The Boomerang Boys

I played high school lacrosse in Colorado (shoutout Arapahoe) right about the time that the state started sending a decent number of players to big time DI programs out east. Kip Malo (Hopkins), Lance Vitt (Ohio State) and Dave Law (Princeton) were some of the bigger names that put Colorado on the map, but over the next few years more and more Colorado kids were finding their way on to DI/DII/DIII rosters back east.

Not long after the influx of recruits leaving the state you started to hear about “Boomerang Kids”.  These were kids who went back east for a year or two and ended up back in Colorado at a local school, usually Colorado or Colorado State. I believe the term was originally meant to be derogatory, but in reality it’s a great thing for kids to recognize there is a better fit for them somewhere else.

Boomerang Kids aren’t exclusive to Colorado. At BYU we historically had a number of these kids every year. Teams across the MCLA are filled with kids who spent time playing at an NCAA program and realized there was better fit.

If you look at Colorado’s roster this year, it’s kind of stacked with these players. They aren’t all Boomerang Kids in the traditional sense of returning back home, but they have some key players that are coming to the Buffs after spending time at NCAA DI Programs.

Tyler Bogart - Senior - UMass Transfer

Hunter Graefe - Freshman (Eligibility) - Hopkins Transfer

Dylan Sandman - Freshman (Eligibility) - Wagner Transfer

Curtis Zappala - Junior (Eligibility) - Drexel Transfer

I’m not ready to crown the Buffs Champs, but in the MCLA having that kind of talent on your roster can give you a high floor and high ceiling.

I keep in touch with a number of people in the Colorado lacrosse scene, and from what I’ve heard these kids finding their way to Colorado isn’t by accident. The program has built a reputation as a great place to go to school and still play lacrosse at a high level that scratches the competitive itch.

We know very little about the 2020 Buffs — they’ve only played one game, a 18-9 win over Northeastern. However, by the end of March they will have played #2 California, #3 Cal Poly, #4 Chapman, and #10 Concordia.

We’ll know a lot more in a few weeks about how good CU is this year, but expectations are high.

Where Does South Carolina’s Streak Rank?

We had a question slide into our Twitter DM asking what the longest win streak in the MCLA is, and where South Carolina’s current streak would rank.

The last time the Gamecocks lost was against Liberty on March 30th of 2019. Their current win streak is 21 games. So where does that stack up in MCLA DI history?

I did some digging. Record keeping in the MCLA is an imperfect science, but here is what I found.

From 2008 - 2010  Michigan put together a 48 game win streak. It included 2 perfect seasons and back to back championships before they dropped a game to Colorado in the 2010 regular season. Colorado was coming off a 2-5 start and had fired their coach the week of the game. One of the more surprising upsets in MCLA history.

The next longest streak we could find was Colorado State, who went 34 straight games 2012 to 2014. The bulk of those wins game in their undefeated 2013 season. Their streak was ended with a 10-7 loss to BYU in 2014. I enjoyed coaching that game.

Side note: I miss coaching a lot, but there is nothing I miss more than coaching against Alex Smith at CSU. He was a fantastic coach and is missed in the MCLA.

So the Gamecocks need to finish at least this season undefeated to be in striking distance of #2 on the list and need to string together probably another year and a half to two seasons to get into Michigan territory. It’s a high bar, one I’m not sure we will ever see hit again.

What to Expect from the Next Poll

Some quick thoughts on the next poll:

• Expect to see a bump in points for Colorado and New Hampshire. At least one voter had moved teams who hadn’t played yet out of the poll completely. Now they have a game under their belt I expect them to jump back up, unless someone actually thinks Colorado doesn’t deserved to be ranked, which seems unlikely.
• Boston College should get a nice bump for their win on the road vs Concordia and 1 goal loss vs Cal Poly.  We don’t believe in the quality loss, but the Eagles showed they can run with the top dogs this weekend and should see a rise in the poll as a result.
• Concordia’s losses to BC and Georgia should put them firmly outside the Top 10, maybe even the Top 20. That also requires you to reevaluate Clemson’s loss to them. Clemson is a team fighting for a bubble spot, so any drop to Concordia hurts them as well.
• Chapman will jump Poly to round out the Top 3.  They will probably slide into the 4th spot, but I think there is a lot of justification for keeping Cal Poly at 4. It’s clear that both Cal Poly and Chapman are two of the elite teams this year.

Expect some of the teams “receiving votes” to stop receiving them. Texas’s loss to SDSU should move them off everyone’s ballot. Arizona State will probably drop off both ballots they were on, even though they notched their first win of the season. Stanford should also move off.

It could be that several new teams jump in to that “receiving votes”, but I think it’s more likely that there will be a consolidation around some of the teams there. A&M, Tennessee, Simon Fraser, and Temple should probably all stop getting votes.  

The Alabama loss for Georgia looks a little head-scratching after they beat Concordia, but even with that loss they are a solid candidate to find a spot near the bottom the poll.

• Utah Valley will remain the hardest team to rank. They have a win over current #6 and a loss to current #19 and #24. Boston College should get a nice bump after a solid weekend in California, probably above UVU, but there is a real chance that Auburn isn’t ranked by the end of the year.  Unranked losses aren’t ideal come tournament time, so the Wolverines are rooting for the Tigers the rest of the way, except maybe against Tech. A Top 5 win would matter more than an unranked loss.

RPI Top 10

We are still waiting on teams to really have stacked up enough games to make automatic rankings like RPI or Redd Rankings viable, but we are getting closer. Here is how the Top 10 for each division shakes out right now. Expect this to change a lot as teams get 4+ games under their belt.

DI

1. California  .661
2. Cal Poly  .626
3. New Hampshire  .625
4. Virginia Tech  .624
5. South Carolina  .619
6. Southern Methodist  .618
7. Chapman   .611
8. Minnesota  .595
9. Boston College  .588
10. Brigham Young  .587

DII

1 - North Dakota State  .696

2 - Dayton  .659

3t - Minn.-Duluth  .655

3t - St. John's  .655

3t - St. Thomas  .655

6t - Florida Atlantic  .591

6t - Wake Forest  .591

8 - Montana State  .589

9 - Kennesaw State .572

10 - Elon .572

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