Johns Hopkins 2020

[HopFan16]

I have no issues with Mr. Willis, though I get how he’s
not everyone’s cup of tea. Like his antics or not, he’s one of the characters that make this program special. He’s kind of like DocB turned up to 11. Just absolute unconditional love and passion for this team through thick and thin. I don’t really mind that he technically has no connection the school—arguably his passion means even more since it happened organically. That someone can be a stranger to the school and the program and become so totally invested in it is interesting. You don’t see that at every school, especially in a niche sport like lacrosse.

51, do you have any idea who started on D with Colwell? I looked at some of the photos circulating online, pretty sure Reinson stayed at LSM/wings on faceoff. If I make it to Villanova next week I’m going to try to pay extra attention to this.

[flalax22]

You don't have to scream when you're the only one screaming - maybe that should be a clue - you don't have to berate the refs constantly - telling them they "suck", that they are "abominations" and complain about every single call - and oh by the way - often wrong.

Are you talking about Willis or Pietramala? lol

[stupefied]

Loud, obnoxious, ref baiting fan in stands who attends and cheerfully engages at tail gates ?? Sounds like your average rabid football fan supporting and cheering on his team and enjoying the event to the fullest . The background story was great.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Social media is your answer.

[TheBigIguana]

I like the idea of Cornell Willis. Passionate, loud, long time supporter who doesn't miss a home game and often makes the road trips as well. However in action it is a little bit uglier. It would be nice if he turned it down just a bit towards the refs but kept the energy just the same.

[51percentcorn]

I am pretty sure Steel might have been one of them. Only because I heard a bunch of players yelling the name as the team broke the huddle. McManus is my other guess. When the players were playing it was impossible to read the back of the helmet or the number on the sweats. You actually had to hang pretty close to the Hopkins bench to see who was who.

My last word on Hopkins #1 Superfan. Stupified is absolutely correct - if he was at a big time college or pro football game - probably wouldn't bat an eye. But he's not. And of course football has the mini break after every play where the crowd is supposed to help the home team. He's at a continuous action game where nobody else is even remotely close to exhibiting similar behavior so his act is conspicuous and disruptive to the people around him and by around him I mean the next 4 sections. Yes - Homewood is no longer packed except for one game and I am free to move about the cabin and find another seat but I really shouldn't have to. And for Maryland this year I probably will not be able to so I'll have to listen to that crap all game long. The only thing I have ever seen in lacrosse that approaches him are the Navy Hooligans and the guy that used to show up at Hop in the female cheerleader outfit and they were both drunk out of their minds. Oh well, one more thing I can't control so I should stop.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

You can control it.

Voice your displeasure to some particular people.

Or don’t go.

I’m not sure sitting on the Schelle side would help. Sound travels over an otherwise deathly quiet stadium.

[HopFan16]

I am pretty sure Steel might have been one of them. Only because I heard a bunch of players yelling the name as the team broke the huddle. McManus is my other guess. When the players were playing it was impossible to read the back of the helmet or the number on the sweats. You actually had to hang pretty close to the Hopkins bench to see who was who.

PS I've confirmed from someone quite close to the team that Colwell, McManus, and Steel were the defensive starters yesterday. Steel is interesting—I remember him being highly touted out of high school but haven't seen his name brought up much. There was one LaxPower poster, forget who it was, but he used to swear by the kid's ability.

[51percentcorn]

Steel wrecked his knee pretty bad his last year at Bullis if I remember correctly. I think that set him back down the depth chart. If he plays a major role this year it will be a good story.

