A mini collection of thoughts from the weekend.
The Final Duke Doomsday Clock
On Saturday, things were looking really good.
Confidence was high early.
As the game inched near the conclusion, there was a change of tone.
By Saturday night, I was convinced Duke was out.
This was a dark moment.
Bless Mark Hart (@fieldystick) for his Sunday afternoon bracketology.
He convinced me Duke was in. I spent the rest of Sunday afternoon convincing myself Ohio State and Harvard weren't good enough to win a title so they weren't going to be invited.
Hell broke loose during the Selection Show when Virginia didn't get seeded.
Did that mean the ACC wasn't going to get three teams?
Did that mean Notre Dame was out?
Did that mean Duke was out?
Fieldystick told us Duke was in!
Disaster struck when first Harvard and then Ohio State were called.
The Big 10, the third worst power conference, gets three teams?
How does this happen? No one to blame but yourselves if you're the boys in Durham.
Don't lose to Jacksonville. Don't lose to the worst Syracuse team of all time. Don't lose to Notre Dame twice. Especially don't blow a 4 goal lead to Notre Dame with the season on the line.
But, still. How does this happen?
Completely willing to say that the ACC was down thanks to a dumpster fire in Syracuse but UNC, the second worst team in the ACC, still had a winning record. Three teams in the Big 10 had losing records.
Harvard couldn't score more than 7 goals against Colgate.
Harvard has a conference game against Dartmouth, a program that doesn't have a third assistant coach.
The committee selected two teams that won't scare any of the favorites.
That's not good enough.
Tweet of the Weekend
Are You Listening?
We’ve now released fiften episodes of our podcast, LPG Coach’s Companion.
Which one is your favorite so far?
Episode 1 – Brian Brecht (Rutgers) & Bryan Kelly (Calvert Hall)
Episode 2 – Robyn Rooney (Wantagh) & Emily Boissonneault (Pitt)
Episode 3 – Lars Tiffany (Virginia) & Casey D’Annolfo (Tufts)
Episode 4 – Jack Kensil (Byram Hills) & Kelly Gallagher (Tampa)
Episode 5 – JB Clarke (Tampa) & Tom West (Bolles)
Episode 6 – Allison Kwolek (Clemson) & Kate Livesay (Middlebury)
Episode 7 – Joe Alberici (Army) & Johnny Rodriguez (Mater Dei)
Episode 8 – Kerstin Kimel (Duke) & Jack Cribbin (Lindenwood)
Episode 9 – Summer Koepplin (St. Anthony’s), Jenna McNicholas (Taft), and Robyn Rooney (Wantagh)
Episode 10 – Joe Amplo (Navy) & Nic Bell (Taft)
Episode 11 – Tom West (Bolles)
Episode 12 – Holin Axley (Georgia)
Episode 13 – Mike Hungerford (Farmingdale)
Episode 14 - Andy Gruber (Cathedral)
Episode 15 - Jack Kensil (Byram Hills) & John Doss (Midwest Express)