S3 E13. PSU v. Colgate & OSU v. ND: Playoff Preview, Part II

NCAA Lacrosse Championship Breakdown: Penn State vs. Colgate & Ohio State vs. Notre Dame

In this special episode of 'Get the Lax Scoop,' hosts Ron, Steve, and Jay dive into the NCAA Lacrosse Championship landscape. They discuss recent play-in games and dive deep into the match-up between Penn State Nittany Lions and Colgate Raiders, highlighting key players and game outcomes. The conversation then shifts to the Ohio State Buckeyes versus Notre Dame Fighting Irish, analyzing team strengths, season performance, and predictions. The hosts provide thoughtful and humorous insights, touching upon player stats, game strategy, and even campus amenities, concluding with individual game predictions.

00:00 Introduction to the NCAA Lacrosse Championship Episode

00:32 Penn State vs. Colgate: A Deep Dive

02:55 Army's Season and Tournament Competitiveness

04:10 Predictions and Analysis: Penn State vs. Colgate

07:31 Ohio State vs. Notre Dame: A Controversial Matchup

15:29 Personal Stories and Final Predictions

17:28 Conclusion and Sign-Off

NEW BOOK!
Inside the Recruiting Game: Insights From College Lacrosse Coaches
-Available on Amazon.com as an Ebook and paperback


Links to training videos:
Master The 5 Best Dodges From the Wing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7LDOcQQ6Q&t=88s

Blazing Shots... on the Run!
https://youtu.be/XiptPlM63oQ

Check us out...

On YouTube @jaymcmahonlax23
On Instagram @jaymcmahonlax23
On Facebook @: facebook.com/jmcmahonlax23. Page name: Jay McMahon Lacrosse

Jules Heningburg: https://thelaxlab.com/

Check out!... Coach Tintle's Lacrosse Barn:

