LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:04 pm**

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:48 am
kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:42 am Hopkins is just like every other D3 Centennial Conference school except they have a very nice lax building.
Don't you think the very nice lax building might matter to some lax recruits?

Of course it does.That's why it was so critical for Hop to build it. And so do lousy, gross old buildings. The rest of the place needs an update too. It's not good walking through and seeing buildings and an athletics facility that have not been cared for since it was built in the WW2 era. But those abandoned and outdated equipment rooms and asbestos ceilings show the charm and "history," to hs recruits, I guess?

kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:42 amBut here's the problem for Hopkins. Send a h/s kid through Homewood and the athletic offices on a normal Friday afternoon in the fall (When college recruiting tours occur). There's not much after the Cordish part of the tour. Then have a kid walk the same time through the OSU or UMD, or U Mich or even Rutger's athletic offices. There's a HUUGE difference. What message does that send a kid and recruit? Resources is a real issue.
We're talking about athletic offices now? Do kids care about those? The great athletic offices at Rutgers haven't really seemed to help them. In fact they've struggled to recruit most of the top players in their own state. You know what might help? The brand new lacrosse facility they just unveiled. THAT might turn their recruiting around.

Yes, we're talking the whole image. Because it represents more. It represents the level of commitment to D1 athletics. I'm not bashing the Cordish Center. But thinking that JHU's Cordish Center and the otherwise D3 athletics program/facilities match anything recruits see in any of the other B1G/ACC/Big East schools is ludicrous. You can actually see that, right?

kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:42 amThen there's simply the image of Hopkins. You Hopkins guys are rightfully proud of your history. But I'm currently coaching a bunch of MIAA kids and this generation of kids don't know about the Hopkins dominance or see them the same way many of you do. A few of their dads and grandfathers do. But it's just not the same. Hate to break it to you, but Hopkins doesn't have a great rep right now among the kids.
Interesting, have you spoken to MIAA kid Brendan Grimes about why he switched his commitment from Ohio State to Hopkins?

I have not. But I do have his grandfather's wood stick that a family member won in a poker game that I was planning on giving him this spring, before the season was cancelled.

No one is going to argue that the Hopkins "brand" isn't as strong today as it was 20 or even 10 years ago but the tradition, history, and place of lacrosse within the university do still have sway to recruits. Here is just one example from a 4-star in this most recent '22 recruiting class who played for the same club team as Joey Spallina:

When 12:01 a.m. came a couple of Tuesdays ago, Trepeta’s phone went crazy as text messages, emails and phone calls started rolling in to express interest in the Team 91 2022 Smash and Mount Sinai defenseman. It wasn’t a surprise that the No. 18 prospect in the country according to the NLF rankings and a four-star recruit per Inside Lacrosse was in high demand. Still, Trepeta never expected the sheer volume.

One of those schools stood out more than most, though. Johns Hopkins, one of the sport’s blue blood programs and one of the best academic schools in Division I lacrosse, caught the academically-minded Trepeta’s eye right off the bat. When he got to campus, he got that feeling where he knew it was probably going to be the place where he’d end up.

“When I stepped on campus, I just felt it right away,” Trepeta said. “The campus was beautiful, and I was looking for academics along with lacrosse. It’s a top-10 academic school and Hopkins is the original great program. When I saw Homewood Field, I knew that I wanted to be a part of their tradition.”
Hopkins has its disadvantages in the recruiting game but this entire line of argument is as stale as you claim the Hopkins name is. It's just flat out not true and seems entirely based on anecdotal evidence or apparently your personal impressions of office buildings. Some kids want to be a big lax fish in a small pond, rather than a small fish in a very big pond.

I don't doubt that there are kids who still want to play at Hopkins. There are kids that want to play at every D1 school. I agree that some kids do what to be a big fish in a small pond and they would be very well served to look at JHU. Because as I've said before, and you seem to want to argue, it is a D3 school (with an overall D3 mindset too) with a D1 lax program and a nice lax building. That DEFINITELY has some appeal to some kids.

