Johns Hopkins 2025

[51percentcorn]

Is this the same John Crawley that was the wonderboy reason for the resurgence after the'22 season and now the best thing we want for him is the door to not hit him on the A$$ on the way out? He's already hit his ceiling after two years? Look I have no idea whether Crawley is a bad/meh/good/really good OC - I think the following is true:
- The players like him and play hard for him
- He's not going anywhere - at least for a while
- His offense was hampered by the following things (Let the record reflect I am saying something totally different than the dead horse/broken record):
1, Melendez production dropped off by almost exactly 50% - 53 pts to 27 pts - he started every game
2. Fact #1 coupled with English's broken leg removed the 2 most significant people to dodge to draw slides and get that cliche carousel spinning
3. Degnon/Peshko/Grimes/Chauvette are not elite dodgers - Peshko can work inside with his height and twisters etc etc. on occasion and 17 goals from a middie is not bad but he didn't need to dodge harder - he needed to figure out what spaces to get to to shoot more than 3 times a game. Grimes' production dropped significanty but so did his opportunities - 72 shots to 40 - exact same shot percentage
4. They were not an elite face-off team so rhythmic opportunites to stack goals upon goals rarely materialized
5. Collison is a power dodger - he does not have elite north south speed or elite east west quickness - he's huge - fast enough and has a left hammer but there are players that can stand up to him - and that's what happened in OT and throughout the game yesterday.
6. McDermott was sacrificed to the wing role - probably the next best dodging opportunity = notice how much he became utlized in the playoffs and later regular season games
7. Evans various boo boos took 12 points off the score sheet

- Bauer is interesting - actually took fewer shots in 24 than 23 - scored 1 more goal - increased assists to 14 - so used his quickness to generate a few more looks but to my mind when teams gave him the pole it was a rougher go.
- Angelus - OK - I am a huge fan - but let's not pretend Mike O'Neill or Jeff Cook is leaving. His biggest contribution to 24 was picking up a piece of the scoring slack but still only took 50 shots - exact same number of assists as 2023 AND the dirty little stat no one brings up - 39 turnovers - I went back over 10 seasons - the only other player to hit 30 turnovers was Epstein's 34 and 30 - and he continually had that brought up - Shack for example - had 18 turnovers his senior year - Wells 28 which is the next highest after Epstein in 2015. 69 points is great - obviously led the team but is not irreplaceable. Hopkins may not have the guy to do it but it can be done.

Yes - you are going to have to depend on several unproven players but eventually that needs to be done - Hopefully Iler/Sorichetti/Jewell etc etc. all develop and contribute - assuming no changes - they might be a quicker/shiftier to help Collison out

[jhu06]

Highly, highly recommend this to those of you who haven't done so yet. I was late to the party, but better late than never.



As for goalie...I doubt the staff has any idea at this point. My guess would be Webb is the favorite but it will be an open competition.

I like how incoming freshman Andrew Cook looks on film but it's hard to evaluate a goalie coming out of California. He's not always seeing the level of high D1 caliber shooting that you'd see as a goalie at Lville, Brunswick, McDonogh, Culver, St. Anthony's, etc. So I think the range of outcomes is pretty large. Could be a star...could never see the field.

Sean Crogan is another interesting one — his older brother Patrick has been a solid contributor for Georgetown, and Sean is a similar player. He's a pitbull. There is some real athleticism and dodging potential at the midfield next year with McCleary, Gregorek, Crogan coming in + English's return + we'll see if guys like Iler or Jewell can contribute. When healthy, Iler's burst is absolutely eye-popping. Watch his dodge at 27:22 in HOB's video from the Richmond scrimmage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0oRaOa ... nel=huntva

Doc B predicted on the old forum Durkin would win a Schmeisser his freshman year.