https://g.co/kgs/eXedCXf

SuccessHotline with Dr. Rob Gilbert on Ironclad & Apple Podcasts

Brian Cain Daily Dominator on Apple Podcasts

Lacrosse Charities Mentioned in S2 E36:
https://www.4thefuturefoundation.org/

https://www.harlemlacrosse.org/

https://15forlife.org/

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to a very special NCAA Lacrosse Championship episode of Get the Lack Scoop. Absolutely. Jeff, are there any guests today? None. No, we don't need any. No. We have plenty to talk about. Jay, why is that? We're coming to you. We're coming to you on the precipice of the N NCAA cross hormone. In fact. Two playing games have already taken place. Jay, we already have to play off action. It's incredible. So exciting. Alright, next up we've got Coach Tamron for the number five Penn State Nittany Lions versus Colgate. Colgate is the Patriot League champion. Penn State went 10 and four this season. Colgate went 10 and seven. Colgate is has Matt Wick at the helm. Ron, you wanna jump into this one? Yeah. Well we also, we all Jay, I'm just here to provide the brown connections okay. In every game. And, and you know, one of the best young coaches in the game, Jamie Monroe son, is the offensive coordinator at Colgate. That's right. Doing some incredible things there. That's right. I totally forgot. Good work. Yeah. Well, that's Virginia, McDonalds. That's, I'm here, Jay, to help you remember. That's, pick up the pieces for me. Thank you. And, and I, you know, I don't it was interesting'cause Colgate got off to a very hot start and then kind of struggled in the middle of the season and I think was kind of forgotten and then made a huge run in the Patriot League tournament to get into you know, to get into the dance. Yeah. So I don't know, something tells me that they, they may give Penn State all they can handle, so I, I think this could be, you know, not unlike the Carolina Richmond game, I, I, I think this could be a good game. I think Colgate's been, that program's been getting better and better. And it's proven, you know, over the last few years that they can compete with some of the top teams. So it'll be interesting. Did you say unlike the Carolina Richmond game, or just like, well, that must have been a mis a misstep on my part, Jay. My goodness, I goodness. It like the Carolina Richmond game. Okay. It's got, I think this one has the chance to be a very good game, Jay. Yeah, I mean, Colgate, I can check my notes here, Ron, if you don't mind. They had winds over Harvard, Albany, Villanova, they lost to Army and bu in the regular season, but. They beat them both in the Patriot League playoff to win that championship, probably their first Patriot League championship, I would think in their history. That's pretty impressive. I mean, army was legit. I watched Army UNC during the season when they were definitely both at full strength and that was one of the best games I saw. It was like 14, 13 Army pulled it out. It was like all these ties, all these lead changes. So yeah, interesting. Penn State is the only team that beat Cornell though, and I did actually watch that game as well. It's so Penn State's no joke. Yeah, I think the, first of all, I wanna pause since you brought up Army and I, I, I have a great deal of respect for Coach Alberici and, and just, I'm just, you know, so disappointed for them. They were clearly the first team out and, you know, had a hell of a year four 14 and two record, I believe. Oh, crazy. To have that kind of a year and not get in is just, oh, crushing. And, and, you know, so, and they had some big wins early on. Oh my gosh. Crazy tough. It's, I think it, you know, it says a lot about how competitive the field is and how competitive. Incredible. Again, you know, for a team like that who had that kind of a year to lose to Colgate in the semi-finals right. Of the tournament, just tells you again how competitive the game is getting. Absolutely. So anyway, hats off to Pac Barchi up at Army and, and the great job that he's done. Yeah. I mean, Riker, Riker, er, one of their attack men is gonna be like a first team all American. He is a final, would've been iker. Thank you, Jennifer. Again, getting the names right on top of that, he's number seven. He had seven absolute cranks against UNC. I mean, it was amazing. Yeah. I think the other story, this tournament for me as we broaden out and Penn State fits this category, Carolina, like I, I wouldn't be surprised to see either one of those teams go on a run. And I also wouldn't be surprised to see either one of'em losing the first round. I know. You know's. True. So, so I, I think there's so many teams on this list who have kind of shown flashes of brilliance but haven't been consistent. Right. For the exception of Cornell. Right. Throughout the year. So I think that makes for a really interesting tournament. I agree a hundred percent. I feel like this is one of the first seasons, you know, where anyone really could win it. I mean, no joke. I mean, Cornell, that game that I saw against Penn State, they were winning that game. 12 to eight with three minutes and 30 seconds left in the game and they lost. It was crazy. I mean, so like, you know, Penn State's 10 and four, but they beat the, you know, clearly the best team in the country. So, you know, they're not infallible. They could lose and it would be a shocker, but Penn State could go all the way. So could Colgate. So it'll be great to see Steve, Jay, your pick please. Jay, your pick please. I think we need to hear from Mr. Gfi, if you don't mind. Alright. I'll make the pick first this time because that affects my pick. I was actually very surprised to see that the beloved Penn State University came in second to Colgate in the Yelp reviews 4.1 to 3.7 I I was surprised by that