If you want a huge party school with other D1 sports and the chance to spot a future NFL player in the cafeteria, then obviously you don't go to Hopkins, you go to Ohio State. The downside to that is, nobody cares that you play lacrosse there and the stands are gonna be pretty empty even when your team is good. Meanwhile, at Hopkins, despite the team being bad last season, they were still 6th in the country in average attendance (nearly twice as many as Ohio State and more than 2x that of Rutgers). Hop was 3rd in 2019, again, despite not having a great team.

You see where I'm going here? Advantages and disadvantages. If you want to go to a school that will make you, as a lacrosse player, feel like you matter, and that people care about the program, you'll probably consider Hopkins. Lots of kids prefer a smaller school environment anyway. And if you do then Hopkins is one of a very, very few small, top-tier academic schools with excellent lacrosse facilities.

Again, I'm not disagreeing with too many of your points. Except that you seem to think that it is a sustainable model of success. But perhaps you're not saying that and I'm inferring it. Hopkins will have occasional successes. But the days of sustained success, under the current model, will be tough. JHU, the military academies, Hobart. You guys can all have some good teams from time to time and are able to push for a Memorial Day Weekend run. But the resetting of expectations among the fans needs to happen. You're more likely to have years like the past decade rather than the 1990s moving forward.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:44 pm**

kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:04 pm Of course it does.That's why it was so critical for Hop to build it. And so do lousy, gross old buildings. The rest of the place needs an update too. It's not good walking through and seeing buildings and an athletics facility that have not been cared for since it was built in the WW2 era. But those abandoned and outdated equipment rooms and asbestos ceilings show the charm and "history," to hs recruits, I guess?

Ok now you have to be trolling. Asbestos? Abandoned and outdated equipment rooms? Have you stepped foot on campus since the 80s?

The Cordish Center contains everything a lacrosse player could ever need (film rooms, locker rooms, study rooms, social rooms, training rooms, offices, etc.)—the only thing it doesn't have is a weight room, and for that they use the varsity weight room which I can assure you is in no way rundown and is probably the nicest D3 weight room I've ever seen. I used it almost every day for four years. It's got everything they need and does not look or feel at all dissimilar from the weight rooms of other D1 schools.

https://hopkinssports.com/sports/2018/6 ... px?id=4131

Compare that to where OSU or PSU lacrosse players lift weights...it's really not that different, just smaller, obviously, and fewer 300 pound football players to work around. They are not lacking for any equipment, nor are they breathing in toxic chemicals.

Not going to dignify the rest of your post with a response. Your intentions are pretty clear here.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:07 pm**

-If we win games nothing Kramer said matters
-Nothing he said is new
-baltimores diversity keeps it affordable and interesting and I have a lot of friends from all over the world who fell in love with and stayed to start companies and not just work in medical areas. I grew up in a nice area but I loved charles village. It sounds like they're modernizing the daylights out of north charles.
-WOMBAT some irony to the stadium bordering a neighborhood called REMINGTON and not doing the canon thing
-I know we're not a big ncaa revenue school but school bookstore should have 9,18,32 jerseys for sale.
-Now that ravens are done, edward lee is freed up and we're moving towards a schedule I'm looking forward to a raft of new stories about the program. preseason interviews, and a change in the narrative. milliman has to be more open than petro on these fronts.
-10 b1g games sounds great and we're well positioned to pick up some others if we go out of conference. Given Hopkins expertise in medical field, our location, caliber of program and tv connections I'm sure Milliman's phone has been buzzing w/schools looking to add games.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:10 pm**

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:44 pm
kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:04 pm Of course it does.That's why it was so critical for Hop to build it. And so do lousy, gross old buildings. The rest of the place needs an update too. It's not good walking through and seeing buildings and an athletics facility that have not been cared for since it was built in the WW2 era. But those abandoned and outdated equipment rooms and asbestos ceilings show the charm and "history," to hs recruits, I guess?
Ok now you have to be trolling. Asbestos? Abandoned and outdated equipment rooms? Have you stepped foot on campus since the 80s?

