Johns Hopkins 2020

[Matnum PI]

I'm assuming we'll discuss the coaches of relevant teams' fashion sense next. Clothes, shoes, etc. What about haircuts?

DMac, you sound exactly like a Mean Girl from high school...

[Homer]

I'm assuming we'll discuss the coaches of relevant teams' fashion sense next. Clothes, shoes, etc. What about haircuts?

Nope, sorry, believe Carc's got that trademarked.....





ETA: who said anything about relevant teams?? As far as I'm concerned, this is strictly between Hopkins and Syracuse.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

I think it’s time for most Hopkins fans to move to another platform.

PM for details.

[Matnum PI]

I made the joke and now it's taking every ounce of restraint I have not to discuss Petro's haircut by Carc. I blame this thread.

Whatever. Carc did a good job. And Carc's pants are too tight.

[flalax22]

I made the joke and now it's taking every ounce of restraint I have not to discuss Petro's haircut by Carc. I blame this thread.

Whatever. Carc did a good job.

Carc did a good job? Every haircut that guy does makes the victim look like Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber. Soup Bowl haircuts for everyone!

[tech37]

I made the joke and now it's taking every ounce of restraint I have not to discuss Petro's haircut by Carc. I blame this thread.

Whatever. Carc did a good job.

Carc did a good job? Every haircut that guy does makes the victim look like Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber. Soup Bowl haircuts for everyone!

[OCanada]

New Platform...... cause flowers and privilege ?

DMAc I find far less offensive than some Hopkins fans. Personally I would leave DPs weight alone.

Simmons isn’t much of a coach but he is there and well, enough said.

[51percentcorn]

I think it’s time for most Hopkins fans to move to another platform.

PM for details.

I'm kind of with O'C. What would be the purpose of another platform? No one barely talks lacrosse anymore - HF16 is the primary one. We all know of one completely delusional poster that never stops, another asks alot of questions - makes alot of esoteric points and insults other fan bases/programs, and even you are limited primarily to cat related postings, pretty decent sexual double entendres, and an overall disgust with the program that seems personal to some degree. I don't want to log on to hear jokes about Petro's/Dwan's weight - the Blackstone apartments or whatever - or some old Hopkins professor that went to the big research lab in the sky either but I don't think a new platform is going to change anything - and the bottom line is there are basically 3-4 topics you can pursue about Hopkins lacrosse:
- Petro's staus
- Recruiting - both in terms of the player's reported as committed and as they relate to the roster AND reasons for and against Hopkins as a destination
- The standing of the sport within the university these days
- The current team and its chances for success in '20

The first three are as dead as a dead horse can be
The fourth also to a degree. You can only make the point that the defense was horrible last year (and there is no concrete sign pointing to improvement), goalie is a particular glaring hole and the mid-field has no scoring punch so many times.

[HopFan16]

Given that there is actual lacrosse being played tomorrow against different jerseys, one would hope there may be some discussion of that. Evaluating these scrimmages is usually a fool's errand but at the very least, noting who starts in goal (and who "looks" the best there), who's getting time as the 3rd close D guy and #3 attackman, and so on, could provide some fodder for another 20 pages of preseason drivel. But at least it would be semi-informed drivel about the thing that all brought us here in the first place. It's a new season—the situation is what it is—I don't really get why some of you still come here with absolutely no intention of talking about lacrosse. If you're not interested in it, fine, nobody is going to try to change your mind, but then all you're pretty much left with is borderline sociopathic posters vomiting utter nonsense, and, as 51 said, the same two or three topics chewed over in slightly different language by the same people until we're all dead. For some of you old timers, that doesn't seem like a great way to spend your remaining time here in this earthly plane.

[xxxxxxx]

I'm not a Hopkins guy but have much respect for the program and root for them unless they are playing a few teams I really like. This is so ridiculous, it's called the internet, if you don't like a post move on to the next one. Over the years this thread has always been the most active and informative. Don't get all worked about a troll here or there, keep posting, the collective knowledge of this group is unmatched.

