Johns Hopkins 2022

[Sagittarius A*]

So, I'm not watching the game, but per the IL box, we have 27 shots on the cage and G'Town has 25. And we're down by 8. I get the McIlroy is really good, I do, but c'mon now.

McElroy .680
Kirson .429

[HopFan16]

Georgetown is very good, their defense is superb, and their goalie is probably the best in the country.

Kirson played ok in the first half but then fell apart. The D didn't do him any favors. But sometimes a goalie has to bail his defense out, as McElroy did several times.

Will be easy to overreact to this scoreline. Jays obviously did not play very well and have a lot of work to do to get to where they want to be. Top 15-20 preseason ranking looks pretty accurate after these first 3 games.

With Duke losing to Jacksonville, you have to wonder if the "2 games in 3 days in February" thing is a mountain to climb.

A positive: Grimes has already matched his point total from last year.

We're onto Loyola.

[Big Dog]

I think the towson/georgetown stuff in 3 days was a great decision and we're learning a lot early about our guys and they're getting a lot of great film and experience. The media has questioned this decision but I think it was smart especially with all the other big ooc games coming up.

Not sure I agree. I'd much prefer a cupcake to give guys a chance to rotate in some backups. Moreover, if Kirson continues to get shelled, not withstanding the two saves during garbage time, eventually he'll lose the guys in front of him.

[jhu06]

I think the towson/georgetown stuff in 3 days was a great decision and we're learning a lot early about our guys and they're getting a lot of great film and experience. The media has questioned this decision but I think it was smart especially with all the other big ooc games coming up.

Not sure I agree. I'd much prefer a cupcake to give guys a chance to rotate in some backups. Moreover, if Kirson continues to get shelled, not withstanding the two saves during garbage time, eventually he'll lose the guys in front of him.

PM was exactly right. Memorial day weekend the kids are going to have to go through this 2 in 3 and better to learn how to do it now. They shelled Towson, came out strong today, got good film and have 3 powerful acc games plus loyola coming up.
Grimes is improved.

[nyjay]

We're onto Loyola.

Given how Loyola looked against the Terps, we may have reason to panic in the event of a bad result next weekend.

[44WeWantMore]

Since when do we need a reason to panic? Even a cat picture did not help.

[nyjay]

Since when do we need a reason to panic? Even a cat picture did not help.

Fair point - though I would say the panic has been justified for a while now.

[DocBarrister]

I think the towson/georgetown stuff in 3 days was a great decision and we're learning a lot early about our guys and they're getting a lot of great film and experience. The media has questioned this decision but I think it was smart especially with all the other big ooc games coming up.

Not sure I agree. I'd much prefer a cupcake to give guys a chance to rotate in some backups. Moreover, if Kirson continues to get shelled, not withstanding the two saves during garbage time, eventually he'll lose the guys in front of him.

PM was exactly right. Memorial day weekend the kids are going to have to go through this 2 in 3 and better to learn how to do it now. They shelled Towson, came out strong today, got good film and have 3 powerful acc games plus loyola coming up.
Grimes is improved.

Memorial Day (or anything in the postseason) ain’t happening unless the Blue Jays get better goalie play.

I cannot believe that Johns Hopkins doesn’t have at least one goalie who can save at least 50%.

DocBarrister

[DocBarrister]

Georgetown is very good, their defense is superb, and their goalie is probably the best in the country.

Kirson played ok in the first half but then fell apart. The D didn't do him any favors. But sometimes a goalie has to bail his defense out, as McElroy did several times.

Will be easy to overreact to this scoreline. Jays obviously did not play very well and have a lot of work to do to get to where they want to be. Top 15-20 preseason ranking looks pretty accurate after these first 3 games.

With Duke losing to Jacksonville, you have to wonder if the "2 games in 3 days in February" thing is a mountain to climb.

A positive: Grimes has already matched his point total from last year.

We're onto Loyola.

