2024 NCAA Lacrosse Preview: No. 11 Denver (Men)

NO. 11 DENVER

2023 Record: 10-5 (4-1 Big East) 
Final Ranking (2023): 13 
Head Coach: Matt Brown (1st year) 
Assistants: John Gallant (defense), David Metzbower (offense), Matt Neufeldt

Bill Tierney didn’t just leave the cupboard full as promised. It’s overflowing.

Longtime Denver assistant and Tierney protégé Matt Brown finally has the reins to himself, and there’s so much horsepower. The Pioneers’ 56-man roster includes seven graduate-year players and 11 true seniors. Every single scorer returns — not a single point lost to graduation — and the addition of David Metzbower to the coaching staff means they have access to the two best offensive minds of the last quarter century.

“The sheer brain power that will exist in that coaching office is very intriguing to me,” Tierney said.

And yet Denver’s status as the prohibitive Big East favorite has as much to do with its experience on defense than anything else. Close defensemen Jack DiBenedetto, Jimmy Freehill and Adam Hangland and top long pole AJ Mercurio all are fifth-year starters. They came up together as freshmen in 2020, were thrown into the fire immediately, endured all things COVID and last year anchored the nation’s eighth-ranked defense (10.13 goals allowed per game).

TOP RETURNERS

Jack DiBenedetto, D, Gr. (16 GB, 14 CT) 
AJ Mercurio, LSM, Gr. (3G, 19 GB) 
JJ Sillstrop, A, Gr. (36G, 42.4 SH%)

DiBenedetto and Mercurio were named USA Lacrosse Magazine Preseason All-Americans on Wednesday, as was faceoff ace Alec Stathakis.

Sillstrop is the only fifth-year starter on offense. The latest California gem unearthed by the DU staff, he burst onto the scene as a freshman, scoring five goals in his first collegiate games and depositing two-game winners before the season was cut short due to the pandemic. Sillstop has been a fixture ever since.

KEY ADDITIONS

Cody Malawsky, A, R-Fr. (12G, 16A with Coquitlam, B.C.) 
Marek Tzagournis, A, Fr. (60G, 65A at Dublin Jerome, Ohio) 
Greyson Vorgang, A, Fr. (76G, 61A at Niskayuna, N.Y.)

Denver was at the vanguard of “positionless” offense, which like the triangle offense in basketball or total football in soccer prioritizes motion, passing and cutting over fixed positioning. Noah Manning (22 goals, 15 assists), Michael Lampert (19 goals, 18 assists) and Richie Connell (16 goals, 18 assists) all initiate from different parts of the field, with Manning and Lampert notably toggling between attack and midfield last year.

But the Pioneers lacked a true X attackman the last two years. A smooth operator behind the goal who could see through the defense, break down his defender and dodge to feed or score. Someone in the mold of Jackson Morrill or Connor Cannizzaro.

All indications are that Malawsky can be that guy. Denver was tempted to play him after he arrived on campus last January, but the coaches opted to redshirt the British Columbia box lacrosse standout to help refine his field game and acclimate to college life.

A 6-foot-2 lefty, Malawsky won the Jim Bishop Award as the second-leading scorer in the Minto Cup, Canada’s national junior box lacrosse championship, registering 28 points in six games for the Coquitlam Adanacs.

Brown and Malawsky’s father, Curt, were roommates and teammates for a period in the National Lacrosse League. A Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Famer, Curt Malawsky has gone on to become one of the NLL’s top coaches currently with the Vancouver Warriors.

“You know what kind of cloth Cody is cut from. He’s got the ‘it’ factor,” Brown said. “Great vision and skill set. Great teammate.”

NOTABLE DEPARTURES

Graduations: Malik Sparrow, LSM; Jack Thompson, G

X-FACTOR

Alec Stathakis, FO, Gr. (226-for-374, 60.4%)

The fact that the Pioneers were middle of the pack in advanced efficiency metrics and so-so at the goalie position yet still on the cusp of an NCAA tournament berth after throttling Villanova in the Big East semifinals speaks to Stathakis’ ability to tilt the field in their favor. He benefitted from the tutelage of all-time NCAA faceoff leader TD Ierlan early in his career and has both collegiate and international (2023 U.S. Men’s U21 National Team) experience in spades. On the wings he has Mercurio and a pair of excellent short sticks in fellow second-year captain Jake Edinger and Canadian national team member Casey Wilson.

THE NARRATIVE

Never satisfied.

That’s Denver’s mantra for the 2024 season — an apropos ethos for a team some say has gotten stale in recent years and went 2-6 against NCAA tournament contenders in 2023. After winning the national championship in 2015 and advancing to the final four five times in seven seasons from 2011-17, the Pioneers gave way to Georgetown in the Big East and faded in relevancy. They’ve missed the NCAA tournament altogether three of the last four years contested.

This feels like a refresh for the lacrosse capital of the West. Brown wasted little time putting his own mark on the program, including a radical facelift of the playing surface at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium and hiring Metzbower.

The Pioneers should be the preseason favorites in a Big East. Whereas Denver lost next to nothing (2.7 percent of starts and 0 percent of scoring), Georgetown and Villanova both were hit hard by graduation.

With all its depth and experience — all that opportunity and new energy — this could be Denver’s best team in years.

BEYOND THE BASICS
POWERED BY LACROSSE REFERENCE

The watchword for the Denver roster heading into 2024 is continuity. The offense, which ranked in the 62nd percentile for opponent-adjusted efficiency, retains all of its production, while the defense, with 93 percent of game appearances back, has a foundation that could surpass last season’s 69th percentile ranking. Add in the return of Alec Stathakis (the fifth-highest FOGO per the faceoff Elo model), and the hope is that the 2024 Pioneers just look like a better version of the 2023 team.

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