Johns Hopkins 2020

[HopFan16]

IL write-ups on our two most recent 2021 defensive commits:

16. Jake Cohen, LSM/D, Landon (Md.) to Hopkins
DC Express | Committed Oct. 7 | Highlights

Picking up All-Met HM honors on the ice, Cohen’s hockey background is more than apparent when watching him on the lacrosse field. While somewhat undersized, he has a remarkable handle off the ground and plays with a noticeable mean streak, often bumping back and forth between close and LSM. He’s a menace in the middle of the field, relentless as a cover defender and steadily improving away from the ball. Cohen also looked hard at UNC, Maryland, Penn and Duke before picking the Blue Jays, who have eight Top 100 juniors in their recruiting class. At Hopkins, he'll provide the kind of tenacity that Big 10 coaches look for, and Cohen will almost certainly improve tremendously while playing a bevy of Top 25 programs with the Bears.

21. Jojo Todaro, LSM/D, Carey (N.Y.) to Hopkins
ICON | Committed Oct. 13

While not out there on the circuit as much as his peers, Todaro is as impactful as any longpole in the class. It’s his blue-collar grit and motor that set him apart — put him anywhere on the field and he’ll harass ball carriers relentlessly from sideline to sideline. Playing on a club owned by four-time Orange All-American defenseman Pat McCabe, Todaro made an early commitment to Syracuse before the recruiting legislation in April 2017. However, Johns Hopkins plucked him away in October to pick up its third Top 25 junior from the back end of the field. Todaro has some aspects of former Blue Jay standout Mike Pellegrino in his game, possessing a similar Long Island pedigree and lunch pail-type work ethic.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... ense/55488

[jhu72]

Success is a combination of talent and coaching.
Someone once asked Julius Caesar which he would rather have, a good army with a bad general, or a good general with a bad army. He replied, "Neither one's much good now is it?"
The two most successful coaches in the last decade have been John Tillman and John Danowski. Neither is a yeller or screamer. I've seen Danowski walking around on the sidelines going up to kids and saying "Good Job!" Both coaches recruit well and get the most out of their teams.
Maybe Petro's approach worked well for him ten years ago, but times have changed. You can have good players but if you don't play them, or you de-motivate them, you're not going to win. I don't have any inside information on the program, but the results on the field speak for themselves.
Given the Jay's talent level they should be making Final Fours instead of getting blown off the field in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Petro's style of 10-15 years ago is very different from his style today. Life and experience changes people. Nothing more really need be said.

[jhu72]

The question becomes is there someone out there who could do a better job (than Desko)?

My answer is: odds are not high, and there are no guarantees.

How many rings does Desko have again? How many Final Fours? Good luck bettering those numbers.

For me, the last couple of seasons for Syracuse have been a pleasure to watch. I have no complaints.

Syracuse hasn't been "the special program", or whatever you want to call it, since the streak ended.

Hopkins? Hasn't been "the special program" since Brian Wood left campus. 2 Championships since 88? And Petro's the guy who got you both.

And no, I'm not saying you should extend his contract. Do as you will. But you need to find a guy who can recruit better..and I'm not 100% convinced that Petro is the problem on that count. Same goes for Desko...which is why I think he's doing a fine job, given the context.

All just opinions, obviously.

He is the coach, if out sourcing it has seen it decline, it is his fault.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Welcome back, 72.

[a fan]

He is the coach, if out sourcing it has seen it decline, it is his fault.

Agree 90%, which is certainly enough to find someone you all think will recruit better players. Trouble is, finding him.

The other 10% is what OCanada is alluding to.....

[OCanada]

HF16. Do what sport did you play at Hopkins?

One of you 2 wanted to know if I was DP’s PR guy.

Nope. I am frustrated as most. But I don’t pontificate making speculation appear as fact. I am not so arrogant as you two who clearly don’t have a good basis for your absurd claims.

A Fan is pretty much right.

The best explanation for under performance or a drop in performance is most often injury. The whining from some of you trying to claim your eyes are a better judge of take of talent than the coaches is pathetic and narcissistic. You aren’t. I have my differences sometimes. But you two are delusional

[MDlaxfan76]

Boy, you guys sure do go after each other.

