The committee has spoken – win big and get rewarded.
That was the theme delivered by Janna Blais, chair of the NCAA women’s lacrosse committee, who also is the deputy director of athletics at Northwestern.
While there are five criteria the committee must adhere to, including RPI, head-to-head results, common opponents and a team’s RPI against its top 10 opponents, significant wins were cited most often by Blais.
“The committee stayed consistent in rewarding strong points in those teams that had really significant wins,” Blais said. “It’s one of five pieces. We matched each team against one another – and they had to win.”
And that consistency bore out in the bracket’s seeding. Maryland beat North Carolina head-to-head, and both those teams beat Florida (the No. 3 seed). From there, the committee slotted Penn State fourth and Princeton, which lost to the Nittany Lions earlier in the year, fifth. At No. 6, it was Syracuse, who split with the Tar Heels, but also took more losses than Penn State or Princeton.
As for seeds 7 and 8, well, that’s where most of the conversation has been.
Stony Brook, an 18-1 team whose only loss is to third-seeded Florida, is seeded eighth, but appearances can be deceiving. Penn is the No. 7 seed on the strength of the Quakers’ regular-season win over Princeton. Below, we’ll cover why the Seawolves slipped to the No. 8 seed.
Nevertheless, fans will see a fair bracket this year that showcases the sport with exciting matchups and the potential for upsets. Also, this year’s tournament has more of a national feel with the absence of a Midwestern pod. (There is not a Louisville vs. Northwestern or Northwestern vs. Notre Dame matchup unless it happens deep in the tournament.)
“There is more parity in the sport of women’s lacrosse,” Blais said. “I was really happy how it worked out. I think there are some different matchups. Not everyone is going to be happy with it, but we put a lot of sweat into the bracket and are happy as a committee with how it turned out.”
The Stony Brook Story
While our pre-tournament projection had Stony Brook as the No. 7 seed, there was shock and some anger among university staff and supporters when the selections revealed Stony Brook as the No. 8 seed. While pollsters have the Seawolves fourth in the country, their NCAA resume lacked major wins – namely wins above their ranking – despite an excellent 18-1 record.
So why did Stony Brook fall to an 8 seed?
Blais revealed a relatively unknown constraint put on the committee after the teams had been selected, seeded and bracketed. The NCAA would have to consider that statewide bans may affect public institutions from traveling to certain states. In this scenario, Stony Brook was seeded seventh and could reach the quarterfinals to face No. 2 North Carolina, which would be forbidden based on the non-essential travel ban the state of New York implemented in March 2016. The ban remains in effect even though the North Carolina state government has replaced the controversial “bathroom bill” deemed discriminatory toward the LGBT community.
“The committee was aware of the public universities impacted by statewide travel bans across all championships and the potential impact on the student-athlete experience,” Blais said. “All selection, seeding and bracketing principles were followed, including the ability to move seeds across and up and down seed lines to build the bracket.”
Moreover, that means all teams in the Stony Brook and Penn pods were swapped. This subsequently gives Maryland a tougher road to Foxborough by potentially facing the No. 7 seed or a third matchup with Northwestern, while North Carolina could face a No. 8 seed in Penn or Colorado, who might have been one of the final teams to miss out on being seeded. According to Blais, there were three teams under consideration for the final seed.