Maryland 2023

[keno in reno]

Awfully crowded roster of talent at MD but Mullane is an awfully good player, he will see the field and contribute. 109 points and missed their last 2 playoff games, very shifty, excellent finisher and distributer.

This kid looks REALLY good. That video compilation shows a very gritty, fast player, shoots equally well both hands, and assists as often as he scores…that’s a positive to say the least.

I agree he will see not just the field, but he will be a starter.

Why did he miss the last two games?

So you got him slotted as a starter based on the youtube. Can you say whose spot he's taking (or who you want to transfer to Loyola)?

[Peter Brown]

Awfully crowded roster of talent at MD but Mullane is an awfully good player, he will see the field and contribute. 109 points and missed their last 2 playoff games, very shifty, excellent finisher and distributer.

This kid looks REALLY good. That video compilation shows a very gritty, fast player, shoots equally well both hands, and assists as often as he scores…that’s a positive to say the least.

I agree he will see not just the field, but he will be a starter.

Why did he miss the last two games?

So you got him slotted as a starter based on the youtube. Can you say whose spot he's taking (or who you want to transfer to Loyola)?

We’ll take anyone you don’t want.

Also, while I realize the Terps returning offensive bench isn’t exactly thin, you are losing Wisnauskas, Donville, Khan, Demaio…big shoes to fill. I’d bet this kid Mullane earns a slot. If you make his numbers playing in sideways sleet and monster snowstorms, imagine how much better you play in decent weather.

[MoralTerpitude]

Talking about any of this in terms of positions just confuses what's happening. Tills wants the best 6 offensive players on the field that he deploy at any time. They'll all play up top, on the wings, at GLE, or behind the goal. The offense needs skilled, selfless, and intelligent players. Players in the offense can't be one hit wonders. They have to be able to dodge, shoot, finish, and pass from anywhere on the field.

So...attack or midfield is kinda meaningless. I suspect that what we'll see moving forward with recruiting is that midfielders who can only alley dodge or only shoot won't get recruited by Tills. Attackmen who can only shoot from the wings or finish in close won't get recruited by Tills. He's long been the leader in recruiting high level athletes, so he's still going to look for that trait. But he's going to now want as many multidimensional threats as possible. It's why Maltz has gone from from a starter in a national title game to being a second line midfield replacement when Koras got hurt.

Early in the season after a Maryland game, I was walking Penn. Another player said "Duke's got bad shorties. It's all about the shorties." These weren't starters for the Terps. These were young players.

It showed to me how Maryland thinks about putting pressure on a defense. The position-less offense means that defenses need 2 good shorties, or Maryland is going to find them and expose them. The position-less offenses also mess with defenses' slide packages, especially is they're based on the opponent's positions. Like, some poles won't slide to midfielders because their scheme is based on them only sliding to attackmen. Against Maryland, an attackman will float to the top of the box next to a midfielder. The pole won't slide to a midfielder because it's not what he's supposed to do. So it get them all out of whack.

Most teams play big-little games to get shorties matched up on attackmen. Maryland's offense doesn't need to use big-little games to do that. Just one player to force a slide and then a series of passes.

You make good points, but 95% of Long's game this year was coming out of the box at 120 mph and finding the opposite wing. Next year he will do a lot more like he did in the past, but there is tremendous value to players who are great at primarily 1 thing (especially snipers or inside scorers).

Yeah… Murphy did most of his scoring off set-play sniping, and dodged very little. Felt like Koras got most of his goals cutting down the alley and being fed from the X. Khan’s scoring came primarily as a dodger, or getting fed near the crease. Wisnauskas did score some of his goals dodging, but of course that’s not his strength.

The Terps scheme called for all players to maximize their movement and passing accuracy, always look for the open guy, and frequently using picks to confuse opponents and create favorable matchups. Their high shooting percentage results from these mismatches and confusion creating so many open looks. Which is actually why I believe Maltz has a shot at alot of playing time - the scheme doesn’t necessarily call for everyone to have to be strong dodgers.

[jrn19]

It doesn't call for everyone to be strong dodgers, but it does call for everyone to be able to threaten a shortie. Wisnauskas, Khan, Malever, DeMaio, Long, Donville...if they found a match-up on a shortstick, they punished them. There was no one an opponent could isolate out of the game from a dodging standpoint the way you could with Maltz. This will be the biggest thing for Koras to improve upon if he becomes a 1st MFer, he's an incredible off ball cutter and good finisher, but when you're going against 1st rotation SSDMs and out there for 60-70% of the shifts, you have to threaten as a dodger. Also, if Kelly does assume Wisnauskas' spot from the left wing, his game primarily in college so far has been as a finisher and the book out of HS was a tremendous left hand shooter. The question with him will be being able to beat a pole. You can't have 3 guys on the field with questions as to whether they can initiate.

