Johns Hopkins 2021

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Yep. 117 is aka “the UK variant”.

[Wheels]

Can confirm that Tills has hired Bobby Benson as OC. Will arrive on Tues. Formal announcement coming this week.

Familiarity with conference and players were big factors. Benson down in ATL but has told his HS team.

[HopFan16]

Can confirm that Tills has hired Bobby Benson as OC. Will arrive on Tues. Formal announcement coming this week.

Familiarity with conference and players were big factors. Benson down in ATL but has told his HS team.

Extra wrinkle to what will be 2+ Rivalry games this year.

I wonder who will have the "advantage"—Benson with his knowledge of Hop's personnel (though he won't know exactly how the new staff will use them), or the Hop players—on both sides of the ball—who know how Benson runs his offenses (though he might not run the same one he ran at Hop). Lots of games within the game here. Should be fun.

[Wheels]

Extra wrinkle to what will be 2+ Rivalry games this year.

I wonder who will have the "advantage"—Benson with his knowledge of Hop's personnel (though he won't know exactly how the new staff will use them), or the Hop players—on both sides of the ball—who know how Benson runs his offenses (though he might not run the same one he ran at Hop). Lots of games within the game here. Should be fun.

Given how close it is to the season, I can't imagine he'll make too many changes to the offense. But he'll probably immediately make that EMO better. Seems to be a common theme across his various stints. Immediate improvement in the EMO. With Holden and Brown joining the offense in College Park, Benson will probably maximize that EMO unit pretty nicely.

[jrn19]

Can confirm that Tills has hired Bobby Benson as OC. Will arrive on Tues. Formal announcement coming this week.

Familiarity with conference and players were big factors. Benson down in ATL but has told his HS team.

Extra wrinkle to what will be 2+ Rivalry games this year.

I wonder who will have the "advantage"—Benson with his knowledge of Hop's personnel (though he won't know exactly how the new staff will use them), or the Hop players—on both sides of the ball—who know how Benson runs his offenses (though he might not run the same one he ran at Hop). Lots of games within the game here. Should be fun.

I don't expect Maryland's offense to be much different than what they've run with Reppert. Benson will likely definitely get to put his imprint on the EMO but I think things will be similar in the 6-on-6. Next year though when Maryland could be losing the entire Top 6 and likely at minimum 4 of the Top 6 is where he'll get to really put in his stuff I imagine

[jhu06]

Extra wrinkle to what will be 2+ Rivalry games this year.

I wonder who will have the "advantage"—Benson with his knowledge of Hop's personnel (though he won't know exactly how the new staff will use them), or the Hop players—on both sides of the ball—who know how Benson runs his offenses (though he might not run the same one he ran at Hop). Lots of games within the game here. Should be fun.

Given how close it is to the season, I can't imagine he'll make too many changes to the offense. But he'll probably immediately make that EMO better. Seems to be a common theme across his various stints. Immediate improvement in the EMO. With Holden and Brown joining the offense in College Park, Benson will probably maximize that EMO unit pretty nicely.

what is the current Hopkins man down unit? this is a good point and congrats to 16 and jrn who posted on the terp forum about this possibility

[HopFan16]

what is the current Hopkins man down unit? this is a good point and congrats to 16 and jrn who posted on the terp forum about this possibility

Without any preseason reports it's just a complete guess at this point. Epstein will be out there. Either Degnon or Grimes (or perhaps both) will be out there as the sniper on the left side. They'll need at least one righty shooter—Angelus, Zinn, DeSimone, Baskin, or one of the freshmen would all be options there. And then you want another second QB type up top who can thread those skip passes to the crease. That would actually be a great spot for McDermott but who knows what they're thinking right now or if he'll be ready. The big question is whether this staff will put Williams on EMO after the previous one did not view him as an extra-man player.

[51percentcorn]

His question said man down not up - aside from kirson and probably reinson who knows?

[HopFan16]

Whoops, misread. But as you noted man-down is even more of a mystery. Not even sure I'd pencil in Reinson quite yet. You'd think someone with his experience has to be out there given how young the rest of the defense is but who really knows. I think there's a very good chance we see a lot of Szuluk given he's someone the new staff actually got to pick, but again, wouldn't feel super comfortable putting money on it. Can't remember a time when there's been so much uncertainty on the defensive end headed into a season. But I suppose along with uncertainty, there's a certain degree of hope as well.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Ozzy Man with a Hopkins highlight among many other clips.



