TOWSON FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

[BlueHenBill]

Why doesn’t the athletic administrators chase bigger affiliations for men’s lacrosse? ACC? Big Ten? Rawak came from the Big Ten…. Even the Big East would be a step up from the CAA.

Who says that they haven't tried? You can't force a conference to invite one or more of your teams as affiliates if they have no interest in adding your program and/or any other program.

[bluehenbillk]

Have they?

[BlueHenBill]

Have they?

I don''t know. Maybe someone who posts here does but then it becomes a question of whether or not they are allowed to share without betraying a confidence or losing their access.

[Cluck U]

Well, it will be a tailgate of one: me.

Mrs. Cluck is in NYC, Lil’ Cluck will be taking an exam (whaaaa…where are the Geneva Convention folks…Friday night exam ) and everyone else is having a hard time making a Friday, 5pm gig.

Not going to bring the grill, so food isn’t on the table (probably grabbing myself an Italian from Claymont Steak Shop), but there will be a table, chairs and I will bring a cooler full of beers if anyone wants to stop by.

[LILax]

BTW, all the talk about Delaware joining another conference presumes that these conferences are looking to add teams. Most are not. The A10 has a perfect number of six teams. It is perfect because they can schedule all of their out of conference games early and then settle into purely conference play with five weeks of games to end the season. Adding a seventh team means one team needs to find another team to play on each weekend during conference season. Also, what does the A10 gain by adding Delaware? I believe that the conference feels that between St. Joes, RIchmond, High Point and Umass, they already have a pretty good strength of schedule. Combine that with 7-8 out of conference games against the ACC, Big Ten and Ivys (which they have no problem scheduling) and they are set. Why add another team and miss out on playing Duke?

The real problem is that the Atlantic 10 might be the Hens only good option. But it might not be an option depending on what THEY want to do. That is the reason, I guessed that the Hens would end up in the ASun (who is losing Lindenwood after this year), which sucks for a number of reasons.

One, the teams in the ASUN are mostly terrible. How exciting will it be when Mercer, Queens, Robert Morris, Detroit Mercy, Cleveland State, Bellermine and Air Force come to town? Not very.

Two, by playing NINE conference games against inferior competition, the Hens have less opportunities to schedule Out of Conference games against the Big 10, ACC, Patriot League and Big East conferences.

Three travel to Colorado, Kentucky, Cleveland, Georgia, NC, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville and Utah will be expensive. And in my opinion, not worth the price of admission.

Four, recruits will not be flocking to Delaware to play in the ASUN against the aforementioned sucky teams.

UD has to avoid the ASUN at all costs. But I am afraid it might be their only option besides going independent. I hope to God that I am wrong.

[BlueHenBill]

BTW, all the talk about Delaware joining another conference presumes that these conferences are looking to add teams. Most are not. The A10 has a perfect number of six teams. It is perfect because they can schedule all of their out of conference games early and then settle into purely conference play with five weeks of games to end the season. Adding a seventh team means one team needs to find another team to play on each weekend during conference season. Also, what does the A10 gain by adding Delaware? I believe that the conference feels that between St. Joes, RIchmond, High Point and Umass, they already have a pretty good strength of schedule. Combine that with 7-8 out of conference games against the ACC, Big Ten and Ivys (which they have no problem scheduling) and they are set. Why add another team and miss out on playing Duke?

The real problem is that the Atlantic 10 might be the Hens only good option. But it might not be an option depending on what THEY want to do. That is the reason, I guessed that the Hens would end up in the ASun (who is losing Lindenwood after this year), which sucks for a number of reasons.

One, the teams in the ASUN are mostly terrible. How exciting will it be when Mercer, Queens, Robert Morris, Detroit Mercy, Cleveland State, Bellermine and Air Force come to town? Not very.

Two, by playing NINE conference games against inferior competition, the Hens have less opportunities to schedule Out of Conference games against the Big 10, ACC, Patriot League and Big East conferences.