As for Crawley he put those senior middies out there. He had 2 years or whatever of portaling to work with plus js/sophs/freshmen to upgrade. The only thing he did this year to improve the offense was late in the season switched up some man up. He didn't change the midfield lines, didn't try to plug any of the underclassmen in, didn't move Melendez around the lineup and the offensive crashes against Michigan and UVA were inexcusable. He had 2 veteran faceoff guys plus an elite defense and goalie. No one gets the world handed to them on a silver platter. They can find someone better.

[jhu06]

If you're scoring at home here is the current all srs/grs are gone returners. And there will be injuries.
attack-so-ayers-chauvette
need 2-3 new faces

midfield-jr-collison-english
need 6-7 new faces

lsm sr-kaufman/so-brett martin
need 1-2 new faces

faceoff sr-callahan
need 1-2 new faces

ssdm-0
-need 6/7 new faces

defense gr-smith jr/downtown carson brown/so-kilrain
-need 2-3 new faces

goalie-0
need 1-2 new faces

[HockeyLaxGolf42]

I really like the job Milliman has done so far. I think he is building something that appears to be sustainable. I expect hop to be very competitive for a while

[HopFan16]

didn't move Melendez around the lineup

You're not doing a good job convincing anyone that you are a sentient being capable of rational thought. They moved Melendez all over, including yesterday. Have you considered not watching the games with your eyes closed?

The players love Crawley, he's a good recruiter, he's injected a lot of juice and energy into the program and is a huge part of the healthy culture that's now in place. He's not going anywhere. One could plausibly argue that PM should be a bit more involved in the X's and O's on offense instead of delegating — maybe he will be. But the primary issues on offense late in the season were about personnel, not scheme.

Despite all the handwringing, the Jays finished 14th in adjusted offensive efficiency per LaxRef. That was...considerably better than both Denver and Maryland, who are in the Final Four. Offenses look a lot better when you win faceoffs and can clear the ball. Not sure having 7 fewer possessions than the other team in an overtime loss was entirely the offensive coordinator's fault

[OCanada]

I’m curious if Gelinas or Verdi can make the jump after being mentored by Ierlan for a year. Webb maybe but I am biased against smaller goalies.
Is there an incoming frosh goalie who could step in?
I’d really like to go back to the days when Hopkins was a goalie school

Well, reportedly BK is doing a good job as coach. I thought Chayse improved markedly in terms of consistency and controlling rebounds.

Still, Ierlan brought extensive experience, including a national title game with Cornell.

Blue Jays have talented goalies, but I doubt we will be as strong in goal next season.

I like Webb, though.

DocBarrister

Doc: you've been silly harsh on Milliman; that guy saved the franchise, imo. And more bizarrely, you're attached to Petro, who most do not consider all that great, and that attachment seems to feed into your anti-Milliman hysteria.

I get the immediacy of an ended season where you expected more, but please recall that Duke also lost yesterday and Duke fans (the few there are) aren't calling for Danowski's head; trust me, Duke recruits over the last ten-fifteen years had and have far more press coming in than Hopkins' recruits.

Milliman was dealt a harsh hand by arriving during Covid with a fairly bare recruiting trail left by Petro (who almost no kid wanted to play for). Petro lucked out recruiting because many kids wanted to play for Hopkins); conversely, kids love Milliman PLUS they get to play for Hopkins. Petro's paleozoic era championships were hardly due to his bloviating coaching style or his lazy recruiting; Hopkins benefits from its great history and geography, just like Cuse; a coach at either simply needs to not mess up the advantages...which Petro did, in spades. The franchise was on life support when Milliman arrived, not too dissimilar to when Desko left Cuse.

Milliman's teams have shown continuous improvement with zero off-field issues. If anything, he's due for a raise. Watch Hopkins in the semis next year or the year after.

Maybe chill on the immediate hysterics. It was a great season for the boys. Celebrate their accomplishments.

Your bare recruiting cupboard re Petro is simply wrong. He jad a terrific class lined up. The U wanted a new coach. A number of the recruits flipped.

