HopFan16 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2019 4:28 pm
Fourth quarter collapse is the story here. Couldn't buy a faceoff, Darby went frigid after a nice start, and the offense—as it's done periodically over the past decade—completely stalled out.
I think an even bigger problem than the midfield's size is its speed, or rather the lack of it. They are SLOW. I don't know what's going on with DeSimone but they need to fire into the sun the person who told him to put on 15 pounds of muscle. He couldn't get around a tree stump right now. Concannon shows a little bit of burst but it rarely amounts to a whole lot. Baskin can be slippery but he's not all that fast. Keogh had a nice goal today and has showed flashes of dodging ability but it's way too inconsistent.
Certainly can't blame the goalie today—18 saves and he made a few he had absolutely no business saving after the defense was beat. That said, he's slow to react to almost every shot to his offhand side. Cuse shooters picked up on it quickly and exploited it.
How many times did we check the stick out of a Cuse player's hands only for the ball to still end up with another Orange shirt? Happened at least three times by my count. Those have to be picked up.
I'm losing count how many perfect skip passes Epstein has made to someone on the crease only for the recipient to fail to cash in. Inside finishing has left much to be desired all season.
Some minor positives: clearing was fine, GBs were pretty even despite the second half faceoff disparity, Reinson quietly had maybe his best game ever with 5 GBs and 3 CTs, and Foley once again eliminated the opponent's top attackman—Solomon was not remotely a factor today. Rapine also played well on Rehfuss.
It's silly to start thinking about the playoffs one way or the other right now. This team obviously has a lot of work to do still but it's early March—a lot of opportunities left, things can and will change.
Hopkins's problems on offense are two fold. First, outside of the Princeton game Williams has been a disaster. He has reached Ranagan territory with his shot, he can't hit the broad side of a barn. No need to talk about hitting corners, he can't even hit the goalie. Just like Ranagan his only move is a bull dodge that goes nowhere.
Second, while Concannon showed signs of life today, his line mates have been ghosts. No dodging, no step downs, no nothing on offense. The second midfield is made up of smaller, slippery converted attack men that can be effective in spurts. Zinn started out on the second line today and missed a good looking shot that was just high. However, after he botched the pass that led to Syracuse''s first goal I don't think that he got another run with the offensive middies the rest of the game.
So what Hopkins is left with is an excellent off ball player/shooter and a freshman who has played well and shown flashes of brilliance. However, teams have figured out that Epstein is Hopkins' only threat to dodge to score so he is already drawing the top D-man in every game. Even guys like Spencer lose those match ups every once in a while, which is what happened today for Epstein. So without him Hopkins is left with a great shooter and a few guys who have been ineffective for most of the season. Given that Hopkins had a ton of long drawn out possessions that went nowhere, not because Hopkins wanted to play slow, but because no one could beat their man.
As for the play in the middle of the field, I think that everyone should pump the brakes on anointing Narewski the next great one, after a hot start he got schooled today. I like his athleticism but he still has a ways to go. As for the ground balls Kuhn has been good this year but he did nothing today. One caused turnover and no ground balls from your starting long stick middy is unacceptable.
Just like it has most of the past 10 years Hopkins looks like a team that barring a miracle run is not a threat to make the final four let alone win a championship. We've already seen what Loyola and Towson did to Hopkins and the difference in athleticism, skill and depth between Hopkins and Duke and Yale is depressing. The program has really taken a step back.
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