Maryland 2024

[PulpExposure]

Just watched mud dry

Speaking of watching mud dry, that was the most tepid OT goal-winning call I've ever heard -- was the game sponsored by Sominex? I should be grateful for all of the modern era streaming options (and mostly I am) but sometimes the low production values (including monotone commentators) still get to me.

Starsia and the announcer are obviously Richmond homers, and Starsia isnt exactly a dynamic TV personality. No complaints though, that's the ESPN3 model and at least the game was streamed.

That was a painful game to watch. I thought the defense was generally good but the offense wouldn't even look for a shot until 10 seconds on the clock. The turnovers and the shot clock dumps in the corner were agonizing. On the positive side, scoring 12 goals with that sloppy, slow play could be a good sign as they sharpen up.

No goalie should ever have 3 turnovers in a game.

I was there. I’m not sure Maryland had anyone on offense that could consistently shake their defender. Could be a major concern if that shows up in every game.

McNaney will keep the Terps in a lot of games.

McNaney and Wierman…

[keno in reno]

Just watched mud dry

Speaking of watching mud dry, that was the most tepid OT goal-winning call I've ever heard -- was the game sponsored by Sominex? I should be grateful for all of the modern era streaming options (and mostly I am) but sometimes the low production values (including monotone commentators) still get to me.

Starsia and the announcer are obviously Richmond homers, and Starsia isnt exactly a dynamic TV personality. No complaints though, that's the ESPN3 model and at least the game was streamed.

That was a painful game to watch. I thought the defense was generally good but the offense wouldn't even look for a shot until 10 seconds on the clock. The turnovers and the shot clock dumps in the corner were agonizing. On the positive side, scoring 12 goals with that sloppy, slow play could be a good sign as they sharpen up.

No goalie should ever have 3 turnovers in a game.

I was there. I’m not sure Maryland had anyone on offense that could consistently shake their defender. Could be a major concern if that shows up in every game.

McNaney will keep the Terps in a lot of games.

McNaney and Wierman…

McNaney and Wierman and Erksa and Zappitello and Malever

[camping20]

It’s time to throw ruppel back in, mcnanney just cannot get the rust off.

I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt here and say this was an attempt at sarcasm.

[keno in reno]

On a lighter note, Hopkins successfully completed one of the most astonishing chokes in lacrosse history

[stupefied]

On a lighter note, Hopkins successfully completed one of the most astonishing chokes in lacrosse history

Maryland won/survived , Hopkins lost/collapsed.

Despite the worst outcome, thought Hopkins looked better than Maryland today

[keno in reno]

On a lighter note, Hopkins successfully completed one of the most astonishing chokes in lacrosse history

Maryland won/survived , Hopkins lost/collapsed.

Despite the worst outcome, thought Hopkins looked better than Maryland today

Completely meaningless comparison. Different opponents, different locations, and losing a game with probably a 99.9% win probability doesn't look better than anything.

[Wheels]

Just watched mud dry

Speaking of watching mud dry, that was the most tepid OT goal-winning call I've ever heard -- was the game sponsored by Sominex? I should be grateful for all of the modern era streaming options (and mostly I am) but sometimes the low production values (including monotone commentators) still get to me.

Starsia and the announcer are obviously Richmond homers, and Starsia isnt exactly a dynamic TV personality. No complaints though, that's the ESPN3 model and at least the game was streamed.

That was a painful game to watch. I thought the defense was generally good but the offense wouldn't even look for a shot until 10 seconds on the clock. The turnovers and the shot clock dumps in the corner were agonizing. On the positive side, scoring 12 goals with that sloppy, slow play could be a good sign as they sharpen up.

No goalie should ever have 3 turnovers in a game.

I was there. I’m not sure Maryland had anyone on offense that could consistently shake their defender. Could be a major concern if that shows up in every game.

I will be surprised if you see much consistency out of the office this year and without an alpha or two rising to the occasion, Phipps is going to have a hard time figuring out what to do. His office always was best when he had an alpha or two taking control and it may get exacerbated by having such a strong D.

I'm beginning to think there's no alpha male by design. The offense is so geared toward rapid ball movement that players don't really try to dodge too often. When they need someone to step up, they all seem to look around to see who that will be. There are several players who can win match ups, but unless they do it right off a pass, they're not going to take the ball out and dodge. That's a feature of their system, as opposed to the system when Rambo was there.

