steel_hop wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:20 am
Even as good as Epstein is, if he is leading the team in points, you have a problem in other class years.
I don't think this is true at all—maybe there is a problem but it has nothing to do with the fact that a freshman is leading the team in scoring. He is a special talent. And he's the X attackman. If he's NOT leading the team in points then you'd have people saying he's overrated or calling for him to be benched.
51percentcorn wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:28 am
one comment by more than one poster that I don't quite get is the "Williams doesn't play hard". I have no overt reason to defend him but playing hard doesn't seem to be the issue to me Even on Dearth's second goal - Williams recognized the S-storm that was going on behind him and he HAD to go down and play defense and while Dearth admittedly scored Williams was closer to him and trying to check his hands which is more than I can say for alot of our defensive mid-field. Decision making about when to pull the trigger or pass and overall indecisiveness absolutely - playing hard - I didn't see it.
A good way to judge how hard an attackman plays is the ride—Williams is always riding hard. Comment made no sense to me either. If you have an attackman running full speed into the defensive end of the field and laying out Superman-style to try to stop a transition opportunity then I'm not sure what about that qualifies as not playing hard. Errant passes, waltzing into triple teams, sure, but the kid is playing hard as is everyone else.
51percentcorn wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 9:26 am
DeSimone continues to make you sit and wonder what is wrong.
No, he's just not as good as advertised. He started off well last year but he disappeared as the season went along as teams adjusted to his game. Go look at his bio, majority of his points came in the 1st half of the year.
Hopkins problem is Petro likes to recruit short players but they better be fast, well, scratch that most of them outside of Jones aren't quick or fast. So teams with any type of size at the midfield will eat this team alive...much like they have done for the last decade.
Even as good as Epstein is, if he is leading the team in points, you have a problem in other class years. Recruiting, player evaluation/recruiting and player development have been so poor for so long not much is going to change until there are staff changes. Can't wait for Hopkins to announce Petro's new deal which he doesn't deserve in the least - 1 FF in 11 years - here Petro have another 4 year deal.
I hear what you are saying but alot of freshmen's production falls off in the second half of the year. Even with playing in all these all star summer games etc. - I don't think their bodies are many times prepared for the demands placed on them freshmen year - hitting the wall can be a real phenomenon. If he really did put on 15 lbs over the year I am sure he was told he needed it in response to falling off the second half of last year. Has it robbed him of his first step? You can't look at the Princeton game - UVA game from last year and tell me this kid isn't capable of producing something - even if he is seeing the pole for the first time in college.
I'm not sure I agree with your second paragraph - it wasn't too long ago we were all complaining Hopkins was too big and too slow and too one dimensional in the mid-field when Ranagan, Greeley, Coppersmith and others were running around (obviously Coppersmith wasn't slow). I thought it was said we needed more jitterbugs like Bitter and Sankey. DeSimone is perfectly fine mid-fielder size wise. The problem is - and I have said this many times before - Forry Smith is not a mid-fielder - Concannon/Baskin and Keogh are converted attackmen and admittedly small. Remember this was supposed to be Supinski's senior year when he would be getting the pole and DeSimone would be learning from him and tearing up shortsticks.
I will agree that over the past few years - recruiting and roster construction and player development can leave you scratching your head.
IMO - Zinn needs to play - he's fast and he can shoot hard - another problem for Hopkins - there's no Fraser running around on either mid-field. Marr is the only person who is areal outside threat Let him make all the mistakes he can make - there's no title awaiting this team that he is going to prevent.
51percentcorn wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 9:26 am
DeSimone continues to make you sit and wonder what is wrong.
Remember this was supposed to be Supinski's senior year when he would be getting the pole and DeSimone would be learning from him and tearing up shortsticks.
And that is part of the problem. Where is Supinski, Grass, Olson, Sells, Odom? Am I missing anyone from the ghost Sr. class? I don't know what happened to these guys but I know what I've heard and that is a recruiting issue that rarely gets talked about.
steel_hop wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:20 am
Even as good as Epstein is, if he is leading the team in points, you have a problem in other class years.
I don't think this is true at all—maybe there is a problem but it has nothing to do with the fact that a freshman is leading the team in scoring. He is a special talent. And he's the X attackman. If he's NOT leading the team in points then you'd have people saying he's overrated or calling for him to be benched.
