Johns Hopkins 2020

[HopFan16]

Andy Shay and Lars Tiffany, former defensemen, seem to have done pretty well for themselves the last few years. Neither coach goalies.

The Jays have been fine on faceoffs without a dedicated faceoff coach. And despite one of the best goalies of all time working with his position, that hasn't seemed to help very much.

Jays will host Marquette for Jan. 25 scrimmage. Time to be announced.

Is there a Feb. 1 scrimmage?

I probably would have laughed at you if you were to tell me in the summer of 2016 that Grimes would play midfield at any point, but he was outstanding when I was out in Columbus for the U19-Culver scrimmage and Team USA's best offensive player all weekend.

[Sagittarius A*]

Those two coaches are flashes in the pan. Tillman is the real deal. Our face offs were great when we had Koesterer.

Whether they switch Forrey to attack or not, I think they definitely need to move Zinn to the first midfield line. He’s the only middle on the team who can actually dodge.

[molo]

Fred Smith was 59 or 60 when he died. He may have seemed older because he continued to coach after being diagnosed with cancer, from which he died a couple of weeks after the team won the NC in 1997.

[51percentcorn]

Random Thursday thoughts
I think a dedicated face-off coach during the season is to some degree overrated - all these kids go to all these camps/gurus etc. - what are you going to coach in the middle of a game? - "Hey there Schmidlap - I think you need to pivot your reverse motorcycle grip a 1/4 inch counterclockwise while positioning your back leg a 1/2 inch toward the direction of the setting sun and fart when the ref blows the whistle" Come on - it basically comes down to - are you quicker and/or stronger then the other guy and if there is an issue what can you do to counteract it? A coach can obviously suggest things to counteract pinches or clamps but I am sure the same things occur to the face-off guy who is getting schooled. It's not usually a hard call to switch up to the second guy.

Wombat - what is the deal - you almost need an intervention - season is still 65 days away. I'm not saying you are absolutely wrong on some points but let it go and enjoy the holidays if you can.

I also read TX's input with interest - nice to hear such a highly regarded recruit such as Smith appears to be coming to Homewood with the loss of Colwell and Rapine on the horizon. As far as young Dom goes - I will say this. I seem to recall many a blurb on a certain Recruiting Rundown web-site that speculated or alerted readership as to programs that were interested in a recruit or perhaps programs the recruit was interested in and I could be mistaken but I think many of those assessments were on high school underclassmen being recruited by the top programs. Therefore, I find the chiding of "disturbing" to be slightly "ironic" and a bit of "Mr Pot Meet Mr. Kettle". It is thoroughly understandable - in this day and age - for a fan base of a program that is observing a potential generational player who happens to be the son of the head coach of that program with the head coach revered as maybe the greatest player (certainly on the Mt. Rushmore) to play for that program to wonder whether that player will follow in his father's footsteps. I myself have seen Dominic and Nicholas approximately 5-8 times a season since they could walk coming on Homewood Field after every game. There was no ill intent here. Simply meant to convey some information that may or may not be true - which happens to be about 99.99% of the crap posted here and before on laxpower. It doesn't hurt the Pietramala family at all. They know better than any the speculation surrounding the twins and their dad - I am sure they have heard it all by now. I still stand by the information - which was to temper hopes/expectations that he (and his brother) will absolutely attend Johns Hopkins because he is (they are) Dave's boy(s). It is only 10 months - a very short period of time - until he can commit. Maybe he/they will change their minds but I have been told his/their focus is elsewhere. We'll find out in short order.

Interesting season coming in no doubt - can't remember so many open questions when in fact alot of players didn't exhaust their eligibility/graduate.
- Who replaces Foley and will that player assume the role of guarding the opponents #1 attackman? Or will Rapine or Colwell bump up to that role?
- Who's the #1 goalie?
- Who's the 3rd attackman? Smith? would have appeared logical before Keogh's injury (seems like in that situation no news is bad news) but now? If Smith is on attack then that clearly suggests Concannon/DeSimone/Zinn would comprise the first mid-field - though as others have suggested - Baskin is a possibility
- Regardless - if Keogh is gone - how do you bolster the second mid-field into a semi productive unit - thin on performance and experience - now if Smith stayed at midfield and you started Murphy at attack - then you have the possibility of 2 of the 4 experienced mid-fielders going to the 2nds. and as stated before - if Murphy's most obvious skill is outside shooting - boy is that a skill the Hopkins offense needs
- Personnel changes required at LSM and SSDM - time will tell - could be better even if youth is served