The Cordish Center contains everything a lacrosse player could ever need (film rooms, locker rooms, study rooms, social rooms, training rooms, offices, etc.)—the only thing it doesn't have is a weight room, and for that they use the varsity weight room which I can assure you is in no way rundown and is probably the nicest D3 weight room I've ever seen. I used it almost every day for four years. It's got everything they need and does not look or feel at all dissimilar from the weight rooms of other D1 schools.

https://hopkinssports.com/sports/2018/6 ... px?id=4131

Compare that to where OSU or PSU lacrosse players lift weights...it's really not that different, just smaller, obviously, and fewer 300 pound football players to work around.

Not going to dignify the rest of your post with a response. Your intentions are pretty clear here.

I've been to Hopkins each of the past 3 years as a coach in the MIAA lax championships and for another exhibition game against an out of state team. JHU put our team in a different locker room each time of the Newton White Athletics Center. I told you what we saw and what the kids thought. Cordish was great, from the outside. But what we saw and got access to inside Newton White, not so much. All that I mentioned above. You can be pissed for pointing out the obvious. But if you think that place sells to kids looking for a big time D1 experience, you're wrong.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:21 pm**

kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:10 pm
HopFan16 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:44 pm
kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:04 pm Of course it does.That's why it was so critical for Hop to build it. And so do lousy, gross old buildings. The rest of the place needs an update too. It's not good walking through and seeing buildings and an athletics facility that have not been cared for since it was built in the WW2 era. But those abandoned and outdated equipment rooms and asbestos ceilings show the charm and "history," to hs recruits, I guess?
Ok now you have to be trolling. Asbestos? Abandoned and outdated equipment rooms? Have you stepped foot on campus since the 80s?

The Cordish Center contains everything a lacrosse player could ever need (film rooms, locker rooms, study rooms, social rooms, training rooms, offices, etc.)—the only thing it doesn't have is a weight room, and for that they use the varsity weight room which I can assure you is in no way rundown and is probably the nicest D3 weight room I've ever seen. I used it almost every day for four years. It's got everything they need and does not look or feel at all dissimilar from the weight rooms of other D1 schools.

https://hopkinssports.com/sports/2018/6 ... px?id=4131

Compare that to where OSU or PSU lacrosse players lift weights...it's really not that different, just smaller, obviously, and fewer 300 pound football players to work around.

Not going to dignify the rest of your post with a response. Your intentions are pretty clear here.
I've been to Hopkins each of the past 3 years as a coach in the MIAA lax championships and for another exhibition game against an out of state team. JHU put our team in a different locker room each time of the Newton White Athletics Center. I told you what we saw and what the kids thought. Cordish was great, from the outside. But what we saw and got access to inside Newton White, not so much. All that I mentioned above. You can be ticked for pointing out the obvious. But if you think that place sells to kids looking for a big time D1 experience, you're wrong.

What does a kid going to Hopkins to play lacrosse care about the quality of the visiting team's locker room?

Again, Hopkins lacrosse players do not really use Newton White for anything except the weight room, which was recently renovated is of high quality with excellent equipment. Everything else is in Cordish.

No one is arguing that Hopkins attracts kids "looking for a big time D1 experience." You're constantly moving the goalposts here.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:44 pm**

HopFan16 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:21 pm No one is arguing that Hopkins attracts kids "looking for a big time D1 experience." You're constantly moving the goalposts here.

And additionally, I feel like the standard of a "big time D1 experience" in lacrosse is notably different than it is in football or basketball anyway... which was where he first went with this conversation - comparing Hopkins to a football school.

I can't imagine that a big time D1 lacrosse experience at The Ohio State - if it can be called big time? - looks much different than an apparently little time D1 experience at Hopkins.

(And of course I side with most Hopkins people on this on that our lacrosse athletes are the center of attention in a way that they are at few other D1 schools, so that should be a point in our advantage in this regard. But anyway.)

