LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Agree with all the analysis of upcoming season. Lots of talent. Lots of heart. Tough schedule. However, if we don't find a way to effectively deal with the Teat shut-off we could end up just another above average team.

BigRedBlueJay wrote:Agree with all the analysis of upcoming season. Lots of talent. Lots of heart. Tough schedule. However, if we don't find a way to effectively deal with the Teat shut-off we could end up just another above average team.

It is funny how everyone thinks the Teat shut off is a big deal. Cornell did fine even when he didn't try getting open. Cornell figures to be more talented than last year and I assume this year, Teat will be working hard to get open on his own, off set plays etc to get the ball. Teat needs to assert himself more and get the ball.

Shutting off Teat is no big deal? I could not disagree more.
While he was locked off a few times during the season (i.e., Harvard did, but they switched off of it at some point), but no team stayed the course until Princeton (not even Syracuse toward the end of the season; they played Teat straight man). Look what happened then. The game stats tell the story (Cornell goals scored, assisted and non-assisted); the dichotomy jumps off the page.

When Teat is locked off, regardless how well (or not) Cornell handles it, the defense has still gained an advantage. That is, Cornell's normal O features constant ball movement and off-ball cuts. FLOW is the operative word. The offense is/was geared to run through Teat. When teams lock Teat off, even if the ball eventually winds up with him, the flow is disrupted. Look at tapes of Cornell's six on six offense pre and post lock-off. It's a totally different game - even when Teat eventually does get a touch. And my guess is that the impact of a Teat lock-off will be greater this year due to 1) the 60 second shot clock and 2) the absence of 2 1st line alley dodgers rather than one (given Dowiak's graduation).

Note - getting the ball to Teat when he is locked off is not rocket science. The issue is getting him the ball WHERE and WHEN he's in a position to do something with it.

Bottom line - the lock-off isn't going away. It is what it is. Of course Milliman and Buczek will install tactics to counter the lock-off, but the fact remains, Cornell will not be able to run it's offense the same way it did in the days before the lock-off became opponents' answer to the Cornell offense running through Teat...when he was in position to keep the rock moving (flow) and hit the open man. It was really fun to watch.

Unfortunately, I agree with everything that VRR has said. It is a formidable challenge. Hopefully, we'll find a way. No doubt it will take a lot of hard work and smart, innovative coaching.

VeryRustyRed wrote:Shutting off Teat is no big deal? I could not disagree more.
While he was locked off a few times during the season (i.e., Harvard did, but they switched off of it at some point), but no team stayed the course until Princeton (not even Syracuse toward the end of the season; they played Teat straight man). Look what happened then. The game stats tell the story (Cornell goals scored, assisted and non-assisted); the dichotomy jumps off the page.

When Teat is locked off, regardless how well (or not) Cornell handles it, the defense has still gained an advantage. That is, Cornell's normal O features constant ball movement and off-ball cuts. FLOW is the operative word. The offense is/was geared to run through Teat. When teams lock Teat off, even if the ball eventually winds up with him, the flow is disrupted. Look at tapes of Cornell's six on six offense pre and post lock-off. It's a totally different game - even when Teat eventually does get a touch. And my guess is that the impact of a Teat lock-off will be greater this year due to 1) the 60 second shot clock and 2) the absence of 2 1st line alley dodgers rather than one (given Dowiak's graduation).

Note - getting the ball to Teat when he is locked off is not rocket science. The issue is getting him the ball WHERE and WHEN he's in a position to do something with it.

Bottom line - the lock-off isn't going away. It is what it is. Of course Milliman and Buczek will install tactics to counter the lock-off, but the fact remains, Cornell will not be able to run it's offense the same way it did in the days before the lock-off became opponents' answer to the Cornell offense running through Teat...when he was in position to keep the rock moving (flow) and hit the open man. It was really fun to watch.

Princeton did not "lock off" / "face guard" Teat. The starting attackmen each took 1 shot and Jeff had 5 TOs. He had the ball plenty. Some of the other teams played shut off afterwards. It wasn't the same defense. But I agree, if teams are going to shut him off, the offense needs to figure out how best to get him involved instead of playing 5 v 5.

Typical Lax Dad wrote:

VeryRustyRed wrote:Shutting off Teat is no big deal? I could not disagree more.
While he was locked off a few times during the season (i.e., Harvard did, but they switched off of it at some point), but no team stayed the course until Princeton (not even Syracuse toward the end of the season; they played Teat straight man). Look what happened then. The game stats tell the story (Cornell goals scored, assisted and non-assisted); the dichotomy jumps off the page.

