Johns Hopkins 2023

[flalax22]

The Baltimore teams (Loyola, HOP, Towson, and MD) might beat up each other a tad...I'm not sure there's much daylight among them early in the season; as a season progresses, I'd expect MD and maybe HOP to distance themselves, but early on, there is no easy call as to who will beat who.

The fact that this was posted roughly 24 hours after Loyola nearly doubled up the Terps is gold, pure gold!

The point being all 4 teams have a lot of talent,
yes, even the Tigers.
Its been a while.

2017 doesn’t seem that long ago.

It doesn't until you remember that 2017 is when Tucker Dordevic graduated from HS!

Why don't we all relax a little bit. The 2023 version of the Jays is getting the job done. Wait for it.

Just a couple of days until a big game against North Carolina.

Blue Jays will need to dig deep to win that one. Go Blue Jays!

DocBarrister

Game three and early but feels like this will give some insight into where the program is. I’m curious if we see the Jays that still need a lot of work or a team that will build on the momentum. Having seen both teams play I feel like the Jays can handle this Heels team which is unusual because I’ve had a bad feeling about UNC games for about a decade.

[51percentcorn]

Disagree. While many on this board celebrate the return of Crawley to replace Grant Jr and his inept O which is absolutely warranted there was a coach or coaches on staff who thought the team was better with Marcille on the Bench and it’s PM or JK or both.

Maybe they were better? It wouldn't be the first time a goalie largely struggled but then figured it out later on in his career. Eric Schneider comes to mind. Marcille did have opportunities — prior to this season he had played in 7 games with 4 starts — but wasn't any more consistent than the other guy. In fact their stats were nearly identical. And that's without knowing what was going on at practice, as you said. He helped get us to the B1G title game vs. Maryland in 2021 but then laid an absolute egg in a game we might have won with even a below-average goalie performance. He's getting another opportunity now and he's killing it.

Anyway not sure why we need to relitigate this and can't just enjoy the solid play. The last two performances have earned him a long leash.

BTW, I hope by now people understand how profoundly stupid Sag A's "we are underdogs in every game" preseason analysis was. How's that holding up?

The Schneider comparison is fair. But as you said he’s a kid that played in the B1G title game and then was stapled to the bench last year. I don’t believe he suddenly figured it out.

Did he have some opportunity sure but I will always believe had he been given the leash Kirson was the Jays would have won more games.

I think it is crystal clear where you and the black hole come down on Milliman. So that horse is off to the glue factory. So again revisiting this serves no real purpose - that was last year so crying over the spilt milk running under the bridge is what? You are saying don't worry about this 2-0 start - Milliman is going to screw it up?

And please enlighten me as to which of these games last year would have been changed as a result of a different goalie: Georgetown (Hopkins scored 8), UNC (Hopkins trailed 12-6 at the end of 3 quarters), UVA (Hopkins scored 4 in 3 quarters) Rutgers (Hopkins scored 7), UMD #1 (Hopkins scored 7) UMD#2 (Hopkins scored 6 in 3 quarters). The other 3 losses? Hopkins scored exactly 10 in each of them. Kirson was above 50% against Delaware and was close against Ohio State. Navy was a clunker. Hopkins likely does not beat Syracuse or Loyola without Kirson's performance. So while Kirson clearly did not stand on his head throughout the season and I would not have objected to trying to shake things up - the overriding issue was not the guy standing in the net - it was the gang that was too banged up, too small and couldn't shoot straight.

AND - like you I imagine - I am not at a single practice - I have no idea who should start at goalie. Maybe Milliman and staff were making the best evaluation at the time. If they made a mistake - it happens. Otherwise you're into the black hole's absurd conspiracy theories that Milliman is a toadie doing Daniels and Jen's bidding to ruin the program. Maybe Daniels pulled a Dan Snyder and mandated Kirson start? I have to admit I was 100% incorrect in that I was certain the Bryant transfer would start so it seems there is some evidence he plays the guy he thinks will do the best job. He is incented to win games right?