51percentcorn wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:28 am
one comment by more than one poster that I don't quite get is the "Williams doesn't play hard". I have no overt reason to defend him but playing hard doesn't seem to be the issue to me Even on Dearth's second goal - Williams recognized the S-storm that was going on behind him and he HAD to go down and play defense and while Dearth admittedly scored Williams was closer to him and trying to check his hands which is more than I can say for alot of our defensive mid-field. Decision making about when to pull the trigger or pass and overall indecisiveness absolutely - playing hard - I didn't see it.
A good way to judge how hard an attackman plays is the ride—Williams is always riding hard. Comment made no sense to me either. If you have an attackman running full speed into the defensive end of the field and laying out Superman-style to try to stop a transition opportunity then I'm not sure what about that qualifies as not playing hard. Errant passes, waltzing into triple teams, sure, but the kid is playing hard as is everyone else.
Well, let's put it this way. Epstein is good but you are not getting the production or the jump in production from guys already in the program like Williams, Concannon, DeSimone and even Marr to some extent. There were always going to be issues this year on offense with Tinney and Shack gone but you would hope guys would step up. SU has voigt step up and always seem to have a senior make big contributions coming out of nowhere...when has Hopkins ever had that. As I have said in the past, at least on offense, you are either playing/contributing as a freshman (or you likely never seeing significant time. There is an except or two like Disumke but the team was better when he wasn't playing and Smith/Williams should have played more.
51percentcorn wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:50 am
I hear what you are saying but alot of freshmen's production falls off in the second half of the year. Even with playing in all these all star summer games etc. - I don't think their bodies are many times prepared for the demands placed on them freshmen year - hitting the wall can be a real phenomenon. If he really did put on 15 lbs over the year I am sure he was told he needed it in response to falling off the second half of last year. Has it robbed him of his first step? You can't look at the Princeton game - UVA game from last year and tell me this kid isn't capable of producing something - even if he is seeing the pole for the first time in college.
I'm not sure I agree with your second paragraph - it wasn't too long ago we were all complaining Hopkins was too big and too slow and too one dimensional in the mid-field when Ranagan, Greeley, Coppersmith and others were running around (obviously Coppersmith wasn't slow). I thought it was said we needed more jitterbugs like Bitter and Sankey. DeSimone is perfectly fine mid-fielder size wise. The problem is - and I have said this many times before - Forry Smith is not a mid-fielder - Concannon/Baskin and Keogh are converted attackmen and admittedly small. Remember this was supposed to be Supinski's senior year when he would be getting the pole and DeSimone would be learning from him and tearing up shortsticks.
I will agree that over the past few years - recruiting and roster construction and player development can leave you scratching your head.
IMO - Zinn needs to play - he's fast and he can shoot hard - another problem for Hopkins - there's no Fraser running around on either mid-field. Marr is the only person who is areal outside threat Let him make all the mistakes he can make - there's no title awaiting this team that he is going to prevent.
I think you are hitting on the issue I am talking about. DiSimone or Baskin or Concannon by themselves out there are okay. But, you can't put all three out there on one line. They all essentially have the same game. They are guys but not differencemakers they definitely aren't what I would call jitterbugs. They aren't big alley dodgers or outside cannons just smallish slow players that can't take a guy when the ball is in their stick. They need more athleticism to mix and match. If you could have a line of Ranagan with Concannon and Fraser would be fine. The current 1st mid-field line just isn't getting the job done. Hopkins is averaging 11 goals so far on offense. Given that the defense has played like swiss cheese. They haven't held a team to less than 10 goals, the offense needs to get more contributions.
Overall, this team looks awful- maybe even worse than the 7-8 team. For a defense with veterans, there are way too many miscues...which again goes to Petro's defense being too complex. Goalie has lots of trouble with outside shots and offense looks stagnant.
51percentcorn wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:50 am
Remember this was supposed to be Supinski's senior year when he would be getting the pole and DeSimone would be learning from him and tearing up shortsticks.
He's not even listed on Denver's roster anymore so who knows where he is now.
“there's no title awaiting this team that he is going to prevent.”
Bingo.
At least not the way this is currently going.
I want to recall an incident about recognizing talent and playing your bench. IIRC, it was in the early 2000s with Tony at Towson, coming to play at Homewood. In the day or two before the game, Towson suspended a tremendous number of their starters. (Not sure why.).
I was thinking great! Easier win!