[51percentcorn]

Just out of curiosity why do you have Smith in your line-up but not Melendez? They both have to meet the medical red-shirt eligibility requirements because Smith played in 2 games in '21 and Melendez 3 games in '22. In fact, Melendez had the more widely known season ending injury in '22 at Marquette.

Doc B predicted on the old forum Durkin would win a Schmeisser his freshman year.

As for Crawley he put those senior middies out there. He had 2 years or whatever of portaling to work with plus js/sophs/freshmen to upgrade. The only thing he did this year to improve the offense was late in the season switched up some man up. He didn't change the midfield lines, didn't try to plug any of the underclassmen in, didn't move Melendez around the lineup and the offensive crashes against Michigan and UVA were inexcusable. He had 2 veteran faceoff guys plus an elite defense and goalie. No one gets the world handed to them on a silver platter. They can find someone better.

For years on Laxpower - Doc B would predict every year Hopkins would win the National Championship. I think he finally stopped in 2010 after Duke beat Hopkins by 14 goals or something like that. So for Petro's tenure he literally was a broken clock - twice Hopkins won and we all suffered for it.

Your other paragraph above is both a repeat of some earlier thoughts and just flat out wrong. On the one hand you say things aren't handed out on a silver platter - absolutely correct - on the other side you appear to think Hopkins should be able to solve all their problems through recruiting and the portal if they simply want to. Don't you think PM called up the Princeton middies that went to Cuse and G'town? They absolutely moved Melendez around and had hm coming though the box during the season - no real change. They absolutely tried different middie line-ups - didn't you notice McDermott out there? and Evans when he could play? They put Grimes out there one or two times with different middies to try to get him a short stick - he didn't find the net. They played as many middies as any team in the country. They seemingly tried everything - H. Chauvette played/Ayers played/Kilrain started they were not adverse to underclassmen playing. Crawley would play his mom if she had eligibility and could get some goals so your assumption should be the following: The junior class has no players due to the coaching staff change and the decommitts - sophomore class has 4 offensve players - one is your #1 middie - another would have been your #2 middie except he was lost for the year - one is a bit of a mystery but not really a middie to my mind - Marquis is not going to come in and dodge people's socks off and then Smith who has never really played. The rest are freshmen - what woudl you do - I woud play my seniors and grad students.

[jhu06]

didn't move Melendez around the lineup

You're not doing a good job convincing anyone that you are a sentient being capable of rational thought. They moved Melendez all over, including yesterday. Have you considered not watching the games with your eyes closed?

The players love Crawley, he's a good recruiter, he's injected a lot of juice and energy into the program and is a huge part of the healthy culture that's now in place. He's not going anywhere. One could plausibly argue that PM should be a bit more involved in the X's and O's on offense instead of delegating — maybe he will be. But the primary issues on offense late in the season were about personnel, not scheme.

Despite all the handwringing, the Jays finished 14th in adjusted offensive efficiency per LaxRef. That was...considerably better than both Denver and Maryland, who are in the Final Four. Offenses look a lot better when you win faceoffs and can clear the ball. Not sure having 7 fewer possessions than the other team in an overtime loss was entirely the offensive coordinator's fault

"14th in adjusted offensive efficiency" What does that even mean?
They would run hot and then go ice cold for 2-3 quarters.

The no transition offense thing was just weird.

[HopFan16]

didn't move Melendez around the lineup

You're not doing a good job convincing anyone that you are a sentient being capable of rational thought. They moved Melendez all over, including yesterday. Have you considered not watching the games with your eyes closed?

The players love Crawley, he's a good recruiter, he's injected a lot of juice and energy into the program and is a huge part of the healthy culture that's now in place. He's not going anywhere. One could plausibly argue that PM should be a bit more involved in the X's and O's on offense instead of delegating — maybe he will be. But the primary issues on offense late in the season were about personnel, not scheme.