[HopFan16]

Jays are tied for 6th in the IL media poll. That's even a bit higher than I'd have them, but perhaps there's some overcompensation there from the voters who underrated them headed into the season and now don't want to make the same mistake twice.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... down/60689

Wasn't that long ago that a recent poster in this thread said the only way Hopkins would ever get back into the top 10 was to drop down to D3.

[wgdsr]

i believe there was also supposed to be an announcement about d3 in february. guaranteed. tick, tock.

[jhu06]

not sure when the last time we were ranked ahead of Maryland was, but not something any of us expected this season or any time soon.

[steel_hop]

Jays are tied for 6th in the IL media poll. That's even a bit higher than I'd have them, but perhaps there's some overcompensation there from the voters who underrated them headed into the season and now don't want to make the same mistake twice.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... down/60689

Wasn't that long ago that a recent poster in this thread said the only way Hopkins would ever get back into the top 10 was to drop down to D3.

Most pre season polls aren't worth the band width to post them. Just looking at this weekend's scores shows that with a bunch of early season "upsets." Not sure Hopkins should be ranked 6 but it beats the alternative.

I am certainly glad to see Hopkins be 2-0 - especially given some of the predictions that were posted earlier this year. TBH, I haven't watched a ton of the 2 games. It is still basketball season and coaching my kids teams takes up a huge amount of time. Though looking at the stats it is good to see some 2nd half punch. Nice to see the team rally from down 3 going into the 4th quarter against GT. Past 2 years, they likely would have folded in a similar position and lost that game by 7 or 8. Hopefully, that demonstrates the team is deeper than past years.

Tomorrow's game will certainly be another test for the team to see how they do on short rest against a good team that has given Hopkins fits in the past. UNC will be athletic and ready to play. Though they are coming off a blow out game on Saturday. They still have to travel.

As I said, who knows 100 pages ago, this is the season that will be determine where PM is going. I know I didn't say he need to make the tournament or be fired. But, not making the tournament would put a lot of pressure on next year. Still a long way to go before selection Sunday but starting off 2-0 is a good way to start.

[flalax22]

Disagree. While many on this board celebrate the return of Crawley to replace Grant Jr and his inept O which is absolutely warranted there was a coach or coaches on staff who thought the team was better with Marcille on the Bench and it’s PM or JK or both.

Maybe they were better? It wouldn't be the first time a goalie largely struggled but then figured it out later on in his career. Eric Schneider comes to mind. Marcille did have opportunities — prior to this season he had played in 7 games with 4 starts — but wasn't any more consistent than the other guy. In fact their stats were nearly identical. And that's without knowing what was going on at practice, as you said. He helped get us to the B1G title game vs. Maryland in 2021 but then laid an absolute egg in a game we might have won with even a below-average goalie performance. He's getting another opportunity now and he's killing it.

Anyway not sure why we need to relitigate this and can't just enjoy the solid play. The last two performances have earned him a long leash.

BTW, I hope by now people understand how profoundly stupid Sag A's "we are underdogs in every game" preseason analysis was. How's that holding up?

The Schneider comparison is fair. But as you said he’s a kid that played in the B1G title game and then was stapled to the bench last year. I don’t believe he suddenly figured it out.

Did he have some opportunity sure but I will always believe had he been given the leash Kirson was the Jays would have won more games.

I think it is crystal clear where you and the black hole come down on Milliman. So that horse is off to the glue factory. So again revisiting this serves no real purpose - that was last year so crying over the spilt milk running under the bridge is what? You are saying don't worry about this 2-0 start - Milliman is going to screw it up?