[Wheels]

Surprised anyone is surprised by this result.

The 2020 game down in Richmond went to 2OTs. Ended with a midfielder winning it for the Terps.

Time is a flat circle.

[viho]

Just watched mud dry

Speaking of watching mud dry, that was the most tepid OT goal-winning call I've ever heard -- was the game sponsored by Sominex? I should be grateful for all of the modern era streaming options (and mostly I am) but sometimes the low production values (including monotone commentators) still get to me.

Starsia and the announcer are obviously Richmond homers, and Starsia isnt exactly a dynamic TV personality. No complaints though, that's the ESPN3 model and at least the game was streamed.

That was a painful game to watch. I thought the defense was generally good but the offense wouldn't even look for a shot until 10 seconds on the clock. The turnovers and the shot clock dumps in the corner were agonizing. On the positive side, scoring 12 goals with that sloppy, slow play could be a good sign as they sharpen up.

No goalie should ever have 3 turnovers in a game.

I was there. I’m not sure Maryland had anyone on offense that could consistently shake their defender. Could be a major concern if that shows up in every game.

I will be surprised if you see much consistency out of the office this year and without an alpha or two rising to the occasion, Phipps is going to have a hard time figuring out what to do. His office always was best when he had an alpha or two taking control and it may get exacerbated by having such a strong D.

I'm beginning to think there's no alpha male by design. The offense is so geared toward rapid ball movement that players don't really try to dodge too often. When they need someone to step up, they all seem to look around to see who that will be. There are several players who can win match ups, but unless they do it right off a pass, they're not going to take the ball out and dodge. That's a feature of their system, as opposed to the system when Rambo was there.

Agreed.
It looked like motion for the sake of creating more motion. They bail on their match ups so early. Get the match up you want, where you want it and go to the goal.

[Matnum PI]

Thomas Gravino injured or red shirting? Not on roster.

[jff97]

Thomas Gravino injured or red shirting? Not on roster.

Just checked the roster and he is. Wearing No. 6.

[wgdsr]

Just watched mud dry

Speaking of watching mud dry, that was the most tepid OT goal-winning call I've ever heard -- was the game sponsored by Sominex? I should be grateful for all of the modern era streaming options (and mostly I am) but sometimes the low production values (including monotone commentators) still get to me.

Starsia and the announcer are obviously Richmond homers, and Starsia isnt exactly a dynamic TV personality. No complaints though, that's the ESPN3 model and at least the game was streamed.

That was a painful game to watch. I thought the defense was generally good but the offense wouldn't even look for a shot until 10 seconds on the clock. The turnovers and the shot clock dumps in the corner were agonizing. On the positive side, scoring 12 goals with that sloppy, slow play could be a good sign as they sharpen up.

No goalie should ever have 3 turnovers in a game.

I was there. I’m not sure Maryland had anyone on offense that could consistently shake their defender. Could be a major concern if that shows up in every game.

I will be surprised if you see much consistency out of the office this year and without an alpha or two rising to the occasion, Phipps is going to have a hard time figuring out what to do. His office always was best when he had an alpha or two taking control and it may get exacerbated by having such a strong D.

I'm beginning to think there's no alpha male by design. The offense is so geared toward rapid ball movement that players don't really try to dodge too often. When they need someone to step up, they all seem to look around to see who that will be. There are several players who can win match ups, but unless they do it right off a pass, they're not going to take the ball out and dodge. That's a feature of their system, as opposed to the system when Rambo was there.

Agreed.
It looked like motion for the sake of creating more motion. They bail on their match ups so early. Get the match up you want, where you want it and go to the goal.

the facts are to date that umd is a certain type of team since forever, and only the bobby benson era has changed that thus far.
there are 2 histories here.
1) the terps have enjoyed an incredible amount of success in the last almost decade in all kinds of weather, including with their identity.
2) the shot clock era is here. no one has done it without being able to score goals, and score when needed. and decade long umd's profile isn't proven without that oc in this new era. it's still small sample size, but logically trying to be a team that just locks down others in the shot clock era seems spurious.

[Wheels]

Just watched mud dry

Speaking of watching mud dry, that was the most tepid OT goal-winning call I've ever heard -- was the game sponsored by Sominex? I should be grateful for all of the modern era streaming options (and mostly I am) but sometimes the low production values (including monotone commentators) still get to me.

