Great article on the growth of lax in Ohio

T

The G Man

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http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2013/05/22110/ohio-state-central-ohio-growth-of-lacrosse

As the game has grown, more good players have been spread around the country to weaken the grip that Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Princeton and Virginia have had since it became an NCAA sport. Last season, Loyola (Maryland) completed a Cinderella story that ended with a national championship.

“What you’re seeing is those top 3-5 aren’t dominating like they were five or six years ago,” Myers said. “Once you get in that 10-30 range, it’s a coin toss. That’s really what’s been impressive. Teams that are ranked in the RPI from 15-40 can beat a top 10 program on any given day. I think there is a great deal of parity in our game, and it’s led to some exciting lacrosse.”
More than 50,000 people a year are taking up lacrosse and joining organized teams. The number of active participants in the United State is nearing 1 million with more than half of those under the age of 15. That means a college boom is approaching.

Fast-paced sports have become popular in today’s society of instant everything. As attention spans have shortened, the need to do more activities in a smaller timeframe has increased. Lacrosse is a beneficiary of that culture.

“It’s up and down, it’s got speed, it’s got tempo, it’s got scoring, it’s got physical play,” Myers said. “I think the more and more it gets TV exposure, which you’re seeing that explode, the more eyeballs it gets. That’s a good thing for our game.”
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When I was a senior in high school ('04), only three schools on the west side of Cleveland had teams (Ignatius, Lakewood, and Medina). Now, almost every school over here, private and public, does. When I read box scores in the paper, I swear, 3/4 of the teams in the listings didn't have teams ten years ago.
 
Ohio State has made great strides, but I think they have to get to the point of most of the best players wanting to stay, rather than go to Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, etc. Making the NCAA quarterfinals was a good step for the Buckeyes, even though they got pounded by Cornell. They can take pride in their win over Denver, which looks like it may pull the upset against Syracuse to make the NCAA championship match, though.

When almost all of the best players from schools like Upper Arlington and Dublin Jerome start going to Ohio State, that's when they will turn the corner, IMO. I think it will be a lot easier to do that in lacrosse than baseball.
 
I agree, it's a cultural shift that needs to take place. This Ohio State team has been awesome, and could quite possibly be a turning point in the program. But it still rattles me a little bit that their best players are still Canadian. There are legit D1 kids in Ohio that aren't going to Ohio State. Hayes McGinley of Ohio State is headed to Syracuse. Those are the kind of kids we need to start keeping in state.
 
cpc5304 said:
But it still rattles me a little bit that their best players are still Canadian. There are legit D1 kids in Ohio that aren't going to Ohio State. Hayes McGinley of Ohio State is headed to Syracuse. Those are the kind of kids we need to start keeping in state.
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I hear ya. The Bucks can be "very good" while still "importing" players from other places, but I don't think they'll be able to win it all until they get to the point of keeping most of the best Ohio players, and then supplementing them with kids from Baltimore, DC, Long Island, and so on.
 
Big Ten lacrosse just became legit. Johns Hopkins and Maryland are definitely power programs in the world of men's lacrosse. Northwestern was already a power program in women's lacrosse.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...tie-schwarzmann-repeats-as-tewaaraton-winner/


Big Ten lacrosse is now official; Katie Schwarzmann repeats as Tewaaraton winner
By Alex Prewitt, Published: June 3, 2013 at 11:38 am

The Big Ten’s lacrosse status received a serious boost Sunday, when Johns Hopkins announced its intention to join the league as a lacrosse-only member, giving the conference the sixth team required for an NCAA automatic qualifier.

The news also solves any mystery surrounding Maryland’s lacrosse conference status. Beginning in 2015, the Terrapins men’s and women’s teams will compete in the Big Ten. The matter of whether the conference would make lacrosse an officially sponsored sport was discussed when Maryland was in talks to join the Big Ten.

“The Big Ten is an outstanding conference and we’re thrilled that it will be able to be the conference home for two of our most successful programs in men’s and women’s lacrosse,” Maryland Athletic Director Kevin Anderson said in a statement. “Lacrosse is important to our university and to our state and the addition of Johns Hopkins as a sport affiliate member for men’s lacrosse shows that it is important to the Big Ten now and in the future.”

The Blue Jays, who have played as an independent since 1883 and have won 44 national title in that span, join Maryland, Rutgers, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan to form the six-team conference. They will officially enter the Big Ten on July 1, 2014, the same date Maryland is scheduled to flip from the ACC.

“Johns Hopkins is an outstanding institution with a legacy of success in men’s lacrosse that is simply unmatched in intercollegiate athletics,” Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany said in a statement. ”Lacrosse is an emerging sport among our current schools and is a long-held passion among our East Coast institutions.

“With the addition of Maryland and Rutgers in all sports and Johns Hopkins for men’s lacrosse, we will have the requisite number of institutions to make men’s and women’s lacrosse official conference sports, building upon our tradition of broad-based sports competition. We look forward to the start of the first Big Ten men’s and women’s lacrosse seasons in 2015.”

The Big Ten’s release, which officially announced the formation of men’s and women’s lacrosse as the conference’s 27th and 28th sports, said Johns Hopkins will only participate in men’s lacrosse. The women currently have six teams — the five listed above plus Northwestern — necessary for the automatic-qualifier designation.

A report was submitted to Johns Hopkins President Ronald J. Daniels on May 10, unanimously recommending that the school pursue conference membership. A news conference was held Monday morning at the Cordish Lacrosse Center.
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That adds such fertile recruiting ground to the rest of the conference in addition to the obvious grab of those two programs.
 
FormerWildcat said:
I just noticed this Baltimore Sun article on Ohio State's pipeline to Baltimore.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/20...lacrosse-coach-mcdonogh-coach-andy-hilgartner

If you're going to have a pipeline with a particular city, Baltimore is the best one to pick, IMO.
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Pondering (no firm opinion)...

Will The Big Ten's move eastward (Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers, Johns Hopkins in lacrosse), cause Ohio to become more of an east coast state in its thoughts, opinions, likes, mannerisms?
 
CatAlum said:
Pondering (no firm opinion)...

Will The Big Ten's move eastward (Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers, Johns Hopkins in lacrosse), cause Ohio to become more of an east coast state in its thoughts, opinions, likes, mannerisms?
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I don't think lacrosse would have much of an impact on that. It's still a relatively "elite" sport played by "rich kids," and it's appeal isn't that broad overall in Ohio. The state football finals' attendance could continue drop at the current rate, and it would still take plenty of time for the state lacrosse finals to catch up.

I think the stereotype of the obnoxious East Coaster still prevails as well, especially if we're talking about DC/Philly/NY/NJ. That will still clash with the stereotype of the "affable Midwesterner" for the foreseeable future, IMO.
 
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