[HopFan16]

Interesting season coming in no doubt - can't remember so many open questions when in fact alot of players didn't exhaust their eligibility/graduate.
- Who replaces Foley and will that player assume the role of guarding the opponents #1 attackman? Or will Rapine or Colwell bump up to that role?
- Who's the #1 goalie?
- Who's the 3rd attackman? Smith? would have appeared logical before Keogh's injury (seems like in that situation no news is bad news) but now? If Smith is on attack then that clearly suggests Concannon/DeSimone/Zinn would comprise the first mid-field - though as others have suggested - Baskin is a possibility
- Regardless - if Keogh is gone - how do you bolster the second mid-field into a semi productive unit - thin on performance and experience - now if Smith stayed at midfield and you started Murphy at attack - then you have the possibility of 2 of the 4 experienced mid-fielders going to the 2nds. and as stated before - if Murphy's most obvious skill is outside shooting - boy is that a skill the Hopkins offense needs
- Personnel changes required at LSM and SSDM - time will tell - could be better even if youth is served

The bolded selection is by far the most important question of the offseason IMO. There seems to be a lot more focus on the goalie, but it's not going to matter who's in the net if the defense gets slaughtered by Sowers, Gray, Ament, Bernhardt, etc. And it certainly won't matter who the 3rd attackman is at that point. Colwell and Rapine are both solid but I don't think it's a stretch to say that neither have, as of yet, demonstrated the ability to match feet with any of the guys I just listed. Perhaps that's because they haven't had the opportunity to do so. Colwell did a very good job when he bumped up top to guard Connor Kelly in 2018, but he had a lot of help that day from Kuhn if I recall. Both are fairly strong kids but in order not to get roasted by these top attackmen, you need some foot speed. Foley had a ton of that, so even when he was caught out of position he could often close the gap with lateral agility. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that both Colwell and Rapine have been hitting the speed ladder this offseason.

If it's not one of those guys, then it's anybody's guess. Calnan had a few positive blurbs from the fall scrimmages. Rodgers was the most touted coming out of high school and is a giant with a big wingspan but I haven't heard a peep about him since his injury in high school. Ruddy, Keneally, Gomez, McManus might be the other most likely candidates. It is mildly interesting to me that McManus is back at D after a brief tryout at SSDM last year—I thought he looked fine there—so perhaps they think his services are best utilized at close? Fox the Younger missed most (all?) of fall ball with an injury. And if it were going to happen for Steel or Shure it probably would have happened by now but who knows. Both were also big names coming out of Bullis and McDonogh respectively.

(This is all assuming that Reinson, Jaronski, and Blondell are all correctly listed at LSM and most likely won't be playing close D in 2020)

[51percentcorn]

The bolded selection is by far the most important question of the offseason IMO.

Maybe but not sure I agree - let's look back at '19
Top Attackmen
Spencer 3 and 3
Sowers 2 and 3
Kitchen 2 and 1
Kraus 3 and 2
Ohio State - Jackson had 5 and LeClaire had 3 - so unless Foley was on Myers.....
Maryland - While Foley shut down Bernhart in '18 - he did not really in '19 as JH averaged 2.5 goals per game
Penn State - not even going to look it up

How much worse can it get? Besides - while I grant you Rapine and/or Colwell may not have the requisite footspeed to cover those type of guys - in some ways the #1 close defender may have an easier job - you know what you have to do - stop X attackman from scoring - maybe Chris Gray and Sowers etc. will all score 5-7 goals but I think this is a boogieman under the bed that may not be there. Foley was supposed to be gone by now so cowboy up and find somebody that's fast and strong.

[HopFan16]

The bolded selection is by far the most important question of the offseason IMO.

Maybe but not sure I agree - let's look back at '19
Top Attackmen
Spencer 3 and 3
Sowers 2 and 3
Kitchen 2 and 1
Kraus 3 and 2
Ohio State - Jackson had 5 and LeClaire had 3 - so unless Foley was on Myers.....
Maryland - While Foley shut down Bernhart in '18 - he did not really in '19 as JH averaged 2.5 goals per game
Penn State - not even going to look it up

How much worse can it get? Besides - while I grant you Rapine and/or Colwell may not have the requisite footspeed to cover those type of guys - in some ways the #1 close defender may have an easier job - you know what you have to do - stop X attackman from scoring - maybe Chris Gray and Sowers etc. will all score 5-7 goals but I think this is a boogieman under the bed that may not be there. Foley was supposed to be gone by now so cowboy up and find somebody that's fast and strong.