Grimes also had 3 turnovers.

Blue Jays were fatigued, which probably factored into the 16 turnovers.

Until proven otherwise, McElroy is the best goalie in the country.

DocBarrister

[HopFan16]

Grimes also had 3 turnovers.

At least one of those was at the end of the shot clock when he (smartly) just tossed it away. Goes down in the box score as a turnover, but it's not really. Not his, at least. That's a team turnover.

Grimes is playing so much more poised this year. He seems to have figured out how to use his size and athleticism to gain some separation. And his off-ball movement has been superb. That's a relatively new element of his game.

Georgetown probably has the best defense/goalie combo in the nation. Not all of our shots were great, but McElroy made several unreal saves on shots that had eyes for the goal. The sledding is not always going to be that tough. That's a legit Final Four contender.

[Mr. F]

I liked the effort in the first quarter. We certainly proved we can hang with a top 5 team for a half. Blow outs happen, even to great teams. How this team responds now is important. I remember back to 2018 when we got blown out by loyola and blew a big lead to unc, and responded by winning 7 straight including overcoming a 7 goal deficit to uva. This is a good team. The faceoff game is a strength, and other areas except goalie are markedly improved from last year.

[Big Dog]

I think the towson/georgetown stuff in 3 days was a great decision and we're learning a lot early about our guys and they're getting a lot of great film and experience. The media has questioned this decision but I think it was smart especially with all the other big ooc games coming up.

Not sure I agree. I'd much prefer a cupcake to give guys a chance to rotate in some backups. Moreover, if Kirson continues to get shelled, not withstanding the two saves during garbage time, eventually he'll lose the guys in front of him.

PM was exactly right. Memorial day weekend the kids are going to have to go through this 2 in 3 and better to learn how to do it now. They shelled Towson, came out strong today, got good film and have 3 powerful acc games plus loyola coming up.
Grimes is improved.

Memorial Day (or anything in the postseason) ain’t happening unless the Blue Jays get better goalie play.
......
DocBarrister

Exactly. The days of having a stocked bench --- where some of our 3rd team could be starters elsewhere -- are long gone. With a gauntlet of a schedule our starters get ground down such that they are really banged up by April. FOGO's can only take so much grinding before they need some rest, and taking time off for injury when league starts is not a good plan.

But that's just the opinion of one fan. (And guys called Saban.) Clearly, many/most? on this thread love the difficult scheduling.

[DocBarrister]

Grimes also had 3 turnovers.

At least one of those was at the end of the shot clock when he (smartly) just tossed it away. Goes down in the box score as a turnover, but it's not really. Not his, at least. That's a team turnover.

Grimes is playing so much more poised this year. He seems to have figured out how to use his size and athleticism to gain some separation. And his off-ball movement has been superb. That's a relatively new element of his game.

Georgetown probably has the best defense/goalie combo in the nation. Not all of our shots were great, but McElroy made several unreal saves on shots that had eyes for the goal. The sledding is not always going to be that tough. That's a legit Final Four contender.

I agree. As you may recall, I advocated for Grimes in the third attack spot before the season began. I think he is proving his worth there.

What Grimes needs more than anything are reps. He will get better and better the more he touches the ball.

DocBarrister

[DocBarrister]

I liked the effort in the first quarter. We certainly proved we can hang with a top 5 team for a half. Blow outs happen, even to great teams. How this team responds now is important. I remember back to 2018 when we got blown out by loyola and blew a big lead to unc, and responded by winning 7 straight including overcoming a 7 goal deficit to uva. This is a good team. The faceoff game is a strength, and other areas except goalie are markedly improved from last year.

I do agree … Blue Jays have the makings of a good team.

However, a lacrosse team without good goalie play is like a baseball team without good pitching or a football team without a good QB.

Nothing else is going to matter much until you strengthen that position.