Game day proved a lot different. Towson played hard, surprisingly well, and I recall thinking three things throughout the game as Hopkins narrowly avoided an upset:
1) How can a coach suspend over ten players and still be competitive? Is he not recognizing the talent on his bench and not giving them PT?
2) Dean Smith, legendary UNC basketball coach, used to have a B team come in and at a substitution opportunity, remove all five starters and bring in five fresh guys who had been playing with each other as a team in practice. The five had a name - I’ll have to look it up.
3) I forgot #3. Dang neurons. It was a major thought. I’ll do some thinking and try to achieve total recall today.
In other news, wlax won yesterday at Hofstra and had a much more enjoyable bus ride home from NY yesterday.
51percentcorn wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 9:26 am
DeSimone continues to make you sit and wonder what is wrong.
No, he's just not as good as advertised. He started off well last year but he disappeared as the season went along as teams adjusted to his game. Go look at his bio, majority of his points came in the 1st half of the year.
While DeSimone definitely hit a freshman wall last year like many freshmen do, something is clearly not right with him. I have heard that the flu was going around Hopkins and that he was one of those afflicted—certainly does not excuse the poor play completely but it might explain some of why he's looked lethargic. That said, I do think the extra weight is making a difference. He is noticeably slower than he was last year. I'm sure he's stronger and can bench more in the weight room now than at this time last year but that doesn't help much if you've been sapped of your agility. He was never the fastest guy running in a straight line but he did demonstrate a very clear ability to shake his defender last year—whether it was a quick jab step at X or a hitch-and-go from the wing. He was inconsistent—again, as many freshman are—but he was capable of beating his man to go score or get the defense rotating. The player out there right now is not that same player. And it appears to be impacting his confidence too—he had one or two open looks yesterday but didn't pull the trigger. Hopefully he figures it out, he is a talented kid.
Agree with 51 again—live with Zinn's mistakes, let him learn and grow. By some miracle we're still playing in May, you want the growing pains out of the way now, and not then. The kid is a freak athlete, and we could use one of those right now. Let him find his way on the field. Not sure exactly how Lax Bytes calculates its player impact ratings but, for what it's worth, Zinn has the highest rating of any offensive midfielder on the team—likely a result of his contributions on the wing and in transition. (For those interested, our top 5 are: Marr, Epstein, Colwell, Hubler, Jones. Hubler has been all over the field the last few weeks. You want to talk about development—that kid is developing before our eyes.
steel_hop wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:20 am
Even as good as Epstein is, if he is leading the team in points, you have a problem in other class years.
I don't think this is true at all—maybe there is a problem but it has nothing to do with the fact that a freshman is leading the team in scoring. He is a special talent. And he's the X attackman. If he's NOT leading the team in points then you'd have people saying he's overrated or calling for him to be benched.
51percentcorn wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:28 am
one comment by more than one poster that I don't quite get is the "Williams doesn't play hard". I have no overt reason to defend him but playing hard doesn't seem to be the issue to me Even on Dearth's second goal - Williams recognized the S-storm that was going on behind him and he HAD to go down and play defense and while Dearth admittedly scored Williams was closer to him and trying to check his hands which is more than I can say for alot of our defensive mid-field. Decision making about when to pull the trigger or pass and overall indecisiveness absolutely - playing hard - I didn't see it.
A good way to judge how hard an attackman plays is the ride—Williams is always riding hard. Comment made no sense to me either. If you have an attackman running full speed into the defensive end of the field and laying out Superman-style to try to stop a transition opportunity then I'm not sure what about that qualifies as not playing hard. Errant passes, waltzing into triple teams, sure, but the kid is playing hard as is everyone else.
Well, let's put it this way. Epstein is good but you are not getting the production or the jump in production from guys already in the program like Williams, Concannon, DeSimone and even Marr to some extent. There were always going to be issues this year on offense with Tinney and Shack gone but you would hope guys would step up. SU has voigt step up and always seem to have a senior make big contributions coming out of nowhere...when has Hopkins ever had that. As I have said in the past, at least on offense, you are either playing/contributing as a freshman (or you likely never seeing significant time. There is an except or two like Disumke but the team was better when he wasn't playing and Smith/Williams should have played more.
Unfortunately Hopkins doesn't have the talent that they used to have. Look at the offense in 2003, which I believe was the highest scoring offense in the Petro era. Attack: Barrie, Benson, LeSeur
2) Dean Smith, legendary UNC basketball coach, used to have a B team come in and at a substitution opportunity, remove all five starters and bring in five fresh guys who had been playing with each other as a team in practice. The five had a name - I’ll have to look it up.