Yes, Foley was on Myers.

Those numbers are all below those attackmens' per-game averages last season. Holding Sowers to 5 points isn't bad. And I'd argue that Foley actually won that matchup, having watched the footage Sowers looked very uncomfortable and turned it over 4 times. He went on to score more than 5 points on 7 different occasions, including against Virginia, Cornell, and Denver. Spencer meanwhile had 9 pts against Cuse and 11 against Penn State. So keeping him to his season average is better than what the #1 cover guy on most other teams could do. You're never going to keep guys like Spencer or Sowers out of the stat sheet but you've got to at least limit them and prevent those giant blow-up games. Perhaps another defender on the Blue Jays will do a similar (or better) job limiting the damage, but I for one do not feel especially good about it.

Re: Bernhardt, it's correct that Foley did not completely shut him down in the two meetings in 2019 quite like he did in 2018, but look at the stats compared to other games Bernhardt played last season. Again, below his season averages. I mean, there's a reason Foley was a 2nd team All-American. So, yeah, I do think it can get worse. I'll turn this around and ask you this: Can goalie play (45%) and SSDM play ("getting beat every time") get any worse? I'm of the mind that those two things pretty much bottomed out in 2019 and are more likely to regress in the positive direction.

There are plenty of big dudes waiting in the wings on close D—hopefully at least one of them can also move his feet.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

I got the first question in to Xy, etc., and still haven’t gotten an answer.

I’m disappointed.

[DMac]

Maybe on his ankle biter dirtbag list and he just gets that little pop up notice thing like you get when I post?
Probably.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

GDIAF

[DocBarrister]

Thank you for clearing this stuff up, Ty. Hope Chambers is back soon. You would know better than anyone here, but if I'm the parent of a potential recruit I don't see how Petro's contract isn't at least in the back of my mind, even if it's not brought up in conversations directly. It may not be the first or second or even 10th most important factor, but I think it's something to be aware of. As far as anyone knows, he hasn't been given an extension—which is unusual. Has he ever gone into a season without one?

Maybe I'm going out on a limb here but it wouldn't be a tremendous surprise if most parents of potential recruits (and the recruits themselves, of course) were completely unaware of the contract situation, except for maybe a few exceptions of guys closely tied to JHU or lacrosse. Generally speaking, HS kids are constantly reminded that they shouldn't choose a school based on the coaching staff since there's so much assistant/HC turnover. That being said, it's the kind of thing that should really only be evaluated by a program's commits if the coach eventually got fired... a 'cross that bridge when we come to it' type of situation. High schoolers absolutely adore Petro.

Answering two more questions sent via private message:

Based on what you’ve seen so far, do you think Owen Murphy can start for Hopkins next year at either attack or on one of the midfield lines?

I haven’t seen Murphy (or Hopkins) this fall so I can’t really go in-depth based on recent evaluations, but yes, I do think he will play a lot and I’d expect it to be more on attack rather than midfield. But after years of watching him play club and high school ball, I feel like Hopkins fans will love the flashy skill set that Owen brings to the table. Might be some usual freshman mistakes thrown in there, as he plays with a ton of confidence and frequently takes risks, but I definitely see Murphy and Angelus as having serious potential to be JHU's attackman 3rd/4th/5th attackmen and make an impact.

How good do you think the five-star attackmen coming in 2020 can be for the Jays?
Very, very good. While I'd want Brendan Grimes and Casey McDermott on the field as much as possible, I'll say that I was pleasantly surprised at how well both guys took to playing midfield this summer and fall. McDermott had a hell of a June and July, consistently putting up multi-point games while sharing the ball with several Top 100 guys on the Sweetlax offense. As for the local boy, I probably would have laughed at you if you were to tell me in the summer of 2016 that Grimes would play midfield at any point, but he was outstanding when I was out in Columbus for the U19-Culver scrimmage and Team USA's best offensive player all weekend. Don't get it twisted though, I don't see them running middie in their time at Homewood. I'm looking forward to seeing more of them in the coming months during their respective senior years, and I'd hope that some of you get the opportunity to attend a few BL games to see Grimes/Evans/Pietramala twins this spring.

Great stuff, Ty.

Some quick questions to tap your fount of knowledge:

(1) Forry Smith: first midfield or starting attack?

