Johns Hopkins 2021

[Catbird]

Gameplan to slow it down I thought was a good idea, but surprised they didn't do more to try to deter the transition opportunities. On faceoffs I would have like the long pole taking a defensive stance closer to the box to cutoff the fastbreaks in the second half.

[nyjay]

Well, that was disappointing. Initial impressions, without looking at any stats.

The Good:
- Goals for Grimes and Zinn (on the run even)
- Nawreski continues his good work at the dot
- Good to see Degnon's outside shooting, something we really need on a consistent basis
- DeSimone good again, though had to work for everything
- Clearing game generally seemed to be OK (one dropped pass by Reinson in the middle of the field notwithstanding)
- EMO did their job

The Bad:
- Defense took a step back - though it didn't seem that they were losing 1 on 1's so much as they were overaggressive and missing 2nd and 3rd slides. Really seemed like confusion more that anything else. I'm not sure Mullins was actually guarded for any of his goals.
- We really have to work hard on offense, nothing seems to come easy for this group. No transition threats at all today. Seems like the kind of offenses that needs things to be going well to be effective. A couple bad passes here and there are hard for this group to make up for.
- Epstein and Cole were fairly anonymous today. We need more from those two.
- Rutgers goalie played well, but some of the shots left a little to be desired. We seem to have a lot of layups get saved.
- GB play seemed to be lacking. Seemed like the FO wings didn't do much at all to help Nawreski. We definitely lost a number of FOs that we should have won.
- Kirson was OKish, I guess. Stats won't be pretty, but I'm not sure he gave up a lot of goals he should have saved.
- Team seemed to get deflated when things started to turn against them.
- Crazy to have runs like that go against you when you're winning 60%+ of the FOs.

PS - Did Lyne get replaced by McManus? Not sure I noticed Lyne out there today.

[Catbird]

Jared deserves a mulligan for that goof today losing track of the ball at the 40 yard line after his play overall this season, but it really couldn't have come at a worse time.

Seems like they really unraveled mentally after that one, which followed close after the own goal on the rebound Kirson jumped out of the crease for.

[genghiskhanbluejay]

Knobloch kid has an illegal stick, next time he scores they need to call a stick check.

hidden secret. You get the ball in overtime....you call a time out.

GIVE it to a player with crazy deep pocket, have him run thru the world.....he scores . to bad, so sad. Illegal stick don't matter, game over. nothing you can do about it.

hidden.....

BIG is comical. Make the "regular " season mean something. Invite only 4 teams to the tourney.........otherwize, what is the point?

This is like summer league, I guess. which is still fun....

Hopkins is still coming up to play UMASS on May 2, correct ?

Yea, I get your post and perspective but the reality is the BIG schedule has zip to do with what the players and coaches want and is all about what the Presidents of the BIG want (they tried to cancel football) and they're following the lead of the IVY Presidents who could give a Flying F about collegiate sports with their gazillion dollar endowments. The BIG wants to be known as the State school version of the Ivy conference and they follow the Ivy lead in lock step
BTW, That Knobloch kid had a ridiculous amount of sidewall string depth when they showed him close up on TV.
I also fondly remember many times walking past the UMASS bus after a win with Cannella standing there next to the bus, rounding up his team like a mother duck for that long bus ride home after a big loss; but for the life of me i cant remember the last time Hopkins went up to play at Gorilla field Amherst.

[a fan]

A tad confused by the game plan today. So much Baskin and Zinn dodging...they combined for 1 goal and 1 assist. The middies take FOREVER to get on the field. By the time the offense "starts," half of the shot clock is gone.

Slowing down a top 5 offense, when you know your team isn't going to put up 16.8 goals per game, like Rutgers has.

Yeah, and it didn't work.

Yes. Your offense isn't good, and can't execute. Same problem as before. 9 goals when you're winning the majority of faceoffs....in other words, you had plenty of opportunities to score...and you didn't. New coach, no fallball. Hopefully with time, they'll get there.

The hope is to slow the game down, giving Rutgers fewer chances....with the hope that your team can execute on their limited chances, and stick it in the net. And then win the next faceoff.