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 3:04 pm**

everything Kramer has said is in the past. It's 2021.
you have 4 huge new modern buildings coming into homewood, hundreds of millions of dollars on top of everything else. I don't know who your kids are, but these are incredible investments.
https://www.archpaper.com/2020/12/renzo ... -go-ahead/
https://www.archpaper.com/2020/11/big-w ... g-complex/
https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/02/18/oconnor- ... -students/
https://hub.jhu.edu/2019/10/02/hopkins- ... udy-hotel/

that's a whole new homewood world.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:48 pm**

Pretty rich to hear the Hopkins “brand” knocked by an MIAA coach. I went to an MSA (what the MIAA was called before Baltimore City public Schools left) school that has won plenty of MSA/MIAA titles that used to send its share of players to elite D1 programs. They still do on from time to time, but not with anywhere near the same frequency. Calvert Hall and BL continue to be well represented at the highest levels, the other schools not quite so much. Part of this is simply due to the larger number of hs players, but some of it is due to other factors discussed elsewhere on this board. Bottom line, you don’t have to be Syracuse to win without a big MIAA footprint anymore.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:18 pm**

Geez. The kids at camp got to play ON HOMEWOOD FIELD.

No one ever won a game by looking at the ceilings of their locker rooms.

This guy influences kids.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:26 pm**

Hop has four MIAA kids in this freshman class, including arguably the best player in the conference. They have two more coming in next year. However with Petro gone and Milliman/Junior in the fold I do expect there to be fewer local kids in the mix. They'll probably still have one or two per class but I think the days of 4, 5, 6 local recruits in a class are over. Not because of "asbestos" in the visitors' locker rooms, but because of who is on staff—their recruiting style, connections to HS and club teams, and the style of play they intend to instill.

jhu06 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:07 pm -10 b1g games sounds great and we're well positioned to pick up some others if we go out of conference. Given Hopkins expertise in medical field, our location, caliber of program and tv connections I'm sure Milliman's phone has been buzzing w/schools looking to add games.

Unfortunately I don't think this is true and it has nothing to do with Hopkins. The Big Ten has very strict testing protocols: athletes have to be tested for Covid 6 times a week, which is a benchmark teams in other conferences can't meet. That's why there may not be any out-of-conference games. Milliman would love to schedule a few—and I know for a fact has been trying to but it's not in his control. It's unclear if we or any other B1G team will be able to do so. But getting those games on the schedule isn't just a matter of Hopkins' expertise in the field or anything like that. It's because they're part of a conference with certain standards and those may not be allowed to be relaxed at all, even just for a couple contests against teams from other leagues. I don't really understand it—all that should matter is teams test negative the day of the game. Who cares how many times they tested earlier that week? But it's a league-wide decision, not ours.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:57 pm**

I've had enough of the is Hopkins still viable thread - I think we can all agree 77-87 (played in every title game except '86?) is gone - I think it could be alot better than maybe having some oft hand success once in a while but we'll find out - reactions to a couple other things:
- the drill where Grimes kept the stick in his left hand while circling right? That's a very Canadian thing - I have seen Grimes play in person and I don't recall him being so left hand dominant but maybe .... or maybe Junior was trying to illustrate something ----- I wouldn't worry about it. The other thing that is somewhat clever about the approach is that if you have a left handed cannon - Grimes does - and he carrying the ball that way - a simple plant with the right leg and he's Maverick ready to go to guns almost immediately - whereas if he had the stick in his right hand he has to circle back to shoot left. I know the contrary opinion is spend the time and learn to shoot righty.
- I am also not sure I agree with '06 that Hopkins phone would be ringing of the hook - the jump to the BIG may have unexpectedly helped save the '21 season given COVID - with so many conferences either eliminating or severely restricting OOCs regardless of proximity - an independent Hopkins would have likely had alot of trouble finding opponents - these are all conference decisions not coaches.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:01 pm**

i agree. if hopkins can still be landing stanwick, epstein, grimes.. and even guys like williams and zinn and maybe mcdermott, who knows for sure what players will eventually be, but there's no reason it's not feasible any longer to get 4-5 kids per year.