And please enlighten me as to which of these games last year would have been changed as a result of a different goalie: Georgetown (Hopkins scored 8), UNC (Hopkins trailed 12-6 at the end of 3 quarters), UVA (Hopkins scored 4 in 3 quarters) Rutgers (Hopkins scored 7), UMD #1 (Hopkins scored 7) UMD#2 (Hopkins scored 6 in 3 quarters). The other 3 losses? Hopkins scored exactly 10 in each of them. Kirson was above 50% against Delaware and was close against Ohio State. Navy was a clunker. Hopkins likely does not beat Syracuse or Loyola without Kirson's performance. So while Kirson clearly did not stand on his head throughout the season and I would not have objected to trying to shake things up - the overriding issue was not the guy standing in the net - it was the gang that was too banged up, too small and couldn't shoot straight.

AND - like you I imagine - I am not at a single practice - I have no idea who should start at goalie. Maybe Milliman and staff were making the best evaluation at the time. If they made a mistake - it happens. Otherwise you're into the black hole's absurd conspiracy theories that Milliman is a toadie doing Daniels and Jen's bidding to ruin the program. Maybe Daniels pulled a Dan Snyder and mandated Kirson start? I have to admit I was 100% incorrect in that I was certain the Bryant transfer would start so it seems there is some evidence he plays the guy he thinks will do the best job. He is incented to win games right?

Ya you’re right. No reason to question the judgement of the DC who came from OSU about playing the OSU transfer who struggled all year when the kid who took the team to the B1G final the year before was stapled to the bench and now all of a sudden found his game and has the Jays 2-0.

I mean thank God he suddenly found his game.

[wgdsr]

he came from umbc. and he played (and got his coaching start) at hopkins.

[Big Dog]

Jays are tied for 6th in the IL media poll. That's even a bit higher than I'd have them, but perhaps there's some overcompensation there from the voters who underrated them headed into the season and now don't want to make the same mistake twice.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... down/60689

Wasn't that long ago that a recent poster in this thread said the only way Hopkins would ever get back into the top 10 was to drop down to D3.

I'd much prefer to start low and move up each week after a W. Better for the player's psyche; play like you have to earn it each week -- which you do. "Don't get cocky, kid."

[HopFan16]

he came from umbc. and he played (and got his coaching start) at hopkins.

He was an assistant at OSU before UMBC and helped recruit Kirson there before leaving, which is what flalax is referring to.

While Kirson may to some extent been "his guy," coach K does not strike me as the type of guy to play favorites. He wants to win. The guy is insanely competitive. In any case, even if that were true, he would appear to have learned from his mistake. It would have been very easy to start the Bryant transfer with 4 years of starting experience, but they're not doing that.

Jays are tied for 6th in the IL media poll. That's even a bit higher than I'd have them, but perhaps there's some overcompensation there from the voters who underrated them headed into the season and now don't want to make the same mistake twice.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... down/60689

Wasn't that long ago that a recent poster in this thread said the only way Hopkins would ever get back into the top 10 was to drop down to D3.

I'd much prefer to start low and move up each week after a W. Better for the player's psyche; play like you have to earn it each week -- which you do. "Don't get cocky, kid."

No doubt. But I suspect they care about the rankings today at #6 the same amount as they did last week when they were unranked. Which is "zero."

[flalax22]

he came from umbc. and he played (and got his coaching start) at hopkins.

He was an assistant at OSU before UMBC and helped recruit Kirson there before leaving, which is what flalax is referring to.

While Kirson may to some extent been "his guy," coach K does not strike me as the type of guy to play favorites. He wants to win. The guy is insanely competitive. In any case, even if that were true, he would appear to have learned from his mistake. It would have been very easy to start the Bryant transfer with 4 years of starting experience, but they're not doing that.

And that’s my point. I believe there was a blind spot there and a bias.

And yes to get back to 51’s suggestion that I am concerned about them screwing it up. I kind of am. They brought in the transfer for a reason and it wasn’t because they had huge confidence in Marcille.