Just a reminder that you're rooting for the same school. You all want to see success, however that's best measured.

That said, it makes sense for fans to challenge whether the program could be doing better and what's necessary for that to happen, including debating each element involved.

Obviously that includes the coaching.
The coaching staff is the key driver, over the longer haul, in the make-up of the roster, the development and motivation of the players they have, and, ultimately the overall experience of having been a player for that program.

The coaches know full well that critique comes with the turf, perhaps nowhere more so that at Hopkins given the rich tradition and involved fan base.

In many ways, that's Hopkins' strength.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

HF16. Do what sport did you play at Hopkins?

One of you 2 wanted to know if I was DP’s PR guy.

Nope. I am frustrated as most. But I don’t pontificate making speculation appear as fact. I am not so arrogant as you two who clearly don’t have a good basis for your absurd claims.

A Fan is pretty much right.

The best explanation for under performance or a drop in performance is most often injury. The whining from some of you trying to claim your eyes are a better judge of take of talent than the coaches is pathetic and narcissistic. You aren’t. I have my differences sometimes. But you two are delusional

You are referring to two people?

[HopFan16]

HF16. Do what sport did you play at Hopkins?

One of you 2 wanted to know if I was DP’s PR guy.

Nope. I am frustrated as most. But I don’t pontificate making speculation appear as fact. I am not so arrogant as you two who clearly don’t have a good basis for your absurd claims.

A Fan is pretty much right.

The best explanation for under performance or a drop in performance is most often injury. The whining from some of you trying to claim your eyes are a better judge of take of talent than the coaches is pathetic and narcissistic. You aren’t. I have my differences sometimes. But you two are delusional

You are referring to two people?

Sundowning?

[OCanada]

Why yes wombat.

Meanwhile the attention needy continue to chirp and duck

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Why yes wombat.

Meanwhile the attention needy continue to chirp and duck

Who are the two?

[HopFan16]

Meanwhile the attention needy continue to chirp and duck

In the span of one post you called me delusional, narcissistic, whining, arrogant, and absurd because I think one specific player should have gotten more opportunities on offense. That you are having such a conniption over that idea speaks volumes. Honestly you sound kind of unwell. So yeah, I’m allowed to make a joke about how the majority of your posts are unreadable, holier-than-thou blather that seem like they were dictated by a toddler to someone trying to type in a Philly Phanatic costume.

[steel_hop]

I think that Petro has done a solid job given the talent level that has arrived on campus. I think he's finished well with who he has out there. Again, this isn't looking at one year. Flukes happen. Bad bounces happen. But over a decade, you've got a solid idea as to where your recruiting classes are relative to the competition.

Same goes for my Orange, if that helps. They haven't had the horses. Period. Petro and Desko are getting outrecruited. It's that simple.

Frankly, I find the idea that Shay or Tiffany are somehow better at x's and o's or better at developing talent than Desko or Petro laughable.

I think the issue of Hopkins poor results over the last decade is for a host of reasons. Some it is absolutely Xs and Os. There is no question that Petro has made some questionable end of game decisions over the last decade that weren't made prior to that. I also think the game has changed and whether he has adapted to those changes is another story. I think he still wants to play a very passive compacted tight defense that relies on a numerous slides with the idea of letting your reliable goalie consistently make those 13-15 yard saves. The issue is the game has changed and guys are just pinging corners now. The slide works when you can play compact but as you stretch out to guard those shots it opens up holes. The passivity doesn't lend itself to take the ball away and thus, makes it that much harder on the offense to score because they don't get transitions.

There is no thought to being aggressive on defense or take the ball away.

Over the last decade, Hopkins has had ten top 10 recruiting classes (at least 3 number 1 ranked classes - more than anyone else). Now, not every recruit works out and some classes are over ranked but at the end of the day, but more times than not, those classes should push for more than 1 FF over a decade. You could argue that FF was an a couple of inches away from not even happening. No one's asking for Hopkins to make every final four. As you say, flukes happen for the bad, as well, as the good.

You argue that Petro is not getting the best recruits anymore. No one is make that argument but his failing to properly evaluate recruits to some extent his on him. He's the one doing the evaluating. If you will, he's the one buying the ingredients to make the mean. One only has to look at the goalie recruiting to see something is off on evaluations.

