Syracuse 2022

[sholokov2]

P22, I saw your post over here and since SU's forum seems to have fallen asleep, I decided what the hey I'll join the circus at fan lax for while. I often get lost in the weeds of long winded posts, so I will keep mine as short as possible. Everyone seems concentrated on the offense, but I believe SU can scrape together eleven goals from the current offensive players in almost any game. It's the other end that I'm worried about. From FOGO to goalie, SU seems in trouble. Not just holes but chasms exist there. Maybe Kennedy can be counted on. The other longs are all questionable. SSDMs make me want to destroy the tv as they toreador their men and miss their slides. Were I Gait, it is that end I would replace with some transfers if possible. Or suit up Pietramala. He looks in shape.

The coverage of petro and cuse message boards have focused on
-his play in the 80s
-his relationship with gait
-his early teams at Hopkins
-his improved physical and mental health
Your real concerns are
-his results against your acc rivals (especially duke) the last 12 years-terrible
-his teams performances in the ncaa tournament (especially duke) the last 12 years-awful
-his ssdms
-his defenses
-inconsistent goaltending
Maybe you put some orange juice on petro and he returns to the guy of 02-08, maybe his problem at hopkins at the end was just early recruiting and the litany of issues he and his backers never went on the record with about the Hopkins administration, but for those of us who watched him every week since 2003, I'm not convinced we'll see new results just because he changed jobs.
what should worry you
https://www.usalaxmagazine.com/college/ ... ns-defense

good points all

[a fan]

Maybe you put some orange juice on petro and he returns to the guy of 02-08, maybe his problem at hopkins at the end was just early recruiting and the litany of issues he and his backers never went on the record with about the Hopkins administration, but for those of us who watched him every week since 2003, I'm not convinced we'll see new results just because he changed jobs.

And we were all really impressed at how much better a new coach did with essentially the same players at Hopkins.

What was your record again last season? I forget. So does everyone else, because Hopkins wasn't in the NCAA's.

But sure...coaching was the problem at Hopkins.

[DocBarrister]

Maybe you put some orange juice on petro and he returns to the guy of 02-08, maybe his problem at hopkins at the end was just early recruiting and the litany of issues he and his backers never went on the record with about the Hopkins administration, but for those of us who watched him every week since 2003, I'm not convinced we'll see new results just because he changed jobs.

And we were all really impressed at how much better a new coach did with essentially the same players at Hopkins.

What was your record again last season? I forget. So does everyone else, because Hopkins wasn't in the NCAA's.

But sure...coaching was the problem at Hopkins.

Coach Pietramala is one of the greatest lacrosse coaches of all time.

That doesn’t mean he, and his new team, won’t benefit from a change of scenery.

I fully expect Coach Petro to have success at Syracuse. He said the past year was one of the toughest of his life, and I don’t doubt it.

I suspect he will throw himself into his new job with renewed enthusiasm and a new perspective. I would not be surprised to see a Petro defense at Cuse that looks very different from the defenses he put together at Hopkins.

DocBarrister

P.S. Coach Koesterer’s defense in the B1G tournament was pretty spectacular at times.

[Powellfan22]

P22, I saw your post over here and since SU's forum seems to have fallen asleep, I decided what the hey I'll join the circus at fan lax for while. I often get lost in the weeds of long winded posts, so I will keep mine as short as possible. Everyone seems concentrated on the offense, but I believe SU can scrape together eleven goals from the current offensive players in almost any game. It's the other end that I'm worried about. From FOGO to goalie, SU seems in trouble. Not just holes but chasms exist there. Maybe Kennedy can be counted on. The other longs are all questionable. SSDMs make me want to destroy the tv as they toreador their men and miss their slides. Were I Gait, it is that end I would replace with some transfers if possible. Or suit up Pietramala. He looks in shape.

Shol, I’ll talk SU lacrosse anytime, anywhere.

I agree that the offense is in much better shape than the defense. But I think the offense is just one or two pieces away from being pretty good. The defense on the other hand, I get overwhelmed thinking about all the issues on that side of the ball.

I think the main issue is they just haven’t recruited defensive players well. And obviously it’s not the end all and be all, but I don’t think they’ve had a top 100 recruit since Bomberry and Mellen. When you look at the personnel, it’s hard to understand what the plan was for last year. They were relying on a DIII transfer to be their top cover guy, and while he battled Wykoff, gave up big point totals. DiPietro redshirted as an upperclassman because he couldn’t beat out the guys in front of him. Murphy was a converted back up ssdm. The two other transfers they took were from Utah and a school that shut down their program. This did not produce a winning formula last year.

There are some bright spots with the the defense, however they come with a large amount of qualifiers, which makes me nervous.

