Half these kids who committed as freshman and sophomores (some even as rising 9th grader) who are riding the pine at Landon or Gonzaga or even Prep, were completely over hyped by their club coach (Trigg or the Crabs tool). Some of these kids who committed as such an early age, especially the Mater Dei kids were a full sometimes even 2 years older than their counter parts.

With the new recruiting rules effective now, you will see very few D1 kids on HS rosters starting next year.

Epstein and Trippi have started for their respectful HS since day one and have lived up the hype. The others, not so much.

Anonymous wrote:All that speculation about which school will be the best 2 or 3 years down the road is just that, speculation. Right now Landon is nearing the end of what could be an historic season. Landon has a brutal closing stretch with Prep and Gonzaga this weekend, and a potential season ending game with Bullis. If, and that is a big IF, Landon wins out, it will finish the season as the #1 team in the country. So have at all your shout outs to 8th graders who may or may not develop into good high school players 3 or 4 years from now but don't overlook what is happening now with HS lacrosse in the DMV.

Right now, Landon is ranked at #3, #2 and #1 in the key polls (see below). Bullis is in the top 25 mix in all three polls but in top 5 in only in Nike/USLacrosse. G'town Prep is in none.

UA/IL Top 25 National Rankings
1) Hill Academy (Ont.), 11-0
2) Darien (Conn.), 6-0
3) Landon (Md.), 12-0
4) Culver Academy (Ind.), 10-1
5) McDonogh (Md.), 9-1
http://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/under-armour-il-top-25-high-school-power-rankings-week-6/49165

Max Prep National Highschool Lacrosse
1 La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) CA 14-0 33.5 18.8
2 Landon (Bethesda) VA 14-0 33.0 18.6
3 St. Ignatius (San Francisco) CA 11-1 30.9 18.0
4 Hill Academy (Kleinburg) AK 6-0 29.7 17.7
5 Lambert (Suwanee) GA 16-1 29.2 14.0
http://www.maxpreps.com/rankings/lacrosse/1/national.htm

and #1 in the Nike/USLacrosse Mag polls APRIL 25, 2017 National Top 25 :
1 Landon (Md.) 15-0 1 4/28 vs. Georgetown Prep (Md.)
2 Darien (Conn.) 7-0 2 4/25 vs. St. Joseph-Trumbull (Conn.)
3 Culver Academy (Ind.) 12-1 3 4/28 vs. Detroit Country Day (Mich.)
4 Bullis (Md.) 14-2 7 4/26 vs. John Paul the Great (Va.)
5 Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.) 10-0 8 4/28 vs. Locust Valley (N.Y.)
http://www.uslaxmagazine.com/high-school/rankings/st-ignatius-calif-into-top-10-of-nike-usl-high-school-boys-national-top-25

I agree 100% in ref. to the Transfers. If I had a son that was an underclassman, committed to play, never saw the field, was passionate about playing and further developing his skills. I would def. consider a transfer to another local school where he may get a chance at more playing time. Landon has something like 17 Committed players on their team and kids who want to get committed but never see the field. Why not try another school ? I also remember a top player a couple years ago that transferred to Gonzaga because he wasn't happy with his playing time. Lets face it Landon has line after line of kids that do not start or play that could get additional playing time elsewhere and contribute to a team that doesn't have the depth that Landon and Prep does. Lets not forget not every child that goes to a high school fits. If the school is not the right fit why not make a move ?

Does Flint Hill have any college commits on the team this year?

Anonymous wrote:

Prep continues to be down. The drain from Mater Dei to Gonzaga has been huge. Bullis lost a ton of 2016 seniors and still destroyed Prep this year. Also, VA public school lax is MUCH better than Montgomery County public school lax. Not even close.

The Mater Dei pipeline has swung back in Prep's favor, I do think GP is on the up-swing. Gonzaga will remain a very strong program. Its cheaper than Prep, has a much larger enrollment and to be honest, the school can sometimes admit students with lesser academic credentials than at a school like GP. (not trying to open up a can of worms here)

Bullis has the best offensive player in the country this year. I suspect they will drop next year a little bit after he graduates. Also, and based from several sources, Bullis seems to be committed to building their program from recruiting kids from other programs. I have no idea how many starters on their team are transfers but based on this thread, it sounds like maybe half of the starters were not even enrolled in Bullis last year at this time. Prep would never go down that route, they have a little bit more integrity.

Correct on the best offensive player in the country (or close to it); incorrect on transfers. Of the 14 kids who are considered the "starters" on Bullis (3 attack, 3 mids, 3 defense, 2 SSDM, 1 goalie, 1 F/O, 1 LSM) there are 2 transfers and 1 freshman. Everyone else was at Bullis last year.