NSFW due to language. But if you’re Aussie, a few F and C words here and there are no big deal.

Oh yeah, there is also one awesome cat evasive maneuver scene too.

[DougELax]

Ozzy Man with a Hopkins highlight among many other clips.



NSFW due to language. But if you’re Aussie, a few F and C words here and there are no big deal.

Oh yeah, there is also one awesome cat evasive maneuver scene too.

Those cats were incredible! Such agility among all of the cats, but the black and white would make a great middie. Reminds me of Tinney dodging, I am sure I saw at least two swim moves.

[jhu06]

Can confirm that Tills has hired Bobby Benson as OC. Will arrive on Tues. Formal announcement coming this week.

Familiarity with conference and players were big factors. Benson down in ATL but has told his HS team.

Extra wrinkle to what will be 2+ Rivalry games this year.

I wonder who will have the "advantage"—Benson with his knowledge of Hop's personnel (though he won't know exactly how the new staff will use them), or the Hop players—on both sides of the ball—who know how Benson runs his offenses (though he might not run the same one he ran at Hop). Lots of games within the game here. Should be fun.

I don't expect Maryland's offense to be much different than what they've run with Reppert. Benson will likely definitely get to put his imprint on the EMO but I think things will be similar in the 6-on-6. Next year though when Maryland could be losing the entire Top 6 and likely at minimum 4 of the Top 6 is where he'll get to really put in his stuff I imagine

Benson has earned a tribute video by the way for the Hopkins SID folks that read this upon his return w/maryland the way that pro stars like a lebron back in cleveland for the first time or a montana back in sf w/the chiefs or chara back in boston w/the capitals that they then put out on social media. 2 decades he gave the program, more than enough video highlights out there. Take the high road.

[51percentcorn]

Benson has earned a tribute video by the way for the Hopkins SID folks that read this upon his return w/maryland the way that pro stars like a lebron back in cleveland for the first time or a montana back in sf w/the chiefs or chara back in boston w/the capitals that they then put out on social media. 2 decades he gave the program, more than enough video highlights out there. Take the high road.

While I always thought that Hopkins could do more around former players - e.g. call STX - get someone to reprint the iconic poster of Cookie Monster - and have a Jeff Cook day - I don't think we need to do a tribute video to the offensive coordinator we just fired. There should be no high road or low road here - just a road to move onward. Plus - I know we can cite some offensive efficiency numbers or whatever but the bottom line is Hopkins' offense - for all the complaints of the defense over the past several years - has been OK - not great by any stretch. I see the gpg for the years after Rabil and Huntley left (the first two years of Benson's OC tenure). Of those eleven seasons - Hopkins hit the teens in gpg once - 2015 - and it was 13.0 exactly. There were 3 seasons where they barely made it to 12 (2014/16/19) and the rest probably averaged around 11. Not bad not horrible but no one had to worry about the lights going out on the Hopkins side of the scoreboard. Again, those are facts not a low road - plenty of things to worry about before a Benson tribute video.

[HopFan16]

In the absence of any better statistic I can understand using GPG as a barometer, but when efficiency numbers do exist there is absolutely no reason to continue using a crude stat like goals per game, which is contingent on a variety of factors outside the offense's control: faceoffs, groundballs, defensive stops, clearing percentage, overall pace of play, etc. All that should matter when evaluating an offense's effectiveness is: when they DID get the ball, how often did they score? That's exactly what offensive efficiency measures (and better yet, adjusted efficiency, which takes into account the strength of the defense you're facing). Not to mention, Hop has rarely pushed transition in the Petro era—with the exception of Kuhn who was a natural offensive middie we weren't seeing many pole goals. Don't know if that was entirely Petro's doing (I assume yes) but either way had this team been more aggressive getting the ball up the field then that might have added a goal to their GPG totals. In any event, based on the best metric we have available, Benson's offenses were routinely top 10 in the country.

