Terps Lax Qualifies for NCAA Tournament

Maryland's lacrosse season was marred by underachieving and mediocrity, but none of that matters now. The Terps snuck into the NCAA tournament, and will play at Notre Dame on Sunday. As I'm far from a lacrosse expert, I'll let Inside Lacrosse handle the analysis:

And a VERY interesting matchup for the second to last - Maryland gets in (sorry Hounds), and gets to travel to No. 7 seed Notre Dame. First - a talented Maryland team that has underachieved faces off against an undefeated Notre Dame team that has had few tests this year.

And, of course, there’s the whole ‘Will Yeatman travels to his old school’ story that I am reasonably certain will be beaten to death this coming week.

And just as I say I'm not a lacrosse expert and shouldn't be commenting on it, I'll go ahead and comment on it: this could be a curse in disguise. Yes, Maryland's team is talented as hell (still maybe the most talented team in the tourney) and could get hot at the right time and blow through this thing, but the odds are stacked against that. Instead, a first round loss seems more likely. And as long as the Terps are making the tournament, Dave Cottle will remain the coach. As long as Cottle is the coach, I don't see this team ever seriously competing for a national title again. People say he's a great recruiter, but I imagine recruiting at Maryland is very easy - in perhaps the lacrosse hotbead of the nation, a history-rich program, and student/athletic department support aplenty. It probably would've worked out better had the Terps missed the tourney - there'd be almost no excuse for keeping Cottle in that situation.