Imagine No. 1 Kansas delaying its college basketball season opener for a week to travel to Durham and take on No. 3 Duke. Or how about No. 2 Maryland travelling to No. 5 Oklahoma for each squad’s second game.

Add three games between two schools in the top 15, transforming the season’s second week into something absolutely beautiful.

Picture it and transfer that picture to your long-term memory. Because it’s never going to happen. Not in any sport, anywhere or at any time in the foreseeable future.

Unless you’re talking about college lacrosse, a sport where titans play early (and all season long) and battle-tested teams win in May.

Forget ducking top opponents in favor South Central Eastern Iowa State University. Save the cupcakes for sports with revenue. And bring it.

“That’s what makes lacrosse unique,” said Princeton coach Bill Tierney, whose defending national champion and current No. 1 Tigers travel to No. 3 Johns Hopkins this Saturday. “There’s always big games on this weekend and throughout the season. It’s a little different for us. This is our opener. It’s Hopkins’ opener.

“But for a lot of other teams, it’s their real opener.”

Count No. 2 Syracuse among that group. Sure, the Orangemen put one foot in the wading pool while dispensing of Army like Homer Simpson dispenses of Duff Beer. The real test — and keep in mind midterms are far away — starts this weekend at No. 5 Virginia. Also, Maryland travels to Duke, Loyola travels to Hofstra and Georgetown takes on Cornell at Hopkins.

That’s 10 of the country’s top 15 teams squaring off in the season’s second week, something unheard of this side of professional sports, where every team is good.

As such, we present the Tierney Three-Point Plan for devising early-season schedules that actually mean something, along with the ramifications of such matchups.

(BULLET) No. 1: In the last decade, the NCAA Tournament Committee has given teams with better schedules the benefit of the doubt come selection time. With only about 14 games dotting respective schedules, early opportunities translate into more opportunities to get quality wins.

(BULLET) No. 2: There’s a reason Princeton, Syracuse, Hopkins and Virginia are continually among the country’s top 5 squads — top players don’t want to play anywhere else. Why? You play against the best nearly every game, and that includes games in the second week. Coaches coach these programs for the same reasons.

(BULLET) No. 3: Early-season tests establish a pecking order for playoff bids to be determined later. The games themselves also provide a measuring stick for coaches determined to be included among the elite.

Conference play forced some marquee matchups earlier in the season, but games such as these have been around as long as college lacrosse itself.

Syracuse used to play Hopkins to start each season. Now, Virginia is always among its first two games.

And these tilts provide valuable experience come tournament time, where 12 teams are trimmed to one in three weekends. Just ask Hofstra coach John Danowski, whose team went 0-4 last season against a similar schedule, learned from it and finished the regular season 9-2 to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“If you’re fortunate enough to make the tournament, you can tell players they’ve been battled-tested in big games,” he said. “They’ve been tested in tough situations all year, situations you can’t manufacture in practice. For us, last year’s experience could have been devastating. You have to fight through it, learn how not to give up.”

Which is exactly the cue Princeton and Syracuse have taken in the past.

In the 1999 playoffs, the Orangemen entered as the eighth seed, beat three teams they lost to in the regular season, but then succumbed to Virginia in the final. Coincidentally, Syracuse beat the Cavaliers earlier in the season.

Last year, Princeton learned from a 14-8 beating at the Carrier Dome en route to an overtime victory over the Orangemen in the finals.

“There aren’t too many teams that shy away from each other,” said UVa coach Dom Starsia, who made these types of games a priority when he took over the program. “I like to think that we’re going to catch up to these teams again. I tell my team, ‘Just wait, we’ll catch up to them again come May.’ ”

The important thing, and all the coaches indicated this, is that teams do learn from their mistakes during the season. Teams that don’t end up falling quickly thanks to the early-season losses. Teams that do can shake off an early-season loss in favor of something greater.

“It’s certainly exciting,” Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said. “For coaches it’s a great way to find out where you are. Places like the Carrier Dome should be part of every lacrosse player’s education. But it’s early enough in the season where you can rebound and learn from it.”

Century mark

After notching over 100 victories at Brown from 1983-1992, Starsia probably saw this coming. Which helps explain his reaction to his 100th victory at Virginia last weekend, when the Cavaliers trounced Drexel, 20-5.

“Well, it mostly means I’m getting older,” Starsia said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have been at two very good institutions. I’ve been blessed with a lot of good players and a lot of good assistant coaches. I also value the length of time I’ve been doing this.”

Other coaches respect what Starsia’s done at UVa, although his longevity doesn’t necessarily bode well for opponents.

“I’m just glad (the 100th win) didn’t come against me,” Pietramala quipped.

Starsia took over Virginia and almost instantly transformed it into a national powerhouse, highlighted by a national championship in 1999.

“He has been and will continue to always be one of the premier coaches in the game,” Tierney said. “It’s hard to find anything negative to say about Dom or his program.”

Surprise of the week

There were none. Save No. 16 Penn State’s overtime victory over No. 11 Notre Dame, all teams with higher rankings earned victories in the season’s first week. The Fighting Irish, who lost to Syracuse in the national semifinals last season, are in a rebuilding year, and Penn State’s program is on the rise.

Which is why the result didn’t surprise Starsia one bit.

“Penn State’s been knocking on the door for a long time,” he said. “It was just a matter of time.”

Next up may be Ohio State, who dropped a 10-8 decision to Georgetown one week after nearly upsetting North Carolina.

Game of the week

Undoubtedly Hofstra’s 12-11 victory over Massachusetts.

Tierney said the teams are developing a rivalry, while Danowski would only say, “Every win is a big win.”

Next week the picture is less clear. Four coaches immediately pointed to Princeton at Hopkins, but each quickly added Syracuse at Virginia.

Both games feature an experienced team (Princeton and Syracuse) against a young team with high ambitions (Hopkins and Virginia).

But as Tierney said, “It’s not like it’s young and not so good. It’s young and very good.”

Trend of the week

It’s too early to tell. But coaches did point to the first week’s games to show that offenses did little to slow the game down, which had been predicted in the preseason. In addition, several teams without tested goalies and faceoff men passed their first exams, but this weekend — with competition worthy of the Final Four — will prove who has the early advantage.

Player of the week

Surprise, surprise, but Mike Powell reigned supreme following a career-high eight points in SU’s win over Army. Unanimous, it turned out, and the trend is expected to continue.

“Mike Powell’s a pretty special lacrosse player,” Pietramala said. “It’s safe to say he’s going to stand out all year long.”

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Published on February 25, 2002 at 12:00 pm