"We want more"

[jhu06]

51 I read that and tried to figure which one was me. To answer your question, coverage of sports used to be fairly spread out. Newspapers had preps and college writers, there were magazines, local tv. In the internet world most the coverage is focused on pro sports (most newspapers won't invest in writers to cover state goverment but they'll pay to send the entire sports department to cover an nfl game) and the sub genres around them (fantasy, media, whatever that clown Rovell does), major college revenue sports and thats it. Lacrosse has a big youth footprint, the college games are available to national audiences, but there's just no interest from professional media in covering the sport and so we get a lack of content which leads to complaints like your post. Even the guys that get paid to cover it on tv disappear basically memorial day only to reappear after the super bowl with anodyne analysis that protects the feelings of their friends. Hop on Board did a great job, but instead of issuing a fatwa the university should've seen that as an opportunity, see there's interest in the program and hire a lambrecht or mclaughlin who used to do good stuff at lm as many pro teams have done with former beat writers to cover the program for the school's website, writing stories on the players, previewing teams we'll face, looking at the incoming recruits and what they offer, discussing the classes whose titles anniversary will be honored next spring, discussing open positions and who might fill them-the stuff that would be covered if the sun hired a beat writer. It seems like the program and some of its insiders want the team to just show up on game days, not care who is in the stands or what people outside of the locker room think about what they do on the field, and that doesn't really cut it.

[10stone5]

Hop on Board did a great job, but instead of issuing a fatwa the university should've seen that as an opportunity, see there's interest in the program and hire a lambrecht or mclaughlin who used to do good stuff at lm as many pro teams have done with former beat writers to cover the program for the school's website, writing stories on the players, previewing teams we'll face, looking at the incoming recruits and what they offer, discussing the classes whose titles anniversary will be honored next spring, discussing open positions and who might fill them-the stuff that would be covered if the sun hired a beat writer.

Makes no sense to me, why they wouldn’t just partner up with a good egg like Hop On Board.
He’s got a highly viewed Youtube channel, why not embrace the technology ?

[wgdsr]

so before the scrimmage dissection and for lacrosse talk...
is the expectation there will be no other changes other than navy for virginia?
as hopkins got in to the tourney via rpi/sos, that's going to take a hit in all likelihood with virginia getting dropped and the better than average chance they won't have 4 games vs. umd and psu, more likely 3.
so what do they need to do to get in? 6 losses and make the b1g final? that'd be my guess.

towson, loyola, unc, syracuse, ohio st, 3 between umd & psu probably being the strongest of the teams.
next group princeton, delaware, and maybe rutgers.
michigan might not be a gimme, but hopkins has had their number annually. same with navy.

my sense is they'll need to go 5 and 6 vs those first 11, and not trip up vs the other 2. last year they were 6 and 7, so not crazy to think they could do it again. though that did take beating unc and then maryland twice. on the flip side, losses to towson, loyola and ohio state could be flipped, as those teams took significant losses to personnel.

i've got to imagine they know that midfield scoring has to improve. and maybe even in the face of pulling smith out of that rotation. hopkins has been pretty good at taking care of the ball to protect other aspects of their game --- my question -- is there any reason for optimism at faceoff (opponents graduating fogos, new blood, or hop's guys maybe were nicked up a bit), that could lead to them playing with some more abandon and fewer reins on the offense next year?

[Hoponboard]

Hop on Board did a great job, but instead of issuing a fatwa the university should've seen that as an opportunity, see there's interest in the program and hire a lambrecht or mclaughlin who used to do good stuff at lm as many pro teams have done with former beat writers to cover the program for the school's website, writing stories on the players, previewing teams we'll face, looking at the incoming recruits and what they offer, discussing the classes whose titles anniversary will be honored next spring, discussing open positions and who might fill them-the stuff that would be covered if the sun hired a beat writer.

Makes no sense to me, why they wouldn’t just partner up with a good egg like Hop On Board.
He’s got a highly viewed Youtube channel, why not embrace the technology ?

Thanks for the supportive comments. With YouTube, the network effect is key. My thousands of subscribers and millions of views provide credibility to anything I post. It is free advertising for Hopkins lacrosse which they are rejecting. Not smart.

