As No. 1 Maryland prepares to meet Brown on Saturday in an NCAA Division I lacrosse semifinal, the one thing that appears to separate the Terps from the other three teams -- including Loyola and North Carolina -- is depth.
That's a huge difference maker, especially if a team survives Saturday and goes on to the championship. Because of the format, both teams competing for the title only get one day's rest, and that works in Maryland's favor because the Terps use so many players.
The Terps rotate four attackmen and use six offensive middies. They have three defensemen, three long middies and four short-stick defensive middies. That's almost unheard of at any level.
If it's hot this weekend, Maryland could win it's first national championship since 1975. A lot of teams get tired at this time of the season even though it's championship weekend.
"At this time of year we have kind of seen it all," Maryland coach John Tillman said. "We are hoping that playing more people will be helpful. We are deeper than we have been over the last three or four years and we feel more comfortable playing those guys, so if those guys play well it will give us a better opportunity to win."