Q: Did Loyola deserve to be in the tournament?

Matt Ward: I would say it’s a consistent practice of what [the selection committee has] done in the past. At the end of the day, Loyola was competing with Maryland and Brown, but what really hurt them was the loss by Hofstra [which filled one of the at-large bids that might have gone to the Greyhounds]. They had a win over Georgetown, but ultimately, their strong wins weren’t enough. I don’t think the committee takes into account close losses. Loyola could’ve and maybe should’ve beaten Hopkins. Could’ve and probably should’ve beaten Syracuse. At the end of the day, it’s on the players. Win those close games, and they’re in the NCAA tournament. I don’t know if it’s fair to look at the committee and say that Loyola should’ve been in the tournament. When the games down to it, while they were very competitive, they didn’t win the big ones that would have automatically gotten them into the tournament.

Q: Which top-four seed has the toughest road to the Final Four?

MW: If you look at Virginia, they might have to play a Hopkins team that played Virginia to a one-goal game, and Virginia’s not playing their best lacrosse right now. It depends on which U.Va. team shows up. You have Syracuse, which may have to play the No. 2-ranked and undefeated team in the country in Notre Dame, or if Maryland starts clicking on all cylinders, they’re going to have to play a tough Maryland team. On paper, I think you have to say they may have the most difficult draw. Yeah, their first-round game is probably the easiest, but their second-round matchup is probably going to be extremely difficult.

Q: Which top-four seed has the easiest road to the Final Four?

MW: I think Duke is playing the best lacrosse. I think they’ve been playing great. I don’t know how Virginia got seeded above them. I think that may have been the one thing I would have changed. Duke has just played great lacrosse down the stretch here and they beat up on Virginia a couple times and they’re playing great team lacrosse. Their attack is pretty scripted, but it’s effective because they run it to perfection and they’re putting up a lot of points. They’re getting high-quality shots, and they’re doing the simple things on offense: drawing the defender and making two crisp, extra passes and getting those step-down shots. North Carolina is a team they have seen twice and handled relatively easy both times. I think Duke has an opportunity to play great lacrosse and march into that Final Four.

Q: Which game has the biggest potential for an upset?

MW: I think Maryland at Notre Dame. Maryland could give them fits and win that game. And I kind of like the Brown Bears at Johns Hopkins, and that will come down to the play of [Brown senior Jordan] Burke in the goal. But I would have to put Maryland above [Brown] because I have a tough time picking against Coach [Dave] Pietramala and his staff. They generally win the games they’re supposed to win. I think it would require a freakish kind of effort out of Burke in the goal for Johns Hopkins to lose that game. So ultimately, I would say Maryland has a good shot at beating Notre Dame, and I think that would be huge because although they’re the seventh seed, they are the No. 2-ranked team in the country.