Johns Hopkins 2024

[HopFan16]

OK. Let’s talk about Beaudan Szuluk. He doesn’t get AA attention because he’s an “off-ball” guy (BTW this is a major flaw with AA voting, all primary “on-ball” guys though the emphasis and vulnerabilities of modern defenses have really shifted to “off-ball” defending), but he’s been one of the best defensemen in the country this year. Just incredibly disruptive (there’s a reason he’s the program’s all-time CTO leader) and really never misses a slide, switch or cover. He will be missed next season.

Szuluk is locked in every week. All three close defensemen should be All-Americans honestly, but the voters would never go for that especially with Carc screaming in their ear about "the best ______ in college lacrosse!!!"

Cam Chauvette and Phillips and HF16s guy Koleton Marquis have shown nothing. Evans was better last year.

More brainworms. Evans was better last year because he wasn't hurt last year. Hope that helps, you rube.

Marquis hasn't gotten into a game this year. He appeared briefly in a couple games last year as a man-up specialist on the inside but I don't think he ever touched the ball. Then in his only real 6v6 playing time at attack in the 4th quarter of the playoff game vs. Bryant, he scored.

Peshko's been playing pretty well lately so I guess you have to pick on someone else, and your target appears to be a guy who literally doesn't even play. If he does ever get some real PT and performs, my guess is you'll go back to criticizing the nutritionist for having the wrong brand of protein bars in Cordish or lambasting the president of the university for not printing out meme posters and hawking them on Keyser quad? The type of smart, insightful analysis you can only get from jhu06 posts on FanLax.

[notentitled]

It is nice to see Hopkins fans so happy, so please donate to the Peter Milliman statue fund.

[jhu06]

OK. Let’s talk about Beaudan Szuluk. He doesn’t get AA attention because he’s an “off-ball” guy (BTW this is a major flaw with AA voting, all primary “on-ball” guys though the emphasis and vulnerabilities of modern defenses have really shifted to “off-ball” defending), but he’s been one of the best defensemen in the country this year. Just incredibly disruptive (there’s a reason he’s the program’s all-time CTO leader) and really never misses a slide, switch or cover. He will be missed next season.

He's been big ten player of the week 3 times and I suspect they'll give the defensive player of the week award to a blue jay again this week after holding the terps to 5 goals.

The national folks have a massive ivy/acc bias.

Petros can do Hop a big favor this week by beating Duke. Everything helps this time of year. UVA beating Notre Dame, Marquette upsetting Denver, Rutgers and Michigan winning wouldn't hurt either.

[steel_hop]

1979a.jpg
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What blows me away on these two rosters is that there is what 34 guys on the 79 team and 40 on the 84 team. There is 60 on the 2024 roster. I get that there is some COVID reasoning for the size of the roster and specialization has occurred for many positions including FOGOs and SSDM but that is quite the roster inflation.

[steel_hop]

 experiencing all of that today and then coming here to see DocB nonstop complaining is some serious whiplash. "This is bad coaching" meanwhile the Jays literally never trailed in the game, it would defy belief if this wasn't such par for the course. Get off your couch and go to a game.

I think it was a great win and a great day for lacrosse. The defense was tremendous on Saturday - what 2 EMO goals, 2 unsettled situation/fast break goals. I think only 1 real true offense goal by MD on Saturday.

I think we can also be critical of the offense. It has struggled over the last 3 games. I will grant you that the defenses they are playing are very good and that plays something into it. But, 2 (PSU and OSU) out of 3 games, the offense was non-existent in the 1st quarter and struggled to do anything. Then in the UMD game it only scored 1 goal in the 2nd half. I will grant you that the offense didn't have to do much in Maryland because they were completely inept on offense (some credit to Hopkins defense) and more face-offs plays into UMd's factor. And the offense was basically in keep away mode in the 4th quarter.

The offense is going to have to pick it up in moving forward. There will be at least a game or two in the conference or NCAA's were the offense is going to have to win the game. Most of the games the last 4-5 weeks, the offense has just done enough to win because the defense has been lights out. Hopkins is only going to go as far as face-offs and offense can go.

