AllaboutLax wrote: ↑Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:47 pm
Erksa is the only attack with speed to separate from a pole. You need another attack that has some shake that can create. That will free up time and space for shooters up top. 4 and 7 don't have the speed to separate. How about setting a pick behind the cage for change.
The thing with Erksa is that if he's against a more mobile defenseman who can stay within range to keep a stick in his gloves, he's going to struggle because of his size. The last two weeks have shown that, and he's going to get similar defenders from here on out. When you get defensemen who can run, you have to get into their bodies to negate their reach. That's not Erksa's game because he's not a big guy weight-wise. He's also not a change-of-direction guy like an Ament or Sowers who have high end speed. Those guys didn't really get into defenders' bodies to negate their length, but they could change directions at the drop of a dime. That's not Erksa's game, either. He's a speed dodger right now.
I wonder why they're not running him out of the box like they did with Kyle Long. Let him get a full run at his defender down the alley and force defenses to rotate straight away.
Malever is your change-of-direction player. The problem right now is that the Terps only have 2 good outside shooters...Murphy and Kelly. Maltz can stretch a defense, but it's not his strength. Murphy got that distance shot today to tie, and he hit the goalie in the stick. Of course, he doesn't get many opportunities like he did in 2022. He's part of a 2nd MF line that shuffles 5 guys throughout the game.
I don't think the issue with the offense is the parts per se. There are dodgers. There are shooters. There are distributors. But the offensive system right now isn't catering to those parts. It feels like the parts are being forced to fit a system that maybe isn't the right system for those parts.
There's very little transition.
61st in the nation in time to first shot. Conversely, the defense is first in the nation in opponents' time to first shot. Meaning, it looks like the strategy is to slow the game down at both ends of the field. Maybe Tills feels like he can't get into a shoot out because there's a lack of talent. Maybe he doesn't quite trust the decision making of the players (lots of turnovers suggest that might be the case...although 6 of the 17 TOs today were on failed clears from the defense).
But we're missing a lot of opportunities early or in transition (where teams have beat Michigan...the 40th ranked defensive efficiency team in the nation), and that would really help loosen things up, IMO. They're just not taking chances. That looks like a feature not a bug to me. But who knows, really.