Florida Lacrosse Showcase joins the fold.  To be fair to them, I’m still the only one choosing the schools so aim your vindictiveness to me, not the Showcase!   The Florida Lax Showcase Web Link   As always, let’s start with last week’s Poll . . .   #1 – Ponte Vedra – ascends to #1 with a solid resume #2 – Jupiter – they might well be the best team right now but have to play the meat of their schedule #3 – Oxbridge – 3 top 10 games – Bishop Moore, SA and STA . . . 13 TOTAL GOALS ALLOWED . . . yikes! #4 – St. Thomas Aquinas – wondered about the offense and now they need to improve it #5 – Lake Mary – big one this week #6 – Bishop Moore – dominant against anyone not named Oxbridge, second half will tell #7 – Benjamin – struggled with SJP, next tough match is Jupiter on the 17th.  Will miss that one for the first time in years. #8 – Saint Andrew’s – tough loss to Oxbridge, schedule is a little light this year #9 – Oak Hall – dominating teams but schedule is really off for now, no way to move higher until the tougher teams kick in later in the season #10 – Tampa Jesuit – nicely taking care of business but just like Oak Hall kind of hits its’ ceiling until the better games in the second half #11 – Cardinal Mooney – win over Riverview-Sarasota and takes advantage of teams above losing.  Could run the table until the last four games, which will truly tell their story.  Pretty much their ceiling for now too given the teams they are playing now #12 – West Orange – this is it for them too, really a shame Mikey Berkman doesn’t get to play more top opponents #13 – Lake Highland Prep – three games, three losses to three great teams, will be higher at year end in all likelihood #14 – HB Plant – big win over Newsome, but a mixed bag on scheduling.  Will really watch the Valor Christian game for insight. #15 – Hagerty – impressive takedown of Merritt Island #16 – Nease – may be better than this, only non-IMG loss (remember I do not count IMG games in this analysis) to #1 #17 – Belen Jesuit – very impressive to me.  Both they and Barron Collier were missing a lot but Belen found a way to get it done Saturday #18 – Pine Crest – another one where scheduling puts a ceiling for now. #19 – Buchholz – hard to tell with them until after this week.  Great scores but the schedule is awful so far.  But not this upcoming week. #20 – Lake Brantley – funny how they always seem to find their way here at least once each year, also needs a ‘prove it’ win #21 – Newsome – with this schedule they better not have another loss like last week #22 – Saint John Paul – which is the real team?  The OT loser to Benjamin or the team that didn’t show in Jupiter? #23 – Steinbrenner – don’t look now but there’s a new kid on the block looking to make noise #24 – Barron Collier – needed to bring up their intensity Saturday and didn’t sustain the whole game, another team that needs a big win over a top team #25 – American Heritage/Boca – wins over St. Edward’s and American Heritage/Plantation look much better now, have to run the gauntlet this week   Just outside the Top 25 Riverview-Sarasota, Gulf Breeze, Creekside, Winter Park, Sickles, Canterbury, Merritt Island, ODA Sarasota   As usual, a normal week with some movement, some top matchups that affect slotting, and some surprises . . .   We’ve got March Madness coming up with the Selection Show tonight and thought maybe I’d take a look at how the LaxPower power index would rank the Top 64 teams currently.  