[51percentcorn]

Very interesting thought on Melendez '16 - I hadn't considered a DeSimone type situation. Puzzling then to some degree - you could at least understand the thinking that if DeSimone was now going to get the pole his sophomore year then he needed to be bigger - Melendez had 53 points last year. He was becoming a true threat and IIRC the word out of the fall and his play for Puerto Rico was he was close to unguardable - I am not sure there was a need to fix anything. I always assumed he had tweaked an Achilles or bad high ankle sprains which never get better until you rest them.

Cam Chauvette and Phillips and HF16s guy Koleton Marquis have shown nothing. Evans was better last year.

I can see why these types of post drive some nuts - Evans has been discussed alot - he missed a recent game and was apparently encased in so much tape the good news is he apparently is not allergic. Then - in addition - it was posted ad nauseum about the logjam at mid-field and with Degnon returning that meant H. Chauvatte would take minutes at mid-field if he took minutes. Everyone knew there were going to be casualties in terms of time. They have done a pretty good job trying to keep as many people playing and engaged as they can. Running 5 or 6 guys at SSDM - putting C. Chauvette and McDermott and Evans out there for runs at mid-field but the way you phrase things is maddening. Marquis has clearly been a consequence of the roster this year - why do you say he "has shown nothing"? That implies he played and did nothing positive when the truth is he has not played a single second. Same thing with C. Chauvette - he has gotten what 2 or 3 sixty second runs in the last 2 games in very important contests - what would you have Crawley do? - or C. Chauvette? Draw up a play for someone who has appeared in only 6 games or maybe think that the attack might shoot in that trip down the field? They have designs on playing games in potentially 90 degree weather and high humidity so they are preparing. Phillips is not a speed player - they gave him a role and unfortunately for him - he had one or two conspicuous turns at bat where it didn't go as planned.

Brody was an awesome President who had an excellent view of the university, alumni, student life and knew how to tune out the outside special interest groups. Daniels thinks too much about outside special interest groups and I'll leave it there.

Thank God - you'll leave it there. This President comparison is so tiring. Yes former Presidents may have been more in tune with the lacrosse team and student life but RD has been Large Marge in Charge for quite a while now and the world - if you haven't noticed has changed quite a bit. The truth is - you have no idea and neither do I - what Mueller or Brody or anyone would do as President in this day and age. What I do have an idea about is they wouldn't be able to do the exact same things they did back then. Again, when I was at Hopkins the only phone anyone had access to as a freshman was the rotary pay phone (maybe it was push buttons IDR) on the first floor of the dorm. Just think about that - now virtually every one of the 10,500 people who were at the Maryland game had more computing power in their pocket than Apollo 11.

Ayers, Chauvette, Grimes, Raposo and Deans are X factors moving forward. You know what the rest are giving you.

Why are Raposo and Deans on this list???? - I think I know exactly what they'll give the team. Same with H. Chauvette - he's going to get 2nd midfield runs and EMO - if he gets an open look he'll take it - what's the mystery? Anybody would admit it would be nice for Ayers to finish a few more - given his quickness - if he can increase his threat level - all the better.
Grimes has been your personal on-line punching bag for close to 4 years. I think he deserves some special credit for this year - it can't be easy for him to get religated to 2nd mid-field. His shots are down from 72 last year to 33 so far. His shot percentage is actually up a couple points. His turnovers are down from 21 to 8. All of this is a product of reduced playing time and he has produced some clutch goals. The goal on Saturday was huge in terms of regaining some momentum.

t feels like there've been a lot less transition goals for them this year. PM said something about it on the media after the game and I didn't really get it. Lots of saves and cts and you'd think we'd see more goals from lsms and ssdms.

