College Lacrosse Preseason Picks: NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Win Totals to Bet Now
Photo by Larry French/NCAA Photos via Getty Images.
Pictured: The Maryland Terrapins
The 2024 NCAA men’s lacrosse season is almost here and DraftKings has posted win totals for dozens of college lacrosse teams for the first time ever. To get you ready for the 2024 college lacrosse season, I take a look at my favorite win totals on the board. A few of my favorite win total bets have moved since I logged them in the Action app and discussed them in Action’s lacrosse discord channel (Georgetown Under 10.5 wins, Johns Hopkins Over 7.5 wins and Loyola Over 6.5 wins), but there are five win totals I still like ahead of opening weekend.
If you’re an avid bettor who’s new to lacrosse or a lacrosse fan who’s new to betting, check out my guide on how to bet on lacrosse for some tips to use when placing a lacrosse bet.
Delaware: 8.5 Wins (12 Games)
For a Blue Hens team that only plays 12 regular season games, 8.5 wins may seem high, especially considering the loss of two of the best players in Blue Hens history in attackman Tye Kurtz and defender Owen Grant.
Yet, this 16th-ranked Delaware team is returning seasoned attackmen JP Ward and Mike Robinson, and replaces the physicality that Grant brought with grad transfer Donny Gayhardt, a 6-foot-5 and 220 pound defender who finished with 12 caused turnovers and 23 ground balls last year at Colgate. Nine or 10 wins is easily attainable for this Ben DeLuca-led group that nearly upset then top-ranked Duke in the NCAA Tournament last season.
The Blue Hens’ three toughest games will be against Syracuse, Penn and Michigan. Yet, they played Michigan tight last season, Penn will be without some key 2023 contributors and Syracuse is still a winnable game. Going 2-1 or 1-2 in these games is extremely realistic, but even if Delaware drops those three games, they could still surpass 8.5 wins.
Apart from those three games, Delaware’s schedule is largely unimpressive. They'll be heavy favorites in a third of their matchups this season and the schedule often alternates between tough and easy opponents. While CAA rivals Drexel and Towson will still be competitive, there is a great chance Delaware wins the majority, if not all, of their conference games, making Over 8.5 wins at -130 on DraftKings a great bet.
Pick: Delaware Over 8.5 Wins
Marquette: 7.5 Wins (14 Games)
Marquette is a team that you may be surprised to see on this list. The Golden Eagles had an up-and-down season last year, with wins over Michigan and Penn State and losses to Bellarmine and Providence. Still, they showed the ability to beat good teams and hang with their Big East rivals, with one goal losses to Denver, Georgetown and Villanova.
The Golden Eagles will get 85.4% of last year’s production back, including team leading-scorer Bobby O’Grady at attack and PLL prospect Mason Woodward on defense. They also added goaltender Caleb Creasor in the transfer portal and freshman Carsen Brandt, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound attackman who should factor heavily into this offense.
Marquette should be able to get to eight wins even without beating any of the aforementioned Hoyas, Pioneers and Wildcats. Bet the Golden Eagles to finish over 7.5 wins at +125 on DraftKings.
Pick: Marquette Over 7.5 Wins
Maryland: 8.5 Wins (12 Games)
2023 was a down year by Maryland’s standards, but it’s tough to follow up an undefeated 2022 season that culminated in the program’s fourth NCAA title. The Terps finished their regular season schedule with an 8-4 record and their season ended with a blowout loss to Michigan in the Big Ten title game and an upset to Army in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
While they lost a few key pieces in Brett Makar, John Geppert, Dante Trader and Kyle Long, this Terps roster is a strong one and will have a healthy Logan McNaney back in net and a fresh Ajax Zappitello to anchor the defense. The Terps have the roster to go deep in this year’s NCAA Tournament, but what worries me is that many of their fellow Big Ten opponents also feature strong rosters.
Maryland’s motto is “Be the Best” and to be the best you have to play the best—and the Terps make sure of it with the teams they schedule. Nine of their 12 opponents rank in Inside Lacrosse’s preseason Top 20 and the three that don’t (Loyola, Brown and Ohio State) are no slouches either. The Big Ten may be the most competitive it has ever been, with Johns Hopkins, Penn State and even Michigan vying for the 2024 Big Ten title. And let’s not forget about Rutgers and Ohio State, both teams that made some splashes in the transfer portal and have given Maryland trouble in the past. The only conference more competitive than the Big Ten is is the ACC, from which the Terps will face 2023 champion Notre Dame, Final Four perennial Virginia and an up-and-coming Syracuse. Even if Maryland manages to go 4-2 in conference play, they could struggle to reach the nine-win mark.
At +110 on DraftKings, I think there is value in betting the Terps to stay under 8.5 wins in 2024.
Pick: Maryland Under 8.5 Wins
Princeton: 8.5 Wins (13 Games)
There are few teams that have been depleted by the transfer portal more than Princeton. Due to the Ivy League’s rule preventing student athletes from participating in athletics for more than four years, many Ivy League players have been forced to transfer to utilize the remaining year of eligibility that they received when the 2020 season was canceled.
As a result, some key contributors from Princeton’s last few years have transferred elsewhere.
Princeton’s midfield was hit the hardest with Jake Stevens and Sam English both transferring to Syracuse, Beau Pederson and Christian Ronda landing in Michigan and Alex Vardaro now at Georgetown. English, Vardaro, Stevens and Ronda alone accounted for 130 of Princeton’s 335 points. The team’s leading goal-scorer Coulter Mackesy will be back, but the Tigers will be missing half of their previous season’s offensive producers, according to Lacrosse Reference.
This isn’t to say Princeton will be a bad team, but in a hyper competitive conference like the Ivy League, nine or more wins will be tough. For context, the Tigers won just six of their 12 regular season games last year. Even if they had played a 13th game, they still would have fallen below their win total. In 2022, a Princeton team that made the final four won nine of their 13 regular season games, but the majority of the members of that team are no longer on the roster.
Bet Princeton to finish around .500 and fall under 8.5 wins at -155 on DraftKings.
Pick: Princeton Under 8.5 Wins
Utah: 9.5 Wins (14 Games)
The vibes have been high for the Utes entering this season. Utah was a great story last year, notching 10 regular season wins and their program's first NCAA Tournament berth. Yet, another 10-win season won't be easy. While the Utes should once again have a lot of success against Atlantic Sun Conference opponents, their out of conference schedule is a gauntlet.
They'll start the season facing Ohio State, Denver and Syracuse—the Buckeyes sit just outside the Top 20 with Utah and the latter two rank at 11th and 9th respectively. Utah follows those games with competitive matchups against Vermont and Marquette and could be looking at a 0-5 or 1-4 start. If they drop four of their first five games, they’d need to win out in conference play just to surpass their win total.
Utah did erase a similar start last season and went undefeated in ASUN play, but conference foes such as Jacksonville, Air Force and Bellarmine could all give the Utes trouble. It only takes one or two slip ups for Utah to fall under their win total.
At +120 on DraftKings, I think there is value in betting Utah to stay under 9.5 regular season wins in 2024.
Pick: Utah Under 9.5 Wins
How would you rate this article?
Follow Us On Social