[jhu06]

-Thanks to those of you who went this weekend and shared your observations. I doubt many programs get that kind of support. I think the sid should take a page from duke hoops and start listing the player alumni that attend that days game. Nice to way to thank them, show off the tradition, and let recruits know they'll be playing in front of their heroes.
-connor disimone is a big situation to watch this year. Goalie, close d, ssdm. lsm would all rank ahead of him for me on questions going into this year but he had a really rough season last year and I'll be curious if he can bounce back and if he can't how long a leash he gets. They said something last about him bulking up and that causing him problems. Every year one of the greatest challenges seems to be the 1-2 veterans whose play match the pt they get and Petro leaves them in all year.
-What's the difference between murphy and angelus and what they bring?
-Shilling was a part of man up last year. Not a big factor, but that was a strength.
-This is the second time following the lambrecht lm story I've seen mcmanus noted as getting serious pt, other than some minutes against Syracuse as an ssdm I don't remember him as much of a factor last year.
-Xanders had a pretty positive set of tweets about the defense this weekend, but I'm not sure what richmond+marquette have this year. It'll be interesting if the play carries over to villanova.
- Hopefully they spotlight the band, the artist, and the bananas later this year and others. ESPN, dixon et al read this, now that stanwick had graduated time for some new vignettes, let the national viewing audience into the hallowed homewood traditions.
-Disappointing to see darby back in net. he had a bad year last year and you'd hope there'd be someone taking the chance to take his job.
-Most of the younger alumni I've talked to don't care about the alumni preference curb but I know a lot of older alumni who are really upset and reconsidering their support for the school. I think it was a poor decision that we especially shouldn't have had to read about second hand. If you feel the same way and want to dm or are aware of efforts to write Daniels on it I'd be interested.

[JJ_Lax]

Hopkins has not had legacy admissions since at least 2014. I applied in 2014 and the Common App had a check box for something like “Did a family member attend JHU?” and underneath it was a disclaimer that said “JHU does not take legacy into account for admissions.”

My guess is that Hopkins quietly ended legacy admissions and didn’t make a public fanfare about it until they were sure Bloomberg would make a huge commitment. So now it doesn’t matter if alumni decide to rescind their support.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Hopkins has become a huge land redevelopment corporation. There has to be some windfall gains to the bottom line from what they’ve done to Charles Village.

[CT Transplant]

Is HOP the only team that does this?

Lots of teams. Maryland does it too.

With the enormous caveat that it's still January and the Jays will see more prolific offenses in the regular season...it sounds like the starting defense fared pretty well in both scrimmages.

Seeing Zinn's name a bunch is music to my ears, but also like to see Degnon and Mabbett in the mix—going to be hard to continue calling that group the "munchkin middies" if all those guys are involved.

Zinn is a good player. Like I mention to you last year. In a few season, you will forget about his freshman season. The adjustments to college midfield isn’t easy and Zinn’s probably received more coaching in one year at Hopkins than his 4 years of high school. A slow transition is good for him in the long run.

Is that a dig on Coach Mac??

[Typical Lax Dad]

Is HOP the only team that does this?

Lots of teams. Maryland does it too.

With the enormous caveat that it's still January and the Jays will see more prolific offenses in the regular season...it sounds like the starting defense fared pretty well in both scrimmages.

Seeing Zinn's name a bunch is music to my ears, but also like to see Degnon and Mabbett in the mix—going to be hard to continue calling that group the "munchkin middies" if all those guys are involved.

Zinn is a good player. Like I mention to you last year. In a few season, you will forget about his freshman season. The adjustments to college midfield isn’t easy and Zinn’s probably received more coaching in one year at Hopkins than his 4 years of high school. A slow transition is good for him in the long run.

Is that a dig on Coach Mac??

A dig at most high school coaching staffs and Staples’ style of play. That’s all.

[DocBarrister]

Hopkins has not had legacy admissions since at least 2014. I applied in 2014 and the Common App had a check box for something like “Did a family member attend JHU?” and underneath it was a disclaimer that said “JHU does not take legacy into account for admissions.”

My guess is that Hopkins quietly ended legacy admissions and didn’t make a public fanfare about it until they were sure Bloomberg would make a huge commitment. So now it doesn’t matter if alumni decide to rescind their support.

Would be a little skeptical about that “disclaimer”. Every year I “disclaim” to my wife my addiction to watching Notre Dame football and Johns Hopkins lacrosse. She remains skeptical.

Just sayin’ ....

DocBarrister

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Sad.

You could be watching far better college football.

And lacrosse.

[flalax22]

I think people are reading too much into who started this weekend. Next weekend is when you can really evaluate who starts and gets the bulk of playing time.

