Don’t Be Fooled: The Terps are the Team to Beat This Year
Finally….Its game week in college lacrosse, teams will be kicking off their seasons this week and in the first time in what feels like forever, games will be played this year. Instead of worrying about the if and when.. we can finally worry about the who and the why.
Lets Get Straight to it: The Maryland Terrapins will be this year’s Men’s NCAA Champions!
Of course all of you so called pundits and fans will ask… why am I picking Maryland so early? Continuity and Depth.
In a year where it seems like games and even practices for some teams will come at a premium the key to winning a natty this year will be what teams can stay together and what teams have the most depth. The Terps are brining back essentially their entire offensive core of Jared Bernhardt, Bubba Fairman, Anthony Demaio and Logan Wisnauskas. On defense they are led by Nick Grill at close and Alex Smith and Roman Puglise leading the defensive middies and by the way last time I checked Justin Shockey is still taking face-offs for the Terps.
Oh so you think they don’t have enough depth? WRONG! At middie we’ve only gotten glimpses of what guys like Josh Coffman, Jake Smith, Chase Cope and Kyle Long can do for the Terps. Same thing at attack with guys like Danny Maltz, Nicholas Demaio and Jack Sawyer. In a normal year, these guys would probably be getting called “the next group up” for the Terps but in this year they will probably be playing key roles and helping and even leading the Terps to winning big games down the stretch. You’re now telling me this offense gets to be coached by Bobby Benson as well? They will be fun to watch.
The depth defensivley is pretty solid too as we haven’t even seen BJ Burlace step on the field yet, a guy who has the potential turn into a Bryce Young type of player for this defense.
What about Duke? What if Denver gets TD? Look, these so called “super teams” in other sports take time to gel. I would call Duke one right now and would be inclined to call Denver one if they eventually land TD Irlean via the transfer portal. Look at the 2011 Miami Heat, it took them time to gel, it wasn’t boom they were great right away they lost in the NBA Finals that year to the Dallas Mavericks, how many times did the Dodgers in baseball try to put together a “super team” before they won a world series? Even look at the Atlas Lacrosse Club in the PLL…that speaks for itself. In a normal year could a super team in college lacrosse win a natty…maybe. Lets be honest this year teams are not going to have as much time to gel as they would like! The teams that bring back the most guys who have played together for the longest periods will be the teams we see on the National Championship.
That brings me back to my original point that the Maryland Terps will win their 2nd national title and do so by beating the Syracuse Orange in the national title game!
I hope y’all enjoy the college lacrosse season as much as I will be doing! Stay safe and as always… my twitter dm’s(jordan_john5) are open for suggestions on this piece and any other content or subject.