-they badly needed a new defensive coordinator and they got one in Petro. I understand all the detractions, but I have high hopes now that he can focus on just recruiting and coaching. He doesn’t have to be the CEO of the program.
-ssdm was a dumpster fire last year, no getting around that. But I think they have some talent in this department. Avilles had a strong freshman season and was playing really well after a rough start last year, before getting hurt. If he can get back to his freshman year form they will have a good player on their hands. Olexo also had some flashes last year which was impressive since it was his first year playing the position. They also bring in a freshman in Zach Levine who has good size and specialized at the position in high school.
-faceoffs were a huge issues last year but Phaup still had pretty good numbers - finishing with a 57% winning percentage. If he can figure out the mental aspect of the game he should be a real asset. Now that he has a full offseason to focus on the new rules, you’d hope to see improvement. Also they bring in a four star recruit in Jack Fine.
-injuries. SU had a lot on the defensive side of the ball including Clary, DiPietro, Oladunmoya, and Avilles. I don’t think having all these guys healthy would have produced a final four run, but that’s still a lot of missing bodies. Hopefully better health brings more consistency next year.

So yeah, a lot of ifs. On top of all that, the big issue last year was they never found the alpha defender to either replace Mellen, or an LSM to let Kennedy fill that roll. And now the same issue is staring Syracuse in the face. Will be interesting to see how they address it.

[FMUBart]

Badly needed a new defensive coordinator? As if Lelan suddenly forgot how to coach defense They had injuries, new faces and frankly, not a lot of great talent on that end of the field. I hope Petro can improve things, but can't lay the poor defensive play solely on Lelan. As John Wooden used to say, "show me a great coach and i'll show you great players."

[stupefied]

Petro's worst full regular season record in his twenty year career at Hopkins was 7-8 in 2010. That was followed up by a 13-3 in 2011.

Natural that some jhu fans would cherry pick underperforming periods because joining Cuse irks . DocBarrister on the other hand gave his old coach his proper due and best wishes for success which was classy .

Agree on pts made about benefits of weight loss and the ability as dc to totally focus on unit being helpful.
Dmac's past obsession with weight now makes more sense.

See Cuse being picked 5th in acc by all which makes sense because several questions on both ends. They also have several returning top talents that had many picking them as top five team last year . Been a loud critic of teams overusing the portal but Cuse of any team on cusp of top ten could use one good established addition for each end to lengthen. Can be either a attackaman or mid on offense, a close defenseman or defensive middle on defense.

Gait will enjoy a short honeymoon period with fans but also realizes that playing in front of 3-4k fans means they need to be relevant in 2022.

[stupefied]

Badly needed a new defensive coordinator? As if Lelan suddenly forgot how to coach defense They had injuries, new faces and frankly, not a lot of great talent on that end of the field. I hope Petro can improve things, but can't lay the poor defensive play solely on Lelan. As John Wooden used to say, "show me a great coach and i'll show you great players."

No you cant. Just as with Petro critics disregard the many years of success . 2021 was a off year due to confluence of several factors , same group was fine in 2020 and could bounce. Could have left for a HC position earlier but overly loyal to program and too hooked in to Desko's destiny. Rogers is solid coach and person and will do a good job wherever he lands.

[a fan]

Badly needed a new defensive coordinator? As if Lelan suddenly forgot how to coach defense They had injuries, new faces and frankly, not a lot of great talent on that end of the field. I hope Petro can improve things, but can't lay the poor defensive play solely on Lelan. As John Wooden used to say, "show me a great coach and i'll show you great players."

+1000.

This is not a complicated game. You can't lose that many players to injury, and pretend the "next guy up" is as good or better. There's a reason that teams run their 1st middies into the freaking ground. Who the heck would do that if the next line was just as good as the first line?

[HopFan16]

Petro's worst full regular season record in his twenty year career at Hopkins was 7-8 in 2010. That was followed up by a 13-3 in 2011.

Natural that some jhu fans would cherry pick underperforming periods because joining Cuse irks . DocBarrister on the other hand gave his old coach his proper due and best wishes for success which was classy .

LOL you have to be kidding. They're doing this "because joining Cuse irks?" Where have you been the past six years? JHU fans have been complaining about this stuff for a very long time, before the thought of Petro joining Cuse was ever a twinkle in anyone's eye. It has absolutely nothing to do with Cuse and it's ridiculous to suggest that.

I wish Petro well. As virtually every Hopkins fan has noted, the first half of his tenure was incredible, and nothing will change that. But it's not like that happened yesterday. 2020 was very clearly going to surpass 2010 as his worst year, prior to the pandemic canceling things. They needed a miracle overtime to beat Mount St. Mary's at home.

[51percentcorn]

Natural that some jhu fans would cherry pick underperforming periods because joining Cuse irks . DocBarrister on the other hand gave his old coach his proper due and best wishes for success which was classy .