[51percentcorn]

A very polite and respectful disagreement - at the end of the game they don't total up your efficiency stats - they total up your goals scored. And goals happen to be magnified in the shot clock era - of the last 5 national champions - only Maryland - which used a very different formula - averaged less than 13 goals per game - UVA was slightly over 14 and Yale was just below 14 - even Maryland averaged 12.5 which is higher than all but 2 or 3 of Hopkins last eleven seasons. UNC/Denver were over 13. His offenses were fine. You of course have the chicken or egg question - i.e. coaching vs. talent. If I were to offer an observation of a fan having attended some incredibly high number of games in person over this tenure - the offense was at times predictable and stuck with one or two things a la - the big middie alley dodge years. We'll get to see up close - hopefully - how the Terp offense looks - twice at least.

[Sagittarius A*]

A very polite and respectful disagreement - at the end of the game they don't total up your efficiency stats - they total up your goals scored. And goals happen to be magnified in the shot clock era - of the last 5 national champions - only Maryland - which used a very different formula - averaged less than 13 goals per game - UVA was slightly over 14 and Yale was just below 14 - even Maryland averaged 12.5 which is higher than all but 2 or 3 of Hopkins last eleven seasons. UNC/Denver were over 13. His offenses were fine. You of course have the chicken or egg question - i.e. coaching vs. talent. If I were to offer an observation of a fan having attended some incredibly high number of games in person over this tenure - the offense was at times predictable and stuck with one or two things a la - the big middie alley dodge years. We'll get to see up close - hopefully - how the Terp offense looks - twice at least.

A Benson-Tillman offense may look very different than a Benson-Petro offense.
I'm anxious to see the Grant Jr/Milliman offense this spring.

[HopFan16]

A very polite and respectful disagreement - at the end of the game they don't total up your efficiency stats - they total up your goals scored. And goals happen to be magnified in the shot clock era - of the last 5 national champions - only Maryland - which used a very different formula - averaged less than 13 goals per game - UVA was slightly over 14 and Yale was just below 14 - even Maryland averaged 12.5 which is higher than all but 2 or 3 of Hopkins last eleven seasons. UNC/Denver were over 13. His offenses were fine. You of course have the chicken or egg question - i.e. coaching vs. talent. If I were to offer an observation of a fan having attended some incredibly high number of games in person over this tenure - the offense was at times predictable and stuck with one or two things a la - the big middie alley dodge years. We'll get to see up close - hopefully - how the Terp offense looks - twice at least.

Obviously goals are really the only statistic that matters at the end of the day, but they are also a team stat. They're not exclusively a reflection of offensive play. Had the team gotten more stops, more saves, picked up more groundballs, won a few more faceoffs, cleared the ball better—they would have scored a lot more goals. But as you know all too well the team routinely—and exasperatingly—left possessions on the field. With more chances to score, Benson's offense would have scored more. I'm in agreement that offense sometimes looked predictable, though that may have been due to a lack of dodgers capable of reliably drawing slides. Also agree that I don't think the team responded very well to the shot clock. 2020 I think they get a bit of a mulligan but even in 2019 they all too often relied on a freshman (#32) to bail the team out. But the last 1.5 seasons notwithstanding, Benson's tenure overall was one of offenses that scored at a very efficient rate when they were given the opportunity to.

I don't know if it's going to be *better* immediately but I'm confident the offense is going to look and feel very different this year.

[nyjay]

Ah well, you beat me to it, but it was already typed up, so I'll submit anyway.

I think what 16 is really trying to say is that efficiency is intended to isolate the quality of the offense from the other (non-offensive) things (FO's, GB's, CTO's) that contribute to the actual number of goals actually scored, so as to judge Benson on his unit specifically. A team that never sees the ball on offense, as a result of terrible F/O or GB play or an inability to cause any TO's, isn't going to score a lot of goals, even if they're actually very good offensively.

Put another way, GpG is actually more than just an OFFENSIVE stat, it's actually a TEAM stat as it is juiced by good FO's and DEF (GB's and CTO's, in particular).

So yes, the teams that win tend to score a lot of goals. And they score a lot of goals because they are good teams, rather than just good offenses.

As to Hop in particular, seems pretty clear to me that the offense was generally the team's best unit, while the defense was the worst. Which leads me to believe that Benson's units were slightly underrated by GpG and efficiency is probably a better measure of Benson's work.

[HopFan16]

Epstein, Williams, and Lyne named captains for 2021:

https://hopkinssports.com/news/2021/1/2 ... tains.aspx

TIL Epstein is double majoring...no small feat at at place like Hopkins, on top of lacrosse. Impressive kid.

[nyjay]

Have to assume that means Lyne is going to play a lot, no?