Despite all the handwringing, the Jays finished 14th in adjusted offensive efficiency per LaxRef. That was...considerably better than both Denver and Maryland, who are in the Final Four. Offenses look a lot better when you win faceoffs and can clear the ball. Not sure having 7 fewer possessions than the other team in an overtime loss was entirely the offensive coordinator's fault

"14th in adjusted offensive efficiency" What does that even mean?

It means they scored more often per possession than Denver and Maryland. It's not rocket science. Put your thinking cap on.

The reactionary panic calling to fire people after a controversial double overtime quarterfinal loss to Virginia is genuinely pathetic behavior

[nrthcrosslax]

What ever happened to Todaro? Has he basically been injured his whole career?

[nyjay]

I didn't watch the Lville-Brunsciwk game today (was on at the same time as the QF) but watched them dominate Deerfield a few days ago and DiCicco was one of the better players on the field. Could slot in as a 3rd or 4th SSDM immediately. Very good on the wing and can run transition

The level of talent on L'ville and Brunswick is just absurd - these rosters are unbelievably stacked. Our 2025 D recruit, Patrick Hiebert, doesn't even play all that much at Brunswick - he's their 4th or 5th pole. And L'ville beat them 14-5. The existing L'ville pipeline is fantastic, but Hiebert notwithstanding, I don't know that we've had any Brunswick kids over the last ten years. Would be good to start getting some of those kids, but they all seem to go the Princeton and the coaches there are UVa (David Bruce) and ND (David Earle) guys.

[PotomacRiver]

Longtime reader of the forum even back to Laxpower days (and Hopkins alum), finally decided to join in. First off congrats to the 2024 senior class, they went through a roller coaster during their tenure but led the program out from its nadir and leave it with a bright future. At the risk of echoing points made by others, a few thoughts on this season and next:

2024
-Disappointing to not make final four, but the program continues its upwards trajectory
-Defense was a joy to watch, Koesterer one of the best coordinators (O and D) in the country
-Ierlan was a game changer, first one we've really had at the position in at least a decade
-As 51percentcorn points out, offensive issues came down to personnel. Losing Melendez as a major threat was huge, he was one of our only players last year who could credibly pose a threat to score dodging against a pole (and cause D to overreact when switched onto a shortie). English would have a key this year but unfortunately down early with injury. Angelus is excellent player and did a great job QBing offense, but he wasn't a scoring threat 1v1 against the opposing team's #1 pole, and while he improved this year looking to score against switched shorties, teams still weren't terrified of him in that situation. Watching yesterday, VA rarely sent a true hard slide to the ball carrier, they almost exclusively were hedging off the crease or adjacent as a deterrent.
-I think Collison is an interesting, really good player, but certain fans want him to be something he is not, unless he improves dramatically over the next two years. He's not the same kind of player as Rabil, Harrison, or Steve Peyser. He's huge with a really good stick and hard shot; majority of his goals this year came as the "crease man" on EMO or shots off ball movement. I understand the frustration of him not pushing the shortstick matchup more this year, but at the same time, doesn't it say something that basically every opposing team decided that Bauer, not Collison, should get the pole matchup? Watching the tape, teams force him to his right and rarely send a slide into his face going that direction, but have a slide ready from his blindside in case he rolls back to his left.

2025 and beyond
-Getting English and Melendez healthy and effective are key. I think Collison may be better suited for attack, but he and Chauvette overlap at that lefty attack position and we are better with both on the field. A 1st midfield of Collison, English, and Bauer (if he comes back?) might work - teams would likely pole English, leaving Bauer to play a similar role as this year only now matching up against a shortie. Rather than having him as a primary dodger, I'd try to free up Collison off-ball more either setting slip picks for the ball carrier, or getting him moving around in space (and free up with off-ball picks) assuming Bauer/English can reliably draw a hard slide.
-Defense should will again be a strength next year with Smith and Kilrain, goalie a question mark.
-Beyond 2025, comes down to recruiting and player development. Recruiting landscape is absolutely more difficult now than in early 2000s and the 1990s. On the one hand, the floor for most players is higher than ever, so mid-tier teams aren't pushovers (see Navy upset, etc). But as stated before, true game changing players that are threats to score against longpoles and also have the vision to throw skip passes against a sliding defense are rare. Hopefully as the program continues its current success under Milliman, we'll be able to land one of those. But for every can't miss prospect (Steele Stanwick, Jeff Teat, Shellenberger, Mike Powell, Ryan Boyle, etc), there are guys that fly under the radar that come up big (Peter Baum, Ben Reeves, etc). Time will tell, but I think the future for the program is very bright.

