Picking tourney dozen is lacrosse challenge Coaches say parity makes choices tougher

Carl Runk sat in his office at Towson State last week, scribbling the names of what he considered the 15 best lacrosse teams in Division I. In the past, this might have taken a couple of minutes. This time, with so much parity, it easily could have taken all day.

And that's a good sign, said the Tigers coach, because it shows how the sport has grown. But it also makes life difficult for the NCAA lacrosse committee as it prepares today to announce the 12-team field for the tournament.

"I've never seen a season like this one," said Runk, in his 29th year at Towson State. "The selections really are up in the air."

"Last year," said Loyola coach Dave Cottle, "it was pretty clear who the teams were going to be, except for maybe one or two spots. This year, there are six teams that are guaranteed to be in and then a group of maybe eight or nine teams for six spots."

Popular opinion is that the four byes will go to top-ranked Princeton, No. 2 North Carolina and co-No. 3s Virginia and Maryland. No. 5 Syracuse, the defending national champion, is a virtual lock for the fifth seed, while No. 11 Notre Dame, which upset Duke in last year's first round, probably will garner the 12th. Otherwise, you may as well put the rest of the names in a hat and start pulling.

"It's just amazing," said Johns Hopkins coach Tony Seaman, whose team was on the verge of not making it until yesterday's 12-10 win at Loyola. "You've got Massachusetts and Brown, and then you have Hofstra and Towson State, and Loyola and Harvard . . ."

The list goes on and on, and it includes co-No. 9 Bucknell (12-0), the only undefeated team in Division I. But critics point to the Bison's weak schedule.

"To get into the playoffs, you have to beat a playoff team," Cottle said. "They didn't play one; they didn't beat one."

Butler athletic director John Parry, the chairman of the eight-member lacrosse committee, said the two major criteria for choosing the field are record and strength of schedule. "After that are other factors, like how a team has done against the so-called top 10 or 15. We might look at their record against teams that are already in the tournament, and we might look at common opponents," he said.

"I see it as fairly clear down to the fifth or sixth spot, and then it's a jumble at this point."

Cottle's Greyhounds, tied with Brown at No. 7 in the rankings, started off 3-4, then won four in a row before yesterday. Was it enough to impress the committee?

"I haven't heard a lot of discussion in the past about how a team has finished in terms of wins and losses," Parry said, "though I know that's a criteria they use in NCAA basketball."

Cottle said, "I think you look at the whole season, from top to bottom."

Loyola (7-5) has made the tournament eight straight years, the fourth-longest current streak in Division I.

"I would find it hard to believe there are 12 teams better than us," said Cottle, whose squad is hurt by a lack of quality wins, though its losses are by a total of nine goals.

Hopkins (6-5) has the nation's longest tournament streak, 24 seasons. The Blue Jays had lost two straight, to lower-ranked Hofstra and Towson State, before yesterday, but they also play the toughest schedule in the country, which Seaman said should count for something. And the Blue Jays have beaten North Carolina and Syracuse, which are "two wins better than everybody else's wins," Cottle said.

"Strength of schedule, I've always been led to believe and pretty much seen proof of over the years, is the No. 1 criteria for any team to get into the NCAAs," Seaman said. "And I don't think anybody in the world can argue about our schedule. It's definitely the most demanding. No matter what our overall record is, we've certainly proved we should be one of the 12 teams in the playoffs."

The Blue Jays probably would have gotten an extra victory if they had been able to play No. 20 Rutgers (5-8). The game was postponed twice because of snow and never made up. Then again, Rutgers upset Syracuse this season. Nothing is certain in a year when Princeton loses to Virginia, which lost twice to North Carolina, which was beaten by Princeton. And when UMass defeats Brown, which happened yesterday to further cloud the picture.

No. 14 Towson State (8-4) also is on the bubble, having won five straight and seven of eight.

NCAA field

You can find out who's in the field for the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament today after 7 p.m. by calling Sundial, The Sun's telephone information service, at [phone]. In Anne Arundel County, call [phone]; in Harford County, [phone]; in Carroll County, [phone]. After you hear the greeting, using a touch-tone phone, punch in 6201.

Pub Date: 5/05/96