If the University has their priorities right, Travis Reed would be suspended for the season. If he stays out of trouble and makes the grades required, he could apply for team reinstatement next year. Anything less is sending a horrible message to all of the students at the school!

fourteen teams in the top 25 with fewer losses than JHU. Are you a JHU alum who cannot stand to drop them out of the top ten?

Towson U won't be an easy win.

I can see your point, but think it is a bad idea. Strength of Schedule has to count for something, regardless of team. Otherwise any 11-0 squad with a cupcake schedule would be eligible. That would make a mockery of the best amateur sport around. SOS encourages better lacrosse by encouraging tough scheduling, and provides the ESPN quality games that are growing the sport.

Nice to see someone in the press taking on the NCAA's selection and seeding criteria in a substantive way. AJ's comment, of course, takes his argument to a ridiculous extreme, thereby negating it. There is a middle ground that takes into account that playing top teams and losing to them is no great accomplishment. Anyone can do it, even Wagner.

Hopkins is less egregious than others in playing the game of scheduling a few patsies in order to ensure a .500 record. Duke (scheduling Vermont, Presbyterian, and St. John's) is perhaps the worst offender. Pumps up their individual stats, as well.

The NCAA needs to get a better balance between performance and strength of schedule in their criteria. Please don't drop your campaign on this topic.

Al is spot on. I almost did a whole blog on Presbyterian's schedule, but they have the right to try to play a top team if they can. Any argument against it, specifically, seemed to put down the Presbyterian athletes which would be unacceptable. How does a new school get games? If you look, you will notice that new teams often play far more away games than home games just to get on the schedule. There are dynamics which are unfair at both ends of the scheduling free for all.

I am hardly a JHU alum. In fact, I was a long-time JHU fan. I never missed a game for years as a kid, although I liked all lacrosse teams really. Coincidentally, I am not too fond of the current JHU administration. I will blog soon about Hopkins and their complete lack of lacrosse spirit and support for the lacrosse community. YES, THAT'S WHAT I SAID.

Have you ever heard of Jerry Shifflet? You should have. He was the first private lacrosse publisher. His magazine, In The Crease, was popular in Baltimore when I was a kid. His story will change the way you think about the Hopkins athletic department's devotion to the game. In my opinion, some of the folks making decisions at the Hop are not “lacrosse people” at all.

Many of my friends and relatives played at Hopkins, to be fair. Coincidentally, I was recruited by Tony Seaman at Penn. Mediocre grades and athleticism precluded me from playing for the Hop. I'm not bitter. I can crush most of them now in a debate on any topic and that's good enough for me. Not bad for a scooter driving University of Maryland dropout!

I am not quite sure I understand your point. Is that teams should weaken or dumb down their schedule to give everyone a fair shot? Or should teams play tough competition every game?

I am not sure how dumbing down Hopkins schedule would only help them out. Instead of playing 7 teams in the top 10 in 6 straight weeks they would throw in a weaker team. Of course, in a season like this it might pay off.

otherwise, you sound a little bitter.

Chris, I don't know the answer, but everyone should have the same fair shot before the first whistle. This is sport. Sports start and end with fairness as the basis or why bother.

And “dumbing down” is a subjectively reached description. Was Loyola dumbing down when they scheduled Siena?

I'm not sure how you can "feel bad" for Travis Reed. According to the Diamondback, he was also caught with marijuana. I don't think it's too much to ask for a player to stay away from alcohol and marijuana during the season (especially one in which the team has a legitimate chance at a national championship). It's definitely not too much to ask them to stay away from getting arrested.

As for the scheduling argument, nothing is "fair" when it comes to the NCAA. Speaking as a former college athletics employee, I've seen a decent amount of inequity, particularly in the area of scheduling. Teams like JHU, UMD and SU are the haves and others, like Mount St. Mary's, Siena and Vermont are the have-nots (whether what they have is money, prestige, tradition, etc.)

Was Loyola "dumbing down" its schedule when it put Siena on it? Absolutely. They just choked.

If Hopkins played a "fairer" schedule, they wouldn't be 3-5. They'd be kicking the crap out of bad teams. Who wants to see that? Let's be honest: even a "bad" JHU team would destroy most of the lower-tier teams.

I think a laissez-faire policy would be the best solution. Division I lacrosse has seen more parity in the last few years than I can remember in the 20+ years I've been watching lacrosse. Who would've predicted the things Drexel, Hofstra and Albany are doing lately? It might not be where it should be, but it's getting better, and will continue to do so as more and more talent floods into the ranks.

Great points Anthony,

I did not say I condone any of the alleged behavior in question. I do feel bad for the young man, in any case. Nobody wins in an incident like this.

well, at least we know why he sleeps so much.

How bout 'Cuse?! Didn't look too bad last night against the Big Red. I thought I had read somewhere that they would surely lose that one.

I recall comments about their OT wins as well. One goal OT victories still go in the win column.

As someone else said, there's only 1 team, Presbyterian, that doesn't have a clear path to the NCAA Tournament. Syracuse and JHU are your last indys, but their tradition has kept them flush, for now. As the game grows I expect that to change. The Orange are already thinking Big East.