because I know everybody loves Penn State. That was a shocker. You know, have you ever been to Colgate? It's fucking freezing there. Point. I know. It's very cold. I don't understand that. I don't understand Ranking 4.1 stars on Yelp. Yeah. Impressive Steve. All three of them. Now, the, the meal plan is actually almost double at$9,100 versus 53. The Nittany Lion would clearly beat whatever a Raider is. Nothing beats a mountain lion. But we have some pretty strong names on the Colgate roster. We have Rhett Ziegler and Kyle Vanda. Van Dam. Dam Man. A Van Dam, Kyle Van Dam. Very strong roster up at Colgate. But Penn State has three brothers, Roman Perry and Luca Debar, Debar la meo. Whoa. Says here that they led the big 10 in penalty minutes for violating RICO statutes and, and their position just says muscle. Wow. So I have on my board here I have Penn State winning and I'm gonna have a a 16 to 10 game here. Nice. Jay, what do you go? I am gonna go with drum roll, please. The ni lions, and I'm gonna say 14 to eight, their defense is very tough. Penn State's defense is actually number five. Their goalie ion's. Very good. Colgate, you know, I scored a lot of points, but I'm gonna take a, take a risk and just go 14 to eight. Yeah. I, I'm gonna pick the ninny lines as well. So much for the run, Ron. Yeah. By any team. Are you gonna pick an upset here or what Not so far, Jay. Not so far. It's early, Jay. Not much for a risk take. I think this will be a, I think this will be a 12 to seven kind of game. That's what I, that's what I think. Jay coming very close to my score, but, okay. Jay, we're gonna move on now to what I think is one of the most intriguing games. And I, this is my NCA selection committee. Screw of the tournament. Ooh. The, the Buckeyes 14 and two. You, you beat Maryland in the big 10 championship. You beat Notre Dame in the regular season, and you're present for that as the four seed is to have, to have the defending national champion. Come to you in the first round. Right? There you go. That Jay is what I would say a colossal screw. Yeah, you went 14 and two. Here you go. Congratulations. And Jay, this is one of my big complaints that I like to put forward enough of this regional foolishness. Oh my gosh. So obvious. The NCA tournament. By time they don't do that. 30,000 people at the Final four, they're making money. These kids are busting their asses hand over fist. They're making money perform. And then there's the seedings. Do not reflect the, the actual performance during the season. It is, nothing's changed since back when we played and we, the three of the four final four teams we had lost to one in OT had beaten Loyola. This is 1990. And of course we got killed by Syracuse, but so did everybody. Who was the other team? Whatever. Oh, it was UNC. We didn't play them. I think it was UNC 1990. But anyway, they screwed us and they just keep doing it. I mean, that was 35 years ago. Come on Jay. Glad you're holding a grudge there. That's nice. I I didn't, I like how you bring it back to us. That's excellent. Of course. I remember, I, I, go ahead Greg. I remember a big win at Loyola Jay that you led us back to. I, I, I say I have to hesitate to give you a compliment, but Jay forget back to my one big pet peeve. Enough. The n NCAA is making all this money. Yeah. And again, they do not make it about the student athletes and their performance throughout the season in the national championship tournament. Give as much money as they possibly can. Who gives you shit enough? Jay? Enough? Ridiculous. Alright, onto the matchup. Jay, what do you have here? Well, as you mentioned, OSU is the Big 10 champs and they lost their first game. Listen to this. To Utah. I know. 19 to 13. I mean, I know Utah was pretty good, but Ohio State was really good this year. I was like, wow. I thought they were gonna be good this year if they, I don't know if they're that good. They go 11 wins in a row before they lost to Maryland, beat Maryland, beat'em 13 to eight, and then they go on a run, they beat Rutgers, they avenge the loss to Maryland, beat them 14 to 10 and they're the big 10 champs. So amazing. They've got some great players. Big tasty in the goal. They've got this guy Mariner on attack. Ron, he was a, a defenseman. Not many defensemen are converted to attack and he slings it. He's got a stroke like our friend Rich Toy Ron. Wow. I remember that was a consideration for you now, wasn't it? Absolutely Jay. Big, strong dodging, right-handed attack me. Absolutely. Man, dog. Absolute. It'd be like absolutely no question we'll get to Coach by in a minute. But remember Coach Burn said, oh, I was covering, this guy was so big, it was like trying to cover Sasquatch. You just couldn't do it. I could've been you, Ron, it could've been Jay. I could've been somebody Jay. I could have been, somebody could have been a contender. But anyway, Ohio State, you know, very powerful. But hey, Notre Dame, eight and four, but they, they still could beat anyone. They've got wins over Georgetown, duke, U-V-A-U-N-C, lost to Maryland 11 to 10, lost to Ohio State, 10 to nine. One of them, or maybe both of those games is ot. So Notre Dame was pretty darn close to being 10 and two. And then a strange thing is Notre Dame lost to Syracuse twice. So. Hey, but they got Chris Kavanaugh, they got Jake Taylor, they got Sean Light on defense, they got Lynch Long Islander for Rockville Center as a stalwart, faceoff man. So they're, they're gonna be tough. Ron, I want to hear your breakdown. Yeah, Jay, this is a really tough game to pick, I think. And you know, because you gotta believe Ohio State's got a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. They've got momentum coming out of the Big 10 Tournament and they've proven they can beat anybody