BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Boys 2018- 11th Grade Fall 2016/Summer 2017

But let's be honest, if you're looking at D1, it is much better to be committed as a 2018 right now than not! Limited choices at the moment. Plenty of great D3 options.

Limited choices??? How many D1 programs in Lacrosse are there? Look it up. Between now and graduation many of those commitments will go unfulfilled. If you doubt this, look at TX's commitment page, then look at the rosters for those schools and see who is on the roster. You will be very surprised.

4 Jesters going to Mercy. Seems like lazy recruiting or a rush to have a committment.

I have seen a bunch of 2017 kids commit to very good schools this fall still. Plenty of time.

s being D 1 more important than going to best school? You rather go to tufts or cleavland state?

Tufts is awesome. I'd send my son there any day of the week. They can beat most D1 schools. Although, I don't know how the new coach from Taft prep school is going to do.

[quote=Anonymous]
Tufts is awesome. I'd send my son there any day of the week. They can beat most D1 schools. Although, I don't know how the new coach from Taft prep school is going to do.
[/quote

Possibly missing point on education ?

Uh....I think you have smoked the JUMBO weed. Good school. Nice lax program. NOT beating most D1 schools.

Outside of top 25, They would beat a lot of them.

Dude, Jumbo was a true hero, saved many lives, show some respect! Isn't anything sacred anymore?

Correct. Also, Good kids get a lot of playing time and great education.
Look at Amherst, Middlebury, MIT... all amazing schools which have lax programs. Why would anyone think their little Johnny superstar needs to go to DUKE and sit the bench?

[/quote]

Correct. Also, Good kids get a lot of playing time and great education.
Look at Amherst, Middlebury, MIT... all amazing schools which have lax programs. Why would anyone think their little Johnny superstar needs to go to DUKE and sit the bench? [/quote]

I always find this argument to be silly, most kids that go to Duke are not going to "sit on the bench" they are going to Duke to play, they may wind up sitting on the bench but in most cases they thought they would play, they were the stars of their HS teams and the best players on their club and all star teams. these are 18 year old stud athletes and great students who have all the confidence in the world that they will be on the field memorial day weekend. Last I heard Duke and Tufts both can only play 10 players at a time and Duke has a 42 player roster while Tufts has a 51 player roster so in fact more kids are going to Tufts to sit on the bench then are going to Duke to sit on the bench. I would be very happy sending my kid to either one.

Great response!

not really. if you think you have same chance of playing on duke or tufts, you are insane. think the point was go to best school possible and forget what division it is.

If you are a great HS player with great grades and Coach Danowski thinks you can play lacrosse at Duke, please enlighten us to what the down side is? you get to Duke and don't get a lot of playing time and after four years you have a Duke degree and your kicking yourself because you could have gone to a better academic school than Duke and gotten playing time?

My advice to you is never ask out a beautiful person they might be to good for you, and never apply for that great job, too much competition...how can you seriously make a comment like "go to the best school" when you are talking about Duke and Tufts. Please find your great academic school with a mediocre team so you can get your participation trophy and don't ever challenge yourself to be the best at anything leave that to the winners and the Dukies.

Still don't get it. Go put your Duke sweatshirt on!

what are the majors on the Duke roster and what are the majors on Tufts roster?

its all about preference FOR THE KID

Does it really matter about them beating D1 schools or that it is a great school?

Nice to see this age group back out there. Fl...gee and Jesters best out at NYLA.

Doesn't really matter, but Outlaws beat Fl$. Good games out there.

You are right. It doesn't matter. But......jesters did beat outlaws

Duke versus Tufts is interesting as the post college non lacrosse potential at both schools is off the charts good. There is no question that an individual player with skill level X is likely to get more playing time at Tufts than Duke. There are plenty of players on Duke's bench who would be considerable contributors at Tufts (but not vice versa). If you believe you will be a star at Duke or are comfortable riding the pines to say "I played D1" the choice is obvious. If not, the choice is more difficult.

Since very few players are going to make a living via lacrosse, the more interesting question is given a NESCAC opportunity which schools in the D1 level provide similar post college potential? In these cases, similar to the above, D1 over NESCAC probably makes sense. For sure, Ivy, Service Academies, JHU, UVA and others come to mind (these are generally top tier lax schools too)

Most D1 schools provide significantly less post college non lacrosse potential than the NESCAC schools. In which case, if you have the academic chops to succeed at NESCAC under what scenarios would you advise your son to attend the D1 school?

Wagner or Williams? VMI or Wesleyan? Jacksonville or Bates? these may be obvious, What about Denver, UMD or Loyola vs. Middlebury, Amherst or Bowdoin?