And, just to clarify on transfers ending up at Bullis. They don't recruit transfers as a program goal. Transfers are attracted to Bullis, because they are generally not a deep team. Landon, Prep and Gonzaga have line after line of excellent players, some committed, that stand in the way of any potential transfer. Bullis usually has a starting lineup, a couple of decent reserves, and not a lot of depth. If a good player is looking for an immediate opportunity to play (and girls!), Bullis has the most possibility. For example, Prep, Landon and Gonzaga all have D1 commits that get little to no playing time. Bullis has starters and contributors that don't even play high level club lacrosse. Where would you go if you wanted to transfer and play?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just reading the last page of this thread and it makes me wonder whether all of these players names should be posted?

It may sound crazy to some, it did to me, but lacrosse players were committing before they even started high school. Their names are plastered all over the internet. Thankfully the rules have changed regarding early recruitment. Although the word I'm getting from our club team coach is that with the prohibition on direct contact it means you just have to raise the profile of any kid wanting to get recruited on the internet, through showcases, etc.

Nice groupthink. Stick to your original instinct... it is crazy. Say UNC commit, if somebody is crazy enough to need to know the child's name they can search the internet.

Anonymous wrote:I'm just reading the last page of this thread and it makes me wonder whether all of these players names should be posted?

It may sound crazy to some, it did to me, but lacrosse players were committing before they even started high school. Their names are plastered all over the internet. Thankfully the rules have changed regarding early recruitment. Although the word I'm getting from our club team coach is that with the prohibition on direct contact it means you just have to raise the profile of any kid wanting to get recruited on the internet, through showcases, etc.

I'm just reading the last page of this thread and it makes me wonder whether all of these players names should be posted?

Enough about the Mater Dei impact. Most of the 8th graders are hold backs and while they may be dominant in 8th grade against kids that are a year younger, once those MD boys start driving to HS as freshmen things start to even out as the other boys start to develop and go through puberty.

All that speculation about which school will be the best 2 or 3 years down the road is just that, speculation. Right now Landon is nearing the end of what could be an historic season. Landon has a brutal closing stretch with Prep and Gonzaga this weekend, and a potential season ending game with Bullis. If, and that is a big IF, Landon wins out, it will finish the season as the #1 team in the country. So have at all your shout outs to 8th graders who may or may not develop into good high school players 3 or 4 years from now but don't overlook what is happening now with HS lacrosse in the DMV.

Anonymous wrote:Why not regarding Flint Hill?

It would not surprise me if STA dropped down to the MAC entirely in the next year or two.

No. There are two possibilities: (1) the leagues stay the same; or (2) there is a big merger between the MAC and IAC (and maybe a couple of additional schools like smaller WCAC schools) and they have a two division structure with relegation. (This latter possibility has been discussed, don't know the status.)

What WON'T happen is the IAC taking Flint Hill on board as a singleton, or STA leaving on its own.

Prep continues to be down. The drain from Mater Dei to Gonzaga has been huge. Bullis lost a ton of 2016 seniors and still destroyed Prep this year. Also, VA public school lax is MUCH better than Montgomery County public school lax. Not even close.

The Mater Dei pipeline has swung back in Prep's favor, I do think GP is on the up-swing. Gonzaga will remain a very strong program. Its cheaper than Prep, has a much larger enrollment and to be honest, the school can sometimes admit students with lesser academic credentials than at a school like GP. (not trying to open up a can of worms here)

Bullis has the best offensive player in the country this year. I suspect they will drop next year a little bit after he graduates. Also, and based from several sources, Bullis seems to be committed to building their program from recruiting kids from other programs. I have no idea how many starters on their team are transfers but based on this thread, it sounds like maybe half of the starters were not even enrolled in Bullis last year at this time. Prep would never go down that route, they have a little bit more integrity.

Anonymous wrote:Prep has only lost 2 games (Gonzaga and Bullis) and Prep has played a competitive schedule. Prep is a solid team and better than Robinson. Va public schools are on par with Montgomery County lax-the top schools can compete with the best, but they have not had what it takes to win. It is one thing to compete, it is quite another to win. I'm going with Prep over Robinson.

Prep continues to be down. The drain from Mater Dei to Gonzaga has been huge. Bullis lost a ton of 2016 seniors and still destroyed Prep this year. Also, VA public school lax is MUCH better than Montgomery County public school lax. Not even close.

Prep has only lost 2 games (Gonzaga and Bullis) and Prep has played a competitive schedule. Prep is a solid team and better than Robinson. Va public schools are on par with Montgomery County lax-the top schools can compete with the best, but they have not had what it takes to win. It is one thing to compete, it is quite another to win. I'm going with Prep over Robinson.

Prep beat Loyola and Gilman from the MIAA.

Apparently Gilman is no where near as strong as they used to be. Historically Loyola Blakefield is very strong h so thats a great win for Prep.

I'm not so sure Prep would lose to Robinson but I do think it would be very close.

Robinson had some very good athletes and their starters ran with Landon for a half.

Landon vs Prep should be interesting on Friday. Landon is the heavy favorite but the best team doesn't always win in a rivalry game.