[51percentcorn]

so before the scrimmage dissection and for lacrosse talk...
is the expectation there will be no other changes other than navy for virginia?
as hopkins got in to the tourney via rpi/sos, that's going to take a hit in all likelihood with virginia getting dropped and the better than average chance they won't have 4 games vs. umd and psu, more likely 3.
so what do they need to do to get in? 6 losses and make the b1g final? that'd be my guess.

towson, loyola, unc, syracuse, ohio st, 3 between umd & psu probably being the strongest of the teams.
next group princeton, delaware, and maybe rutgers.
michigan might not be a gimme, but hopkins has had their number annually. same with navy.

my sense is they'll need to go 5 and 6 vs those first 11, and not trip up vs the other 2. last year they were 6 and 7, so not crazy to think they could do it again. though that did take beating unc and then maryland twice. on the flip side, losses to towson, loyola and ohio state could be flipped, as those teams took significant losses to personnel.

i've got to imagine they know that midfield scoring has to improve. and maybe even in the face of pulling smith out of that rotation. hopkins has been pretty good at taking care of the ball to protect other aspects of their game --- my question -- is there any reason for optimism at faceoff (opponents graduating fogos, new blood, or hop's guys maybe were nicked up a bit), that could lead to them playing with some more abandon and fewer reins on the offense next year?

Great post IMO - hard to argue with any of it. I actually find optimism at face-offs. Both KP and MN were over 50% against a decent schedule and in reality both were seeing their first season of action as Prouty only took a handful in '18. I also would submit that neither were helped overwhelmingly by their wings. I have zero stats to back this up but when the face-off turned into one of those multi second tugs of war and then scrum with the 6 guys all in a group - the opponent won way more than 50%. If Hopkins could improve that small piece of special teams play - I think it would help alot. I think abandon and reins on or off had to do with a couple things - nobody at mid-field could consistently beat their man and get the defense on the famed QK "carousel" and other than Marr there was a lack of outside shooting threats and toward the end of the year Marr was pressing so bad he couldn't hit the Cordish Center. The two guys manning the ambulance by the far corner of the CC were literally in the most dangerous spot in the whole place. Wiliiams started to play and shoot better, some two man games with Smith and others improved and Epstein bailed them out a great deal but overall I thought Hopkins was among the worst in managing to the shot clock. In terms of '20 the following things have to be evident if you want to think you can build and maybe get back to playing in late May with Epstein as a junior/senior:
- I can't see the "incumbent" starting again at goalie - I think its true some teams - like Duke in '14 - can survive a goalie at well below 50% for a stretch but Hopkins is not that type of team.
- They have to start to figure out a way out of this mid-field mess - and have mid-fielders start playing mid-field - And it's a bit of a lottery isn't it? Assuming Smith starts at attack - the only true known 1st mid-fielder is Concannon and he is a converted attackman - you hope one of them is Zinn but you don't know that - and what do you do with DeSimone after his dumpster fire sophomore season? Given that Baskin and Keogh have played a fair amount it's reasonable to assume they get a little better but neither is likely to bust out and pour in 20 or anything like that. You would take 12 goals by each of them and run to the bank.
- Defensively - until the SSDMs can survive to some degree on their own we are going to have what we have - slides and 2nd slides and dummy slides and slides and recover and slip n slides and the electric slide and any other slide that will eventually lead to poor communication and breakdowns. Again, look at the Penn State BIG Championship winning goal - those 3 to 4 Hopkins defensemen (after being coached since February) didn't decide all on their own AND together that the Hopkins SSDM was in trouble with Malone (I think) coming in from the end line.
- If this Murphy is really a sniper that can hum it - HE HAS TO PLAY - Hopkins is really in need of that skill - among the many reasons Zinn has ot play as much as possible as well

[HopFan16]

- Faceoffs should be fine or more than fine between Prouty and Narewski. Alex Woodall graduating might be the best news of the offseason—makes Towson a lot more beatable. However most of our other elite FOGO competition—Inacio, Arceri, etc.—is still around.

- Epstein and Williams showed a ton of chemistry toward the end of the season. Epstein was deservingly getting all the attention but Williams quietly had a very strong second half of 2019. Assuming his long hair was not the source of his ability, he should be able to continue that into 2020 now that he's used to playing alongside Epstein.

- I'm still not convinced that Smith slides into attack, but we'll see. This is where those attending the scrimmages can be of assistance and let us know how he's being deployed in the offense. He too came on quite strong toward the end of the year.

- I am deeply concerned about the foot speed of the close defense, particularly with respect to covering some of the best attackmen in the country (Sowers, Bernhardt, Ament, etc. You can scratch Michael Kraus off the list, but add Chris Gray at UNC.) I will probably get accused of being Foley's publicist at some point but the kid had quick feet and could match strides with the guys above. Can Rapine or Colwell? They're pretty big, athletic dudes but neither strike me as fleet of foot, especially in terms of the lateral quickness you need to stay on the hands of a Mike Sowers, for instance. Which one of those guys draws the #1 assignment? Colwell is the newly minted captain, but Rapine entered college with the pedigree and I think the perception is he will slide in as the top cover guy, though that's before anyone's seen anything of these freshmen.

[steel_hop]

- I can't see the "incumbent" starting again at goalie - I think its true some teams - like Duke in '14 - can survive a goalie at well below 50% for a stretch but Hopkins is not that type of team.

I can't disagree with much that you said but I do with this one, at least the first part. My guess is that the incumbent is your starting goalie barring some huge showing that one of the other guys is markedly better - like 50% better. Any close call is going to the incumbent. Petro to his credit and detriment is extremely loyal. At some point if Darby struggles then Giacalone will be called in. But, I'd wager a good deal of money that Darby is the starter.

Again, maybe some reports from fall ball will would tell us.

[Sagittarius A*]

This is my fear as well. Darby played well against weaker teams, but against top competition he just collapsed. This is the kind of thing that just tanks your season in May. It’s far better to have a goalie that is consistent. If my job were on the line, I would go with someone else but this staff is very loyal to the point where it hurts the team. They stuck with guys I would have gotten off the field years ago. I’d like to have a ten minute meeting with the entire staff and just ask “what are you thinking guys?”

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

For those who asked, and it was several, thanks.

I intend to bail to another fallout shelter, one in which I can make it Hopkins ONLY, password protected, IP address checked, and private enough that maybe I can get HoB approved to link up his videos to a private, closed audience.

Note, HoB can still shoot in season, but he’s been pretty burned by this and I can empathize with how he feels. Happened to me at a Rutgers scrimmage in Feb 2005. And then it snowed on my way back to MD, and I asked myself why bother?

Anyway, I’m going to need a few weeks, because I am in a very hot Navy OPTEMPO at the moment.

(Want to know what I’m looping through my headset comms? Highway To The Danger Zone)

My biggest beef here is one particularly dirtbag who personally attacked me over the death of a colleague last DEC and has been totally unapologetic for all of his behavior on this site. I’ve had enough. Touts using drugs, exhibits racism, you name it, trash.

Life is short. No time for assholes.

Moving on when ready to shoot.

And for your enjoyment: Shooter!

[tech37]

For those who asked, and it was several, thanks.

I intend to bail to another fallout shelter, one in which I can make it Hopkins ONLY, password protected, IP address checked, and private enough that maybe I can get HoB approved to link up his videos to a private, closed audience.

Note, HoB can still shoot in season, but he’s been pretty burned by this and I can empathize with how he feels. Happened to me at a Rutgers scrimmage in Feb 2005. And then it snowed on my way back to MD, and I asked myself why bother?

Anyway, I’m going to need a few weeks, because I am in a very hot Navy OPTEMPO at the moment.

(Want to know what I’m looping through my headset comms? Highway To The Danger Zone)

My biggest beef here is one particularly dirtbag who personally attacked me over the death of a colleague last DEC and has been totally unapologetic for all of his behavior on this site. I’ve had enough. Touts using drugs, exhibits racism, you name it, trash.

Life is short. No time for assholes.

Moving on when ready to shoot.

And for your enjoyment: Shooter!

Weird, just weird...