I disagree with the cherry picking portion of this comment. I almost never agree with DocB but the vast majority of Hopkins alum/fans recognize the incredible contributions of Petro (and I wish him the best) but as with many coaches - the numbers suggest time and his message had run its course. Gait and Petro may find incredible success at Syracuse but a coaching change at Hopkins was likely over due. I think the following is what most Hopkins fans were concerned about:
In his first 8 years - Petro's record was 96-25 - a winning percentage of 79% - he never lost a first round game, so 8 quarterfinals, 6 semifinals, 4 title game appearances and 2 championships
In his next 11.5 seasons - post Rabil/Huntley - his record was 111-68 - a winning percentage of 62% - he reached 1 semifinal - suffered 4 first round losses - missed the tournament in 2013 with a lost season of rolling suspensions amid some sort of hazing incident - suffered the 3 worst play-off losses in Hopkins history in '09,'10 and '17, the first losing season in 2010 since 1971, in the last 5 full seasons the winning percentage had dropped to 58% and in 2020 if the pandemic had not intervened the games that remained - @ Navy, @ a very dangerous Delaware team, and the 5 BIG games where were the W's for the team that had only beaten a winless Towson team and needed a miracle to beat MSM in OT? I think you would have to be very generous and say 5-8 for that team would have been all that could have been accomplished and they would have been very likely the first Hopkins team to miss the BIG tournament.

Of course - none of this means squat with what he will be able to do with Gait and the kids who will be coming to Syracuse. It doesn't "irk" me. I also think anyone that brings up the 2021 Hopkins record as proof somehow that the change was misguided or not necessary is ignoring some pretty significant complicating factors.

[Catbird]

I disagree with the cherry picking portion of this comment. I almost never agree with DocB but the vast majority of Hopkins alum/fans recognize the incredible contributions of Petro (and I wish him the best) but as with many coaches - the numbers suggest time and his message had run its course. Gait and Petro may find incredible success at Syracuse but a coaching change at Hopkins was likely over due. I think the following is what most Hopkins fans were concerned about:
In his first 8 years - Petro's record was 96-25 - a winning percentage of 79% - he never lost a first round game, so 8 quarterfinals, 6 semifinals, 4 title game appearances and 2 championships
In his next 11.5 seasons - post Rabil/Huntley - his record was 111-68 - a winning percentage of 62% - he reached 1 semifinal - suffered 4 first round losses - missed the tournament in 2013 with a lost season of rolling suspensions amid some sort of hazing incident - suffered the 3 worst play-off losses in Hopkins history in '09,'10 and '17, the first losing season in 2010 since 1971, in the last 5 full seasons the winning percentage had dropped to 58% and in 2020 if the pandemic had not intervened the games that remained - @ Navy, @ a very dangerous Delaware team, and the 5 BIG games where were the W's for the team that had only beaten a winless Towson team and needed a miracle to beat MSM in OT? I think you would have to be very generous and say 5-8 for that team would have been all that could have been accomplished and they would have been very likely the first Hopkins team to miss the BIG tournament.

You're even being generous here not mentioning 2016 and 2019 playoff faceplants. That was 5 of the last 10 years he made the playoffs his teams didn't even looked like they belonged on the field with the team they lost to in the first round (OK UVA '09 was a quarterfinal). The revisionist history re: Petro the last month from some opposing fan groups around here has been amusing to say the least for anyone whos been around here/laxpower for the last 2 decades.

[Powellfan22]

Badly needed a new defensive coordinator? As if Lelan suddenly forgot how to coach defense They had injuries, new faces and frankly, not a lot of great talent on that end of the field. I hope Petro can improve things, but can't lay the poor defensive play solely on Lelan. As John Wooden used to say, "show me a great coach and i'll show you great players."

Syracuse fans have been complaining about the same defensive issues for years now. You can swap out the personnel and the past few seasons have seen the same poor slides, the same bad ssdm play, the same sloppy penalties, the same poor communication. And speaking of personnel, whose been responsible for the talent on the roster? Last time I checked there was no general manager in charge of recruiting. Rogers was in fact the main recruiter for Syracuse before March showed up. If you want to complain about the talent level, the buck stops with the coaching staff.

As for injuries it was pretty apparent early on this defensive unit was lacking. You can make a million excuses but it was clear it was time for a change. This defense gave up 20 goals more than once, and I think some offenses could have scored 30 if the brakes weren’t applied by empathetic coaching staffs. I will always be grateful to Rogers as I think he was instrumental in winning in ‘08 and ‘09. But much like Petro he needed a fresh start and a change of scenery.

[bananas]

Looking forward to RU football playing Cuse at Dome on 9/11/21.



`

[a fan]

Syracuse fans have been complaining about the same defensive issues for years now. You can swap out the personnel and the past few seasons have seen the same poor slides, the same bad ssdm play, the same sloppy penalties, the same poor communication.

