2025 Men’s College Lacrosse Championship Futures
If you ask me who I expect to make it to the Final Four this season, I’ll spew some chalk and say Notre Dame and Syracuse will be two of the four. Notre Dame was the best team in the country by a wide margin last year and should have a great chance at a three-peat even after losing some key players. Syracuse might have improved the most from a pure roster-building perspective and I expect them to also live up to the hype. Yet, both ACC teams are appropriately priced in the futures market and I’d rather wait and see if we get some longer odds within the first couple months of the season.
The other two potential Final Four teams are a bit more up in the air. It’s tough to overlook Virginia or Duke even considering the starters they lost to graduation, but there isn’t value at their current odds. A lot of people (and the oddsmakers) like Cornell and Princeton as well, but the Ivy League is still very much a toss-up in my opinion, with Yale, Penn and Harvard all much closer to the Big Red and Tigers than the odds indicate. If I had to pick an Ivy League team to go all the way, I’d go with CJ Kirst-led Cornell. Their biggest issues last year were faceoffs and defense, but they appeared to solve those issues via their 2024 recruiting class and faceoff specialist Jack Cascadden’s return from injury. However, I’ll pass on an Ivy League team for a championship future right now and instead bet a perennial Final Four team to win it all at odds I think are a bit too long to pass on.
Instead of betting some of my favorite teams to make a title run, I’ll opt to wait for potentially better odds and instead target an undervalued dark horse and a longshot.
Dark Horse Contender: Maryland (+1100)
While the Terps certainly have some holes to fill due to the departure of Ajax Zappitello, Luke Wierman and some key offensive players, no team besides maybe UVA uses the transfer portal better. The Terps offense welcomes transfers Jack Dowd (Salisbury) and Matthew Keegan (Binghamton) along with a freshmen class headlined by attackman Spencer Ford.
The defense will once again feature Logan McNaney in net and, while the loss of Zappitello is significant, this unit is always better than the sum of its parts. Last year, they were the fourth-most efficient defense, allowing goals on just 24.5%, and I expect similar success in 2025.
Another thing to consider is the Terps ability to make the tournament every year under John Tillman. Barring disaster, Maryland’s schedule is always so competitive that they have a great shot at an at-large bid even when they don’t win the Big Ten tournament. When betting championship futures this early, you want to make sure the team has an extremely high chance of A) winning their conference automatic qualifier or B) securing an at-large bid. The Terps check both those boxes and then some. Maryland has appeared in the title game a whopping eight times since 2011—no other team has more than four during that span.
Maryland’s schedule to start the season will be tough, but they have the ability to beat anyone and a few early wins will cause these odds to drop quickly. Bet a unit on Maryland at +1100 on FanDuel before the season starts.
Favorite Longshot: Army (+6000)
As for a longshot, we’ll set our sights on the Patriot League. The last time there was a Final Four team from a conference other than the ACC, Big Ten, Big East or Ivy League was 2018 when Connor Fields led Albany to the semifinals before falling to Yale. The last Patriot League team to do it was Loyola back in 2016. That said, if there’s a team outside the four major conferences that has Final Four potential, it’s Army.
The Black Knights have a wealth of experience in the form of 22 seniors. As sophomores, they were milliseconds away from tying and potentially advancing to the Final Four in 2023. Army will still have to contend with Colgate and Lehigh, both of which will also be vying for the Patriot League crown, but the Black Knights have the roster to get back to the NCAA Tournament and make a run.
I honestly wasn’t a believer in Army early on last year even when they were the top-ranked team in the nation. Despite a hot start, they had issues on defense—particularly in net—that were masked by Will Colletti’s dominance at the dot. However, a goalie switch to Sean Byrne did wonders for their defense late in the year, and the unit finally started to make some strides. An overtime loss to Boston University in the Patriot League semifinals crushed their 2024 postseason hopes, but the seeds for another run were planted. With Evan Plunkett and AJ Pilate leading the offense and defense respectively, I expect Army to have a strong 2025 season and think 60-1 is way too long for a team that has championship potential. Their odds are as low as +3500 on DraftKings, so we’re getting great odds on FanDuel to bet the Black Knights to shock the nation. Bet a 0.2 unit on Army at +6000.
Championship Picks: Maryland (+1100 FanDuel), Army (+6000 FanDuel)
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