(2) Blue Jays’ biggest defensive concern: SSDM or replacing Foley or goalie?

(3) Tesla Model Y or Jaguar I-PACE?

Thanks!

DocBarrister

[jhu06]

Interesting season coming in no doubt - can't remember so many open questions when in fact alot of players didn't exhaust their eligibility/graduate.
- Who replaces Foley and will that player assume the role of guarding the opponents #1 attackman? Or will Rapine or Colwell bump up to that role?
- Who's the #1 goalie?
- Who's the 3rd attackman? Smith? would have appeared logical before Keogh's injury (seems like in that situation no news is bad news) but now? If Smith is on attack then that clearly suggests Concannon/DeSimone/Zinn would comprise the first mid-field - though as others have suggested - Baskin is a possibility
- Regardless - if Keogh is gone - how do you bolster the second mid-field into a semi productive unit - thin on performance and experience - now if Smith stayed at midfield and you started Murphy at attack - then you have the possibility of 2 of the 4 experienced mid-fielders going to the 2nds. and as stated before - if Murphy's most obvious skill is outside shooting - boy is that a skill the Hopkins offense needs
- Personnel changes required at LSM and SSDM - time will tell - could be better even if youth is served

The cheap answer to these great questions is that we've seen in the past he mostly goes w/the returning guys w/most experience w/a few exceptions and then rotates in the guys they feel are most ready to contribute.

[wgdsr]

Great stuff, Ty.

Some quick questions to tap your fount of knowledge:

(1) Forry Smith: first midfield or starting attack?

(2) Blue Jays’ biggest defensive concern: SSDM or replacing Foley or goalie?

(3) Tesla Model Y or Jaguar I-PACE?

Thanks!

DocBarrister

ty evaluates high school players.

[DocBarrister]

Great stuff, Ty.

Some quick questions to tap your fount of knowledge:

(1) Forry Smith: first midfield or starting attack?

(2) Blue Jays’ biggest defensive concern: SSDM or replacing Foley or goalie?

(3) Tesla Model Y or Jaguar I-PACE?

Thanks!

DocBarrister

ty evaluates high school players.

I believe everyone on the Hopkins team is a former high school player.

Also, I’m sure high school players like Teslas and Jaguars.

So, your post is completely irrational.

I’m embarrassed for you.

DocBarrister

[HopFan16]

Short Petro interview on LSN:

https://www.ftfnext.com/videos/dave-pie ... ntion-hits

"Summer of soul-searching," fall/winter spent on fundamentals, watching film, fixing defensive issues—sounds eerily similar to the language following the 2017 season. 2018 was a better season, but how much longer can we keep doing this...

More praise for Joey's work ethic and some discussion of his teammates voting him a captain.

[Sagittarius A*]

Wow - look I am not going to blow sunshine or smoke and say this team is going to the Final Four - I think a very successful season would be a competitive first round or quarterfinal game. But I don't see any reason to abandon the program 13 weeks or so before the season starts. A reasonable facsimile of this team beat UNC and Princeton away, beat Rutgers and Beat Maryland twice and had competitive games for 3 quarters against Syracuse and UVA. Don't tell me Foley is the only reason any of that happened. Alot of programs have this particular saying - let's go 1-0 against Towson and worry about Loyola after. They clearly have several important issues that will probably prevent them from being an elite team - but the cupboard is hardly devoid of any talent. No question, however, with those first 4 games - you will know what direction you are heading.

You could certainly take heart with the two MD victories and the OT game against Penn State, but the Jays were still a .500 team last year. They're losing their two best defensemen, Foley and Kuhn, from a defense that was one of the worst in the NCAA last year. Only about ten teams were worse. Their recruiting class is not spectacular. There aren't any freshmen that you could definitely pencil in as starters next year. Maybe Glassmeyer starts at SSDM because there is literally no one else there. There are huge question marks at midfield, defense, and in goal. The faceoff men and the attack will have to pretty much carry the Jays in 2020, but that's hardly a balanced team. It seems like a strong recruiting class is coming in 2020, but the outlook for the 2020 season does not really look good at this point. There are far more question marks than answers at this point.

[jhu06]

Short Petro interview on LSN:

https://www.ftfnext.com/videos/dave-pie ... ntion-hits

"Summer of soul-searching," fall/winter spent on fundamentals, watching film, fixing defensive issues—sounds eerily similar to the language following the 2017 season. 2018 was a better season, but how much longer can we keep doing this...