You don't really believe that, do you? Drop UMd's D/Goalie from 2021 into Syracuse's D...and you think they're going to have the same season?

They haven't had the players, my man. And yup, that's on the recruiting. I agree with you there.

If Gait and Petro can recruit better? They'll win. If they can't? they won't. Simple.

When Desko had elite players? He won Championships, made Final Fours, and had nice seasons.

Those players started going to other schools. It's as simple as that.

[stupefied]

Poor example since UVA scored 17 agaisnt MD and only 10 and 11 vs Cuse

[a fan]

Poor example since UVA scored 17 agaisnt MD and only 10 and 11 vs Cuse

Ok. What's your example, then?

[stupefied]

No reason for me to provide one to correct a flawed example. There are better defenses but Cuse has some talent, saw the same grouping in 20" when they gave up three goals less per game than Maryland. Only other common opponents those two teams played were Albany and JHU but in different years . 20 Albany scores 13 vs MD n a better 2021 UA team scores only 8 vs Cuse . JHU 2020 scores 9 vs Cuse and the 2021 JHU scores 10 and 13 vs Maryland whose d really hasn't been all that the last few years noting 2021 improvement.

Anyway getting back to Rogers, Petro and Cuse . View both coaches as old school good and view Cuse 2021 season as the anomaly it was. Injuries did maffect Cuse as did no fall ball, covid protocols and distractions .Call it excuses since same environment for all but fact is it was a different environment . Calling it a bad year for which Rogers deserves his share of flak but reading a Syracuse fan criticizing him for his body of work is sad. His defenses were usually pretty consistent within a range . Some should know that Cuse is not an easy sell these days compared to other ACC teams and he uncovered some gems. Expect Petro to do a fairly good job

[Powellfan22]

Syracuse fans have been complaining about the same defensive issues for years now. You can swap out the personnel and the past few seasons have seen the same poor slides, the same bad ssdm play, the same sloppy penalties, the same poor communication.

You don't really believe that, do you? Drop UMd's D/Goalie from 2021 into Syracuse's D...and you think they're going to have the same season?

They haven't had the players, my man. And yup, that's on the recruiting. I agree with you there.

If Gait and Petro can recruit better? They'll win. If they can't? they won't. Simple.

When Desko had elite players? He won Championships, made Final Fours, and had nice seasons.

Those players started going to other schools. It's as simple as that.

I guess I was trying to say, we’ve seen multiple lineups play these last few seasons and the same problems seem to rear their head. When you’ve cycled through multiple players, and problems persist, I tend to think it’s more than a personnel issue.

[jrn19]

Syracuse fans have been complaining about the same defensive issues for years now. You can swap out the personnel and the past few seasons have seen the same poor slides, the same bad ssdm play, the same sloppy penalties, the same poor communication.

You don't really believe that, do you? Drop UMd's D/Goalie from 2021 into Syracuse's D...and you think they're going to have the same season?

They haven't had the players, my man. And yup, that's on the recruiting. I agree with you there.

If Gait and Petro can recruit better? They'll win. If they can't? they won't. Simple.

When Desko had elite players? He won Championships, made Final Fours, and had nice seasons.

Those players started going to other schools. It's as simple as that.

I guess I was trying to say, we’ve seen multiple lineups play these last few seasons and the same problems seem to rear their head. When you’ve cycled through multiple players, and problems persist, I tend to think it’s more than a personnel issue.

You’d be correct but you’re talking to the equivalent of a brick wall

[a fan]

Syracuse fans have been complaining about the same defensive issues for years now. You can swap out the personnel and the past few seasons have seen the same poor slides, the same bad ssdm play, the same sloppy penalties, the same poor communication.

You don't really believe that, do you? Drop UMd's D/Goalie from 2021 into Syracuse's D...and you think they're going to have the same season?

They haven't had the players, my man. And yup, that's on the recruiting. I agree with you there.

If Gait and Petro can recruit better? They'll win. If they can't? they won't. Simple.

When Desko had elite players? He won Championships, made Final Fours, and had nice seasons.

Those players started going to other schools. It's as simple as that.

I guess I was trying to say, we’ve seen multiple lineups play these last few seasons and the same problems seem to rear their head. When you’ve cycled through multiple players, and problems persist, I tend to think it’s more than a personnel issue.

You’d be correct but you’re talking to the equivalent of a brick wall

Rogers D was just fine in the full season of 2019. 10 gaa is solid Division I D in the shot clock era, assuming a tough schedule.

And 2020....SU was undefeated, and the defense was just fine when looking at the limited data we have.

But you two think that the ONLY possible reason that SU's D wasn't good in 2021.....was coaching.

It can't possibly be that their leader on D went down for the year in game one, and they had some other key injuries? The players you throw out there in D1 ball don't matter.....that's what you two are telling me?

Okay.