The best teams are "the best" for two reasons: 1) They recruit from other teams making their team better and the other team worse 2) They get holdbacks - best way to be bigger, stronger, faster.
Coaching is of little importance at this age.
As the Dukes proved, just pull together some great kids and with no practices and they can beat the best regular season team easily.
LOL, Holdback Troll, Talent matters no doubt and is the most important variable. That being said, less talented teams well coached teams can consistently beat more talented teams with poor coaching. Coaching matters the most when it comes to development. Do players and the team progress and how fast? The better the staff and the more committed the kids and their parents are, the faster the players and team progress. Scouting, practice and game planning, and in game adjustments start to matter at the elite middle school level. Based on my experience coaching several A Conference championship teams, it takes 3-4 years of coaching at the elite high school or top flight collegiate level to really learn the craft. What I can tell you, is a top flight coaching staff with a modicum of talent will run circles around the traditional "rec" coach even one with a loaded all start team. That being said, this is lacrosse which is more like basketball than football: translation, coaches impact outcomes in football more than hoops and lax.