More praise for Joey's work ethic and some discussion of his teammates voting him a captain.

we've heard the same message+seen the same cycle basically since 2009 losing a few tps such as "you just won 2 titles, don't expect to be there every year and the pressure and expectations are too high". The ad/President/elite donors have to make a decision as to whether a program that's developed a consistent ceiling as a quarterfinal loser at best is their standard for this team.

really great xanders came on. I think carc, quint, dixon-and boy does this sport need some new faces/writers should do the same. They hate this forum they've told me, but xanders did a nice job knocking down some things some of you had said.

[Laxfan4]

Apologies for the delay (and I'll get to the other questions in the coming days), but I was asked to answer some Q's about Hopkins recruiting, so here ya go:

1. Any idea what happened to Quinn Chambers? Not on the roster

Out of my respect for the staff and the way they operate, I’d rather not get into it yet, but 1) it’s a personal matter and nothing behavioral or academic and 2) the hope/expectation is that Chambers will return.

2. Some guy came on here saying Scott Smith didn't sign his NLI and might not even be playing lacrosse anymore? Know what's going on there? That would suuuuuck, kid is a beast.

Scott Smith signed on the first morning that he was able to do so. I’d heard rumors of some schools trying to get him on board for football, but I’m unaware as to who that was or what level that was at. Barring some crazy situation.... he’s coming to Hopkins.

3. Has Petro's uncertain contract situation impacted recruiting? Seems like he's brought in a pretty solid 2021 class, especially on the defensive end. (Makes sense that offense might be a little light given what they're getting in the 2020 class.) The consensus around here is that this is a "make or break" year for him but that's mostly just empty speculation. Do the recruits and their families know more than the general public?

The talk on here about Petro’s “uncertain contract situation” — or at least in relation to how much it’s discussed in other lacrosse circles — is a bit over the top (as is much of the speculation, slander, etc). I say that because I don’t feel that it’s impacted recruiting at all and I would be beyond shocked if it comes up in conversations between Hopkins and recruits/coaches/families. Just don't see that happening.

4. Is Dom and/or Nick Petro really not even considering playing at Hopkins? Or does it depend on the status of dad's job next year? Please tell me we're at least going to be in the running for Sunderland. The Calvert Hall pipeline looks to be rejuvenated.

I must admit that it was troubling to read the number of posts with unsubstantiated claims about the Pietramala twins’ recruiting situations, though I did get a good laugh at the fact that the “secret source” and “my one credible source” tidbits were even shared on here. This may sound somewhat harsh, but to me, the fake news post about Dom committing to UVA spoke volumes about the lack of knowledge that some folks here have about the recruiting world, given that 2022’s can’t be contacted for another 10 months. Of course, I never want to speak for the Pietramala or Sunderland families because I love those guys (and I don’t feel guilty saying the following given the connections), but it’s a very safe assumption to say that Hopkins will be in the running for all three of those players. Suggesting otherwise is silly, quite frankly, as is talking ad nauseam about their recruitment. Bigger picture, I think that Petro will crush the Class of 2022 recruiting when the time comes, and that's after doing a tremendous job with the 2020 and 2021 classes. Not sure if this has been mentioned, but in this day and age, it's really impressive that JHU kept its entire 2020 class together and away from poachers and other factors.

Did Smith get in?

[44WeWantMore]

Short Petro interview on LSN:

https://www.ftfnext.com/videos/dave-pie ... ntion-hits

"Summer of soul-searching," fall/winter spent on fundamentals, watching film, fixing defensive issues—sounds eerily similar to the language following the 2017 season. 2018 was a better season, but how much longer can we keep doing this...

More praise for Joey's work ethic and some discussion of his teammates voting him a captain.

we've heard the same message+seen the same cycle basically since 2009 losing a few tps such as "you just won 2 titles, don't expect to be there every year and the pressure and expectations are too high". The ad/President/elite donors have to make a decision as to whether a program that's developed a consistent ceiling as a quarterfinal loser at best is their standard for this team.

really great xanders came on. I think carc, quint, dixon-and boy does this sport need some new faces/writers should do the same. They hate this forum they've told me, but xanders did a nice job knocking down some things some of you had said.

I know Quint used to post non-anonymously on LP, but stopped.

[DMac]

Say, fellas, go take a look at who our newest member is.
Love it when folks say, coaches, players, big shots, don't read this stuff.
Baloney, they're lacrosse people, why wouldn't they? They all do.
Welcome aboard, Q.