Q: Which team impressed you with its first-round performance?

Paul Carcaterra: Princeton took a commanding lead on UMass. That game wasn’t really as close as it may have appeared in the final [10-7]. I think it was 6-1 at one point. They were pretty impressive in the first half. Cornell, I thought, was given all they really could handle at least for 2½ quarters against Hofstra. There wasn’t one team out there that made me say, "Wow." People think Virginia beating Villanova, 16-0, at one point is a wow moment. To me, that’s not really a wow moment because Villanova goes down early against the No. 1 seed in the tournament on the road. To me, that’s a snowball effect.

Q: Which team surprised you?

PC: I think North Carolina showed you two things. On the positive side, they showed they can score in bunches, and they have a high-octane offense behind [sophomore attackman Billy] Bitter. Although a majority of his goals were assisted, he still dominated the way he played in terms of getting those shots and finding space to get those shots. But if they play like that defensively against Duke, they’re in trouble. UMBC has a real nice midfield, but they’re not Duke because Duke is going to defend. … UNC is going to have to really improve in terms of their defense to play with Duke next week.

Q: Hindsight being 20/20, should Bitter – who scored eight goals on nine shots in a 15-13 win against UMBC – have been a finalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy?

PC: It’s a tough call. Everyone sits here now and says, "Yeah, probably." But that’s an elite group of kids. I don’t want to say that it’s more of a career award because it’s really not when you look at a kid like Mike Leveille last year. He was only a first-team All American once, but he led his team to the national championship and did a phenomenal job. There’s a couple guys on that list right now that might not have had the actual season that Billy Bitter had, but they’ve been doing it long enough that they’ve given themselves a name in the college lacrosse world to be recognized in that light. It’s kind of tough. How many underclassmen have won the award? … I think for a sophomore to be on that list, you have to be dominant from Day 1 to the day the selection committee is down to its list of five [finalists]. Billy had a phenomenal year, but he’s been hotter the last two-thirds of the season than he was before. … It’s the whole entire body of work. He’s certainly one of the best lacrosse players in the country. He’s got two years to win that award and he’s going to do with it an ‘X’ on his back. He’ll deserve it if he keeps up those types of numbers in the remainder of his career.

Q: Which quarterfinal match-up is the most intriguing?

PC: Cornell-Princeton to me is a total pick-em. Cornell won that last match-up, but Princeton is doing some things from the midfield that I haven’t seen since their last national championship year [1998]. I think the biggest void with Princeton over the last five, six, seven years was the lack of a midfield. And this year they’re getting it with Rich Sgalardi and Mark Kovler. They’re playing a different brand of lacrosse where they have to be accounted for, not just the attack position. I think the Virginia-Hopkins game is going to be excellent because no one prepares in the playoffs like coaches [Dave] Pietramala, [Bill] Dwan and [Bobby] Benson. Look at what happened last year when they got absolutely blown out against Duke and then they go and play them in the national semifinals and win. He’s going to make tons of adjustments to a game they lost in the final minute. So to me, Virginia has a tough, tough task in front of them.

Cornell-Princeton to me is a total pick-em. Cornell won that last match-up, but Princeton is doing some things from the midfield that I haven’t seen since their last national championship year [1998]. I think the biggest void with Princeton over the last five, six, seven years was the lack of a midfield. And this year they’re getting it with Rich Sgalardi and Mark Kovler. They’re playing a different brand of lacrosse where they have to be accounted for, not just the attack position. I think the Virginia-Hopkins game is going to be excellent because no one prepares in the playoffs like coaches [Dave] Pietramala, [Bill] Dwan and [Bobby] Benson. Look at what happened last year when they got absolutely blown out against Duke and then they go and play them in the national semifinals and win. He’s going to make tons of adjustments to a game they lost in the final minute. So to me, Virginia has a tough, tough task in front of them.