[coda]

I didn't watch the Lville-Brunsciwk game today (was on at the same time as the QF) but watched them dominate Deerfield a few days ago and DiCicco was one of the better players on the field. Could slot in as a 3rd or 4th SSDM immediately. Very good on the wing and can run transition

The level of talent on L'ville and Brunswick is just absurd - these rosters are unbelievably stacked. Our 2025 D recruit, Patrick Hiebert, doesn't even play all that much at Brunswick - he's their 4th or 5th pole. And L'ville beat them 14-5. The existing L'ville pipeline is fantastic, but Hiebert notwithstanding, I don't know that we've had any Brunswick kids over the last ten years. Would be good to start getting some of those kids, but they all seem to go the Princeton and the coaches there are UVa (David Bruce) and ND (David Earle) guys.

It is insane. I think someone said 18 D1 lacrosse kids on LVille. You have guys going to big programs that do not even play. I dont think that includes former Hopkins recruit Ace Lumpris (now going to play football). That kid could have helped Hopkins vs Virginia. He is the best cover SSDM and an instant clear. The later part, being the need.

[Hoponboard]

I recall during the Loyola broadcast Quint proclaimed that Hopkins had a top 5 offense. The O did start the season humming with Melendez, English and H. Chauvette contributing. You had two distributers and a few scorers on the midfield. Obviously, injuries took their toll and Degnon took over the dominant lefty sniper roll. But what happened to the offensive flow that actually peaked against Syracuse?

The lull started in the second quarter against Navy. Not pushing transition, losing at the X and opposing defenses disrupted Jays’ movement offense. So fewer possessions led to the offense playing tighter with more turnovers which ultimately led to the gassed defense that had its worst clearing game at the worst possible moment.

[HopFan16]

Longtime reader of the forum even back to Laxpower days (and Hopkins alum), finally decided to join in. First off congrats to the 2024 senior class, they went through a roller coaster during their tenure but led the program out from its nadir and leave it with a bright future. At the risk of echoing points made by others, a few thoughts on this season and next:

Welcome and thank you for the level-headed post. Need more of that around here to drown out the two rubes

You make a lot of good points, namely correctly identifying the shortcomings on offense and how it can improve. Injuries aren't an excuse — every team has them — but losing English did a real number on the Jays. It was nice to see him up and walking around on the sideline without the boot. Don't know how much he'll play in the fall, but he should be full go by the spring.

Not enough emphasis is being put on the faceoff issue as a large factor in the offense's struggles down the stretch. Faceoffs simply must improve next year. This is a title quality team if they're simply at 52% instead of 48%. We know this sport is all about possessions. The more you get, the more the defense tires, the better the offense plays. Again, not rocket science. When you're getting rinsed at the X, it puts a gigantic strain on you. UVA was a particularly bad matchup in that regard — not only is Ghobriel strong on his own, but they have the best wing play in the country. Wayer is a freak of nature. The very cruel irony in all of this is I had heard the Jays wanted to pick up Ghobriel from the portal this year but he chose UVA.

If there are no more transfers and the guys we think can/will return actually do return, think we're looking at...

