BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2028 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

NAL current divisions pretty evenly spread. You never know every single team but good job on the surface

[quote=Anonymous]Who's the best 2028 team west of the Mississippi? Mad Dog, Kings, WCS, or Texas Nationals? Haven't seen any of these teams play and I don't trust USCL[/quote

1. WCS
2. Texas Nationals
3. Kings
4. Mad Dog West Elite

WCS the best of the west. Granted they pull from like 20+ states.

Check back after summer tournaments and I’ll let you know.

This is fairly accurate for the 2028 age group. 3d Colorado is also solid and ADVNC is also good but could have some overlap with Starz. Texas Nationals could easily be the best of the bunch with size and athleticism. Lots of talent out west but spread out.

Crabs will be in the top 3 around 8th grade . Right now, they are slowly building. Crabs always have a big push starting 7/8

That’s because the 28 crabs will become the 29 team. The 27 crabs should do great at 2028.

Unless the Crabs are moving out West, we aren’t talking about them. But since you brought them up— they have some great athletes. And when they drop Al the 27’s down, they’ll be tough. But as it is now, they’re not a top tier team. They’ve never beaten Madlax, they lost by 10 to NL. Fluke win over the Hawks. Call in the 2027’s.

Do any Crab parents know of any kids that are holding back?

Texas Nationals are legit. I was shocked to see the talent level out west. There are big, strong, athletic kids that love the game all over the USA. I know us locals think we’re “Blue Blood” lacrosse, but things have changed in the past 10 years.

Some things have, and some haven't. With 28 million people in TX, one would hope that they can field 1 (or more) truly elite team per grade level. Maryland has 6 million residents, and 3-4 teams who could reasonably challenge TX Nationals, MDW and WCS.


Many teams out west play without shot clocks too, even at the HS level.

It's a mistake to think there's no growth in talent west of the I-95 corridor,

but it's also a mistake to think that the western 80% of the country is (on the whole) putting a talented product on the field at the average HS.

This is true. The best CA team (Mater Dei) came East over Spring Break and played Spaulding and Mount St Joes. Mid level Spaulding beat them like 9-1, and bottom feeder MSJ beat them 10-9. Point is, west coast lacrosse isn’t even close… but when they build a dream team from 20 states like WCS does, they can compete with town teams from back East.
It’s a different level back East vs out West.

Texas is way behind CA at this point. When they pull from 20+ states (WVS) they are competitive, but nowhere dominant against East Coast clubs that typically populate from one town, maybe 2-3 towns.

Not a fluke win, the team went out ready to play, yes my kid plays for crabs, and I’m the first to say when things have been tricky for them, Ut at the hawks game the goalie had 11 saves- played up until the buzzer, defense protected the cage- knew their job, and attack was on point. Next level was an all around rough game for them, it was the first hoco game they played. No excuses- lots of penalties happened, missed opportunities and shots on goal, majority of the game played at the defense side of the field-overall tough learning experience but each week they got stronger and better. They earned that win from the hawks.

Bored MD Dad where art thou

Crabs are legit and beat Hawks fair and square with a great team effort.

Simmer down crabs dads.

Is that the only win you’ve had against a team with in winning record in HoCo in recent years? Serious question?

Summer tournaments are here and everyone will see if it was a fluke or not.

Truth.

Pipe down Madlax dad. If Crabs aren't that good than your only quality win was a squeaker vs. FCA. Madlax couldn't win HoCo so now they bring in ringers for summer. Do Madlax cheerleaders have to pay summer fees to watch kids from TX play in tournaments? Serious question?

I am not the poster re Crabs, I actually think they’re an up and comer in 2028. Like their athleticism. But the jab towards Madlax and something about TX kids is totally unfounded. There’s one kid that plays with the team during the summer, he’s not from TX. Who cares. Only 17 kids on the team, I think the parents are just fine with one summer guest. Sounding like a disgruntled parent who recently left due to kid’s lack of PT

Madlax has no out of DMV players on their normal team. They bring in kids on their national team which only plays in one tourney this summer.

Richmond is technically "DMV" which makes this statement true.

Madlax has one kid coming in to play on their national team. Not exactly flying in the talent

No joke, does anyone know Bored Dad personally? Is he okay?

I sure hope so! If anyone knows him, thank him for his service on this silly page.

91 Venom, the supposedly #1 team according to US Club Lacrosse, just got rolled by a team from TX up at NLF.

6-3 is hardly a rolling. It’s lacrosse. The game is growing. Three goals could be the result of one kid missing for all sorts of reasons in COVID times. Relax

Yes, and with all respect to both of those teams, I would take the USCL rankings with a big grain of salt.

We're talking about rankings based on an algorithm developed by a lightly-trafficked website covering maybe the 9th most popular youth sport -- it's not like there are teams of NASA scientists pouring over this stuff.

Venom waxed HoCo's BLC 13-2. So shut uup!

It's not an algorithm. It is a marketing hammerhead. The clubs that run the so-called US Club Rankings are Madlax, 91, and a few others. They pay for the web site. Their teams get highly ranked. Then they use their own rankings to try to attract more customers and get more teams to play in their tournaments. It is a savvy business move. But if you think the 'rankings' are accurate or merit-based then you are a fool.

Haaaaa! Congratulations. You beat a team that went 1-15 in the HoCo League the last 2 years. Congratulations.

Lol! Is that the BLC that went 1-6 at HoCo?

BLC plays 99 times tougher competition than 91 LI. Go back to hiding and playing B teams.

91 is playing in 7 summer tourneys including both NLFs, NAL, and Naptown. They lost in the finals in overtime. Maybe we should wait and see how the rest of the games play out. Can’t say they are the best but it looks like they don’t stink

They clearly do not stink. Not sure anyone said they stink. Someone simply called into question the #1 ranking, which someone else correctly pointed out as full of flaws… but really, prior to this weekend, 91 Venom had only played like 7-8 games going back to when this dense ranking came out (arkund September 1st), and none against a top 20 team. LI Express is not a top 20 team. Nor is Be The Best (whoever they are), Rush, Rebels, or Igloo. I think that’s the rub here. They haven’t beaten anyone yet. But I’m sure they will.

Plenty more data points coming the next 6 weeks— gonna be fun to see the good teams from NY, DMV, and yes, Texas and CA battling it out at NAL, Naptown, PrimeTime, NLF.

Well let's be real. The rankings are total BS and really mean a whole lot of nothing. Those teams you are claiming run the US club rankings are actually legit clubs each year. So marketing strategy or not, they attract because they turn out great players. Nobody who knows this sport actually thinks the rankings mean anything.

Calling the USCL rankings flaws is being too generous. They are rigged and Clearly biased towards certain teams.

Don't worry. The Texas Nationals are going to run into the buzz saw that is the Predators in their first game at Naptown.

The Preds!!! Talk of Baltimore!!! Where is that guy that was pounding his chest this time last year? Might have to burn 5 minutes if my life to go back and find one of those boasts on this board. Priceless.

We are going to find out who the best teams are next weekend. I’m sure 91 will do well and I think most games are going to be incredibly competitive. Who knows, maybe nobody walks out undefeated. In my opinion, that would be great. Lots of lacrosse to play…