How Notre Dame men’s lacrosse was controversially left out of 18-team NCAA Tournament field
A conference championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team woke up this past Saturday with hopes of securing both by beating Duke.
As it turned out, the Fighting Irish got a share of the former and none of the latter. Notre Dame defeated the Blue Devils in riveting fashion, 16-14, to finish the season on a six-game winning streak. An 8-4 overall record consisting of zero wins over teams that ultimately qualified for the NCAA Tournament was not enough to get the Irish into the 18-team dance, though.
The ACC will be represented by co-champion Virginia, who the Irish lost to 12-8 on March 26. The last time the ACC only had one tournament team was 1975. In comparison, the Ivy League registered six participants. ESPN analyst and former Syracuse All-American and national champion Paul Carcaterra said the tournament selection committee made a mistake in leaving the two ACC teams that battled to a thrilling finish Saturday in South Bend out of the mix.
“If you watched Duke-Notre Dame (Saturday), those are final four-caliber teams,” Carcaterra said. “Isn’t the goal to get the best teams in the NCAA Tournament?”
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Loyola athletics director Donna Woodruff, chair of the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse committee, said it’s not the committee’s job to determine whether teams are “getting hot at the right time.” Notre Dame certainly fits that criteria. But in the eyes of the committee, the Irish did not meet the standard requirements for qualification.
Woodruff said there were six teams — Notre Dame, Duke, Brown, Harvard, Ohio State and Virginia — being considered for the final four tournament spots. Notre Dame and Duke drew the short straws. Woodruff cited “more significant losses” for those teams. In addition to the loss to Virginia, the Irish lost to Georgetown, Maryland and Ohio State in a 1-3 start to the season. All four of the Irish’s losses came to NCAA Tournament teams.
Duke (RPI No. 7) and Notre Dame (RPI No. 11) were the only two teams in the RPI top-12 to be left out of the tournament. That was enough for Carcaterra to put the entire situation on blast as the selection show came to a close Sunday evening.
“This is the year we’ll look back and say it’s time to change the formula,” Carcaterra said. “It’s time for reform.”
