Strength Of Schedule

[Timbalaned]

Now that schedules are starting to come out, which teams have the toughest road to the Championships this year? Oregon has a great schedule with CSU, Noma, CU, U of A, BYU, ASU, Chapman, Utah, Chico, Cal, and Texas State all out of conference, just wish I was still playing.

[Phantanimal]

I agree that Oregon has a tough schedule with the # 1,2,3,5, and 8 teams from last year. I look forward to seeing how they do this year. As usual CSU has a pretty tough schedue. Oregon, Sonoma, Colorado College (D III), Minn-Duluth, UCSB, and Michgan, and their RMLC conference games vs Utah, BYU, and in-state rival Colorado. A lot of top 25 competition.

I would have to say that Florida State's schedule isn't very strong for their ranking. Michigan is the only top 10 team on their 2007 schedule. Considering they finished #1 in the SELC and #6 in the MCLA at the end of last season, I thought they would take a bigger bite...

[StrykerFSU]

Let's be fair. FSU is playing one D3 school, five teams that finished in the Top 25, and two others that received votes. There are certainly tougher schedules out there but I don't think you can argue that FSU is ducking good competition.

[Phantanimal]

No doggin' FSU... I'm just a bit surprised... FSU gets a lot of media and forum attention for being a frontrunner as the next potential program to step up to the next level of collegiate lacrosse (just look at some of the other lacrosse forums out there). Quint Kessinich has blasted that out of the broadcasting booth for the last 3 years at the NCAA championships... not that he can predict the future... but I would think that they need to keep proving their strength by playing the toughest teams during the regular season.

[CATLAX MAN]

Let's be fair. FSU is playing one D3 school, five teams that finished in the Top 25, and two others that received votes. There are certainly tougher schedules out there but I don't think you can argue that FSU is ducking good competition.

I think it definitely can be argued. Three of those teams finished #22, 23 & 24. The 2 others were #4 & #16. That's not exactly a tough schedule. It'll be tough to be tourney ready with that schedule.

[sohotrightnow]

Yeah, FSU always plays a tough schedule

[StrykerFSU]

FSU gets a lot of media and forum attention for being a frontrunner as the next potential program to step up to the next level of collegiate lacrosse (just look at some of the other lacrosse forums out there). Quint Kessinich has blasted that out of the broadcasting booth for the last 3 years at the NCAA championships

That may very well be true but absolutely none of it comes from Tallahassee. A lot of people like to speculate on the future of FSU lacrosse and as I have often pointed out, they usually know absolutely nothing (Quint, I'm talking to you). I am not affiliated with the program anymore and don't know how their scheduling was conducted this year and no one who was involved will be posting on this board so you'll have to take the schedule at face value.

That said, I'm sure that FSU would welcome any of the "top" teams to Tallahassee (see BYU 2006 and Michigan 2007) and I would speculate another west coast trip is in the works for a future season.

[Jolly Roger]

That said, I'm sure that FSU would welcome any of the "top" teams to Tallahassee (see BYU 2006 and Michigan 2007) and I would speculate another west coast trip is in the works for a future season.

Not surprising after their last disasterous trip to the WCLL. That shattered them so badly they lost at home to Minnesota in their next game.

[dulax19]

at Minnesota Duluth our first six games are pretty big right off the bat, first we play Cal Poly and Lindenwood in the Twin Cities, followed by in state rival Minnesota, then we have three games in Utah playing CSU first, followed by BYU then concluding with Utah.

[Madlax16]

all i gotta say is ....starting off with u of nebraska at omaha.then cornell college then north dakota state. pretty strong beginin eh? hahah

[WaterBoy]

It's a consistent pitfall and gamble that teams take every year- strength of schedule is entirely dependent on how teams compare to their stand in the year previous. For a team like Florida State, their SOS is dependent in large part on how the rest of their conference performs.

There are also teams that schedule their OOC games against a particular league or region that may not come out as strongly as before.

When you're the next-door neighbor to five teams in the top 25, it's easier to schedule them- when you have to travel hundreds of miles to compete against a top 25, then it becomes more costly. That's why human judgment is implemented in the polls.