Finally - a nugget amongst the garbage. It should feel that way because it's undeniably true. Dean and Raposo were 12 and 13th on the total point stat sheet last year with 4 goals each. Plus 10 more goals from Jaronski/Mazzone/Smith/Hawley/Martin/Kauffman. This year Smith is the only long stick with a goal and the total of non traditional scoring personnel goals is down to something like 5. Hopkins averaged 12.5 goals per game last year - it's down to 12 right now. They are averaging the exact same number of shots - 38 a game so shot percentage is down 2 points. Saves and caused turovers are certainly up - Last year Marcille averaged about 10 saves a game - Chayse has taken that number up to 12 - Caused turnovers is only up 1 per game on average 7.5 to 8.5. So that is still 3 theoretical opportunities a game - 39 over 13 games. So how now brown cow? Is it Mazzone and Hawley? Well they only scored 3 of the 20 non traditional goals so not really - Mazzone also had 2 assists - Hawley 1 but still 14 unaccounted for and Hawley's 2 points came off the face-off almost assuredly. So the answer - seems clear it is a conscious choice. They are playing the possession game and transition carries with it more risk - especially if you're at a less than 50% chance to see the ball again after a score. Saves are up 2 per game/Caused turonvers are up 1/Hopkins turnovers are down 2 per game/Clearing is up a little over a percentage point but you know what is astronomically better from last year to this year? Opponents Caused Turnovers. In 2023 opponents caused the exact same number of turnovers as Hopkins 135 - for an average of 7.5 per game. This year it's down to under 6 - 76 CTO's in 13 games. So IMO the thinking in the Cordish Center is - if we take long possessions - take better care of the ball - give our defense legs whenever they have to fight and make sure it's 6v6 - then we're clearly in the ball game. The only hole in that theory has been the number of penalties.

[LaxAllStars]

Top 20 April 22 QK

https://laxallstars.com/quint-kessenich ... 22nd-2024/

[wgdsr]

 experiencing all of that today and then coming here to see DocB nonstop complaining is some serious whiplash. "This is bad coaching" meanwhile the Jays literally never trailed in the game, it would defy belief if this wasn't such par for the course. Get off your couch and go to a game.

I think it was a great win and a great day for lacrosse. The defense was tremendous on Saturday - what 2 EMO goals, 2 unsettled situation/fast break goals. I think only 1 real true offense goal by MD on Saturday.

I think we can also be critical of the offense. It has struggled over the last 3 games. I will grant you that the defenses they are playing are very good and that plays something into it. But, 2 (PSU and OSU) out of 3 games, the offense was non-existent in the 1st quarter and struggled to do anything. Then in the UMD game it only scored 1 goal in the 2nd half. I will grant you that the offense didn't have to do much in Maryland because they were completely inept on offense (some credit to Hopkins defense) and more face-offs plays into UMd's factor. And the offense was basically in keep away mode in the 4th quarter.

The offense is going to have to pick it up in moving forward. There will be at least a game or two in the conference or NCAA's were the offense is going to have to win the game. Most of the games the last 4-5 weeks, the offense has just done enough to win because the defense has been lights out. Hopkins is only going to go as far as face-offs and offense can go.

think this is going to be the storyline when it comes to b1g vs acc and ivy teams in the tournament. call it slower pace of play, the better personnel is on the defensive side this year for the b1g, whatever.

the (very) short history since the shot clock came in is a high-scoring team has won it all. can the b1g change that narrative this year? any team advancing will have one or likely 2 games if they go deep where the bell is getting rung a bunch. runs inclusive of quick transition goals.
as well as a game or 2 where the goals are tougher to come by, but you need to manufacture them late. can the teams built on defense survive that?

[51percentcorn]

I think we can also be critical of the offense. It has struggled over the last 3 games. I will grant you that the defenses they are playing are very good and that plays something into it. But, 2 (PSU and OSU) out of 3 games, the offense was non-existent in the 1st quarter and struggled to do anything. Then in the UMD game it only scored 1 goal in the 2nd half. I will grant you that the offense didn't have to do much in Maryland because they were completely inept on offense (some credit to Hopkins defense) and more face-offs plays into UMd's factor. And the offense was basically in keep away mode in the 4th quarter.