Keep in mind that the LP power ratings tend to get more accurate as the season goes on. Kind of like what your Intro Algebra was . . . if you paid attention!     Okay, I lied . . . that’s a GEOMETRY thing-a-ma-jig But still, it’s KIND of like math and that makes it close enough   Some ground rules 64-team bracket, none of that crappy 4-team play-in game.  Whoever thought 68 was superior to 64?  Unless you live in Dayton, Ohio, since that seems to be where the Play-in games are always held and they certainly make out like bandits with hotel rooms and meals sold. No guarantees on district representation.  If you can’t win make the Top 64 in a 32-district format you can’t complain No regional seeding.  1 plays 64 and so on. So here’s the current Top 64 from the LaxPower RPI as of 3/11:   Yes, I know there are some clearly Top 64 teams missing . . . which is why you can’t yet take the RPI as gospel, which some parents do when they ask me why their team isn’t ranked higher.  Not all records are created equal.  Also I need to take IMG out since they are not eligible for the FHSAA title.  At #65 is Pompano Beach, which has played only ONE GAME, a 13-0 loss to South Plantation, a team with a 4-0 record and ranked at #68! So, you can see that at this point in the season the RPI is not without flaws . . .  but Pompano earns the right to play #1 Oxbridge in the first round! I’ll leave it to the readers to come up with the 64-team bracket and fill it in on their own. If your team is not here, don’t blame me!  It’s for fun and we can revisit this later in the season.     Hey Wells!  Taylor Swift makes her debut in the Media Poll!   Some of the Key Results From Last Week   Monday Cardinal Mooney 16-3 over Steinbrenner Jupiter 14-13 over American Heritage-Boca Winter Park 21-8 over Lake Minneola   Tuesday Benjamin 15-4 over St. Edward’s Fort Myers 14-11 over Community School-Naples on the road Hagerty 13-1 over Buchholz Riverview-Sarasota 8-7 in 2OT’s over Barron Collier   Wednesday Saint Andrew’s 14-4 over American Heritage-Boca on the road Oxbridge 5-2 over Jupiter on the road Lake Mary 8-7 over Lake Brantley   Thursday Barron Collier 10-9 over Gulf Coast Fleming Island 9-7 over Creekside Gulf Breeze 9-6 over Pensacola Catholic Plant 7-6 over Sickles Newsome 15-11 over Steinbrenner on the road   Friday Belen Jesuit 9-3 over Gulliver Prep Canterbury 13-7 over Riverside-Sarasota Lovett (Ga.) 8-7 over Lake Mary on the road Oak Hall 12-4 over Buchholz Ponte Vedra 14-4 over Wando (SC) on a neutral site Saint Andrew’s 4-3 over SJP II Nease 10-5 over St. Augustine Winter Park 12-9 over Hagerty ODA Sarasota 9-8 over Berkeley Prep and Stoneman Douglas over Cardinal Gibbons 11-4 in their first home game   Saturday Boys’ Latin (Md.) 12-5 over Oxbridge on the road Tampa Jesuit 9-6 over Creekside on the road Lovett (Ga.) 17-8 over Lake Highland on the road Calvert Hall (Md.) 16-7 over Ponte Vedra on a neutral site   Last week I tried to give you a flavor of what the MIAA is all about and there’s a couple of scores above that should tell you a lot.  Our teams gave it their all and both lost by 7 goals.  Of course both BL and CH will beat a lot of teams by 7 goals or more.   If you want to know how serious the MIAA takes it’s lacrosse, here’s two things to look at: First after the MIAA semifinals last year the winning team was asked to HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE     Heck, down here the Palm Beach Post did not even send a reporter to the FHSAA Final Four held in their OWN COUNTY. And here’s another interesting tidbit from the Boys’ Latin Lacrosse web site:

