Back of THE CAGE Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM 2019-2020 Women's DI, II & III College Lacrosse Season

Use this thread to discuss topics pertaining to the 2019-2020 Women's Division I, II & III College Lacrosse season or go to 'The Locker Room' forum & click on the 'College Lacrosse' sub forum

-- "Why is it unacceptable for Duke but not any other school? Why is Duke Women's lacrosse in a different category than so many others?" --

Several reasons come to mind. Duke is a Top 10 Academic Institution, They Compete in the ACC, The University fully funds and supports the program, The Program has Admission Slots, Beautiful Campus, Great Weather, Easy to get to from Hot Bed areas, Up until the past 3 years the program was consistently Top 10.

Correct. Duke has a ton of inherent advantages that should lead to a very successful program. Look at their counterparts on the Men's side. The school supports these programs wholeheartedly. There's no reason that Princeton and Penn are stronger programs than Duke. How has Stony Brook become more successful than Duke? How has USC become more successful when east coast girls have to go all the way out there? How did Florida become more successful?

There's no excuse for what's gone on at Duke over the last 4 years and the school is running out of patience. A great replacement is now on staff and it would be an easy enough transition. If Duke struggles again I believe the change will be made.

The two biggest factors in a programs long term success are: Coaching and talent. The best coaches constantly identify the best players, convince those players to become a part of their program, coach and develop the players and create a culture that is constantly successful.

Duke was one of those programs but it looks like they have fallen off a bit the past few years. What changed? Are they not bringing in the talent? Did an important assistant coach move on? Did the fact that Duke did not aggressively jump on the band wagon of early recruiting? Duke should absolutely be one of the Top 10 - 15 Programs.

looking at the situation (without inside knowledge of the program) I think they missed out on too much talent during the 3 - 4 year stretch of "early recruiting". If they missed on 1 or 2 Top Recruits per year during that time frame it would be enough to hurt their program just enough to keep them out of that top group of 10 - 15 Programs. For sure it would keep them out of the top 4 - 6 programs.

It seams to me that the coaches at the top programs are able to identify the best players and then convince the players to choose to attend their school. When you look at the top programs it is easy to see why the coaches at those schools can land the best talent. The Duke coaches have everything they need in order to compete for the top recruits. Not so easy for many other programs.

Big year for The Blue Devils.

Didn't the current Elon Head Coach leave Duke in 2012?

Dont think they make the tournament again .

Is Michigan for real? Was last year a fluke?

Why? What’s so special about Duke?

Why the focus on Duke. The same can be said about UVA, ND (until this year), Hopkins...

Interestingly Duke just slipped two in the rankings for top schools. They were #8, tied with Penn, Penn moved up to #6, Duke to 10, now tied with Hopkins. I would rather see by kid go to Penn which is a better school, has great lacrosse , and is close enough to drive to easily.

No, it can't be said about UVA and Notre Dame. Hopkins is a very good program but they were not at the level that Duke.

UVA is one of the Top 10 Programs and ND is right there as well. Notre Dame finished outside the Top 20 maybe once in the past 5 or six years. Duke has not finished ranked in the Top 20 for the past three years. Not too long ago Duke was consistently a Top 10 finisher. Hopkins has finished the season in the Top 20 five times in the past 10 years

Hopkins

2010 - #20
2011 - Not ranked
2012 - #18
2013 - Not ranked
2014 - #15
2015 - #17
2016 - #16
2017 - Not ranked
2018 - Not top 20... (ranked 21)
2019 - not top 20... (ranked 22)

Hopkins is a very good program and an excellent school. They are certainly one of the top 20 -25 programs in the country. ND and UVA a little bit stronger in terms of lacrosse.

For whatever reason Duke has fallen off a bit the past few years. IMHO Duke missed out on some top recruits during the Hey Day of early recruiting. While other Top 10 programs were locking up their top recruits Duke was sitting on the sideline. Three or four additional studs on the roster and Duke would have been back in the Top 10. Even one dominant player can make a difference at a program like Duke.

Pretty sure they will be back in the mix this year but if not the coach is probably in trouble.

Okay, Duke didn’t recruit your daughter, everyone sees through this silliness. Move in.

Lol, so many better places to go. Duke Womans lacrosse will always be losers. School went downhill and took the lax team along. Have fun!

Thanks for your insight. Now tell us all what we should move onto? Bashing players perhaps? The Duke situation is interesting. What caused the downturn?

You have been posting this Duke nonsense repeatedly. Why? Tell us your odd obsession with Duke. It screams “snub”. I’m just hoping that your daughter is over it. Because you’re certainly not.