I'm with Wombat. Patience.

[HopFan16]

A tad confused by the game plan today. So much Baskin and Zinn dodging...they combined for 1 goal and 1 assist. The middies take FOREVER to get on the field. By the time the offense "starts," half of the shot clock is gone.

Slowing down a top 5 offense, when you know your team isn't going to put up 16.8 goals per game, like Rutgers has.

Yeah, and it didn't work.

Yes. Your offense isn't good, and can't execute. Same problem as before. 9 goals when you're winning the majority of faceoffs....in other words, you had plenty of opportunities to score...and you didn't. New coach, no fallball. Hopefully with time, they'll get there.

The hope is to slow the game down, giving Rutgers fewer chances....with the hope that your team can execute on their limited chances, and stick it in the net. And then win the next faceoff.

I'm with Wombat. Patience.

Rutgers is going to go on their run at some point. They did even against Maryland. You can’t just suffocate the ball for 60 minutes. As we saw all Rutgers needs is a few minutes to open the floodgates. And because we took the air out of the ball, when Rutgers went on that run, there wasn’t enough time to mount a comeback. You ever consider that the offense looked like that because they were working with half a shot clock? I’d rather have 60 seconds to work with than 40 but that’s just me. It’s really hard to slow the game down effectively in this shot clock era. You could before but now with the new rules it’s almost impossible.

[a fan]

Rutgers is going to go on their run at some point. They did even against Maryland. You can’t just suffocate the ball for 60 minutes. As we saw all Rutgers needs is a few minutes to open the floodgates. And because we took the air out of the ball, when Rutgers went on that run, there wasn’t enough time to mount a comeback. You ever consider that the offense looked like that because they were working with half a shot clock?

Yes. And I'm confident that Milliman has, too.

Your path would give Rutgers the ball more. You only want to talk about one half of the field. You choice "to get the offense going" has repercussions on the other half of the field. What has Rutgers shown they can do when you give them the ball on the offensive side of the field?

The problem is that given chances? Hopkins isn't scoring. If they actually stuck their chances? We wouldn't be having this conversation. And If you're a coach, and your O isn't putting shots away....why would you tell them you want a shot on goal in the first half of the shot clock? You're giving Rutgers the ball more.

At some point, your offense has to score when given the chance. New coach. No fall ball. I'm with Wombat.

But it may wind up that your team just doesn't have the horses again, relative to other teams. Don't have enough games played to tell that yet.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Rutgers is going to go on their run at some point. They did even against Maryland. You can’t just suffocate the ball for 60 minutes. As we saw all Rutgers needs is a few minutes to open the floodgates. And because we took the air out of the ball, when Rutgers went on that run, there wasn’t enough time to mount a comeback. You ever consider that the offense looked like that because they were working with half a shot clock?

Yes. And I'm confident that Milliman has, too.

Your path would give Rutgers the ball more. You only want to talk about one half of the field. You choice "to get the offense going" has repercussions on the other half of the field. What has Rutgers shown they can do when you give them the ball on the offensive side of the field?

The problem is that given chances? Hopkins isn't scoring. If they actually stuck their chances? We wouldn't be having this conversation. And If you're a coach, and your O isn't putting shots away....why would you tell them you want a shot on goal in the first half of the shot clock? You're giving Rutgers the ball more.

At some point, your offense has to score when given the chance. New coach. No fall ball. I'm with Wombat.

But it may wind up that your team just doesn't have the horses again, relative to other teams. Don't have enough games played to tell that yet.

Right now, Rutgers has the better offensive players. Hopkins will be fine. It won’t take long.

[Hoponboard]

What’s wrong with this picture? Jays win 63% at the dot which translates to a 27-26 edge in GBs. Hop goes 3-3 on EMOs vs 2-3 for Knights. Clears are even at 19/20 for Hop and 18/19 for Rutgers.

So how do Jays get smoked 7-1 in the 4th after being tied at 8 after 3 qtrs.? Well, after being outshot by 1 in first half, Hop gets outshot by 14 in second half. Jays give up 7 goals in 4th with zero saves. For the game, Hopkins has 18 TOs vs 13 for Knights—almost the margin of victory. 11 of Jays TOs are unforced vs 5 for Rutgers.