Steel - you have alluded to some of the issues but I think the offensive "production" was clearly affected by the last 3 opponents. In 2 of the last 3 games they were facing 2 of the very best goalies in the country - if Notre Dame repeats Entenmann will likely win the Kelly and be 1st AA and of course he is a great goalie but if I couldn't have Chayse and got to pick - I would take Fracyon. After the 1st quarter they came close to averaging 3 goals a quarter on Penn State which is about as good as you're going to do IMO - plus Hopkins saw the return of Posey and the other defenseman. Penn State is a problem for all future opponents. Ohio State is a good defensive team that matches up well with Hopkins and that game was their season - chance to get above 500 beat a Top 5 ranked team and maybe create a scenario to stab the #3 seed in the BIG. You could see it in OSU's start against Michigan - they were very flat - hard to retain all that energy - though to their credit a nice rally. And Maryland is Maryland - a great defensive team but it was crystal clear that once Peshko scored to get the 2 goal lead back - Hopkins was content to almost never see the face-off X again. I think to understand Hopkins all you need to do is look at the Syracuse box score - down 13 in face-offs - 6 failed clears - game is 8-8 with 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter - 1 minute into the 4th they are down 12-8. They are determined to do what they can never to see that again. If they play Yale or any of the ACC teams - they are going to have to figure something out but even though they went toe to toe with UVA - that's not how they are going to get it done.

[10stone5]

1979a.jpg
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What blows me away on these two rosters is that there is what 34 guys on the 79 team and 40 on the 84 team. There is 60 on the 2024 roster. I get that there is some COVID reasoning for the size of the roster and specialization has occurred for many positions including FOGOs and SSDM but that is quite the roster inflation.

I read somewhere here that #38 of the 1979 team and formerly of LP was on the field Saturday for the halftime show.

[51percentcorn]

the (very) short history since the shot clock came in is a high-scoring team has won it all. can the b1g change that narrative this year? any team advancing will have one or likely 2 games if they go deep where the bell is getting rung a bunch. runs inclusive of quick transition goals.
as well as a game or 2 where the goals are tougher to come by, but you need to manufacture them late. can the teams built on defense survive that?

Great post - one little wrinkle to it is the championship game is often not that way though as you point out the team with a high scoring propensity for that year has won - most obvious example being the Maryland juggernaut that won 9-7. Obviously the short rest and the ultimate significance of the game are big factors. It's also interesting a bit that the history shows recently - in 2023 and 2019 that Notre Dame and UVA scored exactly 13 goals in every game from the quarters on (except for ND's 12 against Hopkins). If a BIG team survived to Memorial Day itself - there might be an advantage but of course Hopkins has the big disadvantge at face-offs to at least 3 of the 4 ACC teams.

[HopFan16]

Obviously the offense needs to be better than they were on Saturday if they want to play on Memorial Day Weekend but for the most part they have put up solid goal totals against teams with non-elite defenses. 16, 13, and 13 goals against their three ACC opponents and 15 and 13 against Michigan and Rutgers, respectively. Their most efficient day on offense of the season by far was against Cuse. Their third best was against UVA. We have lots of data to suggest the Jays can and likely will score goals on certain teams. The last three defenses (and goalies) they've faced have been particularly tough and yes stylistically some of these B1G games are slow and methodical by design.

The three likely B1G tourney teams (JHU, PSU, MD) are 2-3 against likely ACC tourney teams (ND, Cuse, UVA — no games vs. Duke and not counting Hop's win over UNC) and 2-0 against Ivy teams (Cornell and Yale — not counting MD's win over Brown). These are the individual scores:

Hop 16 UVA 14
Cuse 14 Hop 13
MD 13 Cuse 12
ND 14 MD 9
UVA 14 MD 10
PSU 20 Cornell 9
PSU 15 Yale 14

So in these seven games, 15 goals is the best the ACC/Ivy has done against the B1G. You're not scoring 17-18 against these B1G teams. Not going to happen. B1G teams hit that 15-goal mark in three of the seven games. Could mean something. Maybe, maybe not. MD's offense seems like the weakest link.

Tourney should be fun. As wide open as it's been in awhile. ND is the favorite of course, but beatable. That D can be scored on.

[51percentcorn]

Stricty from a tournament seeding point of view - who am I rooting for this week-end and next? - Use a Huge assumption and say Hopkins figures out a way to win the BIG Tournament - they would have at least one more Top 10 win with Maryland or Penn State the likely oppponent (only Rutgers could spoil that date on the other side of the bracket).

