Comments on: Where’s the Love for D2 and D3 Lacrosse?

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 14:25:01 +0000

As a current DIII athlete I can clearly see the game growing, not only at the D-1 level where games are being aired on ESPN and ESPN2 in front of national audiences, but at the D-3 LEVEL, where every year it seems that new teams are being added in many conferences.

With only 59 D-1 teams you can get more talent per team than D-3 teams just because the talent is so spread out in D-3. Also schools in D-3 may not have the ability to recruit nationally like D-1 teams. Coaches have to adapt to the students who come to the school.

Playing against the best in D-3 takes talent, effort, and great coaching, no different from D-1. It seems that the top level talent in D-3 are kids who were on the cusp of going to D-1 schools but were looked over and dropped off of recruiting lists because of physical size.

Lacrosse being a spring sport in some ways can hurt student-athletes. If you are entering your senior year of high school you have the summer, fall, and winter to prepare for the season, but most college choices need to be made before the season is over, and in many cases before the season starts.

By: Stegs

Stegs — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:36:56 +0000

Rich,
Good points. I am just wondering if you have a ticket to the whole weekend…why not go?
It is still exciting lax to watch…

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:14:18 +0000

People prefer DI lacrosse because of its aura of dominance. Kids who dream of playing any sport dream about the highest level. I think it’s similar to a basketball player dreaming about playing in the NBA as opposed to a european league. Sure, some lower level games might be more exciting, but thats not what determines where a player aspires to play.

By: Glen Gutierrez

Glen Gutierrez — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:27:17 +0000

I would have to add that there were A LOT of people that did not make it to Foxboro from UPSTATE NY. After watching D1 —We were very hungry to watch Lemoyne and Cortland!
We already have the Junior College champs (OCC), we have SU vs. Cornell in the finals, Lemoyne and CW Post was an awsome game, and Cortland won D3………
Think about all of us here from UPSTATE NY. —- yes, if we had the $98 ticket for all weekend — we would have watched them all. Being from Cortland, we were anticipating the $30 bus ride that left at 4:30AM. Let’s face it - Upstate NY is well represented, all of the schools are 1 hour from each other.

By: Samm

Samm — Mon, 25 May 2009 02:42:32 +0000

I think this will become more and more of a challenge for D II & III. I ran into a couple last week in Denver at the MCLA Tourney Semis that had never attended a lax game but turned out because it sounded cool and they were Michigan alumni. I think as the MCLA continues to emerge everywhere “else” (though will continue to be viewed as second class by the MidAtlantic estanlishment), the sheer enrollment at these MCLA schools and their accompanying Alumni will become a powerful force in marketing lacrosse. As an example, Both MCLA D-1 semis were carried live nationally by Fox - as were both D1 and D2 MCLA finals. I have yet to stumble across the NCAA DII & III games on my west coast cable (?) The MCLA must have 8-10 times the enrollment of combined NCAA schools. As lax becomes a national game, who the top dog among the small private east coast schools will become less important than turning out to watch your alma mater compete. And the quality of play will continue to move into balance as kids can expect their buddies at home (wherever that is) to see 1-5 live games a year on Fox, BYU-TV or the internet.