While Hop was outshot 46-31 for the game, both teams had 21 shots on goal.

How does a team get 15 more shots when they only win 10 of 27 FOs? One, Rutgers shot earlier in the shot clock with Hopkins defenders rarely on their hands. Two, high quality, uncontested shots left Kirson out to dry on too many shots. Three, Hopkins rarely had an open shot in the first 70 seconds of their possessions. Instead of keeping the ball out of Rutgers hands, Jays took the air out of their own offense. Of course, you can credit Rutgers defense for that, plus the inability of Hopkins to beat their man. Four, if you are a goalie, it’s to your advantage when you know the shot is coming. Jays goalie did not have that luxury.

Conclusion: I’ll take an offense to win that can generate three quality shots per possession over one that struggles to generate one quality shot. Yes, Rutgers has better shooters, but other than Deso, I didn’t see other Jays generating a slide. Making more of an effort to score in transition may have been a better strategy for Hopkins. You have to take scoring chances when the odds favor you.

[Sagittarius A*]

What’s wrong with this picture? Jays win 63% at the dot which translates to a 27-26 edge in GBs. Hop goes 3-3 on EMOs vs 2-3 for Knights. Clears are even at 19/20 for Hop and 18/19 for Rutgers.

So how do Jays get smoked 7-1 in the 4th after being tied at 8 after 3 qtrs.? Well, after being outshot by 1 in first half, Hop gets outshot by 14 in second half. Jays give up 7 goals in 4th with zero saves. For the game, Hopkins has 18 TOs vs 13 for Knights—almost the margin of victory. 11 of Jays TOs are unforced vs 5 for Rutgers.

While Hop was outshot 46-31 for the game, both teams had 21 shots on goal.

How does a team get 15 more shots when they only win 10 of 27 FOs? One, Rutgers shot earlier in the shot clock with Hopkins defenders rarely on their hands. Two, high quality, uncontested shots left Kirson out to dry on too many shots. Three, Hopkins rarely had an open shot in the first 70 seconds of their possessions. Instead of keeping the ball out of Rutgers hands, Jays took the air out of their own offense. Of course, you can credit Rutgers defense for that, plus the inability of Hopkins to beat their man. Four, if you are a goalie, it’s to your advantage when you know the shot is coming. Jays goalie did not have that luxury.

The Jays had too many unforced errors today, like they did in their first game this year. Forcing the ball inside on offense to covered players IS NOT WORKING and just leading to transition goals for the other team. The goalie was looking at endless one-on-ones with Rutger's super experienced attack (7th year seniors etc). The team needs to play a full sixty minutes and find a way to get ground balls. That really needs work.
But, hey, no Fall Ball, very little preseason, can't expect smooth play right now as the team is a work in progress. But on the bright side, there's a lot of room for improvement. I hope the second half of the season will be more successful and I believe it can be.

[Chitown]

I am not as disappointed and critical as some here.

Realistically, JHU is a minimum 3 year work in progress. Our defense has one defenseman whose game experience consists of playing 2 varsity games in 3 years. That is the most experienced defenseman. Wow. Compliment these guys and the Coach for what they are achieving on the field. Rutgers Attack averages 65 years of age and they are all grandparents!!

WE are seeing improvement. In the 1st Half, the defense played good "team defense" and the attack moved the ball crisply with short passes and kept the Rutgers defense off-balance and moving. Our Goalie played fine but was set out on an Island in the 2nd half. No Goalie is going to stop shots from 5 yards or less.

We all agree that JHU needs to "control" the ball on attack and use more of the shot clock. Nothing "new" there. Before the Shot Clock, Coach Scott held the ball for long periods of time against strong Maryland attacks. And in other years, Maryland did that against JHU because Hezzy Howard (?) said that if he didn't JHU would score at least 20 goals. That Strategy has been around for a long time. The Coaches are trying to get our Attack and Middies to do that. Our players just need the patience to execute.