I am aware that "potential" isn't everything, you can go to a top academic school and fail after you get your degree or attend a less illustrious university and crazy good career success.

You should probably throw the Liberty League into the mix for this discussion . . .

and Centennial... Swarthmore or Syracuse ? if your son has the academic chops to succeed at Swarthmore and the lax prowess to play at Cuse. Where do you help guide him?

with the new changes that happened (I know it doesn't affect 2018) but is there any change to the recruiting calendar as a whole. More so, in relation to the month of Sept. Is it truly a "no evaluation" period and just a "contact/talk" period?

What about those Patriot league schools, excellent education and there should be opportunities to play for those better players.

You have no idea about VMI. That is a great school. Excellent network when you graduate. And many do well as officers in the military.

Agree VMI is an excellent school, but by all reasonable measures, it is not as strong as Wesleyan which was used in the example. You can be very successfully having attended VMI, but your odds are greater with a degree from Wesleyan. It is all about probability.

Wesleyan review in Forbes
VMI review in Forbes

If your son is militarily inclined and has an option to do ROTC at VMI or a NESCAC school which would you guide him towards?

If academics were not something you cared about would you advise your son to play at a school that regularly is in the bottom 10% of D1 lacrosse rankings or a participant of last year's D3 Final Four.

Dear Dad, I'm sure your son is going to love Wesleyan as much as you do.
However, there's this thing called "best fit" when it comes to picking colleges. Academics and Lacrosse are certainly important, but I think you have to dig a little deeper. The answers to the following questions bring some intangibles to light that one might consider before heading off to one of the aforementioned schools. Are the kids at that school similar to my son? Will he have much in common with them? Do they share the same beliefs? Were they raised with the same values? Are they people you would seek out to be friend if you weren't at the same school. Will your son enjoy the company of the people at the school other than his teammates? As a parent, are the kids at the school the kind of people I want my kid associating with? Potentially marring and bringing into my family? Do want your son surrounded by these people for four years? The professors at the school, are they the kind of people you want molding and influencing your son? I dare say the answers to these questions are far more important to me than the ranking in Forbes. While Wesleyan maybe ranked higher in that magazine, for me I have to say the answers to the intangibles would be a deal killer. On the other hand, if a military track was your son's desired path, I'd be very comfortable with VMI on the intangibles.

Whoa, apologies necessary since using examples makes it personal really fast.

Trying to generate a real dialogue hear to help my son make good decisions. If EVERYTHING else is equal would you always choose a D1 school over D3 (I would guess yes). If most factors are equal (the intangibles, environment, friends proximity etc...) and we focus on two specific items as differentiating factors in what direction would you guide your boy's decision? How would you rank these 18 school types if all else was the same? (assume your son is likely to earn a high GPA and playing time regardless of situation)

A) Elite Academic + Elite D1 Lax
B) Elite Academic + Elite D3 Lax
C) Elite Academic + Avg D1 Lax
D) Elite Academic + Avg D3 Lax
E) Elite Academic + Poor D1 Lax
F) Elite Academic + Poor D3 Lax
G) Avg Academic + Elite D1 Lax
H) Avg Academic + Elite D3 Lax
I) Avg Academic + Avg D1 Lax
J) Avg Academic + Avg D3 Lax
K) Avg Academic + Poor D1 Lax
L) Avg Academic + Poor D3 Lax
M) Poor Academic + Elite D1 Lax
N) Poor Academic + Elite D3 Lax
O) Poor Academic + Avg D1 Lax
P) Poor Academic + Avg D3 Lax
Q) Poor Academic + Poor D1 Lax
R) Poor Academic + Poor D3 Lax

Two adages drive my ranking.
1. You are an ex-lax player longer than you are a lax player - hence focus on academic profile > than lax profile
2. Losing gets old fast - hence winning D3 programs > losing D1 programs

What would you change?
Would you of advised your son to early commit to Schools M, O, or Q? If grades now prove strong what type of school would you de-commit for?
Would you de-commit from I or K for school B?

Jesters in Lake Placid, how they doin

Your assumption of "everything else is equal" is not based in reality - you have 17 CATEGORIES of schools above. You can't find 17 INDIVIDUAL schools in the United States where a prospective student and the families would assess them anywhere near as being equal! The very nature of schools with D1 sports versus schools with D3 sports immediately belies the idea that they can otherwise be equal. Factor in locales, academics strengths, etc, and you move away from your premise at mach 3! A prospective student should first and foremost decide what kind of school they want to attend based upon all non athletic factors, and THEN figure out which of those schools on that short list have lax programs they could play for. But that short list still wouldn't be otherwise equal schools! And you eliminated any D2 schools from consideration why . . . ??