The Daily OrangeMLAX| League of its own
By Michael Licker
Posted: 4/6/05, 10:21 PM EST Section: Sports
It's an anomaly shared by few other college sports teams. In men's lacrosse, just four teams - including Syracuse - can claim independent status.
Life as an independent has treated the Orange quite well. Twenty-two straight trips to the final four and nine national championships, all coming without belonging to a conference.
But recently, the six other men's lacrosse playing schools that belong to the Big East in other sports have increased their calls for a Big East men's lacrosse conference. Big East athletic directors voted a proposal down in May of 2004, Villanova head men's lacrosse coach Randy Marks said.
Currently, a few factors are holding the potential conference back. The biggest one right now, though, is Syracuse's refusal to join a conference. It's a stance that may change down the road, but for now, the Orange doesn't intend to give up its independent status, outgoing Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel and men's lacrosse head coach John Desko said.
"I know John Desko feels the same way I do," Crouthamel said. "I'm firmly convinced one of the reasons for our success is the strength of schedule we play each year."
A strength of schedule that Desko and Crouthamel say wouldn't be possible with a six-game conference slate. This season, SU faces 12 opponents. Just two of those, Georgetown and Rutgers, would be potential Big East opponents. To a play a Big East schedule, Syracuse would have to remove four non-conference opponents and add Notre Dame, St. John's, Providence and Villanova.
While Notre Dame is competitive on the national scale and St. John's, Providence and Villanova are all rising opponents, Desko said they aren't the level of opponents the Orange currently plays. At least not at this stage in the program's development.
Syracuse plays such a strong schedule mainly to help itself in the NCAA Tournament seeding process. The tournament selection committee relies heavily on strength of schedule and RPI. In addition, SU rarely faces a team in the tournament that it hasn't faced during the regular season.
Life as an independent has treated the Orange quite well. Twenty-two straight trips to the final four and nine national championships, all coming without belonging to a conference.
But recently, the six other men's lacrosse playing schools that belong to the Big East in other sports have increased their calls for a Big East men's lacrosse conference. Big East athletic directors voted a proposal down in May of 2004, Villanova head men's lacrosse coach Randy Marks said.
Currently, a few factors are holding the potential conference back. The biggest one right now, though, is Syracuse's refusal to join a conference. It's a stance that may change down the road, but for now, the Orange doesn't intend to give up its independent status, outgoing Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel and men's lacrosse head coach John Desko said.
"I know John Desko feels the same way I do," Crouthamel said. "I'm firmly convinced one of the reasons for our success is the strength of schedule we play each year."
A strength of schedule that Desko and Crouthamel say wouldn't be possible with a six-game conference slate. This season, SU faces 12 opponents. Just two of those, Georgetown and Rutgers, would be potential Big East opponents. To a play a Big East schedule, Syracuse would have to remove four non-conference opponents and add Notre Dame, St. John's, Providence and Villanova.
While Notre Dame is competitive on the national scale and St. John's, Providence and Villanova are all rising opponents, Desko said they aren't the level of opponents the Orange currently plays. At least not at this stage in the program's development.
Syracuse plays such a strong schedule mainly to help itself in the NCAA Tournament seeding process. The tournament selection committee relies heavily on strength of schedule and RPI. In addition, SU rarely faces a team in the tournament that it hasn't faced during the regular season.