My overall view is that "Hopkins Lacrosse" means that really good experienced lacrosse players play together as a Team, with excellent fundamentals, and when they do, It is a wonderful thing to behold. Give us 3 years. I think these Coaches are on the right track.

[51percentcorn]

So the 4th quarter today was a little different than the 3rd quarter against the Terps - I didn't think Myles Jones had a great day calling the game but he had two salient points - the first was "it's not necessarily how many face-offs you win - it's WHEN you win them" - Rutgers won several in the 3rd and 4th that either prevented Hopkins from controlling tempo or directly led to goals. Throw in two face-off transition goals, a deflection out of a goalie stick and a dropped Hopkins pass that led to a lay-up and you have 4 of the 7 4th quarter goals. So they weren't out executed to death like against the Terps but they weren't prepared. His second point that resonated was clearly the point about Hopkins and its comfort zone- fall behind by 3 or so goals and they have no idea what to do. I think Jr and the Prime Minister have to let the horses run free to some extent even it doesn't exactly pay dividends this year. Who's kidding who - Hopkins is not hoisting the Gold trophy on May 30th or whatever - they need to think they can score when ever the best opportunity presents itself - while some times it looks like they clearly think waiting until 15 seconds is the best strategy. Other thoughts:
- Kirson has not proven to date to be a clear improvement - while I couldn't stop a beach ball coming at me - I thought there were a couple he might have had as a DI goalie - though not much in the 4th quarter where they were all lay-ups or time and room lasers. You can't be doubled up on saves and hope to win many games
- Given all the recent pub - this might have been Delaney's worst game - he made several bad decisions (One I noticed was one instead of trying to pick the ball up he tried to scoot it through the Rutgers player - as Viper would say "You made a bad choice" - and it led to a continued Rutgers possession)
- Starting mid-field for Hopkins came up with 1 goal and 7 shots - Sprock and Knoblach had 13 between them - so what you say - Knoblach's 2 goals only outscored Hopkins by 1 and they held Sprock to zip - it's an indication of the approach by the two teams
- As far as ground balls - Narewski won 11 of Hopkins 27 - Rutgers FO men won 6 of their 26 - so Rutgers actually won the 50/50 gb battle 20-16
- 46 shots to 31 when you control at least half the tempo is not a winning formula

[HopFan16]

Your path would give Rutgers the ball more.

I hear you I just don't think that's necessarily true (or, if true, as important) in the shot clock era. A few years ago, sure. But unless you score or luck into hitting a pipe and get a clock reset, the other team is getting the ball back anyway. I'd rather they not relinquish half the clock, which automatically puts the offense in a huge bind. If you add up all the extra game time there would have been had we played a bit faster on offense, there would have been what, a few more minutes max? Are you telling me that's the difference in the game? How many times have we seen a team successfully suck the life out of the ball in a game against a good offense in this shot clock era? Who's actually getting slowed down by stall ball these days? Richmond tried to do it against Duke earlier this year—didn't work too well. It's harder to do that successfully than it would be to just play the game IMO.

[DocBarrister]

I am not as disappointed and critical as some here.

Realistically, JHU is a minimum 3 year work in progress. Our defense has one defenseman whose game experience consists of playing 2 varsity games in 3 years. That is the most experienced defenseman. Wow. Compliment these guys and the Coach for what they are achieving on the field. Rutgers Attack averages 65 years of age and they are all grandparents!!

WE are seeing improvement. In the 1st Half, the defense played good "team defense" and the attack moved the ball crisply with short passes and kept the Rutgers defense off-balance and moving. Our Goalie played fine but was set out on an Island in the 2nd half. No Goalie is going to stop shots from 5 yards or less.

We all agree that JHU needs to "control" the ball on attack and use more of the shot clock. Nothing "new" there. Before the Shot Clock, Coach Scott held the ball for long periods of time against strong Maryland attacks. And in other years, Maryland did that against JHU because Hezzy Howard (?) said that if he didn't JHU would score at least 20 goals. That Strategy has been around for a long time. The Coaches are trying to get our Attack and Middies to do that. Our players just need the patience to execute.