When Teat is locked off, regardless how well (or not) Cornell handles it, the defense has still gained an advantage. That is, Cornell's normal O features constant ball movement and off-ball cuts. FLOW is the operative word. The offense is/was geared to run through Teat. When teams lock Teat off, even if the ball eventually winds up with him, the flow is disrupted. Look at tapes of Cornell's six on six offense pre and post lock-off. It's a totally different game - even when Teat eventually does get a touch. And my guess is that the impact of a Teat lock-off will be greater this year due to 1) the 60 second shot clock and 2) the absence of 2 1st line alley dodgers rather than one (given Dowiak's graduation).

Note - getting the ball to Teat when he is locked off is not rocket science. The issue is getting him the ball WHERE and WHEN he's in a position to do something with it.

Bottom line - the lock-off isn't going away. It is what it is. Of course Milliman and Buczek will install tactics to counter the lock-off, but the fact remains, Cornell will not be able to run it's offense the same way it did in the days before the lock-off became opponents' answer to the Cornell offense running through Teat...when he was in position to keep the rock moving (flow) and hit the open man. It was really fun to watch.

Princeton did not "lock off" / "face guard" Teat. The starting attackmen each took 1 shot and Jeff had 5 TOs. He had the ball plenty. Some of the other teams played shut off afterwards. It wasn't the same defense. But I agree, if teams are going to shut him off, the offense needs to figure out how best to get him involved instead of playing 5 v 5.

Guys, what do we call that thing that the defender in white (#4) is doing to #51 in red in the top right of the box at 3:06 in this video? Because if that's not face guarding, I don't even know.

Typical Lax Dad - I could be wrong, but my recollection is that the Princeton kid didn't leave Teat's hip the entire game.

Another thing to look for this year when team's lock-off Teat, unlike Syracuse who put their best close defender on Teat (thereby the defender out of 5 on 5 slide schemes), teams will use other than their top guy on Teat. The lock-off defender has one instruction - never leave Teat's side. Against Brown in the Ivy 1st round - it was very funny watching Teat standing next to the sideline talking to Milliman. The defender was so close, he could just as well have been part of the conversation.

VeryRustyRed wrote:Typical Lax Dad - I could be wrong, but my recollection is that the Princeton kid didn't leave Teat's hip the entire game.

Another thing to look for this year when team's lock-off Teat, unlike Syracuse who put their best close defender on Teat (thereby the defender out of 5 on 5 slide schemes), teams will use other than their top guy on Teat. The lock-off defender has one instruction - never leave Teat's side. Against Brown in the Ivy 1st round - it was very funny watching Teat standing next to the sideline talking to Milliman. The defender was so close, he could just as well have been part of the conversation.

It wasn't the same defense that Brown played. He had to work to get the ball and he carried it at times. On man up he was really locked off.... Just looked at that reference....it was man up like I suspected.

VeryRustyRed wrote:Shutting off Teat is no big deal? I could not disagree more.
While he was locked off a few times during the season (i.e., Harvard did, but they switched off of it at some point), but no team stayed the course until Princeton (not even Syracuse toward the end of the season; they played Teat straight man). Look what happened then. The game stats tell the story (Cornell goals scored, assisted and non-assisted); the dichotomy jumps off the page.

When Teat is locked off, regardless how well (or not) Cornell handles it, the defense has still gained an advantage. That is, Cornell's normal O features constant ball movement and off-ball cuts. FLOW is the operative word. The offense is/was geared to run through Teat. When teams lock Teat off, even if the ball eventually winds up with him, the flow is disrupted. Look at tapes of Cornell's six on six offense pre and post lock-off. It's a totally different game - even when Teat eventually does get a touch. And my guess is that the impact of a Teat lock-off will be greater this year due to 1) the 60 second shot clock and 2) the absence of 2 1st line alley dodgers rather than one (given Dowiak's graduation).

Note - getting the ball to Teat when he is locked off is not rocket science. The issue is getting him the ball WHERE and WHEN he's in a position to do something with it.

Bottom line - the lock-off isn't going away. It is what it is. Of course Milliman and Buczek will install tactics to counter the lock-off, but the fact remains, Cornell will not be able to run it's offense the same way it did in the days before the lock-off became opponents' answer to the Cornell offense running through Teat...when he was in position to keep the rock moving (flow) and hit the open man. It was really fun to watch.

You are waaaay overthinking it. Sure the offense changes but it is not like Cornell stunk it up while he was locked off. Teat needs to work harder off ball and be more assertive. Last year, whether he was told to stand there or he did on his own shouldn't be an option. However it did not cause Cornell to lose games or affect the outcome of their season.

A heads up to those who don't frequent the non-lax threads: Bandito is quite the troll. Take his comments with a huge grain of salt.

That said, nice to see some lax discussion this time of year.

MDlaxfan76 wrote:A heads up to those who don't frequent the non-lax threads: Bandito is quite the troll. Take his comments with a huge grain of salt.

That said, nice to see some lax discussion this time of year.

