Barstool NCAA Lacrosse Tournament Preview: Syracuse-Johns Hopkins

HERE is the blueblood program matchup that lacrosse fans are used to seeing in the postseason! Syracuse and Johns Hopkins, both on the tails of drubbing their first-round opponents, are going to be coming into this game with tons of confidence. Many lacrosse forecasters are predicting a Syracuse National Championship this year, and Johns Hopkins just delivered UVa a historically bad loss, in Charlottesville. I’m also just going to mention that Virginia has now won one NCAA tournament game in four years. I won’t analyze that, or draw any conclusions from it. I’ll just mention it. Make of that what you may.

Anyway, this year’s Syracuse team is good. Like really, really, really, really good. Their top-line of attackmen is probably the most talented in the country from top to bottom, and they have Nicky Galasso, who is seeking a title in what seems like his 13th year playing NCAA lacrosse, which of course concluded his illustrious 7 year high school career at West Islip (seriously, I feel like that guy has been playing for fucking forever). They also are capable of making individual plays like this:

So it’s safe to say Syracuse is pretty dangerous. Hopkins also delivered the 2nd best highlight of the weekend, after the Fat Goalie Goal of course, with this hidden ball-trick.

Seemed like weird timing to do that when already up by so much and having the game basically sealed. And not because of “sportsmanship” or “good taste” or any nonsense like that (University of Virginia lacrosse players are big boys, they can take it, and they tend not to have a lot of confidence issues as a group), but just cause why use it when you already have the game in hand? Why not use it against Syracuse when you need to breakup an Orange run or spark the offense? Seems like a waste.

Hopkins is dangerous. They have two Stanwicks on the team, who are obligated by the laws of nature to have multiple points in every postseason game they play. Pietramala ‘s reputation as a defensive coach speaks for itself, and they’ll have all the confidence in the world heading into the game. The general consensus is that Hopkins is peaking at the right time. After looking shaky-to-average all season, they’ve reeled off six straight wins against quality opponents. I don’t totally buy that narrative though. Ohio State and Virginia were two truly dominating wins, but Ohio State can be inconsistent and Virginia looked awful last weekend. I doubt they would have kept it close against any of the remaining tournament teams with the way they played. Besides, Hopkins has looked dominating at times during the past month; Syracuse has looked dominating all season. It’ll be a good fight, but I see Syracuse taking this one to the tune of 13-9.

I’m on Twitter @CharlieWisco and will be tweeting the entire tournament, as will @BarstoolJordie .