Spring Sports

Varsity Lacrosse

JV Lacrosse

Fresh-Soph Lacrosse

Club Lacrosse

8th Grade Lacrosse

7th Grade Lacrosse

6th Grade Lacrosse

For those of you who follow the college game, Loyola’s Patrick Spencer, a FIRST TEAM ALL AMERICAN, played JV Lacrosse in 11th grade at Boys’ Latin . . . That’s serious my readers. The Boys’ Latin and McDonogh teams are in South Florida this week . . . do not miss a chance to see them in action! #TAFTAG For those of you who are not on our Twitter feed, FloridaLX, that stands for Take A Friend To A Game!   The Underdog Upset of the Week   This feature is pretty hard for me this year due to all the problems we have in finding full schedules and full results to find possibilities. So let’s go outside the box a little here . . . On Saturday, on the Girls Side, we had this result American Heritage-Delray 19-5 over IMG Academy The result wasn’t an upset.  IMG is in their first year on the Girl’s side and AH-D is a national power this year. The upset is the stomach of the parents who paid so much money to IMG for this. Prediction time:  In the year 2022 there will no longer be an IMG program.   Key Games This Week   Monday Hagerty hosts Lake Brantley Jupiter hosts Benjamin Oxbridge hosts McDonogh (Md.)   Tuesday Riverview-Sarasota hosts ODA-Sarasota Stoneman Douglas hosts Barron Collier Saint Andrew’s hosts Boys’ Latin (Md.) Tampa Jesuit hosts Strake Jesuit (Tx.)   Wednesday Benjamin hosts McDonogh (Md.) Cardinal Mooney hosts Strake Jesuit (Tx.) Ponte Vedra hosts Creekside   Thursday STA hosts McDonogh (Md.)   Friday Belen Jesuit hosts Pine Crest Lake Mary hosts Merritt Island Riverview-Sarasota hosts Tampa Jesuit Winter Park host Lake Brantley   Saturday STA plays Loyola-Blakefield (Md.) at Canterbury Bishop Moore hosts Ponte Vedra   #TAFTAG! Get out to a game this week!   One Thing I Am Troubled By Watching Games This Year I’m starting to see some slippage in team offense and too much one on one play. It’s not rampant yet by any means. But it is kind of like a weed coming up through the pavement. Don’t let it happen. Just because you can get away with it in the summer club circuit don’t think for one minute a college coach will allow it. And if they see too much of it on your highlight video you won’t be high on his list.  I broadcast PBA games this year and I can tell you this has come up in conversations with coaches I talk to.  You might get one year out of a college team but you won’t last playing that way. And you might want to re-read this:

HIGHLIGHT REELS: WHAT TO DO & WHAT NOT TO DO

  There wasn’t any really good classic movies on today so I’ll go with a video of Florida Launch Head Coach Tom Mariano (also of Pace University) giving his talk at LaxCon in Baltimore this year!  Lot’s of really good stuff here and I think parents will find this very informative if you want to see what your kid’s team is trying to accomplish on the field!   https://youtu.be/Ywrn3vOL9mc   And for those of you who want a little something other than lacrosse, here’s an old video clip you might find enjoyable . . .     I find these Millennial videos pretty funny . . .   Well, with these two videos there’s no reason to also put my standard “Who walks . . . ” video in, so let’s just ask instead . . .  

Who wants to walk with FLN?

  This Week’s Florida Lacrosse Showcase Top 25 Media Poll!   #1 (t) – Ponte Vedra – PV and Oxbridge have the best resumes so far and I can’t ignore either #1 (t) – Oxbridge – ditto #3 –  Jupiter – flips with Oxbridge after the weekday loss #4 – St. Thomas Aquinas – will they get an MIAA scalp? #5 –  Bishop Moore – Saturday is their chance to make a statement #6 –  Benjamin – The Best Damned District Final gets it’s prequel tomorrow #7 –  Lake Mary – Slides a little after the Lovett loss but handled them a lot better than LHP #8 – Saint Andrew’s – just can’t get a handle on them yet #9 – Oak Hall – big win over Buchholz, will they do it again when it really counts? #10 – Tampa Jesuit  – what exactly does the LaxPower RPI have against them? #11 – Cardinal Mooney – body of work looks even better this week #12 – West Orange  – might as well just hit the ctrl-v for them, minus a huge upset #13 – Lake Highland Prep – Lovett just hammered them #14 – HB Plant – maybe the Sickles game showed more for Sickles? #15 –  Nease – Oxbridge comes to town 3/23, should be a huge crowd #16 – Belen Jesuit – just keeps impressing me, even with a lot of injuries #17 –  Pine Crest – finally getting a true test this week #18 –  Saint John Paul – looks more and more like the Jupiter game was a complete fluke #19 – Newsome – just when they look to fall off they come up big #20 – Lake Brantley – one goal loss to Lake Mary is solid #21 –  Winter Park – took down Hagerty comfortably, Lake Brantley comes calling Friday #22 – Sickles – nice season needs to be rewarded #23 – Hagerty – enough good games left to move back up #24 – Canterbury-Ft. Myers – how good is Trent Carter at building a program quickly? #25 – Stoneman Douglas – let’s start here and let them work themselves up.  Unfortunately lost a few tough opponents to scheduling issues.   Just outside the Top 25 Riverview-Sarasota, Gulf Breeze, Creekside, Merritt Island, ODA Sarasota, Fleming Island, Barron Collier, Steinbrenner, Buchholz, American Heritage-Boca   Next week we’ll start to take a look at the teams with really good records that are not ranked and discuss what is holding them back from consideration!