Does the poor evaluation result in poor player development. Some kids game just doesn't translate to college. It happens. But, it happens at Hopkins more than it should. Further, there is rarely that kid that seems to come out of nowhere and contribute late in his career at Hopkins. I give Desko credit, he always seems to have that one senior that blossoms into a huge scoring threat every year after not playing much his first 2 or 3 years. Hopkins very rarely has that. Dismuke would be the best more recent example. If you aren't seeing the field by your sophmore year at Hopkins, you likely never will, no matter how much you show at practice.

Further, on player development. While some of it is on the coaches, some of it is on the players themselves. It is putting in the extra 100 shots or more after practice, etc. Not every player does that.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Two LSM recruits?

They should be able to score 15 apiece.

BaghdadDB

8F9CFC04-6EFD-4456-91A6-D2C82167CA77.jpeg (48.56 KiB) Viewed 1966 times

[51percentcorn]

Couple reactions:
First - with Hopkins at the early recruiting forefront I think there very may well have been some projecting on the part of the recruiting prognosticators, i.e., if Hopkins is recruiting a verbal from a certain player the kid must be good - the high school coach talks him up more OR if you want a good relationship from Hopkins it is probably better for you not to tell Petro his recruiting class sucks. So with the caveat that generally the first 5-10 kids of a year are fairly obvious, maybe some of the high school freshmen laden Hopkins classes had some selection bias.

Agree with Steelhop on this: When you are the head coach with a staff of two assistants - you - as Parcells said - buy the groceries AND do the cooking. If it's recruiting AND/OR player performance - BOTH fall on YOU. Reasonable question to ask if anyone can do better. I would ask - based - upon some personal observation - what are the contributions of his assistants in both areas?

Speaking of reasonableness - I agree most with MDLAx with respect to the Hatfield/McCoy going on. I think it is perfectly reasonable to think based upon the relative performance of the Hopkins mid-fielders that the second Top 10 recruit of last year's freshmen class - Zinn - should have played more. It is also reasonable to say that none of us are around the program much at all (I would guess) and to state that Petro is playing the guys he thinks will give him the best chance to win. There could be many unknown reasons why he didn't play Zinn as much as some would have liked. But I have to say my eyes told me - he is pretty much Hopkins most talented "true" midfielder - and has some facts/stats to back it up:
- Finished the year - despite only assuming a second line middie role for the last couple games - with 5 goals/4 assists/ 9 points/18% shot percentage/20 ground balls/5 turnovers
- Nothing too remarkable and would not lend much credence to the statement he could be evaluated as Hopkins most talented "true" midfielder EXCEPT - the performance of the 5 guys that played 100% of the time on the first and second mid-fields
- Zinn's 9 points was 35% of Smith and Concannon's output/53% of DeSimone's and Baskin's/70% of Keogh's - despite playing nowhere near 35%/53%/70% of those player's time on the field - that is a fact
- His 18% shot percentage was actually HIGHER than 2 of the 5 players mentioned above and his SOG% was second to Smith and Baskin and tied with Concannon - therefore, I suggest to some degree he can hit water out of a boat - he just needs more time on the field to see the piece of land he needs to hit instead of the goalie - but I also have to allow for my prior point - a small sample size can distort stats both ways
- While I don't have practice 40 times - I am pretty sure it is a fact Zinn is Hopkins fastest player - certainly top 3 - it is a physical gift that is not only sorely needed on the lacrosse field in general it is a particular weakness (IMO) of the Hopkins midfield. Nobody is going to accuse Smith, Baskin, Keogh or Concannon to be speed merchants - Concannon/Baskin etc. have some quickness but virtually no downhill speed from the top of the box.
- After Cattoni got hurt 3 or 4 games in, the player that occupied the majority of the final second middie role did not produce - not even a little bit
SO again - at this point it was what it was for the 2019 season. Given how that season turned out, however, I do wish Zinn had played more and was even more experienced because for Hopkins to have any success - he has to play a very significant role. Because any DC in the world is going to look at Hopkins and say - "I've got 2 guys on attack returning 120 points and I've got a 5-6 kids who can't get to 100 points from the mid-field - Who am I going to devote resources and schemes to stop?"

