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May Madness is upon us. We’re down to the conference semifinals, and it’s down to each league’s four best squads. So many critical games, and since conference tournament semifinals begin on Thursday, we’re putting this out a day early. Let’s get it!

As we normally do, we’ll go chronologically through the schedule, conference by conference.

THURSDAY’s Conference Tournament Games
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Semifinals at Manhattan – Riverdale, N.Y.
No. 5 Siena (8-7, 5-4) vs. No. 1 Sacred Heart (11-4, 9-0), 3 p.m., ESPN+
No. 3 Manhattan (7-8, 6-3) vs. No. 2 LIU (10-3, 7-2), 6:30 p.m., ESPN+

Atlantic 10 Semifinals at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass.
No. 1 Saint Joseph’s (10-3, 5-0) vs. No. 4 UMass (6-7, 2-3), 3 p.m.
No. 2 Richmond (9-5, 4-1) vs. No. 3 High Point (9-6, 3-2) 6 p.m.

America East Semifinals at UAlbany, Albany, N.Y.
No. 2 Vermont (7-7, 5-2) vs. No. 3 UMBC (5-6, 4-3), 4 p.m., ESPN+
No. 1 UAlbany (7-1, 6-1) vs. No. 4 Merrimack (6-7, 4-3), 7 p.m., ESPN+

Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Semifinals at Towson University, Towson, Md.
No. 1 Towson (11-3, 7-0) vs. No. 4 Drexel (6-8, 3-4), 4 p.m., Lacrosse TV
No. 2 Delaware (8-4, 6-1) vs. No. 3 Fairfield (8-6, 5-2), 7 p.m., Lacrosse TV

Big East Semifinals at Villanova University, Villanova, Penn.
No. 1 Denver (11-2, 5-0) vs. No. 4 Villanova (8-6, 2-3), 5:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network
No. 2 Georgetown (10-3, 4-1) vs. No. 3 Providence (7-7, 3-2), 8:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network

Big Ten Semifinals at Ohio State – Columbus, Ohio
No. 4 Michigan (8-6, 2-3) vs. No. 1 Johns Hopkins (10-3, 5-0), 6 p.m., BTN
No. 3 Penn State (10-3, 3-2) vs. No. 2 Maryland (8-4, 3-2), 8:30 p.m., BTN

FRIDAY’s Conference Tournament Games
Atlantic Sun (ASUN) Semifinals at United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.
No. 1 Utah (10-4, 8-1) vs. Cleveland State (9-7, 5-4), 1 p.m., ESPN+
No. 2 Air Force (9-5, 8-1) vs. No. 3 Jacksonville (12-4, 8-1), 4 p.m., ESPN+

Patriot League Semifinals at United States Military Academy – West Point, N.Y.
No. 1 Army West Point (11-2, 6-2) vs. No. 4 Boston University (9-6, 5-3), 4 p.m., CBS Sports Network
No. 2 Lehigh (8-6, 6-2) vs. No. 3 Navy (9-6, 5-3), 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Semifinals at American Legion Mem. Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.
No. 1 Notre Dame (10-1, 4-0) vs. No. 4 Virginia (10-4, 1-3), 5 p.m., ACC Network
No. 2 Syracuse (11-4, 3-1) vs. No. 3 Duke (11-4, 1-3), 8 p.m., ACC Network



Ivy League Semifinals at Cornell – Ithaca, N.Y.
No. 2 Princeton (9-4, 4-2) vs. No. 3 Yale (11-3, 4-2), 6 p.m., ESPNU
No. 1 Cornell (9-4, 5-1) vs. No. 4 Penn (8-5, 4-2), 8:30 p.m., ESPNU

Give and Go
In this week’s snack-inspired Give & Go, the guys discuss the merits of convenience store chains.

The start of May brings  a new episode of the DIII Lax Pod and plenty of conference clashing.