{snip}
W
The Blue Team. Their most interesting aspect was that by the time most of them were seniors, they were the starters.
2) Dean Smith, legendary UNC basketball coach, used to have a B team come in and at a substitution opportunity, remove all five starters and bring in five fresh guys who had been playing with each other as a team in practice. The five had a name - I’ll have to look it up.
They were called "The Blue Team", and they came into the game (before there was a shot clock) and gave the starters a chance to catch their breath. And the funny thing? The Tar Heels *NEVER* lost a lead when that group of players took the court.
Might have to put up with some time in the box for unsportsmanlike with Marr though, tends to get involved (create) in a little extra curricular now and then. Had an uncalled one in the Cuse game when he crossed checked Kennedy after the play, would be in the box for that play 9 out of 10 times.
DMac wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:32 am
Might have to put up with some time in the box for unsportsmanlike with Marr though, tends to get involved (create) in a little extra curricular now and then. Had an uncalled one in the Cuse game when he crossed checked Kennedy after the play, would be in the box for that play 9 out of 10 times.
Ha! Good point. I wasn’t including extracurricular activities!
As an outsider, what's happening at JHU isn't a huge surprise and could be seen coming from a mile away.
If Stanwick had another year of eligibility, you all would be humming along this year. The shot clock has affected your offense more than most teams, and without an elite dodger to get defenses rotating, your offense struggles to get finishers like Marr enough open looks. Williams, too, has suffered from lacking a playmaker like Stanwick. He takes too long to get his own shot, and he's like a post player in hoops who doesn't pass out of the double team very well. Asking Epstein, for as good as he's been, to replace Stanwick is a lot. By his junior year, Epstein is going to be a 40-40 guy.
What's happened to your midfield is a function of recruiting, and two things look clear to me. One, the rule changes around recruiting have really hurt JHU. Two, Petro's recruiting philosophy needs updating. Teams like Maryland, Notre Dame, and Ohio St started recruiting size and athleticism over stick skills. When you look at the rosters of those teams, not only does the size of their players stand out but also the bios of their players. Check out the other sports that so many players on those rosters played. You'll see few soccer player and dozens of football and hockey players. Coaches in those programs have figured out that they can develop players' stick skills once they get on campus. Looking at your incoming recruits for the next two years doesn't lead me to believe that Petro has adapted to realities of the game at this point in time.
I think JHU will be fine for the next few games, even in that UVA game. UVA's style keeps opponents in the game, and their style will actually bring out the best on your midfielders (lots of space, transition opportunities galore). If I were you all, I'd be really concerned about conference play. Maryland and OSU are big, athletic, and highly structured. PSU isn't a big, fast, athletic team; but their offense is uber efficient and Arceri can slant the field. Kneese bails them out in the cage. They're the B1G favorites at this point. You all should handle Rutgers and Michigan.
I enjoy reading the JHU thread on this site more than any other thread on FanLax, even my own team's site.
DMac's write up of the "game" includes a good bit about beer; here it is:
"Bought a lottery ticket today which is something I never do, felt like the kind of day you should buy one.
Park the car, head to the elevator, get there just as the doors are closing with one guy in there. He sees us, tries to hit the right button to stop the doors from closing but he can't find the right one, doors keep closing. My buddy gets his arm in the door just in time to keep them from closing, doors open back up and in we go, the three of us are heading up. Guy in the elevator pulls his wallet out and asks us if we're going to the game. Of course, we said of course. He pulls a couple of tickets out of his wallet, said a couple of folks who had planned on coming with him couldn't make it and asked us if we wanted the tickets. Again, we, of course, said, of course (tried to offer him a couple of bucks but he'd have no part of that and I'm pretty sure they were complimentary tickets that he didn't pay for to begin with). Thirty bucks in free tickets, pretty good start to the day. Save fifteen bucks on your ticket, kinda means you can buy two eight dollar beers which are really only costing you a buck (my math anyway). So we each buy a can of eight dollar beer but it's gone up to eight and a quarter. I hand the guy nine bucks and get no change back. If I'm going to get raped on the deal (absolute robbery) I at least want the Vaseline so I ask the guy, "Don't I get some change back here?". He reaches in his change pouch and gives me my three quarters and all is well. Go in and sit down down and I catch a glimpse of the guys behind us and it's one of those, I know these guys but sure can't remember how or from where deals. One of the guys says,"Hey, you're the guys who sat behind us the last time we were here, we're the Vermont boys." Same trio down for their annual trip to the Dome was glad to see them, not bothered by Family Phatazz this year either. Had a good laugh with the boys and they picked another good one to come to...they're welcome anytime, two fer two when those boys are there. Half time rolls around and Cuse is right in the game after a bit (lot) of a shaky start. Go back to Mr. Shortchangeya for another beer, give him my eight and quarter, and he hands me two beers, says, "Here, take these two." Ask him what the deal is, he says he's got an extra one he needs to get rid of (boy's feeling a little guilty for trying to hose me, no doubt). So the game and two beers comes to a grand total of sixteen fifty. Any time you're paying seventy five cents a beer (my math) in the Dome you're doing pretty darn good, must be your lucky day.