A - Ayers, Melendez, Chauvette (I want them to find a spot for Marquis, but not holding my breath)
M1 - Collison, English, Bauer
M2 - Evans/Iler/Jewell/Chick/Phillips/McCleary/Gregorek/Crogan (lots of potential but even more uncertainty)
FO - Callahan, McKee, Hobot
D - Smith, Kilrain, Brown/Kaufman/L. Martin
LSM - Deans, Brown/Kaufman/L.Martin, Eye
SSDM - Monfort, Raposo/Arteaga(?), Claiborne/Colhoun, DiCicco
G - shrug

[51percentcorn]

Was Billings an intentional or unintentional omission at SSDM - there waas an Instagram post a while back with #50 on the sideline and he is a beast.

[primitiveskills]

I didn't watch the Lville-Brunsciwk game today (was on at the same time as the QF) but watched them dominate Deerfield a few days ago and DiCicco was one of the better players on the field. Could slot in as a 3rd or 4th SSDM immediately. Very good on the wing and can run transition

The level of talent on L'ville and Brunswick is just absurd - these rosters are unbelievably stacked. Our 2025 D recruit, Patrick Hiebert, doesn't even play all that much at Brunswick - he's their 4th or 5th pole. And L'ville beat them 14-5. The existing L'ville pipeline is fantastic, but Hiebert notwithstanding, I don't know that we've had any Brunswick kids over the last ten years. Would be good to start getting some of those kids, but they all seem to go the Princeton and the coaches there are UVa (David Bruce) and ND (David Earle) guys.

Eddy Glassmeyer was our last Brunswick kid, I believe. And yes, the talent on those teams is absurd, especially L’Ville. Nice that the staff seems to have a good relationship with them.

[HopFan16]

Was Billings an intentional or unintentional omission at SSDM - there waas an Instagram post a while back with #50 on the sideline and he is a beast.

I believe he is hurt again unfortunately. I'm not including him in any plans until I see the proof that he's healthy. From a size and athleticism standpoint he certainly fits the bill and I just hope he gets to show it at some point.

I liked what I saw from Claiborne and especially Colhoun in scrimmages, but they were just that — scrimmages — hard to extrapolate much from that but they also have the requisite size/athleticism to thrive at the position with a little seasoning from Coach K. While the depth chart at SSDM is mostly a mystery, I am not super worried about it given how well Jamo coaches the position. He's truly a master at getting those guys up to speed. Give him a couple guys at 6'0''/200 lbs and they should be ok. Would be cool if Monfort brings Hackler with him from New Haven. Upstate kid — maybe Jamo can leverage that — although I assume Cuse has offered him a small fortune in NIL already

[nyjay]

Eddy Glassmeyer was our last Brunswick kid, I believe. And yes, the talent on those teams is absurd, especially L’Ville. Nice that the staff seems to have a good relationship with them.

Forgot about Glassmeyer. Thought he was going to be a stud.

[PotomacRiver]

Welcome and thank you for the level-headed post. Need more of that around here to drown out the two rubes

You make a lot of good points, namely correctly identifying the shortcomings on offense and how it can improve. Injuries aren't an excuse — every team has them — but losing English did a real number on the Jays. It was nice to see him up and walking around on the sideline without the boot. Don't know how much he'll play in the fall, but he should be full go by the spring.

Not enough emphasis is being put on the faceoff issue as a large factor in the offense's struggles down the stretch. Faceoffs simply must improve next year. This is a title quality team if they're simply at 52% instead of 48%. We know this sport is all about possessions. The more you get, the more the defense tires, the better the offense plays. Again, not rocket science. When you're getting rinsed at the X, it puts a gigantic strain on you. UVA was a particularly bad matchup in that regard — not only is Ghobriel strong on his own, but they have the best wing play in the country. Wayer is a freak of nature. The very cruel irony in all of this is I had heard the Jays wanted to pick up Ghobriel from the portal this year but he chose UVA.

Thanks Hopfan16, look forward to contributing. And absolutely agree regarding faceoffs - the extra possessions would have been huge for this years team. I think a good comparator is Maryland; elite defense paired with an offense that, while talented, lacked elite dodging threats. But they're a final four team largely because Wierman is such a difference maker at the X.