[HopFan16]

Jays added a walk-on, 6'0'' attackman Trystan Uphoff originally from California but looks like he finished his high school career at Highland Park in Dallas where Ryan Brown is a coach.

[a fan]

I think the issue of Hopkins poor results over the last decade is for a host of reasons. Some it is absolutely Xs and Os. There is no question that Petro has made some questionable end of game decisions over the last decade that weren't made prior to that. I also think the game has changed and whether he has adapted to those changes is another story.

Every coach makes those mistakes. You just don't notice because you're not a fan that knows your team inside and out. Bill T, for example, is so busy trying to the matchups that he wants, he make bad subs several times a game.

Now I'm sure that's a calculation on his part, but it drives me nuts. Mistake? I'll take Bill T's understanding of the game any day over mine.

I think he still wants to play a very passive compacted tight defense that relies on a numerous slides with the idea of letting your reliable goalie consistently make those 13-15 yard saves. The issue is the game has changed and guys are just pinging corners now.

This is where I disagree. Your midfield D doesn't allow you to press out. BTW, this was the case for Cuse until the last two years. So Desko played the hand he was dealt, and sucked the D in. Last two years? Has the horses, presses out....pleasure to watch.

Over the last decade, Hopkins has had ten top 10 recruiting classes (at least 3 number 1 ranked classes - more than anyone else). Now, not every recruit works out and some classes are over ranked but at the end of the day, but more times than not, those classes should push for more than 1 FF over a decade.

This is where I REALLY disagree. IL treats all the kids in those recruiting classes the same. So from my perspective, Rambo and SU's Evans were #1 and #2. Do you think those two players are anywhere near the same caliber? Me neither. Well, IL swears that they're the same.

With Rambo, UMd got four years with a game changer on the field. With Evans? He didn't get much PT. Totally, totally different outcome with the "same" recruiting class.

You argue that Petro is not getting the best recruits anymore. No one is make that argument but his failing to properly evaluate recruits to some extent his on him. He's the one doing the evaluating. If you will, he's the one buying the ingredients to make the mean. One only has to look at the goalie recruiting to see something is off on evaluations.

Yes! Agree. This is the problem.

Does the poor evaluation result in poor player development

If you're asking me, this shows up in Hopkins having so many poor shooters. Either they just don't have that skill, don't put in the work, or are struggling with injuries. And yes, this is part recruiting, and fall on the coach.

I give Desko credit, he always seems to have that one senior that blossoms into a huge scoring threat every year after not playing much his first 2 or 3 years. Hopkins very rarely has that.

Huge threat? Not even close. A threat? Sure.

Further, on player development. While some of it is on the coaches, some of it is on the players themselves. It is putting in the extra 100 shots or more after practice, etc. Not every player does that.

Nail, meet hammer. This is the one thing that's 90% on the players. Sure, you can teach deception and form. But someone has to put in the work. Hop has been a horrible shooting team for this whole stretch. Syracuse isn't far behind. Hop is on TV a bunch, so I get to see them a ton. You can see Benson's schemes getting the players shooting inside that 10 yard mark....they're just missing.

What happens when they can their shots? See last year's Penn St. Game. Shot over .300 as a team, and they were in the game the whole way......

[Antonio114]

I give Desko credit, he always seems to have that one senior that blossoms into a huge scoring threat every year after not playing much his first 2 or 3 years. Hopkins very rarely has that.

Huge threat? Not even close. A threat? Sure.

Guys like Brad Voigt, Salcido, Tim Barber, and (to a slightly lesser extent) Derek DeJoe, fit the description of what he is talking about. All went from barely seeing the field to being key components of the offense in their final one or two years. I would keep an eye out on the Kim twins to continue that trend (apologies for hijacking the hopkins thread with cuse talk).

[tech37]

Although he saw PT as a role player only, as a senior no one has blossomed into a "huge" threat at SU like Marasco.

[a fan]

Guys like Brad Voigt, Salcido, Tim Barber, and (to a slightly lesser extent) Derek DeJoe, fit the description of what he is talking about. All went from barely seeing the field to being key components of the offense in their final one or two years.

I guess it's more about point of view. Voight was a major contributor his soph. year. He didn't come out of nowhere.

But sure. Point made.