[smoova]

The Baltimore teams (Loyola, HOP, Towson, and MD) might beat up each other a tad...I'm not sure there's much daylight among them early in the season; as a season progresses, I'd expect MD and maybe HOP to distance themselves, but early on, there is no easy call as to who will beat who.

The fact that this was posted roughly 24 hours after Loyola nearly doubled up the Terps is gold, pure gold!

Straight dopes parachute in to threads unrelated to their own focus, so they must (must!!) overlay harebrained interpretations of convos they were never part of. That isn’t gold or even pure gold, it’s a standard reactionary pig-ignorance.

10Stone replied much nicer than I would, Chief.

Bwahahaha! That sure touched a nerve!

[Ruffled_Feathers]

And that’s my point. I believe there was a blind spot there and a bias.

Maybe or perhaps Marcille actually did up his game over the off season. Maybe even Caracciolo's presence has helped with ball stopping, the players are sure to help each other and maybe he saw something to help Marcille with in terms of positioning, focus, etc. that has led to improved ball tracking and stopping who knows. Perhaps our resident goalie expert could weigh in as I'm certainly an amateur in the ways of goaltending. All it takes is for something to finally click or for one to lock in the proper "good habit" for things to improve in that regard. The Final Four run with Schneider folks were talking about where he picked his game up late in the year I'm pretty sure was an in season change where he was getting some help from his brother. My golf swing doesn't look quite the same as it did last fall. Things can change and improvements can be made.

I'm not going to tell you I didn't want to see Marcille out there at times last year and didn't think he brought some other tangible and intangible things to the team that Kirson or others at that spot didn't but I do think building an argument off of almost solely "he started in those 2021 B10 tourney games we won/almost won and saved slightly below 50% during that span" isn't exactly a great foundation.

I don't know if some of the clearing behavior we've seen this year is entirely Marcille or the coaches finally starting to get it there but the biggest thing I figured he would add to the effort was getting the ball upfield quicker during clears than Kirson did and so far we're starting to see some of that this year. The ball comes out fast and sometimes it's longer outlets. We don't clear back to the goalie and the ball dies when the opposition sets up the ride as much. Whether or not it would've been the same experiencing last year if he got the day 1 nod I don't know.

[wgdsr]

he came from umbc. and he played (and got his coaching start) at hopkins.

He was an assistant at OSU before UMBC and helped recruit Kirson there before leaving, which is what flalax is referring to.

While Kirson may to some extent been "his guy," coach K does not strike me as the type of guy to play favorites. He wants to win. The guy is insanely competitive. In any case, even if that were true, he would appear to have learned from his mistake. It would have been very easy to start the Bryant transfer with 4 years of starting experience, but they're not doing that.

i'm aware, he last coached there in 2016. he never coached the kid. he loved him so much in high school 6 years later?

i get it they brought in a transfer (a seasoned one, ftr), and lookee here weeks after koesterer came over. but it's complete speculation that coaches plural would go with a guy bc one coach almost coached him and liked him in h.s. 6 years prior. vs., say... their jobs. maybe at least say it's complete speculation? plus -- it likely made zero difference, as u say!

here's a competing strawman... marcille plays well in the b1g champ game, he's the incumbent starter. but he didn't.

this might also be a good time to remind folks hopkins and marcille have played and *saved* all of 2 games so far. he's playing well. maybe he improved.

[JHU69]

Watching the tape delay on ESPNU ...
How do you get Quint to simply SHUT UP...!!!

mute.jpg

Yeah. Guess that’s better than disappearing his body in the swampland near the meadowlands which was going to be my suggestion.

How many times did he say "turn and rake!"?

[51percentcorn]

There are so many ifs and buts and maybes. My sense - by the bio - is that Koesterer coached the face-off guys like Withers and May while at Ohio State - no mention of him working with the goalies. K's & K's paths never directly crossed at Ohio State either as Koesterer was gone to UMBC in 2017 by the time Kirson showed up on campus. Kirson was one of the more highly coveted transfers that first season after the pandemic was raging. My point? It doesn't matter anymore. I fervently hope Marcille plays great throughout the season and helps Hopkins be very successful but that means Milliman would be successful and I know how that would sit with some of you.

