Syracuse Lacrosse: Orange Plummet To No. 14 In Media/Coaches Polls

With a 4-3 record and coming off their fist-ever Big East loss to the unranked Villanova Wildcats, it wasn't a question of if the Syracuse Orange would drop in the lacrosse rankings, but just how far?

In the Media Poll, the Orange fell to No. 14, where they are directly behind Villanova. In the Coaches Poll, they also dropped to No. 14. In both polls they are the No. 3 Big East team behind Notre Dame and Nova.

Johns Hopkins has taken full control of the top of the polls, taking all 18 first-place votes in the Media Poll and 10 of the 11 votes in the Coaches (Loyola grabbed that final one). The Jays dethroned defending champ Virginia, whom they defeated 11-10 over the weekend.

It's the lowest Syracuse has been ranked since 2007, which is also the last time the Orange lost more than two games during the season.

Now, Syracuse fans should run naked through the streets and start looting, but, Glaude thinks maybe you should:

Syracuse is now mired in what could be a tournament-defining run: The Orange's next three games are against Duke, Princeton, and Cornell (three teams that are playing much more non-knucklehead lacrosse these days compared to the 11-time national champion). With a potential 4-6 record in mid-April, Syracuse would need a miracle akin to my alma mater granting me a degree to put themselves into a position to grab an at-large selection. These are crazy times up in Central New York. Please monitor the local emergency broadcast networks for information relating to rioting and how it may impact your commute.

The days of the auto-Final Four seem so far away, don't they?

Syracuse takes on Duke on Sunday in the Big City Classic, which looks much more daunting now than it did a few weeks ago.