So the ACC is pretty well set - especially if you believe DUke will handle Carolina in their regular season finale. Then regardless of the outcome of UVA/ND the seeding for the ACC is
ND
Syracuse
Duke
UVA

So UVA-Notre Dame will very likely play back to back and Duke will have a chance to say something about getting worked 10-4 by the Orange.
Do I care for Hopkins seeding? I'm thinking I am a Hoos fan for the next two weeks but if UVA took care of Notre Dame twice and either Duke or Syracuse did I just see an Orange and Blue Bus blow by Hopkins in the fast lane? Do I care who wins Duke/Syracuse?

The IVY is somewhat set but could be thrown into some chaos if I read the tea leaves correctly. If Cornell beats Dartmouth - extremely likely - they are the #1 seed and host. If Yale defeats Princeton - Yale is the number 2 seed. However, if Princeton wins they vault all the way to the #2 seed - Yale falls to 3 and Penn is 4. In addition, if Princeton loses and Brown beats Harvard - Princeton looks to be out - Penn is 3 and Brown is 4. I think I am a Tiger fan No? Anybody that can hang losses onto Yale is best right?

[jhu06]

-In fairness to Melendez he made a great cut against OSU and likely could've ended the game if the OSU pole hadn't made an amazing play at the last minute to spin around and get a stick on him. Grimes also had the goalie beat and just hit a pipe. You see some of the comments on other forums about their teams offensive issues and seems they'd really wish to have that be their biggest concerns.
-They've also switched up some of the man up stuff instead of just trying to set up Degnon from his home away from home up top.
-PM has been a big Stuart Phillips and Cam Chauvette guy for awhile. He's talked them up for years and played them when he could. If there were offensive injuries or dissapointments up the depth chart I don't think he'd hesitate to throw them out there more.
-Somewhere PM talked about transition offense. I don't remember where.
-Having the number 4 recruit or whatever he was in his class on 2nd midfield is not a bad option and credit to Grimes like a lot of guys in his class for gutting it out through the transition. He's had an impact in spots this year and one of the big differences between this team and last years from the end of the Petro era and start of the PM era is that we have not seen guys like him playing lots of defense and running back after bad turnovers and poor shots that led to easy saves. I think Peshko maybe drew a penalty playing defense saturday but offensive middies on defense was something we've seen a lot less of this year. Yes the offense hasn't been great at times, but it also hasn't put the pressure on itself, Ierlan and the defense the way it did a few years ago because it couldn't get its act together.
-X factors are guys to me that could come up and be real difference makers beyond the headliners. Chauvette, Ayers, and Grimes have earned some great looks in recent weeks they've just faced some excellent goalie saves.
-Timeout usage has been an up and down thing for PM over the season. On the plus side he seems determined to hold them as late as he can in halves.
-I will give Daniels and Baker credit on the roster. That's some admissions gymnastics to grow the team size like that over the years especially in this admissions climate. The program has also kept the guys on the field and avoided some of the off field issues that plagued the end of the Petro era.
-I'm rooting for Hopkins, UVA, Georgetown, Michigan to win. Denver, Duke, and Syracuse to get drubbed. Can't decide on Loyola-always dangerous, the ivy which I don't follow, and Towson.

[HopFan16]

Stricty from a tournament seeding point of view - who am I rooting for this week-end and next? - Use a Huge assumption and say Hopkins figures out a way to win the BIG Tournament - they would have at least one more Top 10 win with Maryland or Penn State the likely oppponent (only Rutgers could spoil that date on the other side of the bracket).

So the ACC is pretty well set - especially if you believe DUke will handle Carolina in their regular season finale. Then regardless of the outcome of UVA/ND the seeding for the ACC is
ND
Syracuse
Duke
UVA

So UVA-Notre Dame will very likely play back to back and Duke will have a chance to say something about getting worked 10-4 by the Orange.
Do I care for Hopkins seeding? I'm thinking I am a Hoos fan for the next two weeks but if UVA took care of Notre Dame twice and either Duke or Syracuse did I just see an Orange and Blue Bus blow by Hopkins in the fast lane? Do I care who wins Duke/Syracuse?