not superstars all. a roster. teams win with rosters, not all-star teams. how has yale done it, exactly? if you have a stud or 2 (other teams do, too) and you lose the other 12 main guys incrementally, it's a slog.

then you need to be able to clear, pick up gbs, shoot straight, beat a guy, make a slide and a save, cover with shorties and not not show up in big games.

the top teams don't have a final four team on the bench. but they hit on 4-5 kids per year.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:08 pm**

Of course Hop is still viable, in fact it's more than viable. Winning begets winning (see, e.g., Alabama football). Despite not winning all that much over the last 10 years, and having a crusty, stubborn, yelling, old school coach (albeit a HOFer in every sense), as well as all of the other endemic issues (Baltimore, student body, etc.), Hop still pulled good recruiting classes (yes, we can argue over the epistemology of the meaning of the word "good" in that context, but they got plenty of guys all the top programs wanted). And, other than last year, the program was never really terrible.

The southern ACC schools will always have tremendous advantages (campus, weather, academics, student body, other big time sports/facilities) and will always be among the most desired schools of top recruits. UMd has many of the same advantages, though without the same academic prestige. To say that Cuse is a "bluechip" option as compared to Hop defies belief - go read their board prior to Spallina and tell me how happy their fans were with the state of the program and recruiting. As for Yale, Andy Shay is great and it's tremendously impressive what they've done, but let's see where they are in a few years post-TD. As for the rest, OSU, PSU, ND, Villanova, Richmond etc., maybe let's actually see them win something before anointing them as "bluechip".

As of now, we have a new, young, forward-looking staff that is (1) clearly recruiting a new and different type of player, which will help nationalize the brand, and (2) is likely to play a more appealing and exciting type of lacrosse. And, as mentioned, there is an enormous amount of investment being made in the campus and its environs (which, frankly, I always thought was one of the best aspects of the school).

If we're lucky enough to get a bit of real winning thrown in there, I would think the Hop immediately jumps back into the discussion with Duke, UVa and UNC as being one of a handful of the premier programs.

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:32 pm**

I'm tired of what Hopkins isn't from the haters after watching them destroy everyone when I was there using the old lockerrooms, training on pickup basketball courts during intersession, drinking pjs beer and taco tuesday nights. Now I see the cordish center, a school academically ranked in the top 10 up from 14, games on national tv every week, hundreds of millions going into off campus and on campus stuff, billions in aid flowing for students, amazing looking gear, on campus student meeting halls built 20 years ago torn down for sick new spaces, the madison square garden/fenway park where your games history has flowed through, alumni like rabil running pro leagues touring the nation. what else does a kid want, other than some winning.

terp hoops played navy towson msm and an acc school. 10 games is a lot for double round robin, we'll see for ooc. I don't know how much the tests costs, but thats a nice piece of coin to invest in the lacrosse program.

Posted: **Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:58 am**

Towards the topic of scheduling and OOC - Villanova has announced their schedule and their two OOCs - Delaware and Lehigh - are both essentially 45 miles from the Villanova campus. Somewhat surprised it's not Drexel or St. Joe's for example but still very close. Maybe I'm wrong - but I would be surprised if Hop went to Chapel Hill, Syracuse or vice versa. No one's calling Milliman except for maybe Nadelen, Toomey, Gravante, and Moran probably.

Posted: **Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:05 am**

51percentcorn wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:58 am Towards the topic of scheduling and OOC - Villanova has announced their schedule and their two OOCs - Delaware and Lehigh - are both essentially 45 miles from the Villanova campus. Somewhat surprised it's not Drexel or St. Joe's for example but still very close. Maybe I'm wrong - but I would be surprised if Hop went to Chapel Hill, Syracuse or vice versa. No one's calling Milliman except for maybe Nadelen, Toomey, Gravante, and Moran probably.

I've put my expectations "low" on OOC stuff, too.

Mentally, I'm planning on conference only, so I won't be disappointed if it is.

But I think the best case in the local-only scenario of Loyola and Towson (plus our 10 conference games) would make for a pretty darn solid schedule. I'd be thrilled with that schedule.