in the country. But I don't know, Jay, I just feel like that Notre Dame team they, they have now proven that they know how to win this time of year. And I, and I, I re I remember listening to an interview with Kevin Corrigan about Faison, their great midfielder, who was a great wide receiver on their football team, and he mm-hmm. Didn't even let him play in the first few games was I, I think everything they're they're doing right now is to prepare for May. Right. And so I, I don't know why that might be, why he only ha he only has like 10 goals, but I know that might be why. But, but Jay, you, you know, you get to this time of year and, and those are the kind of athletes, like, I, I want that kid on the field this time of year. True. So I don't know. I, and, and I also, you know, Notre Dame also just this time of year, their defense, year in and year out, you know, their system, their athletes. I think I gotta go with Notre Dame in this one. But again, it's yet another game where you feel like either one of these teams could also win the national championship, like, right. And, and so they definitely could, you know, while, while honestly, Ohio State's been the more consistent team, right. As you mentioned since that, since that loss to Utah, their only losses to Maryland, which they just veed. So how do you pick against that team? You know? Right. And and also because you've got a screw loose run. That's why I'm picking Ohio State apparently here, here, us, given the big speech about how Ohio State got screwed and now I'm gonna pick Notre Dame to win that game to, they really got screwed. Jay. 10 to eight to eight. Oh, all right. I like it. I'm gonna go 12. 11 Ohio State. Awesome. They won the first one, ten nine. They're gonna notch it up a little. I'm going to Ohio State, but I agree. This is definitely a tossum. I I would say 50 50 because Notre Dame, they both are very athletic, both of these teams. Yeah. And Notre Dame is just crazy on the ground balls and obviously ground balls and possessions are huge in the playoffs and they've been so streaky. It's really weird that they lost to Syracuse twice. I mean, I guess sometimes a team might just have your number, but Syracuse is very nifty. They got great sticks. They're not that athletic, so it amazes me. I could see maybe they get by Notre Dame ones, but it's amazing. It shakes my confidence a little, is what I'm saying, that they got beat twice by a team. That they're clearly better than it. So, but I'm gonna go with that. I'm gonna go Ohio State 1211 and enough of this, let's see what Alfi has to say. This was a tough one, guys. So, you know Bernie Yelp reviews. Notre Dame has the slight edge at 4.5 to 4.2. Buckeye versus a leprechaun Buckeye's a tree. So you gotta figure like a drunk leprechaun's just gonna not even know that he's fighting a tree. So definitely, you know, I'm gonna go Ohio State there. Meal plans are only off by$200. Cool. You know, it's tough, but here's that is tight. Here's where Ohio State wins in a route. With Notre Dame. The best names on the roster are Drew Winker and Brock Berman. But Ohio State has Johnny cool. I mean like, so what's the guy's name? Hands down. Ohio State wins the the roster name criteria Chat. GPT thinks that Ohio State's gonna win. So, so do I. So I'm gonna go Ohio State and I'm gonna go 15, 13. Ooh, I like it. And, and they've got the best nickname for anyone probably in all. Do one lacrosse. Their goalies nickname is Big Tasty, big TA is about six three, like 2 95. I mean, he Right. Again, another thing that I could have done, Jay, I could have just gotten in that goal. Go with it, Ron. Jay, this is a little known. I don't know if I've told this story on this podcast, but very first, let's hear, let's story time. Let's hear it. My very first year of lacrosse when I moved from Pennsylvania to Annapolis, Maryland, I had seen one lacrosse game in my life, actually at Penn State University. And when you move to Maryland in Annapolis, in that time, there's nobody's playing baseball. Everybody's playing lacrosse. So I go out and play lacrosse. You didn't even have a baseball team. They take one look at me and stick me in the goal. Jack, I'm shocked. I at that. They were like, put the fat kid in the goal. They'll cover up a lot of the goal. And you know, my Cadillac reflexes Jay. Oh my gosh. Hand speed. I played one full season as a goalie in seventh grade, and then you went on the slim fast diet and said of playing D there was no slim fast back then, Jay, and then I moved. To my rest of my career to the defensive position. Well, I remember seeing that play where you ran into the goal on the fast break. You were looking kind of spelt before you started rolling into the back. Well, Ron was always fast. Ron was always fast. You know, that was never an issue. He, he was a prisoner of inertia in that video where you not change direction, it just, there was no stopping. Right. Steve? Steve, once I get going, once I get moving, you might remember a certain time I tried to go out a door at the fraternity house and people tried to stop me. Don't get in my way once. Oh God no. Once that train gets moving, Steve, that's no stopping it. Not even if you're an 80 pound girl. Oh gosh. Poor girl. Pancake. You need a spa. That's little too much information for the podcast, Steve. Thank you very much. Trying keep it clean here. Oh, beautiful. Beautiful. Alright. Yeah. So Steve, what do you got? That was Ohio State too. Ohio State. 15. 13. All right. All right. Nice. He made his pick already. Jay, follow up. I know he did. I wanted to get the score. Thank you. Alright. Until we meet again. Here's to hoping you find the twine. We're signing off here at the get the lax scoop. Thanks again so much. We will see you the next time.