What is the best offense in college lacrosse?

The college lacrosse season is wrapping up, and — save for a few surprise shake-ups — the season’s hierarchy is settling. But rankings and records can only tell you so much.

So, as the NCAA tournament approaches, we took a look at every Division I team to determine the nation’s top offense.

Methodology

For each school, we analyzed five specific statistics:

• Goals per game
• Shot percentage
• Turnovers per game
• Man-up percentage (how many goals a team scores per man-up advantage)
• Face off percentage

Then, we weighted each team’s ranking for each category and totaled the scores. A team that ranked first in a specific category received 10 points for that category, while a team that ranked 10th would get one point. After the 10th team, zero points were awarded.

For example, the overall leader — Denver, ranked 6th in goals per game, 4th in shot percentage, 7th in turnovers per game, 9th in man-up percentage, and 1st in face off percentage. Thus, Denver was awarded 28 total points (5 + 7 + 4 + 2 + 10).

Results

Denver was actually the only team in Division I to rank in the top 10 of all five major stats, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise. The Pioneers are 11-2 on the year and are ranked No. 2 in the country in both the Inside Lacrosse and USILA Coaches polls. The only two times Denver has scored single digit goals this year have been in its two losses — a 13-9 defeat at the hands of UNC in early March, and a 16-7 loss to Ohio State two weeks later.

RELATED: DI Men's Lacrosse Rankings

Maryland, which jumped Denver to claim the No. 1 spot in the nation this week, came in tied for 12th with Virginia in the offensive ranking. The Terps are efficient, scoring on 35.6 percent of their shots (third-best in the country), and net just over 13 goals per game (ninth in the nation), but don’t rank in the top-15 of any other major offensive category.

Syracuse, the No. 3 team in the country, comes in at No. 6 in the offensive ranking. The Orange have proven they know how to take advantage of their opportunities, as they’re the second best man-up team in the country, scoring on 58.3 percent of all power plays, and have the fifth fewest turnovers per game (10.92). Syracuse’s well-rounded offense managed to sit inside the top 20 in the country for the other three major statistics as well.

There were some interesting exclusions from the list as well. Notre Dame, which ranks No. 4 in the nation, failed to crack even the top 20 in any of the five categories, and No. 10 North Carolina, which owns wins against Denver and Syracuse, only had one stat fall inside the top 20 — the Tar Heels’ face off percentage (54.4 percent) ranks 17th in the nation. Those two schools, plus Rutgers (No. 11) and Boston (No. 20), are the only four in Inside Lacrosse’s top 20 to not make our ranking.

See the full rankings of all 29 teams that landed in the top 10 of at least one of the five categories below: