Maryland 2024

[Finster]

Erksa had 3 goals and Malever 4 points in his first game back from a devastating injury. There's top talent on the team who can beat anyone anytime. I think one game and about 18 practices with the new coordinator is a little early to call this offense a dud,

Maryland may never have an "alpha" like Jared again. He is not a reasonable benchmark. Tillman's offense made Wisnauskus into the country's top "alpha', and he was nowhere near that level for the 4 years prior. The offense got plenty of great looks, many of which they missed and many of which couldn't be followed up because they were taken with 7 seconds on the shot clock. There's a lot to build on, including infusing some great young talent.

I’d actually argue that Maryland’s ‘22 championship squad had a surplus of alphas. Wisnauskas, Donville, DeMaio, Khan, then Makar on defense. All of those guys looked like they wanted the ball, or in Makars case, the opponents top dog.

Agree about most of this but have a different perspective for Makar. Zappitello took almost every team's top dodging threat unless it was a hulking, back-you-down, run-you-over kind of attackman. Look at the UVA match-ups in particular. Makar played a lot off ball that season and sprung doubles all over the place. Having Zappitello allowed Makar to be disruptive all over the place. Almost like a strong safety in football who could roam all over the field. They did the same thing last year. Really played to Makar's total strengths.

I hear you. My read on the subject of ‘alpha’ often has more to do with mental energy and accountability; I’m looking for the kid who doesn’t shy from accountability, who wants to lead, and whose teammates give him that role because he’s earned it. I just saw in Makar those qualities.

I don’t know who has that today on the Terps. First games are always tough to extrapolate an entire season, but one thing that comes back to me is when Maryland came out in ‘22 scoring 21 then 20 goals against two good teams in HPU and Loyola. I think if you were a Maryland fan, you had a good sense that the ‘22 season was going to be special.

Not to be a downer already here for the Terps, but being at that game, the team didn’t look anything like the ‘22 team. John has built a powerhouse where the expectations are such. Let’s see how the year goes; maybe they’ll find a groove. I just think it’ll be difficult given his scheduling: Loyola, Syracuse, Princeton, notre dame, and so forth. I wish Cuse would schedule like that, but for whatever reasons we don’t.

Anyway, hoping to make the Hopkins game on 4-20 (no pun).

[AreaLax]

When I attended the scrimmage with Georgetown Ajax was the clear leader. Special during huddle. It caught me off guard at first because I thought Makar some how gotten back on the team. He sounded just like makar.

[jff97]

Well I guess with all this talk about how bad and predictable the offense is MD should just fold up shop and start over again in the fall when highly touted recruit Spencer Ford arrives in College Park.

[Finster]

Well I guess with all this talk about how bad and predictable the offense is MD should just fold up shop and start over again in the fall when highly touted recruit Spencer Ford arrives in College Park.

The observations on Maryland’s offense are concerns rather than declarations. You’ll know soon if the concerns were overblown or not enough.

There can be no denying that Maryland doesn’t have a Shellenberger, O’Neill, Kavanaugh, Kirst, or Spallina. They just don’t. Doesn’t mean the team lacks standout players, and perhaps the team will prove greater than the sum of its parts. It’s more that John has created such a championship culture, and most tournament winners of recent past have had ‘that guy’. Consider it a compliment.

[keno in reno]

Erksa had 3 goals and Malever 4 points in his first game back from a devastating injury. There's top talent on the team who can beat anyone anytime. I think one game and about 18 practices with the new coordinator is a little early to call this offense a dud,

Maryland may never have an "alpha" like Jared again. He is not a reasonable benchmark. Tillman's offense made Wisnauskus into the country's top "alpha', and he was nowhere near that level for the 4 years prior. The offense got plenty of great looks, many of which they missed and many of which couldn't be followed up because they were taken with 7 seconds on the shot clock. There's a lot to build on, including infusing some great young talent.

I’d actually argue that Maryland’s ‘22 championship squad had a surplus of alphas. Wisnauskas, Donville, DeMaio, Khan, then Makar on defense. All of those guys looked like they wanted the ball, or in Makars case, the opponents top dog.

Agree about most of this but have a different perspective for Makar. Zappitello took almost every team's top dodging threat unless it was a hulking, back-you-down, run-you-over kind of attackman. Look at the UVA match-ups in particular. Makar played a lot off ball that season and sprung doubles all over the place. Having Zappitello allowed Makar to be disruptive all over the place. Almost like a strong safety in football who could roam all over the field. They did the same thing last year. Really played to Makar's total strengths.

I hear you. My read on the subject of ‘alpha’ often has more to do with mental energy and accountability; I’m looking for the kid who doesn’t shy from accountability, who wants to lead, and whose teammates give him that role because he’s earned it. I just saw in Makar those qualities.

I don’t know who has that today on the Terps. First games are always tough to extrapolate an entire season, but one thing that comes back to me is when Maryland came out in ‘22 scoring 21 then 20 goals against two good teams in HPU and Loyola. I think if you were a Maryland fan, you had a good sense that the ‘22 season was going to be special.

Not to be a downer already here for the Terps, but being at that game, the team didn’t look anything like the ‘22 team. John has built a powerhouse where the expectations are such. Let’s see how the year goes; maybe they’ll find a groove. I just think it’ll be difficult given his scheduling: Loyola, Syracuse, Princeton, notre dame, and so forth. I wish Cuse would schedule like that, but for whatever reasons we don’t.

Anyway, hoping to make the Hopkins game on 4-20 (no pun).

You are trying to compare arguably the best team in college history. Completely irrelevant, and no team this year would beat Maryland '22. Michigan football would lose to LSU 2019 by 28 points or more.

[jff97]

Well I guess with all this talk about how bad and predictable the offense is MD should just fold up shop and start over again in the fall when highly touted recruit Spencer Ford arrives in College Park.

The observations on Maryland’s offense are concerns rather than declarations. You’ll know soon if the concerns were overblown or not enough.

There can be no denying that Maryland doesn’t have a Shellenberger, O’Neill, Kavanaugh, Kirst, or Spallina. They just don’t. Doesn’t mean the team lacks standout players, and perhaps the team will prove greater than the sum of its parts. It’s more that John has created such a championship culture, and most tournament winners of recent past have had ‘that guy’. Consider it a compliment.

I agree MD doesn't have anyone on that level. Maybe Malever or Erksa can get close by the end of the season. MD fans have been spoiled in recent years with the crazy athleticism of Bernhardt and then a player like Wisnauskas who just fit in wherever you needed him. I always thought Wisnauskas was underrated until his last year. He put up 50 points as a freshman, which puts him in pretty elite company. I think this weekend will be telling. Last year when they blew out Richmond the talk was they'd be a dominate team again. Then they struggled at Loyola and McNaney got hurt and IL started the shorts conspiracy and it set the tone for the bumpy road the rest of the way.

[keno in reno]

Well I guess with all this talk about how bad and predictable the offense is MD should just fold up shop and start over again in the fall when highly touted recruit Spencer Ford arrives in College Park.

The observations on Maryland’s offense are concerns rather than declarations. You’ll know soon if the concerns were overblown or not enough.

There can be no denying that Maryland doesn’t have a Shellenberger, O’Neill, Kavanaugh, Kirst, or Spallina. They just don’t. Doesn’t mean the team lacks standout players, and perhaps the team will prove greater than the sum of its parts. It’s more that John has created such a championship culture, and most tournament winners of recent past have had ‘that guy’. Consider it a compliment.

I agree MD doesn't have anyone on that level. Maybe Malever or Erksa can get close by the end of the season. MD fans have been spoiled in recent years with the crazy athleticism of Bernhardt and then a player like Wisnauskas who just fit in wherever you needed him. I always thought Wisnauskas was underrated until his last year. He put up 50 points as a freshman, which puts him in pretty elite company.

Erksa put up 48 points last year and he didn't have Bernhardt to draw triple teams for stand still, wide open shots. That was at least an equally elite season. He's already got 3 goals in what people are describing as a horrible offense.

[Finster]

Well I guess with all this talk about how bad and predictable the offense is MD should just fold up shop and start over again in the fall when highly touted recruit Spencer Ford arrives in College Park.

The observations on Maryland’s offense are concerns rather than declarations. You’ll know soon if the concerns were overblown or not enough.

There can be no denying that Maryland doesn’t have a Shellenberger, O’Neill, Kavanaugh, Kirst, or Spallina. They just don’t. Doesn’t mean the team lacks standout players, and perhaps the team will prove greater than the sum of its parts. It’s more that John has created such a championship culture, and most tournament winners of recent past have had ‘that guy’. Consider it a compliment.

I agree MD doesn't have anyone on that level. Maybe Malever or Erksa can get close by the end of the season. MD fans have been spoiled in recent years with the crazy athleticism of Bernhardt and then a player like Wisnauskas who just fit in wherever you needed him. I always thought Wisnauskas was underrated until his last year. He put up 50 points as a freshman, which puts him in pretty elite company.

Erksa put up 48 points last year and he didn't have Bernhardt to draw triple teams for stand still, wide open shots. That was at least an equally elite season. He's already got 3 goals in what people are describing as a horrible offense.

No one has described the Terps offense as ‘horrible’. There are concerns. Let’s see how it plays out.

Erksa is a great player who will continue to excel. Do you think he is Maryland’s go-to guy in the crunch? I don’t know the team well enough, so I’m asking with sincerity.

Fwiw, other freshmen point totals (2020 was scratched) were the following:

Shellenberger: 79
CJ Kirst: 79
Spallina: 68
P Kav: 64
O’Neill: 55

[keno in reno]

Well I guess with all this talk about how bad and predictable the offense is MD should just fold up shop and start over again in the fall when highly touted recruit Spencer Ford arrives in College Park.

The observations on Maryland’s offense are concerns rather than declarations. You’ll know soon if the concerns were overblown or not enough.

There can be no denying that Maryland doesn’t have a Shellenberger, O’Neill, Kavanaugh, Kirst, or Spallina. They just don’t. Doesn’t mean the team lacks standout players, and perhaps the team will prove greater than the sum of its parts. It’s more that John has created such a championship culture, and most tournament winners of recent past have had ‘that guy’. Consider it a compliment.

I agree MD doesn't have anyone on that level. Maybe Malever or Erksa can get close by the end of the season. MD fans have been spoiled in recent years with the crazy athleticism of Bernhardt and then a player like Wisnauskas who just fit in wherever you needed him. I always thought Wisnauskas was underrated until his last year. He put up 50 points as a freshman, which puts him in pretty elite company.

Erksa put up 48 points last year and he didn't have Bernhardt to draw triple teams for stand still, wide open shots. That was at least an equally elite season. He's already got 3 goals in what people are describing as a horrible offense.

No one has described the Terps offense as ‘horrible’. There are concerns. Let’s see how it plays out.

Erksa is a great player who will continue to excel. Do you think he is Maryland’s go-to guy in the crunch? I don’t know the team well enough, so I’m asking with sincerity.

Fwiw, other freshmen point totals (2020 was scratched) were the following:

Shellenberger: 79
CJ Kirst: 79
Spallina: 68
P Kav: 64
O’Neill: 55

And no one is saying Erksa's freshman season is anywhere near those guys'. Those guys are all great and there may be 3 Tewaaraton winners among them. And they blew away Bernhardt's meager 28 freshman points.

[1766]

Maryland has a great staff and has recruited very well and used the portal very well. Comparing any team to the 22 team is very unfair to players there. That team is arguably the best ever. An outlier in lacrosse. Maryland may never have another team like that. Put it on a pedestal, admire it from time to time, and leave it there.

[MDralphie]

Correct 1766. This team will be good. It will not go undefeated. Very likely to win The BIG IMO.
Offense will get better. Parts will mesh. Luke will get the Terps opportunities. Mac will stop shots. We will win most GB Stats. There will be many guys scoring this year and some cream will rise. #10 is very good, #4 was a top 5 recruit who will wind up running the show very well and just missed a season. It’s February and the schedule will make us better. Can’t wait. Oh yeah and there is that Coach Tillman….Come out Saturday, be on time and let them know you’re there. LETS GO!

[1766]

Correct 1766. This team will be good. It will not go undefeated. Very likely to win The BIG IMO.
Offense will get better. Parts will mesh. Luke will get the Terps opportunities. Mac will stop shots. We will win most GB Stats. There will be many guys scoring this year and some cream will rise. #10 is very good, #4 was a top 5 recruit who will wind up running the show very well and just missed a season. It’s February and the schedule will make us better. Can’t wait. Oh yeah and there is that Coach Tillman….Come out Saturday, be on time and let them know you’re there. LETS GO!

I'm a Rutgers guy but have a lot of admiration for what the Terps have done. Especially that 22 team. They were simply unbeatable. From the outside looking in, comparing any team to that one is unfair. Enjoy this season and players for who they are. Certainly enough talent and hard play to do so. Good luck!

[Finster]

Correct 1766. This team will be good. It will not go undefeated. Very likely to win The BIG IMO.
Offense will get better. Parts will mesh. Luke will get the Terps opportunities. Mac will stop shots. We will win most GB Stats. There will be many guys scoring this year and some cream will rise. #10 is very good, #4 was a top 5 recruit who will wind up running the show very well and just missed a season. It’s February and the schedule will make us better. Can’t wait. Oh yeah and there is that Coach Tillman….Come out Saturday, be on time and let them know you’re there. LETS GO!

Whether you want it (or even like it) or not, there is a new standard that’s been set at college park. Same thing happened to Bellichick at New England. The standard is the national championship. It’s unfair, sure, but it’s there. The reason a team like Maryland will get over analyzed by schmucks like me is because we now expect the standard to be met. I would tell you to receive criticism like a compliment rather than an annoyance.

Fwiw, Maryland has a championship caliber defense, defensive middies, and goalie. I’m not sold on their offense, yet, nor do I think John is. Unfortunately for the Terps, your schedule permits zero room to gel. Richmond was your one and only ‘prohibitive favorite’ game. You have no more of those.

[Terpslax1991]

Correct 1766. This team will be good. It will not go undefeated. Very likely to win The BIG IMO.
Offense will get better. Parts will mesh. Luke will get the Terps opportunities. Mac will stop shots. We will win most GB Stats. There will be many guys scoring this year and some cream will rise. #10 is very good, #4 was a top 5 recruit who will wind up running the show very well and just missed a season. It’s February and the schedule will make us better. Can’t wait. Oh yeah and there is that Coach Tillman….Come out Saturday, be on time and let them know you’re there. LETS GO!

Whether you want it (or even like it) or not, there is a new standard that’s been set at college park. Same thing happened to Bellichick at New England. The standard is the national championship. It’s unfair, sure, but it’s there. The reason a team like Maryland will get over analyzed by schmucks like me is because we now expect the standard to be met. I would tell you to receive criticism like a compliment rather than an annoyance.

Fwiw, Maryland has a championship caliber defense, defensive middies, and goalie. I’m not sold on their offense, yet, nor do I think John is. Unfortunately for the Terps, your schedule permits zero room to gel. Richmond was your one and only ‘prohibitive favorite’ game. You have no more of those.

This is all very fair analysis. The pieces are there for a FF team but we will need to get better. I just rewatched the Richmond game and we just lost 1 on 1 matchups early (goal 3 & 4) and late (10 & 11). Canfield the Vt transfer really struggled on the ball, was caught peaking a couple of times and didn’t match feet a couple of times. That’s been rare for us of late. We have plenty of poles and I’m sure we will tighten that up. We have a championship G, FO, LSM and D…we have the parts on O but we have to put it together; this past weekend looked like last year. I would love to see Erksa run out of the box to apply pressure but he’s also our best guy at point on FO’s…we used to really press people early out of the box w Longs speed. My guess is the O will improve but somebody needs to be the alpha on O and it should be Erksa. He needs more than 5 shots a game.

In addition…the Richmond Goalie made 3 elite saves on Maltz that kept it close. That easily could have been a 16-10 win on the road against a top 20 team. What would the narrative be then?