Kap and Caleb linked up to recap some heavy-hitting games, do a little NCAA Tournament field selection explainer, have a loaded batch of statistical players of the week and close things out with a handful of conference champion predictions.

Consistent listeners should be prepared for Big Dog to bask in the glory of his correct Hamilton over Tufts prediction and get ready for this week’s version.

It's the penultimate Tailgate of the regular season, IL's Terry Foy and Nick Ossello start by talking not about Notre Dame's win over Virginia, but North Carolina's win over Duke and what it means for the ACC Tournament and the future of Tar Heel lacrosse.

From there, they dive into the Merrimack situation, which started with a fight at last week's loss to UAlbany (which Nick was in attendance for), the Warriors' win over Bryant on Saturday, the resignation of coach Mike Morgan later in the day and then the Mack's qualifying for the America East Tournament to end the day.

While the Ivy League and Big Ten didn't pack a huge punch, the Patriot League and Atlantic 10 made up for it. Wrap up the weekend with Towson's winning the CAA and Siena and Manhattan making it to the MAAC Semifinals.

How did we get here so fast? 

As we leap into the last weekend of April, we need to mentally come to grips with the crazy fact that this will be the last game of the season for a large number of teams. Sadly, it will be the end of dreams and a reminder of the harsh reality of the finality of a lacrosse season. Time flies.

For others, this weekend is an opportunity to better position themselves for post-season glory. They get to continue to chase their goals and be together for another week.

That makes every game on the schedule MASSIVE this weekend. As always, D-Fly & Dixie are here to get you pumped up for marquee games, and we’ll talk to Georgetown’s All-American Graham Bundy ahead of the Hoyas regular-season finale against Villanova on Friday night.






MARQUEE MATCHUPS

Friday, April 26
No. 12 Army (10-2, 5-2 Patriot) at Loyola (7-6, 5-2), 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network
No. 15 Towson (10-3, 6-0 CAA) at No. 18 Delaware (8-3, 6-0), 7 p.m., FloSports
No. 11 Georgetown (9-3, 3-1 Big East) at Villanova (8-5, 2-2), 7 p.m. , FloSports

Saturday, April 27
No. 13 Princeton (8-4, 3-2 Ivy) at No. 9 Yale (11-2, 4-1), noon, ESPN+
No. 1 Notre Dame (9-1, 3-0 ACC) at No. 5 Virginia (10-3, 1-2), 2 p.m., ESPNU
No. 16 Saint Joseph’s (9-3, 4-0 Atlantic 10) at No. 14 Richmond (9-4, 4-0), 4 p.m., ESPN+



Give and Go
In this week’s car misery-inspired Give & Go, the guys discuss the Misery Index when it comes to life on the road.

Caleb and Kaplan return to set the table on conference races, Top 20 movement, and much more. This episode also features a great segment of statistical Players of the Week that will have you questioning what's possible in a single game. The lookahead highlights some key matchups, updates Bet of the Week, and has a few predictions baked in.

It's Rivalry Week, huge crowds are showing up and IL's Terry Foy and Nick Ossello are back to examine two huge games with contrasting identities.

First, to Syracuse, where Foy was in the building for the Orange's 18-17 win over Virginia in the latest entry for Game of the Year (a very crowded ballot). Then, to a Homewood Field that revised its attendance total to become the biggest crowd of the college lacrosse season so far, and where the Blue Jays completed a 7-5 win over their archenemy Terrapins to claim the Crab Trophy. Wrapping up the rivalry talk, they dive into Ohio State's frantic comeback that fell just short and set up a rematch vs., you guessed it — Michigan.

It wasn't all rivalry action, though, and they dive into Mike Gianforcaro's goalie goal, Loyola's win over Navy and what it sets up in the Patriot League, Jacksonville's big ASUN win over Air Force and Yale's win over UAlbany on Friday night that may or may not have laid out the blueprint for Merrimack to beat the Great Danes in Sunday's showcase game, which Ossello attended (after this podcast was recorded).