My overall view is that "Hopkins Lacrosse" means that really good experienced lacrosse players play together as a Team, with excellent fundamentals, and when they do, It is a wonderful thing to behold. Give us 3 years. I think these Coaches are on the right track.

Blue Jays blew a winnable game against a very good Rutgers team, but I’m not upset either.

Basically:

(1) Blue Jays had a lot of bad turnovers (really shouldn’t try to get Epstein the ball if he is surrounded by three Rutgers defenders );

(2) Hopkins D is very good on-ball and against dodges, but they need a lot of work on their off-ball defense;

(3) the Hopkins shooters really need to practice changing levels on their shots (that used to be John Ranagan’s issue ... doesn’t matter how hard you shoot the ball if you make it easy for the opposing goalie to track and catch); and

(4) other than Narewski, Jays were beaten on too many 50-50 ground balls today.

In addition to the wasteful turnovers, the Blue Jays’ biggest problem is their off-ball defense. Rutgers (like Maryland) did precisely what an opponent needs to do to beat the Hopkins D ... move the ball, move off-ball, and work to get the ball to a shooter in front of the net for a high percentage shot. Hopkins is very good on-ball against the dodge with their quick slides and efficient switches, but their off-ball D needs a lot of improvement.

Still ... Hopkins played a very good first half before Rutgers turned up the pressure on D and ran more of a motion offense on O. Credit the Rutgers coaches and players on making some effective adjustments at halftime.

DocBarrister

[youthathletics]

What’s wrong with this picture? Jays win 63% at the dot which translates to a 27-26 edge in GBs. Hop goes 3-3 on EMOs vs 2-3 for Knights. Clears are even at 19/20 for Hop and 18/19 for Rutgers.

So how do Jays get smoked 7-1 in the 4th after being tied at 8 after 3 qtrs.? Well, after being outshot by 1 in first half, Hop gets outshot by 14 in second half. Jays give up 7 goals in 4th with zero saves. For the game, Hopkins has 18 TOs vs 13 for Knights—almost the margin of victory. 11 of Jays TOs are unforced vs 5 for Rutgers.

While Hop was outshot 46-31 for the game, both teams had 21 shots on goal.

How does a team get 15 more shots when they only win 10 of 27 FOs? One, Rutgers shot earlier in the shot clock with Hopkins defenders rarely on their hands. Two, high quality, uncontested shots left Kirson out to dry on too many shots. Three, Hopkins rarely had an open shot in the first 70 seconds of their possessions. Instead of keeping the ball out of Rutgers hands, Jays took the air out of their own offense. Of course, you can credit Rutgers defense for that, plus the inability of Hopkins to beat their man. Four, if you are a goalie, it’s to your advantage when you know the shot is coming. Jays goalie did not have that luxury.

Conclusion: I’ll take an offense to win that can generate three quality shots per possession over one that struggles to generate one quality shot. Yes, Rutgers has better shooters, but other than Deso, I didn’t other Jays generating a slide. Making more of an effort to score in transition may have been a better strategy for Hopkins. You have to take scoring chances when the odds favor you.

Offensive Efficiency. Hop #38, RU #12.

That RU shot stat for this game is misleading.....there were plenty of pis-poor shots by RU that missed the cage by a mile. Additionally, IMO, you are focusing a bit too much on JHU Offense...certainly more goals wins, but the HOP defense is what allowed RU to run away. Goal 11, 13,14, & 15 were the result of RU picking up key GB's,

JHU did not share the ball much today either, Assists were 5-12 in favor RU.

They are coming around.

[jhu06]

watched the game, went for a long walk with a mask, drank 4 delirium tremens, ate a pizza, tried to come up with a post and realized my lacrosse brain is broken from watching this same #@!$ for the last 15 years mostly w/a few exceptions.

[a fan]

I hear you I just don't think that's necessarily true (or, if true, as important) in the shot clock era. A few years ago, sure. But unless you score or luck into hitting a pipe and get a clock reset, the other team is getting the ball back anyway. I'd rather they not relinquish half the clock, which automatically puts the offense in a huge bind. If you add up all the extra game time there would have been had we played a bit faster on offense, there would have been what, a few more minutes max? Are you telling me that's the difference in the game?

