One of the first objections observers have had about the 16-team field in the NCAA Tournament is the presence of Denver, which finished third in the Great Western Lacrosse League behind Notre Dame and Ohio State.

Maryland coach Dave Cottle, whose seventh-seeded Terps play host to the 10th-seeded Pioneers on Saturday at noon, isn't one of those critics.

"I give them credit; they played a tough schedule," Cottle said, noting that Denver added North Carolina, Cornell, UMBC and Colgate to its non-conference schedule. "We've got our hands full."

The Pioneers went 2-5 against teams that made the tournament, but they did defeat Notre Dame and Colgate. Cottle pointed out that Denver's 10-6 record could be better had the team not scheduled back-to-back road games against UMBC and Towson on March 1 and 2.

"That's a little hard to do," Cottle said. "So playing one game, I think that will help them a little bit."  

Cottle said he was impressed with the Pioneers' offense, but would need more time to draft a game plan against Denver.

"I have to study them a little better to see what we're going to do," he said. "We'll do our best to try and figure out who they are in a short period of time and try to come up with a game plan that will give us a chance to win."