[AreaLax]

See Maryland’s Big Ten network schedule has come out and will include the UVA game

[Finster]

See Maryland’s Big Ten network schedule has come out and will include the UVA game

This weekend's game versus Loyola will be really interesting to me. I have seen Maryland, but not Loyola. Loyola's win against G-town surprised me both from the win as well as the margin. Wish I had a better feel for who wins here.

Maryland has Cuse after this game, and Loyola has Hopkins, so neither has an easy out next.

Weather looks almost perfect outside of some sprinkles...60 degrees.

I think Maryland's defense is superb. If anything, this might be the difference.

Fascinating storyline.

If any of you have predictions, would love to read them.

[Wheels]

See Maryland’s Big Ten network schedule has come out and will include the UVA game

This weekend's game versus Loyola will be really interesting to me. I have seen Maryland, but not Loyola. Loyola's win against G-town surprised me both from the win as well as the margin. Wish I had a better feel for who wins here.

Maryland has Cuse after this game, and Loyola has Hopkins, so neither has an easy out next.

Weather looks almost perfect outside of some sprinkles...60 degrees.

I think Maryland's defense is superb. If anything, this might be the difference.

Fascinating storyline.

If any of you have predictions, would love to read them.

Two related questions about how Maryland handles the match-ups against Loyola's attack unit. 1) Who takes Minicus (assuming Zappitello takes James and Burlace takes Poitras)? 2) Does Schaller replace Canfield at close (see question 1).

Loyola shorter TJ Haley last week for the entire game. I think they'll do it again on Maltz (or Kelly if he plays attack). I also think Loyola is going to make the Terps beat them dodging. The Terps don't like unassisted goals, but I bet Loyola forces them to do just that.

Loyola is an old team. Seniors and graduate students all over the offensive end.

Can Maryland take advantage of Loyola's relative inexperience on defense?

Can Maryland shoot 35% or better? They shot 33% against Richmond with Maltz shooting 2 for 9, and 7 of those 9 were on goal. Loyola's goalie made 19 saves last season against the Terps. He pretty much won that game for them.

Toomey last year gave the blueprint on how to deal with Wierman and how to curtail the Terps' transition. Tillman and Phipps didn't let the Terps do much in early offense (although Richmond was quite successful in theirs) despite having some really good match-ups with shorties on attackmen. Will Tills and Phipps let the offense take chances in early offense and transition? There's a trust factor there that is needed, and I wonder if it's developed yet.

I'm going to go 14-13 Maryland, but I bet everyone on the Loyola thread has it the other way with some room to spare. Loyola played really well last weekend. Really well.

[PulpExposure]

Can Maryland shoot 35% or better? They shot 33% against Richmond

Man...we were really spoiled in the past with both Connor Kelly and then Logan Wisnauskas. Both could just shoot it...and when Kelly had his senior season and the shooting percentage dropped, you had Wisnauskas there to pick up the outside shot.

We really miss that one outside stretch shooter.

[keno in reno]

Can Maryland shoot 35% or better? They shot 33% against Richmond

Man...we were really spoiled in the past with both Connor Kelly and then Logan Wisnauskas. Both could just shoot it...and when Kelly had his senior season and the shooting percentage dropped, you had Wisnauskas there to pick up the outside shot.

We really miss that one outside stretch shooter.

Murphy was a 40% shooter in '22 with 34 goals, and he looked great on Saturday. In a supposedly positionless offense, he could probably help the team score more by getting 1st team minutes.

[PulpExposure]

Can Maryland shoot 35% or better? They shot 33% against Richmond

Man...we were really spoiled in the past with both Connor Kelly and then Logan Wisnauskas. Both could just shoot it...and when Kelly had his senior season and the shooting percentage dropped, you had Wisnauskas there to pick up the outside shot.

We really miss that one outside stretch shooter.

Murphy was a 40% shooter in '22 with 34 goals, and he looked great on Saturday. In a supposedly positionless offense, he could probably help the team score more by getting 1st team minutes.

I really debated adding Murphy to that post and he definitely has that potential, but left him out because he didn't really play great last year or even on Saturday. Up until that last shot (granted, the most important one lol) he had 4 missed shots and a turnover. 1/5 (20%) isn't a great shooting day by any stretch.