Why is Albany ranked so low?

[purplehaze]

Today in Inside Lacrosse :

 

Why is Albany ranked so low? By Quint Kessenich

3/13/2007

 

 

 

 

Why is Albany ranked so low? They currently sit at No. 6 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll but are respected at No. 2 in the USILA Coaches Poll. Last I checked the Great Danes beat Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field. If they wore Orange jerseys and had the name Princeton, Syracuse or Virginia stiched on their chests they’d be the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation.

 

“We’re playing hard and focused,” says Albany coach Scott Marr. “Our goal is to make the playoffs and win a game in May.”

 

Albany has never won a game in the NCAA Tournament, but it would relish the idea of competing in the quarterfinals with a chance to advance to Championship Weekend.

 

Why has Albany had success this year? They shoot the ball extremely well (34% versus 23% by their opponents), they are +5 in specialty situations and have the nation’s most improved defense. The Great Danes lost five games in 2006 by a total of nine goals.

 

“Last year we had to play zone,” says Marr. “This fall we concentrated on defense, and we haven’t been forced to go zone except maybe once.

 

“The zone concepts have been helpful with our off-ball defense and support. Guys are seeing both their man and the ball and understand the strategy behind sliding and being the second slide.”

 

Albany is making teams earn their goals. The Danes have two of the game’s best finishers, so they can take a third less shots and win because their accuracy is superior. Merrick Thomson and Frank Resetarits rarely miss the net, and it’s scary to realize that they haven’t shown up big in the same game yet this spring.

 

It’s an exciting time on campus in the capital city of New York. The men’s basketball team plays Virginia on Friday in the NCAA Tournament and the men’s lacrosse team is in the midst of a breakout season. Albany faces another Cinderella team on Saturday in Drexel, the squad who started the insanity of 2007 with an upset at Virginia in February.

 

Albany should be ranked above Hopkins, and considerably higher in the Media Poll. It’s not even debatable.