Inside Lacrosse Podcasts

D-Fly & Dixie present your guide for the first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Tournament, one of our favorite episodes of the year. The show begins with some thoughts on the tournament field and reactions to Selection Sunday. Mark opines about the significance of Power 5 schools Michigan and Utah making their first appearances in the NCAA Tournament as well as the final end to coaching legend Bill Tierney’s magnificent career.

After reviewing Delaware’s victory in the mid-week NCAA play-in game, they get into the game previews. Eight games on tap. Four each day. All available on ESPNU.

This week’s guest is Michigan head coach, Kevin Conry. The guys cover Michigan’s marvelous run through the Big Ten tournament, building a program, turning the corner, getting up to play back-to-back rivalry games, preparing for Cornell, juice meetings and much, much more.

WEEKEND PREVIEW
All games on ESPNU

Saturday, May 13
Richmond (11-4) at No. 2 Virginia (11-3), noon
Utah (12-4) at No. 3 Notre Dame (10-2), 2:30 p.m.
Yale (9-5) at No. 7 Georgetown (12-3), 5 p.m.
Army (12-3) at No. 4 Maryland (10-5), 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 14
Bryant (12-4) at No. 6 Johns Hopkins (11-5), noon
Michigan (9-6) at No. 8 Cornell (11-3), 2:30 p.m.
Delaware (13-4) at No. 1 Duke (13-2), 5 p.m.
Princeton (8-6) at No. 5 Penn State (9-4), 7:30 p.m.

Give and Go
In a Campus Eats-inspired Give & Go, Dixie lists his favorite Big Ten eateries and Dan recounts how he became a professional eater at a Roy Rogers in Frederick, Md.

On the eve of the NCAA Tournament, Official Lax Girl, a.k.a. Tari Kandemiri, talks to Boston College attacker Jenn Medjid and midfielder Belle Smith. The No. 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Eagles will host the winner of Penn vs. UConn.

It's survive and advance. The NCAA Tournament is here. Kap and Caleb discuss the bracket surprises, the early rounds of matchups and more in a deep dive of NCAA action.

What a weekend that was! IL's Terry Foy and Nicky Brackets Ossello unpack it all, starting with Michigan's run to the Big Ten Championship, Princeton's bid thievery in the Ivy League and Army's sideline celebration-fueled run to the Patriot League AQ (on the heels of Loyola's upset over Boston U).

From there, they discuss the bracket, including Duke, Virginia and Notre Dame claiming the top three seeds, Cornell and Yale earning the last spots in, Denver and Penn being left the first teams out, and isolate their top matchups.

They wrap up with their Superlatives for the year: Cutest Couple, Best Dressed, Most Likely to Succeed and more.

On the heels of the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, IL's Terry Foy talks to Committee Chair and Denver Associate AD Brandon Macneill about the choices that created the field, Pioneer coach Bill Tierney on the final season of his distinguished career coming to an end, Duke coach John Danowski on making it back to the Dance after missing out last year, Michigan coach Kevin Conry on his team's magical week, Bryant coach Brad Ross on picking up where his predecessor left off, Hopkins coach Pete Milliman on his program taking the next step back to "where it belongs" and Yale coach Andy Shay on the emotions of being the last team in off the bubble.

May Madness is upon us. We’re fully in the camp who believe that the Thursday and Friday of conference semifinals are the greatest two days of lacrosse every year. To celebrate, D-Fly and Dixie are coming to you a day early with a super-sized podcast to preview all the conference tournaments and to deliver you an extended, candid interview with coaching legend Bill Tierney as he prepares for what could be his final game. 

You won’t want to miss any of this one. Let’s get it!

THURSDAY’s Games
Big Ten Semifinals at Johns Hopkins – Baltimore, Md.
No. 4 Michigan (7-6, 2-3) vs. No. 1 Penn State (9-3, 4-1), 1 p.m., BTN
No. 3 Maryland (9-4, 3-2) vs. No. 2 Johns Hopkins (11-4, 4-1), 3:30 p.m., BTN

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Semifinals at Manhattan – Riverdale, N.Y.
No. 3 Marist (8-7, 6-3) vs. No. 2 Mount St. Mary’s (8-7, 7-2), 3 p.m., ESPN+
No. 4 Siena (8-6, 5-4) vs. No. 1 Manhattan (10-4, 7-2), 7 p.m., ESPN+

America East Semifinals at Vermont – Burlington, Vt.
No. 4 Albany (5-9, 4-3) vs. No. 1 Vermont (9-4, 7-0), 4 p.m., ESPN+
No. 3 Binghamton (9-4, 5-2) vs. No. 2 Bryant (10-4, 5-2), 7 p.m., ESPN+

Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Semifinals at Delaware – Newark, Del.
No. 4 Towson (6-8, 5-2) vs. No. 1 Delaware (10-4, 6-1), 5:30 p.m., Lacrosse TV
No. 3 Stony Brook (8-6, 5-2) vs. No. 2 Drexel (8-5, 5-2), 8:30 p.m., Lacrosse TV

Atlantic 10 Semifinals at Richmond – Richmond, Va.
No. 4 High Point (8-7, 2-3) vs. No. 1 Saint Joseph’s (10-4, 5-0), 5:30 p.m.
No. 3 UMass (8-5, 3-2) vs. No. 2 Richmond (9-4, 4-1), 8 p.m.

Big East Semifinals at Marquette – Milwaukee, Wisc.
No. 4 Providence (6-8, 2-3) vs. No. 1 Georgetown (10-3, 5-0), 6:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network
No. 3 Villanova (10-4, 3-2) vs. No. 2 Denver (9-4, 4-1), 9:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network

FRIDAY’s Games
Atlantic Sun (ASUN) Semifinals at Robert Morris – Moon Township, Penn.
No. 4 Bellarmine (10-5, 7-2) vs. No. 1 Utah (10-4, 9-0), 1 p.m., ESPN+
No. 6 Robert Morris (7-7, 4-5) vs. No. 2 Air Force (10-5, 7-2), 4 p.m., ESPN+

Patriot League Semifinals at Boston U. – Boston, Mass.
No. 5 Loyola (8-7, 4-4) vs. No. 1 Boston U. (10-3, 7-1), 4 p.m., CBS Sports Network
No. 3 Lehigh (10-4, 6-2) vs. No. 2 Army (10-3, 7-1), 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network

Ivy League Semifinals at Columbia – New York, N.Y.
No. 4 Yale (8-4, 3-3) vs. No. 1 Cornell (11-2, 5-1), 6 p.m., ESPNU
No. 3 Princeton (6-6, 4-2) vs. No. 2 Penn (7-5, 4-2), 8:30 p.m., ESPNU

Give and Go
In a sports fan-inspired Give & Go, the guys talk about how even within the same sport there are some events that are just better than others, and they make choices about the best. Simplicity Group President and CEO, Bruce Donaldson, joins them for the discussion.

The weekly DIII podcast from IL is a lengthy one and features some of Kap and Caleb's best work. Join the guys as they recap the past week of action and set the table for this week's conference playoff activity. Among this loaded episode is a Top 5 moment in DIII podcast history as, much to Big Dog's dismay, F&M downed Muhlenberg in OT mid-recording. Be sure to catch all of this episode and stick around for advice to departing teams & seniors.

IL's Terry Foy and Nick "Pack Your Bags" Ossello are back to discuss a weekend of action, starting with Virginia's win over Notre Dame that took what could've been a very clean No. 1 seed scenario and muddied it all up. From there, they discuss the game of the weekend — Cornell's OT victory vs. Princeton to clinch the Ivy League Tournament No. 1 seed — and to a post mortem on Harvard's campaign after their loss to Yale that secured the Bulldogs the No. 4 spot. They rank "weird seasons" and argue about Loyola vs. Marquette while unpacking the final weekend of Patriot League and Big East action (including a colorful tour of Valley Fields that somehow ends up in West Philadelphia). They discuss the Big Ten Quarterfinals and make predictions for who's going to capture the Land Grant Crown, then end by discussing the Electric Game of the Weekend that had no stakes: Merrimack's win over Bryant.

The regular season comes and goes so quickly. One day you’re reading pre-season All-America lists and coordinating layers of cold weather gear in your team colors for the home opener, and then the next thing you know its Senior Day. Time flies when you’re having fun. This season has been a joy.

While some teams will take the field for the last time this weekend, for many others this week presents an opportunity to continue living the dream with their teammates. D-Fly and Dixie are here to preview the best of these games for you.

One of those key matchups takes place on Friday night when Army hosts Boston U. in a Patriot League showdown, and head coach Joe Alberici of the Black Knights sits down with Mark and Dan. They talk about a wide-range of subjects, including the weather-related time change of the Army-Navy game, replacing an incredible Class of 2022, early recruiting period for the academies, working at West Point, a case for multiple Patriot teams in the NCAA tournament and much, much more.

In a South-inspired Give & Go, the fellas talk with this week’s episode sponsor, Dr. Larry Parker, about certain things that make the South such a unique place.

Kap and Caleb meet live in the IL studio to record the Week 10 Podcast. Action  is heating up everywhere and the guys recap it all. They also pull out the crystal ball to do some upcoming conference and NCAA Tournament talk.