MDlaxfan76 just can't handle facts. He is not tolerant of anyone with a different opinion and gets very emotional.

VeryRustyRed wrote:...Against Brown in the Ivy 1st round - it was very funny watching Teat standing next to the sideline talking to Milliman. The defender was so close, he could just as well have been part of the conversation.

Yet Teat was well located to grab an errant Goss clearing pass then cruise in and score.
I agree with those who say that dealing with Shut-off-Teat will be a very big deal. Sure, Cornell will win games either way; but winning a bunch of games in May could well require a Cornell offense with Teat fully involved.

Teams may lock off JT51, but they take their best on ball defender out of the game. Also, the depth and experience in the Big Red offense is greater than last year. As a Junior, now with World Game experience, I'm not sure the lock off will be as effective as last season.

faircornell - re-read one of my two prior texts.
Unlike the strategy that Desko used, teams are more likely not to lock-off with their best defender on Teat. That way, the best on-ball defender remains in the slide package.
While (per Typical Lax Dad) Princeton did not use a lock-off per se, it was pretty close --- they used a freshman who I had never heard about previously. The kid did a great job.

It's true that Teat and the coaching staff need to be much more assertive in dealing with the shut off. Hopefully it will be their top priority. If they want to truly compete for a national championship they need to do a whole lot better than they did last year in defeating the shut off. They now must know that just going to a 5 on 5 offense is NOT the answer. No one can be sure as to the best strategy. I imagine there will be a learning curve.....and different strategies versus different teams and different types of shut offs... and that we will get better and better dealing with it as the season progresses. There was really only one team that played us straight up the last 10 games or so of the season -- that, of course, was Yale in the Ivy Tournament. That day, Cornell was the best team in the country. Go Big Red!

VeryRustyRed wrote:faircornell - re-read one of my two prior texts.
Unlike the strategy that Desko used, teams are more likely not to lock-off with their best defender on Teat. That way, the best on-ball defender remains in the slide package.
While (per Typical Lax Dad) Princeton did not use a lock-off per se, it was pretty close --- they used a freshman who I had never heard about previously. The kid did a great job.

If one is inclined to play the shut off game, this, imo too, is a much smarter way to go about it. Sacrificing Mellen for Teat struck me as a bad idea when I watched the game, and strikes me as a bad idea now. Taking that caliber athlete to face guard, benefits the team being face guarded, IMO. Face guarding isn't very hard to do, should be a number of athletes on the team who could handle that. Meanwhile, Mellen has the opportunity for a few CTOs, GBs, etc, which he's pretty good at.
I'm not of the opinion that the unstoppable attackman has been born. While a special talent, teams/players will learn/figure out how to better play him. These are D1 teams/players/coaches he's playing against. Should be interesting, as well as a treat, to see how it all plays out.
Merry Festivis to all the Big Red folks.

DMac wrote:

VeryRustyRed wrote:faircornell - re-read one of my two prior texts.
Unlike the strategy that Desko used, teams are more likely not to lock-off with their best defender on Teat. That way, the best on-ball defender remains in the slide package.
While (per Typical Lax Dad) Princeton did not use a lock-off per se, it was pretty close --- they used a freshman who I had never heard about previously. The kid did a great job.

If one is inclined to play the shut off game, this, imo too, is a much smarter way to go about it. Sacrificing Mellen for Teat struck me as a bad idea when I watched the game, and strikes me as a bad idea now. Taking that caliber athlete to face guard, benefits the team being face guarded, IMO. Face guarding isn't very hard to do, should be a number of athletes on the team who could handle that. Meanwhile, Mellen has the opportunity for a few CTOs, GBs, etc, which he's pretty good at.
I'm not of the opinion that the unstoppable attackman has been born. While a special talent, teams/players will learn/figure out how to better play him. These are D1 teams/players/coaches he's playing against. Should be interesting, as well as a treat, to see how it all plays out.
Merry Festivis to all the Big Red folks.

When Princeton did play a hard shutoff against an opposing player, it was often with a SSDM and then slide the pole. Teat is a good player. In that offense, best to limit his touches or make him work hard to get touches.

VeryRustyRed wrote:faircornell - re-read one of my two prior texts.
Unlike the strategy that Desko used, teams are more likely not to lock-off with their best defender on Teat. That way, the best on-ball defender remains in the slide package.
While (per Typical Lax Dad) Princeton did not use a lock-off per se, it was pretty close --- they used a freshman who I had never heard about previously. The kid did a great job.

Thanks, VRR. As I recall, UMD had a 5 man strategy of primary and secondary coverage for JT51. This was noted on laxpower, and reviewed in the press by the Maryland coaches after the victory. I'm not sure that just any defender can handle Teat. While his style may not be RP3, my personal view is that he has more one-on-one ability than he's typically given credit for.

what you know about this Aussie kid?