The IVY is somewhat set but could be thrown into some chaos if I read the tea leaves correctly. If Cornell beats Dartmouth - extremely likely - they are the #1 seed and host. If Yale defeats Princeton - Yale is the number 2 seed. However, if Princeton wins they vault all the way to the #2 seed - Yale falls to 3 and Penn is 4. In addition, if Princeton loses and Brown beats Harvard - Princeton looks to be out - Penn is 3 and Brown is 4. I think I am a Tiger fan No? Anybody that can hang losses onto Yale is best right?

We're rooting for UVA because we want them to get back in the RPI top 5. Right now they are just out at 6. We have three top 10 wins and seven top 20 wins — more than any other team — but the only thing missing is a top 5, which was UVA till they lost this weekend. I think it's unlikely they jump us in seeding if we end up with comparable resumes, since we have the H2H. For them to jump us it would likely require them to win out with some outside help. Long story short, I think we're Hoo fans.

Denver we want to lose. We're competing with them for a seed but they have the H2H. I think it's possible (likely, even?) that we finish with a stronger resume than Denver to the point where their H2H win over us won't matter. We definitely, definitely want Georgetown to take the AQ because that probably puts them into the top 10 (giving us another T10 win) and knocks Denver down a peg. If that were to happen, I think our floor is the 4 seed with the potential to be as high as 2.

Cuse might be a little more nuanced. Similar to Denver, we're competing with them for a top 3-5 seed and they have the H2H but this one is different because if they win that means other ACC teams are losing — and maybe that puts Cuse ahead of us but might also put us ahead of a team like Duke. So could be a tradeoff.

[jhu06]

Top 20 April 22 QK

https://laxallstars.com/quint-kessenich ... 22nd-2024/

Have your pal quint tell his espn overlords to get the lacrosse schedule on the espn app the same score alerts and updates the other college sports have.

[lacrosseobserver]

It’s crazy how little this thread mentions the impact of #22 on this team. I think this team’s record looks a lot different with a different goalie in net. You need elite goalie play for MDW and luckily the Jays have it.

[DocBarrister]

It’s crazy how little this thread mentions the impact of #22 on this team. I think this team’s record looks a lot different with a different goalie in net. You need elite goalie play for MDW and luckily the Jays have it.

Blue Jays would have several more losses (at least) without Ierlan’s stellar play in goal. Not just the saves, but also his excellent work on clears.

Ierlan has also improved markedly in one area of his game over the course of the season: controlling rebounds. That aspect of his game is so much better than it was early in the season. He’s having an All-American caliber season.

DocBarrister

[norcalhop]

Ierlan might be a 1st team all american

[DocBarrister]

Obviously the offense needs to be better than they were on Saturday if they want to play on Memorial Day Weekend ….

In recent seasons, the Blue Jays’ O had problems with spacing, careless turnovers, and stagnant off-ball movement. The O often seemed out of sync.

Through a lot of hard work, the Blue Jays seem to have fixed some of those fundamental problems.

The O’s main issue now is related to Quint’s recent comment that the Hopkins O was “minimally invasive.”

QK is right on the mark. The Blue Jays are not aggressive enough in their dodging. Even a motion offense relies on effective dodges.

As I have stated before, I think the Big Guys (Collison, Peshko, and Grimes) need to be more aggressive in their dodging. Right now, opponents are perfectly content putting a SSDM on the Big Guys. That really needs to change. If Collison and Peshko can force opponents to put a longpole on them (or do so more frequently), that will allow some of our speedsters like Melendez, Bauer, Ayers, and Evans to dodge against a shortstick.

As things stand, Collison, Peshko, and Grimes are too passive against their shortsticks and Melendez and Bauer have to dodge against longpoles.

If the Big Guys can demand more attention from opponents, maybe even drawing a longpole and more slides, that will open the O for teammates like Bauer, Melendez, and Ayers.

That is not a major change. We know the Hopkins O can implement that kind of offense (just watch a game where Hopkins rallied in the fourth quarter). It requires more power dodges from the Big Guys. None of them are as athletic or fast as Harrison or Rabil, but they have already shown they can effectively dodge with aggression, even without elite speed.

Blue Jays cannot come close to competing for a national championship with a “minimally invasive” O. It’s up to the Big Guys (and Crawley) to change that. The bye week is probably their best opportunity to do so.

DocBarrister