I haven't looked all that closely at the various early rankings, but I suspect we'd have in most of them
2 games against a top 5 opponent (Terps)
7 games against a top 10/15-ish opponent (Terps, PSU, OSU, Loyola)
9 games against a top 20/receiving votes opponent (Terps, PSU, OSU, Rutgers, Loyola)

Michigan and Towson would look on paper to be the weaker opponents on our slate, and I would not consider either of them to be bad or anything close to a free win.

Posted: **Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:10 am**

Not playing Syracuse or UNC this year. If we do have any OOC games they will probably be just 1 or 2 out of Towson, Loyola, MSM, Delaware, Georgetown, UMBC. But it's starting to look more likely than not that none of the Big Ten teams are able to schedule non-con games due to the conference's unique testing protocols. Would be a slight bummer but still, 10 games of B1G play in a pandemic would be more than good enough for me. Plus the rumor is every team will make the conference tournament—not sure that that makes any sense but if true it would guarantee at least an 11th game, assuming no cancellations of course.

Posted: **Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:23 am**

kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:04 pm
HopFan16 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:48 am
kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:42 am Hopkins is just like every other D3 Centennial Conference school except they have a very nice lax building.
Don't you think the very nice lax building might matter to some lax recruits?

Of course it does.That's why it was so critical for Hop to build it. And so do lousy, gross old buildings. The rest of the place needs an update too. It's not good walking through and seeing buildings and an athletics facility that have not been cared for since it was built in the WW2 era. But those abandoned and outdated equipment rooms and asbestos ceilings show the charm and "history," to hs recruits, I guess?

kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:42 amBut here's the problem for Hopkins. Send a h/s kid through Homewood and the athletic offices on a normal Friday afternoon in the fall (When college recruiting tours occur). There's not much after the Cordish part of the tour. Then have a kid walk the same time through the OSU or UMD, or U Mich or even Rutger's athletic offices. There's a HUUGE difference. What message does that send a kid and recruit? Resources is a real issue.
We're talking about athletic offices now? Do kids care about those? The great athletic offices at Rutgers haven't really seemed to help them. In fact they've struggled to recruit most of the top players in their own state. You know what might help? The brand new lacrosse facility they just unveiled. THAT might turn their recruiting around.

Yes, we're talking the whole image. Because it represents more. It represents the level of commitment to D1 athletics. I'm not bashing the Cordish Center. But thinking that JHU's Cordish Center and the otherwise D3 athletics program/facilities match anything recruits see in any of the other B1G/ACC/Big East schools is ludicrous. You can actually see that, right?

kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:42 amThen there's simply the image of Hopkins. You Hopkins guys are rightfully proud of your history. But I'm currently coaching a bunch of MIAA kids and this generation of kids don't know about the Hopkins dominance or see them the same way many of you do. A few of their dads and grandfathers do. But it's just not the same. Hate to break it to you, but Hopkins doesn't have a great rep right now among the kids.
Interesting, have you spoken to MIAA kid Brendan Grimes about why he switched his commitment from Ohio State to Hopkins?

I have not. But I do have his grandfather's wood stick that a family member won in a poker game that I was planning on giving him this spring, before the season was cancelled.

No one is going to argue that the Hopkins "brand" isn't as strong today as it was 20 or even 10 years ago but the tradition, history, and place of lacrosse within the university do still have sway to recruits. Here is just one example from a 4-star in this most recent '22 recruiting class who played for the same club team as Joey Spallina:

When 12:01 a.m. came a couple of Tuesdays ago, Trepeta’s phone went crazy as text messages, emails and phone calls started rolling in to express interest in the Team 91 2022 Smash and Mount Sinai defenseman. It wasn’t a surprise that the No. 18 prospect in the country according to the NLF rankings and a four-star recruit per Inside Lacrosse was in high demand. Still, Trepeta never expected the sheer volume.

One of those schools stood out more than most, though. Johns Hopkins, one of the sport’s blue blood programs and one of the best academic schools in Division I lacrosse, caught the academically-minded Trepeta’s eye right off the bat. When he got to campus, he got that feeling where he knew it was probably going to be the place where he’d end up.

