Here are the November 19 US Lacrosse rankings of eleven potential HoCo elite teams this spring. Nobody says these rankings are perfect, but it is nice to have some data to reality check the BOTC board.
I will go out on a limb and predict that the final spring HoCo standings will be pretty close to this ranking. But feel free to come back in May and tell me I was crazy.
Pretty amazing to have 7 of the top 25 national teams in one league.
You have to play at least 4 games to be ranked - so you can add 91 to that list in a few weeks after they play in IMCLA in FLA.
Thanks, so just bump Crabs and everybody else down a notch?
Looking at the local(-ish) rankings and the top two levels of the league there is potentially:
2 Baltimore Crabs 4 DC Express Black 9 Annapolis Hawks Green 14 Looneys 17 Madlax Capital 22 True Annapolis Green 24 VLC - VIRGINIA LACROSSE CLUB 33 Zingos Black 34 True Baltimore 36 Coastal Lacrosse Academy 39 TRW Wolfpack 43 FCA MD 46 Next Level 49 Saltwater Mid-Atlantic Lacrosse 51 HoCo Pink 52 Maryland Sidewinders Black 54 Top Caliber Red 63 302 64 Maryland Cannons Black 78 Dark Horse 85 Breakers 94 Roughriders 104 Kaos
Plus there is the Not yet Ranked -- Predators, On-Age Crabs (Hard Shells), Team 91 and rumors of Leading Edge making Sunday drives from New Jersey.
That is up to 27 teams that were either AAA or higher last year or can theoretically lay claim to a AAA or Elite spot based on recent play.. HoCo league managers may need to get creative and do a two division Elite league or maybe there will need to be preseason qualifiers for the league. Top Caliber won AAA so they should be able to move up. TRW was dominant all year and improved in a few key spot. They should be able to move up as well.
As far as how the Fall relates to the Spring Success, It will of course be different when rosters aren't lightened by football and soccer commitments. Roughriders was a playoff team last year despite their current ranking. Kaos was the back end of AAA and there are rumors of a merger with Dark Horse. Saltwater's record last year does not tll the story of team they became over the summer. And for all of the talk on this board about holdbacks, the elite kids that were displaced by the hold backs had to land somewhere, and those rosters can look very different (except of course for True who sent out 45 offer sheets with a 24 hour time limit to accept). Everyone thinks it is Crabs or Hawks to lose, and that may be true; but it is fairly wide open after that.. May be they need to have an early march "play day" to see who belongs where. That way football/futbol are not excuses.