Speaking of that, anyone heading to Villanova?

[JJ_Lax]

Hopkins has not had legacy admissions since at least 2014. I applied in 2014 and the Common App had a check box for something like “Did a family member attend JHU?” and underneath it was a disclaimer that said “JHU does not take legacy into account for admissions.”

My guess is that Hopkins quietly ended legacy admissions and didn’t make a public fanfare about it until they were sure Bloomberg would make a huge commitment. So now it doesn’t matter if alumni decide to rescind their support.

Would be a little skeptical about that “disclaimer”. Every year I “disclaim” to my wife my addiction to watching Notre Dame football and Johns Hopkins lacrosse. She remains skeptical.

Just sayin’ ....

DocBarrister

I think the disclaimer didn’t really register for a lot of us as the end to legacy admissions. I read it at the time as a non-discrimination statement of some kind.

I found this interview on NPR with the Vice Provost of admissions and financial aid: “In 2014, the school decided to end so-called legacy admissions. Now they say they've been able to see the effects of that change.”

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/25/79947071 ... admissions

[steel_hop]

Darby started

I pretty sure people said I was crazy last fall when I said that Darby would be the odds on favorite even if Gianclone played better in the preseason. He would have to play way better to jump over Darby - just how Petro looks at it. And, hey maybe he has improved. But, he started out okay last year, too. I would suspect he has a shorter leash this year. Regardless, Hopkins needs to get better production out of the goalie position this year.

the most awesome 3 year old Black Lab to play with.

Labs are the best. So dumb, but so awesome.

You don't have to scream when you're the only one screaming - maybe that should be a clue - you don't have to berate the refs constantly - telling them they "suck", that they are "abominations" and complain about every single call - and oh by the way - often wrong.

He is an embarrassment to the school and the program. Unfortunately, there really is no way to turn him off.

He reminds me of the opposing coach that I coached against yesterday in my daughter's 7th grade CYO. He was constantly on the refs "that is a foul, she's arm barring my player, etc." Any time one of his players dribbled off their foot, made a bad pass, there had to be some time of foul on my girls.
It was the entire game*.

I'm a pretty chill coach and let the refs do their thing. If I say anything it is to my assistant coach on the low end like "oh, that was a walk or that should have been a foul" Anyway, at one point, he calls a timeout in the 1st half. I gather my team to go over some points. He goes to the refs and tells them they should watch what I say to them and the refs should get more control of the game. My assistant told me the smirk on the ref's face when he said "okay coach" to the other coach summed up what the ref thought. He even came up to me at halftime and said I should stop giving the refs a hard time. As the second half starts up, he starts in on it again.

Ref even came up to me after the game and said he has no idea what that coach was talking about with respect to me. He said I was fine and congratulated our girls for shutting the other coach up.

*Well, it wasn't the entire game. We were up about 6 at halftime and then put it to them in the second half and won by 25+. When we got up by about 20 six minutes into the second half. He got quiet on the refs.

[HopFan16]

Speaking of that, anyone heading to Villanova?

I'm going to try, but it depends on the weather. Right now they're calling for mid 40s, no rain, which would be fine, but there's also some "wintry mix" expected later that weekend so if that gets moved up then I'll probably pass.

-What's the difference between murphy and angelus and what they bring?

Angelus - more of a QB type attackman, a tad undersized but a natural scorer, the kid dropped 400 points in a solid high school league that sends a lot of guys to D1 schools. But also versatile enough to play attack or middie, on the wing or behind the cage. His highlight tape shows he can do a little bit of everything. I like his skill set

Murphy - a late U19 team cut, has a cannon of a shot from the righty wing, also known for his slick stick work (and perhaps the occasional turnover that results from that)—talented enough that Benson will probably find a spot for him even if it's not as a starting attackman. Though it seems like he has an opportunity to play some there if Smith stays at midfield. Some have noted he could afford to hit the weight room. I honestly have no idea how things are going to shake out between him, Angelus, and Smith (and Degnon?) re: the 3rd A spot

The offense has a boat load of talent. Not super concerned about that end of the field.