[keno in reno]

I would think Maltz will be out there at least 80% of the time (excluding blowout time). Experience matters, and I think he's a near identical replacement for Donville. JD was great, and he certainly had something extra that elevated Maryland from excellent to historically great, but if you look at the tape at the end of the season, he was injured or tired to the point that he struggled to get past a defender 1 on 1.

As Terps fans in the Tillman regime, it's always fun to watch the new version of MD Lacrosse, but this year will carry some extra intrigue. There's no pressure on Tillman or the team....43 years is long gone and so are 2016 and 2021. The returning close defense is as good as any returning Terps defense has ever been. Same with face-offs.

The question is can the rope unit be like 75% as good as 2022 (Coffman and Geppert are about as good of a start as you can hope for). And, can 2 or 3 of the 8 or so previously-complementary offensive guys take the next step to national leadership. Murphy seems like one. Long and Malever are right there as well. Then it's the next star up...Brennan could be great, Kelly, Koras (x2), Spanos maybe or someone else unknown to the laxpower paparazzii....

It'll be fun, but Lars will be on the same mission that Tills was on last year. Duke, on paper, should never lose a game. Then there's Princeton, Cornell, Yale, Rutgers, Penn etc.

[keno in reno]

Also, if Kelly does assume Wisnauskas' spot from the left wing,

Good points, but I'm not sure Logan ever saw the left hemisphere of the field. He was the anti-Ovechkin.

[jrn19]

Also, if Kelly does assume Wisnauskas' spot from the left wing,

Good points, but I'm not sure Logan ever saw the left hemisphere of the field. He was the anti-Ovechkin.

By left wing I mean left handed shooting spot

[MoralTerpitude]

I would think Maltz will be out there at least 80% of the time (excluding blowout time). Experience matters, and I think he's a near identical replacement for Donville. JD was great, and he certainly had something extra that elevated Maryland from excellent to historically great, but if you look at the tape at the end of the season, he was injured or tired to the point that he struggled to get past a defender 1 on 1.

Noticed this too. Donville dodged and drove for the crease a lot more earlier in the season, where as later in the the season he found space a bit further out and would just shoot to get his goals. I wondered if this was more what the offensive gameplan was calling for... I didn't see him really attempt to beat his man later in the season.

[viho]

Awfully crowded roster of talent at MD but Mullane is an awfully good player, he will see the field and contribute. 109 points and missed their last 2 playoff games, very shifty, excellent finisher and distributer.

This kid looks REALLY good. That video compilation shows a very gritty, fast player, shoots equally well both hands, and assists as often as he scores…that’s a positive to say the least.

I agree he will see not just the field, but he will be a starter.

Why did he miss the last two games?

I think his feet look alittle slow.
Hard to question Tills though....

[jrn19]

My best guess of a line-up, assuming no Xfers and it doesn't really look like there's anyone out there they'd be particularly interested in would be

A: Murphy, Malever, Kelly
M: Long, Brennan, Koras
2M: Maltz, Spanos, whomever of the young guys or this Mullane transfer pops

I suppose you could argue for Maltz in for Kelly but Kelly if he does take the next step has more shooting range. The offense still has 4 guys who can threaten you initiating on paper as of now (Murphy, Malever, Long, Brennan) but that is a step down from 6 and the 2nd MF while having an experienced goalscorer and talent isn't last years of a previous 1st MF, a 35 goal guy, and a future 1st MF. That was a unique deal. 60 goals from a 2nd MF is something you just accept is not happening. Same with 33 goals from your rope unit. That's almost 100 goals in the aggregate it's hard to see you making up. That's a lot. But if Wierman is still a 1st Team AA, Coffman comes back from injury and you find some other two-way shorties, you can lose 40ish of it and still be okay because of the defense they'll have. The goal for the offense should being a Top 5 unit. You'll probably have the best defense in the country. If you're a Top 5 unit, you're a title contender again with the #1 D/FOGO

[MoralTerpitude]

Their goal differential was plus 156 last year. They could lose all of the goals their rope unit scored, and all of the goals their second midfield scored, and still be plus 57.

Which is pretty insane.

The shorties will be very interesting to watch. If Trader plays, he's more athletic than anyone we had this year, and can score. Obviously he has to learn the system, and there will be growing pains... but he would be a very intriguing piece. Also interested to see if Lacey can take the step up to B1G-level competition.