Three travel to Colorado, Kentucky, Cleveland, Georgia, NC, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville and Utah will be expensive. And in my opinion, not worth the price of admission.

Four, recruits will not be flocking to Delaware to play in the ASUN against the aforementioned sucky teams.

UD has to avoid the ASUN at all costs. But I am afraid it might be their only option besides going independent. I hope to God that I am wrong.

LILax, What are the pros & cons of going Independent? Might that be a better alternative than playing in an inferior conference? I guess that as an Independent, UD would have little chance of earning an at-large-bid to the NCAA Tourney unless UD did very well against a very tough schedule of mostly Lax powerhouses. Couldn't such a schedule really help recruiting? Does the ASUN get an automatic bid? If so maybe UD could win that bid almost every season? Would DeLuca stick around if UD Men's Lax joins the ASUN or goes Independent? Are there any other CAA equivalent or better Mens'Lax conferences that UD could have a shot at joining?

[Henny]

Hens up 2-1 after one. Two very evenly matched teams and some nice goalies.

[dchen]

The third quarter always seems decisive.

[dchen]

Could we form a conference? If UMass is required to leave the A10 perhaps we could pair up with them. Add Hobart an A10 affiliate; add Fairfield - a CAA affiliate and maybe lure Air Force and Utah. That’s six.

[CapeHen]

Tough loss. Clearly two evenly matched teams. Sucks to come up short as I believe that would’ve been 4 regular season titles in a row.

I doubt that winning this game would’ve made a huge difference in getting an at large bid to the tournament should the Hens not win the tournament. Can’t say for sure though. But the loss certainly eliminates any chance of that.

Still have a great opportunity to get two wins and back in the tournament where I believe this team belongs. A rematch between these two would be a ton of fun.

[CapeHen]

Huge congrats to Mike Robinson on breaking the all time goals record for the Hens!

[77HEN]

That game was so even. I wanted to see the box score: 44 shots each, 24 SOG each, Towson 14 saves, UD 13 saves. Big difference UD 18 TO to TU 10. Towson took chances and played aggressively to double, triple team players and caused many of those turnovers. Focus on moving the ball around quickly to spaces, avoid getting caught in possession (a soccer term) for the next game if we have to meet them in the championship. The Hens did move the ball well at times and created some close in chances but were frustrated many times. Finishing some of that play with goals would help.

I had to wait to get home to see the box score. Our super-duper, large size video board is a stupid board. It didn’t have anything for a good part of the game and then when it “worked” it gave only time and game score. The little board Drexel has at its field puts the UD board to shame as it shows all the stats live during the game.

[Cluck U]

Physical game. Ref’s let them play a bit.

Towson played tough, aggressive D…our guys were getting attacked by a swarm of Towson players and too often got overwhelmed and coughed up the ball. Have to make the pass earlier…before the double/triple team comes. Lost too many easy ground balls expecting the contact.

The good news is that the team can learn. I’d imagine we adapt and Towson can’t do that to us as effectively again.

Not the best shot down by 1 late in the game…but the effort was there. Also, why no time out when we got the ball with about 30 seconds left? Scoreboard showed we had one…instead, we turn the ball over. Deluca has been masterful with time outs…not sure what happened this time.

Had a great time talking with some of UD’s former players and parents…along with the current players’ parents. Plenty of good things to say about the coaches and our program.

Also, it was nice to see a bunch of the UD football team rooting on the lacrosse team.

Nice crowd…+1800.

Close game. Make a few, small adjustments, and we have a good chance at winning the tournament and going back to the NCAA playoffs.

Good seeing you again, 77…and meeting Mrs. 77. Lil’ Cluck wants to go to a game at Towson…maybe we’ll see you there.

[Henny]

Yep, Towson's D in second half made the difference. UD will probably get another shot at Towson and it could easily go the other way. It was a great crowd but got a little testy up on the North end of the stands.

[Henny]

As for conference affiliation, the ASUN is an extremely hard NO!

Maybe the ACC would consider UD as a sixth team.