I don't know....but it's pretty obvious that that was your coach's plan.

I'm just giving my opinion. My opinion is that Rutgers would have dropped 20 in an uptempo match against Hopkins today.

Your team is a work in progress, and to my eyes, Rutgers had better players up and down the field, save for faceoffs.

And given that faceoff advantage, and the rest of the data? I think the path Milliman chose was a good one. Problem is that your O didn't can the chances they had...and the hope is that that execution improves with time.

Seems like a sound plan to me.

[RumorMill]

I actually saw a lot of positive in this game for JHU. Jumping right to the turning point and game winning goal, it was a fluke play, goalie getting stick checked outside the crease and the ball ends up in the back of the net. Followed by a missed catch from arguably your best long pole that results in goal 11.

EMO was perfect, that's huge.
Nice goal by #9, along with a hockey assist on the EMO that I thought was going to be a step down, which I think is telling of why he doesn't have more goals. He's not looking to shoot first most of the time but keep the ball moving.
Nice goal (and first goal) by #29 plus an assist which is huge if he can get some momentum.
The fact JHU was in this game and winning with #32 only scoring 1 goal is a positive (of course having only 1 goal not as much of a positive).
#3 still looking really strong.
#31 had a solid game, some really nice plays.
Looked like they ran #44 at LSM today and he fit in well, two solid CTO's.
Faceoffs were strong.
Rutgers is a top 10 team and JHU was right there with them.
Lots to improve on, but also lots to be optimistic about.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

If you are paying attention to March Madness, VCU (Virginia Commonwealth) triggered the COVID-19 protocol pregame in the tourney, so Oregon advanced by default. I haven’t actually heard them call it a “forfeit” yet. Regardless, no game, VCU done.

That was my biggest takeaway today. Hopkins should continue to do their best, improve, have fun, but BY ALL MEANS, keep following strict COVID prevention measures so that you can get through the next month and a half or two without missing any games or having your season come to an abrupt END like VCU.

Be safe. Not stupid. Be vigilant. Have fun.

I’m also reminded by a biblical quote in the opening title sequence to Oliver Stone’s Platoon:

“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth.”

- Ecclesiastes, 11:9

We are all blessed to have this partial season of upon us. Do everything you can to keep it going. One week at a time.

Next up: Penn State

Thus endeth the lesson.

- Brother Wombat

[51percentcorn]

a fan - I hear you - it is a sound plan (to a degree) and likely the best chance they have to win games against teams like Maryland and Rutgers (again to a degree). I guess I think it might be better to adjust the dials to taking some more good shots than the absolute best or last one. You are not going to be able to go 7 for 18 like they did in the first half every time. And Charles Barkley made this point on the hoops tournament show - typically when you rely on slowing the ball down and playing low scoring games you have zero margin for error and the opponent is always in the game AND if you run into a buzz saw piece of time it seems like you can't come back. And again, I realize - there is no gold trophy awaiting this team at the end of May - it's just frustrating to watch 45 minutes of comeptitive lacrosse and have it blow up in 4. I know the response is - you should be happy you saw 45 that was competitive - probably so.
6 fewer saves - 5 more turnovers - not the recipe for success - 7 gbs by the starters - 11 for Rutgers
- I thought key goals were the Rutgers goals in the 3rd quarter - shot clock is under 5 the ball is in the stick of a reserve midfielder amd the Hopkins defender gives support that is not needed (or Kirson would have least had an eye on it) and they surrender a Mullins lay-up - then after Degnon got Hopkins its last lead - Hopkins defense suffers its most dramatic breakdown letting another reserve mid-fielder stand on the crease.
- The ultimate problem in the offense still applies - without Grimes being a huge factor - Degnon is your only reliable outside shooter and he's on the 2nd midfield. Baskin Angelus and Keogh - for all their running around - went 0 for 5 - Baskin never shot the ball. Angelus had 4 turnovers. If you have an extremely athletic #1 D - like Rutgers Jean-Felix - you likely can hold DeSimone to a dullish roar. Then you tell the other guys - don't let Epstein shoot with time and room from 12 yards in and collapse like hell on Williams