The lacrosse world has not entirely turned upside down. But there is something very, very odd about this week.

Johns Hopkins is an underdog. And a decided one at that heading into its semifinal meeting with vaunted Duke on Saturday.

Players up at Homewood were loose on Tuesday, excited about a new shipment of Nike cleats that arrived that day. While care-free wouldn't be the right way to describe them, there was a definite sense of calm complemented with giddiness.

Even coach Dave Pietramala was somewhat relaxed --- a relative term for a guy whose picture should be in the thesaurus next to the word "intense." OK, so he wouldn't seem relaxed to the average person. But he has said throughout the week that the external pressure is gone now that the Blue Jays are back in the final four.

Which got me thinking: When was the last time the Hop was in such a pressure-free spot in the final four?

It wasn't last year, when unseeded Delaware awaited in the semifinals.

It wasn't in 2005, when it was understood that if any team would break an 18-year title drought, it would be the undefeated group led by Kyle Harrison.

It wasn't in 2002, 2003 or 2004, when the Blue Jays were the top seed and still tumbled.

As Hopkins progressed through its "good-but-not-good-enough" years --- otherwise known as the Tony Seaman and John Haus years --- it lost to a lower seed in 1991 (quarterfinals), 1995 (semifinals), 1997 (quarterfinals), 1998 (quarterfinals) and 1999 (semifinals). Petro's first season ended with the same sort of loss in the 2001 quarterfinals.

Those kinds of setbacks tend to accrue pressure and expectations for the future, regardless of the actual circumstance. That means in a year like 2000, when Hopkins was a No. 4 seed playing top seed and eventual national champ Syracuse, there was plenty of pressure. (That season, there were also the Haus-to-North Carolina rumors circulating about that ultimately came to fruition).

So back to the original question. The best guess here is the last time Hopkins was playing with house money (a term that has not been copyrighted by 2008 Duke, by the way) was in 1987, when unbeaten and top-seeded Maryland awaited in the semifinals.

The Blue Jays pulled the huge upset, then knocked off Cornell two days later for a title. Pietramala was a star defenseman for that 1987 team, and it wouldn't be a surprise if he went to that well once or twice this week for some perspective on what his team is facing.

After all, it's not like his guys are accustomed to being an underdog.

--- Patrick Stevens