Now throw in the game and it's been a pretty good day. A very shaky start but Cuse regrouped and came on pretty darn strong. There was a lot to like, D tightened up and made that territory tough to tread in, Kennedy was his usual chaos creating self (kid is just fun to watch, balls to the wall) Bomberry made some really sweet plays and had that box influenced stick on display again, I'm good with him having the ball in his stick any time...Mellen and Kennedy too. O stepped up and started putting the ball in the cage. Enter Buttermore...kid should be playing attack. One of the current trio could sit on the bench while he's in there and I think it would help the team a lot. Like Buttermore's game, he needs to be on the field more.
Again, was quite a bit to like in this game, nice effort, FOGOs looked good, nice come back from a shaky start, nice finish. This really was a pretty big win, needed this one.
All in all it was a pretty good day, had buy a lotto ticket written all over it."
Wheels wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 7:21 am
As an outsider, what's happening at JHU isn't a huge surprise and could be seen coming from a mile away.
If Stanwick had another year of eligibility, you all would be humming along this year. The shot clock has affected your offense more than most teams, and without an elite dodger to get defenses rotating, your offense struggles to get finishers like Marr enough open looks. Williams, too, has suffered from lacking a playmaker like Stanwick. He takes too long to get his own shot, and he's like a post player in hoops who doesn't pass out of the double team very well. Asking Epstein, for as good as he's been, to replace Stanwick is a lot. By his junior year, Epstein is going to be a 40-40 guy.
What's happened to your midfield is a function of recruiting, and two things look clear to me. One, the rule changes around recruiting have really hurt JHU. Two, Petro's recruiting philosophy needs updating. Teams like Maryland, Notre Dame, and Ohio St started recruiting size and athleticism over stick skills. When you look at the rosters of those teams, not only does the size of their players stand out but also the bios of their players. Check out the other sports that so many players on those rosters played. You'll see few soccer player and dozens of football and hockey players. Coaches in those programs have figured out that they can develop players' stick skills once they get on campus. Looking at your incoming recruits for the next two years doesn't lead me to believe that Petro has adapted to realities of the game at this point in time.
I think JHU will be fine for the next few games, even in that UVA game. UVA's style keeps opponents in the game, and their style will actually bring out the best on your midfielders (lots of space, transition opportunities galore). If I were you all, I'd be really concerned about conference play. Maryland and OSU are big, athletic, and highly structured. PSU isn't a big, fast, athletic team; but their offense is uber efficient and Arceri can slant the field. Kneese bails them out in the cage. They're the B1G favorites at this point. You all should handle Rutgers and Michigan.
I enjoy reading the JHU thread on this site more than any other thread on FanLax, even my own team's site.
Pretty measured take. I think with this freshman class, they did try to recruit size, speed, and athleticism. I disagree about next year's class though, there are several kids who project out as either possible two-way middies who can impact both sides of the field and transition, or just big/athletic: Ruddy, Rodgers, Chambers, Witman, Handsor, Finley-Ponds, Glassmeyer. Jake Fox's brother, Hayden, is a giant. Maybe they were too late recruiting that type of kid in lieu of smallish munchkins with stick skills and high IQ. I think it would be a huge mistake to just stop recruiting those kinds of players entirely, but a better balance can probably be struck.
Worth noting that this freshman class was supposed to have Griffin Westlin and Sean Kuttin—both switched to Notre Dame and Yale, respectively. Neither are particularly big but it's clear they aren't working with the full arsenal they thought they'd have two years ago.