Now that Fake is heading to Notre Dame, it will be interesting to see if Tills inserts Schaller or Larkin in as a freshman, or if he goes with Redd or Burlace. I'm sure it will all shake out in fall ball.

[AreaLax]

I would think Maltz will be out there at least 80% of the time (excluding blowout time). Experience matters, and I think he's a near identical replacement for Donville. JD was great, and he certainly had something extra that elevated Maryland from excellent to historically great, but if you look at the tape at the end of the season, he was injured or tired to the point that he struggled to get past a defender 1 on 1.

Noticed this too. Donville dodged and drove for the crease a lot more earlier in the season, where as later in the the season he found space a bit further out and would just shoot to get his goals. I wondered if this was more what the offensive gameplan was calling for... I didn't see him really attempt to beat his man later in the season.

This probably played a part

How Maryland Leveraged Analytics To Help Achieve Perfection

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... tion/59880

[MoralTerpitude]

I would think Maltz will be out there at least 80% of the time (excluding blowout time). Experience matters, and I think he's a near identical replacement for Donville. JD was great, and he certainly had something extra that elevated Maryland from excellent to historically great, but if you look at the tape at the end of the season, he was injured or tired to the point that he struggled to get past a defender 1 on 1.

Noticed this too. Donville dodged and drove for the crease a lot more earlier in the season, where as later in the the season he found space a bit further out and would just shoot to get his goals. I wondered if this was more what the offensive gameplan was calling for... I didn't see him really attempt to beat his man later in the season.

This probably played a part

How Maryland Leveraged Analytics To Help Achieve Perfection

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... tion/59880

Yup, good point. That was an excellent article, btw.

[Peter Brown]

I would think Maltz will be out there at least 80% of the time (excluding blowout time). Experience matters, and I think he's a near identical replacement for Donville. JD was great, and he certainly had something extra that elevated Maryland from excellent to historically great, but if you look at the tape at the end of the season, he was injured or tired to the point that he struggled to get past a defender 1 on 1.

Noticed this too. Donville dodged and drove for the crease a lot more earlier in the season, where as later in the the season he found space a bit further out and would just shoot to get his goals. I wondered if this was more what the offensive gameplan was calling for... I didn't see him really attempt to beat his man later in the season.

This probably played a part

How Maryland Leveraged Analytics To Help Achieve Perfection

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... tion/59880

Could you recopy the url link? Your post cuts it off so it doesn’t tie to the story.

[AreaLax]

I would think Maltz will be out there at least 80% of the time (excluding blowout time). Experience matters, and I think he's a near identical replacement for Donville. JD was great, and he certainly had something extra that elevated Maryland from excellent to historically great, but if you look at the tape at the end of the season, he was injured or tired to the point that he struggled to get past a defender 1 on 1.

Noticed this too. Donville dodged and drove for the crease a lot more earlier in the season, where as later in the the season he found space a bit further out and would just shoot to get his goals. I wondered if this was more what the offensive gameplan was calling for... I didn't see him really attempt to beat his man later in the season.

This probably played a part

How Maryland Leveraged Analytics To Help Achieve Perfection

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... tion/59880

Could you recopy the url link? Your post cuts it off so it doesn’t tie to the story.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... tion/59880

[10stone5]

I’ll break it down.

Maryland is a ‘Tremendous Machine'.

Cornell almost got the machine to break down,

but Tillman’s iPad saved the day

[Peter Brown]

I would think Maltz will be out there at least 80% of the time (excluding blowout time). Experience matters, and I think he's a near identical replacement for Donville. JD was great, and he certainly had something extra that elevated Maryland from excellent to historically great, but if you look at the tape at the end of the season, he was injured or tired to the point that he struggled to get past a defender 1 on 1.

Noticed this too. Donville dodged and drove for the crease a lot more earlier in the season, where as later in the the season he found space a bit further out and would just shoot to get his goals. I wondered if this was more what the offensive gameplan was calling for... I didn't see him really attempt to beat his man later in the season.

This probably played a part

How Maryland Leveraged Analytics To Help Achieve Perfection

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... tion/59880

Could you recopy the url link? Your post cuts it off so it doesn’t tie to the story.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... tion/59880

That’s interesting. Thank you.

[AreaLax]

Lasting Image, Resolute Defense Carry Maryland into History Books

https://www.usalaxmagazine.com/college/ ... tory-books

[Cno3putts]

Maryland's small wall (McNaney) should be in strong consideration for # 1

[Bmk2222]

Isn’t #1 typically for a guys last year?
Gotta be Makar!