz or the Chancellor, so he needs to earn his dough in year five.
6 comments:
This is an nice moment, considering DU has been playing without two of its top players (Patrick Rogers and Andrew Lay) and this is the first year that Tierney has been able to bring in his own recruits. DU is going to outgrow Barton Stadium pretty soon as well.
More broadly, DU has had three men's D-I sports ranked in the NCAA top 5 this year (Hockey, Skiiing and Lacrosse). Very impressive for a school with 5,000 undergrads and a long way to travel for most games. Even more improssive when you consider DU does all of this with a 3,2 athletic GAA and and 85% graduation rate.
Slip the decimal point one place and you get the N.Dakota graduation rate.
Exciting to have what could be another perennial contender at DU!!! When will the basketball experiment start paying off?
Basketball is the tallest mountain for DU to climb. There are 350 schools trying to get there compared to 61 lax teams, 58 hockey teams and 21 ski teams.
DU is also handicapped by a lack of tradition, a poor local recruiting zone, tough academics and a Princeton offense that only appeals to a certain type of player.
DU has made big progress going from the bottom of the NCAA pack to mid-pack in RPI, and this year, was beset by injuries to key players all season, so it's hard to say how good the team would have been if they were healthyy. If some red-shirt guys come back for a final season and DU has better injury luck, they can contend for an NCAA berth. The Hallam Brothers, Brian Stafford, Trevor Noonan, Tyler Thalken and Chris Udofia form a good nucleus, and if Rob Lewis and/or Andrew Hooper come back for a another year (they will both graduate but have a year of eligibility left), DU will be a very experienced team.
DU also made a 50% jump in attendance, and while it's not hockey, there is no doubt atmosphere is improving. Several times last season, Magness looked and felt like a legitimate D-I hoops barn,
If DU does not make serious improvement this season, I think the heat will be on Joe Scott. At $400K or so, he makes more than Gwoz or the Chancellor, so he needs to earn his dough in year five.
10:51; you know you're a good poster when you're anon and i can still tell who you are :-)
Michigan is going D-I in Lax in 2012.
My guess is they'll be coming into DU's league (ECAC) since Ohio State is already here....
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