This is a big challenge in a little more than 24 or so hours. Honestly the number 6 ranking concerns me - a part of this I believe - was they WANTED Georgetown and were embarrassed by last year's result in DC. Are they going to have the same focus 72 hours later against a team that requires that kind of effort and focus when all of a sudden people are telling you that your "you know what" doesn't stink? A little trip down history lane - after finally breaking the Klockner curse and rising to its last #1 ranking to date - Hopkins travelled to NJ to take on a North Carolina team that had already lost to Lehigh/Penn and Duke. The result was a very uninspired 4 goal loss that started the 2012 slide. Hopkins played on Saturday in a very competitive game and was able to get my magic number of 23 players on the field. Carolina played a day earlier and literally got to play their entire team against Mercer. You can spin that one a couple ways - Carolina has not been tested in a stressful environment - Hopkins may have a little less in the tank.

[OCanada]

he came from umbc. and he played (and got his coaching start) at hopkins.

He was an assistant at OSU before UMBC and helped recruit Kirson there before leaving, which is what flalax is referring to.

While Kirson may to some extent been "his guy," coach K does not strike me as the type of guy to play favorites. He wants to win. The guy is insanely competitive. In any case, even if that were true, he would appear to have learned from his mistake. It would have been very easy to start the Bryant transfer with 4 years of starting experience, but they're not doing that.

i'm aware, he last coached there in 2016. he never coached the kid. he loved him so much in high school 6 years later?

i get it they brought in a transfer (a seasoned one, ftr), and lookee here weeks after koesterer came over. but it's complete speculation that coaches plural would go with a guy bc one coach almost coached him and liked him in h.s. 6 years prior. vs., say... their jobs. maybe at least say it's complete speculation? plus -- it likely made zero difference, as u say!

here's a competing strawman... marcille plays well in the b1g champ game, he's the incumbent starter. but he didn't.

this might also be a good time to remind folks hopkins and marcille have played and *saved* all of 2 games so far. he's playing well. maybe he improved.

Pre PM Hopkins had a pretty good goalie who was not playing to potential. A former great goalie noticed a problem with his play and called it in. An adjustment was made and his play elevated a lot. Maybe that happened here.

[HopFan16]

This is a big challenge in a little more than 24 or so hours. Honestly the number 6 ranking concerns me - a part of this I believe - was they WANTED Georgetown and were embarrassed by last year's result in DC. Are they going to have the same focus 72 hours later against a team that requires that kind of effort and focus when all of a sudden people are telling you that your "you know what" doesn't stink?

Agree. I will say though that in the postgame video Marcille was asked how they build on the Georgetown win and pretty much the first thing out of his mouth was that the senior class hasn't beaten UNC yet and all eyes are defending Homewood on Tuesday. Seems like they have their priorities straight. If they can't get the job done I don't think it will be because they looked past the Heels or bought into their own hype.

Mercer isn't good but when if you hang 25 on anybody and only allow 3, you've got to take notice. UNC has some firepower and they're always athletic in the middle of the field. Should be another fun one.

[gymman1031]

Anyone predicting another thriller Tuesday evening?

[molo]

The rout of Mercer doesn't tell us too much except that a good team beat a not so good team soundly. UNC may be top 10 material, but they are probably closer to 15 or 20. I have Hopkins high after beating GT, but UNC on short turnaround will be quite tough. The home team should be favored, but the game should be close.
For those who like to park on Linkwood, be aware that during the week there is a two hour limit until 8:00 pm. For those of us who don't pay to park and don't mind a little walk through nice neighborhoods in fair weather, consider the side streets up Hampden or Guilford.