DocBarrister

[netminder]

A good benchmark game for an improving Blue Jays team. Georgetown is a solid top tier team and they showed it today. No easy games on the schedule and Loyola will be another opportunity. Early on in the season but goalie play and offense shooting % are concerns.

[44WeWantMore]

Where is our thread starter?
https://theoatmeal.com/blog/hand_to_hand_wombat

[DocBarrister]

Where is our thread starter?
https://theoatmeal.com/blog/hand_to_hand_wombat

He defected and now posts on a lacrosse forum run by China. Apparently, he is rather unpopular … something about his lousy Mandarin and always falling on his face at key moments. Sad.

DocBarrister

[Young Warrior]

Sucks, Doc!!! Got confidence in you though, DocB'll get it done.
Let us know how it ends.

Thanks, DMac.

I’m actually considering whether this is worth a lawsuit. They have “$12.50/mo” in large dark text over “150.00 paid yearly” in much smaller, lighter font. I know of very few people who are willing to purchase a second-tier sports streaming service for $150 with virtually no opt out. If you complain, they still offer only an option that is twice as much. Fact discovery in this case would be rather interesting, including whether schools like Georgetown knew of this practice.

Wouldn’t be the first time I punished a company. Recently settled a case where a company spent over half a million dollars defending a case filed by my client that could have been settled early for about a tenth of that.

Maybe FloSports needs the same lesson.

DocBarrister

I "fell for" this too. Their bot said to click the link and there would be an option to the discontinued monthly subscritpion by clicking the link. I did but there is no such option. Quite honestly I think the better approach is to just cancel and dispute the charge on my credit card when it posts. I dont want these muppets being able to say that I opted into anything.

[HopFan16]

Sucks, Doc!!! Got confidence in you though, DocB'll get it done.
Let us know how it ends.

Thanks, DMac.

I’m actually considering whether this is worth a lawsuit. They have “$12.50/mo” in large dark text over “150.00 paid yearly” in much smaller, lighter font. I know of very few people who are willing to purchase a second-tier sports streaming service for $150 with virtually no opt out. If you complain, they still offer only an option that is twice as much. Fact discovery in this case would be rather interesting, including whether schools like Georgetown knew of this practice.

Wouldn’t be the first time I punished a company. Recently settled a case where a company spent over half a million dollars defending a case filed by my client that could have been settled early for about a tenth of that.

Maybe FloSports needs the same lesson.

DocBarrister

I "fell for" this too. Their bot said to click the link and there would be an option to the discontinued monthly subscritpion by clicking the link. I did but there is no such option. Quite honestly I think the better approach is to just cancel and dispute the charge on my credit card when it posts. I dont want these muppets being able to say that I opted into anything.

You have to click "more options" or something in tiny font, under the main button once you get to that menu. That, too, was extremely easy to miss. It's a total scam. Glad that's over with. Next weekend we're back on ESPN.

[Jldlax]

I liked the effort in the first quarter. We certainly proved we can hang with a top 5 team for a half. Blow outs happen, even to great teams. How this team responds now is important. I remember back to 2018 when we got blown out by loyola and blew a big lead to unc, and responded by winning 7 straight including overcoming a 7 goal deficit to uva. This is a good team. The faceoff game is a strength, and other areas except goalie are markedly improved from last year.

I do agree … Blue Jays have the makings of a good team.

However, a lacrosse team without good goalie play is like a baseball team without good pitching or a football team without a good QB.

Nothing else is going to matter much until you strengthen that position.


DocBarrister

As a Georgetown fan who watched the game, the Hopkins goalie was just part of the overall picture. Georgetown is simply the better team this year in every aspect of the game and is an experienced, cohesive group.

Yes the goalie was not great but after the first quarter Georgetown got its sea legs and dominated defensively, which then opened up the transition game and six on six. MCElroy did make some great saves to turn things around but he is a very special player. The Hop goalie faced open shots and tough transition opportunities from GU and it snowballed from there.