“When I stepped on campus, I just felt it right away,” Trepeta said. “The campus was beautiful, and I was looking for academics along with lacrosse. It’s a top-10 academic school and Hopkins is the original great program. When I saw Homewood Field, I knew that I wanted to be a part of their tradition.”
Hopkins has its disadvantages in the recruiting game but this entire line of argument is as stale as you claim the Hopkins name is. It's just flat out not true and seems entirely based on anecdotal evidence or apparently your personal impressions of office buildings. Some kids want to be a big lax fish in a small pond, rather than a small fish in a very big pond.

I don't doubt that there are kids who still want to play at Hopkins. There are kids that want to play at every D1 school. I agree that some kids do what to be a big fish in a small pond and they would be very well served to look at JHU. Because as I've said before, and you seem to want to argue, it is a D3 school (with an overall D3 mindset too) with a D1 lax program and a nice lax building. That DEFINITELY has some appeal to some kids.

If you want a huge party school with other D1 sports and the chance to spot a future NFL player in the cafeteria, then obviously you don't go to Hopkins, you go to Ohio State. The downside to that is, nobody cares that you play lacrosse there and the stands are gonna be pretty empty even when your team is good. Meanwhile, at Hopkins, despite the team being bad last season, they were still 6th in the country in average attendance (nearly twice as many as Ohio State and more than 2x that of Rutgers). Hop was 3rd in 2019, again, despite not having a great team.

You see where I'm going here? Advantages and disadvantages. If you want to go to a school that will make you, as a lacrosse player, feel like you matter, and that people care about the program, you'll probably consider Hopkins. Lots of kids prefer a smaller school environment anyway. And if you do then Hopkins is one of a very, very few small, top-tier academic schools with excellent lacrosse facilities.
Again, I'm not disagreeing with too many of your points. Except that you seem to think that it is a sustainable model of success. But perhaps you're not saying that and I'm inferring it. Hopkins will have occasional successes. But the days of sustained success, under the current model, will be tough. JHU, the military academies, Hobart. You guys can all have some good teams from time to time and are able to push for a Memorial Day Weekend run. But the resetting of expectations among the fans needs to happen. You're more likely to have years like the past decade rather than the 1990s moving forward.

Today there are more players, more competition for players and more places for players to play competitive lacrosse. The landscape has changed.

Posted: **Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:27 am**

Have to admit I am surprised of the news that Denver will go to North Carolina to play Duke and UNC but they do have to travel significantly to play their conference opponents - thought they might bag OOCs altoegther or play Air Force and Utah.

Posted: **Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:53 am**

jhu08 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:05 am
51percentcorn wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:58 am Towards the topic of scheduling and OOC - Villanova has announced their schedule and their two OOCs - Delaware and Lehigh - are both essentially 45 miles from the Villanova campus. Somewhat surprised it's not Drexel or St. Joe's for example but still very close. Maybe I'm wrong - but I would be surprised if Hop went to Chapel Hill, Syracuse or vice versa. No one's calling Milliman except for maybe Nadelen, Toomey, Gravante, and Moran probably.
I've put my expectations "low" on OOC stuff, too.

Mentally, I'm planning on conference only, so I won't be disappointed if it is.

But I think the best case in the local-only scenario of Loyola and Towson (plus our 10 conference games) would make for a pretty darn solid schedule. I'd be thrilled with that schedule.

I haven't looked all that closely at the various early rankings, but I suspect we'd have in most of them
2 games against a top 5 opponent (Terps)
7 games against a top 10/15-ish opponent (Terps, PSU, OSU, Loyola)
9 games against a top 20/receiving votes opponent (Terps, PSU, OSU, Rutgers, Loyola)

Michigan and Towson would look on paper to be the weaker opponents on our slate, and I would not consider either of them to be bad or anything close to a free win.

with a b1g schedule primarily, the only way all 4 of those b1gs are top 20+ is if hopkins is a good deal under .500.

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