Starsia and the announcer are obviously Richmond homers, and Starsia isnt exactly a dynamic TV personality. No complaints though, that's the ESPN3 model and at least the game was streamed.

That was a painful game to watch. I thought the defense was generally good but the offense wouldn't even look for a shot until 10 seconds on the clock. The turnovers and the shot clock dumps in the corner were agonizing. On the positive side, scoring 12 goals with that sloppy, slow play could be a good sign as they sharpen up.

No goalie should ever have 3 turnovers in a game.

I was there. I’m not sure Maryland had anyone on offense that could consistently shake their defender. Could be a major concern if that shows up in every game.

I will be surprised if you see much consistency out of the office this year and without an alpha or two rising to the occasion, Phipps is going to have a hard time figuring out what to do. His office always was best when he had an alpha or two taking control and it may get exacerbated by having such a strong D.

I'm beginning to think there's no alpha male by design. The offense is so geared toward rapid ball movement that players don't really try to dodge too often. When they need someone to step up, they all seem to look around to see who that will be. There are several players who can win match ups, but unless they do it right off a pass, they're not going to take the ball out and dodge. That's a feature of their system, as opposed to the system when Rambo was there.

Agreed.
It looked like motion for the sake of creating more motion. They bail on their match ups so early. Get the match up you want, where you want it and go to the goal.

the facts are to date that umd is a certain type of team since forever, and only the bobby benson era has changed that thus far.
there are 2 histories here.
1) the terps have enjoyed an incredible amount of success in the last almost decade in all kinds of weather, including with their identity.
2) the shot clock era is here. no one has done it without being able to score goals, and score when needed. and decade long umd's profile isn't proven without that oc in this new era. it's still small sample size, but logically trying to be a team that just locks down others in the shot clock era seems spurious.

Or....and hear me out on this....Benson inherited a roster that included the top 2 scorers in Maryland history along with 2 other players that finished in the top 20 in all time points (DeMaio and Long)...that played in a system that was installed the year before he arrived. He didn't have time to change anything when came as an interim in late December. He's said as much himself. The 2020 offense was tracking like the 2021 offense. Wonder what the connection was?

Ask the Hopkins people on their board. The offense he ran at Hopkins looked nothing like the offense he ran in College Park. Was he just saving it for Maryland?

[wgdsr]

Just watched mud dry

Speaking of watching mud dry, that was the most tepid OT goal-winning call I've ever heard -- was the game sponsored by Sominex? I should be grateful for all of the modern era streaming options (and mostly I am) but sometimes the low production values (including monotone commentators) still get to me.

Starsia and the announcer are obviously Richmond homers, and Starsia isnt exactly a dynamic TV personality. No complaints though, that's the ESPN3 model and at least the game was streamed.

That was a painful game to watch. I thought the defense was generally good but the offense wouldn't even look for a shot until 10 seconds on the clock. The turnovers and the shot clock dumps in the corner were agonizing. On the positive side, scoring 12 goals with that sloppy, slow play could be a good sign as they sharpen up.

No goalie should ever have 3 turnovers in a game.

I was there. I’m not sure Maryland had anyone on offense that could consistently shake their defender. Could be a major concern if that shows up in every game.

I will be surprised if you see much consistency out of the office this year and without an alpha or two rising to the occasion, Phipps is going to have a hard time figuring out what to do. His office always was best when he had an alpha or two taking control and it may get exacerbated by having such a strong D.

I'm beginning to think there's no alpha male by design. The offense is so geared toward rapid ball movement that players don't really try to dodge too often. When they need someone to step up, they all seem to look around to see who that will be. There are several players who can win match ups, but unless they do it right off a pass, they're not going to take the ball out and dodge. That's a feature of their system, as opposed to the system when Rambo was there.

Agreed.
It looked like motion for the sake of creating more motion. They bail on their match ups so early. Get the match up you want, where you want it and go to the goal.

the facts are to date that umd is a certain type of team since forever, and only the bobby benson era has changed that thus far.
there are 2 histories here.
1) the terps have enjoyed an incredible amount of success in the last almost decade in all kinds of weather, including with their identity.
2) the shot clock era is here. no one has done it without being able to score goals, and score when needed. and decade long umd's profile isn't proven without that oc in this new era. it's still small sample size, but logically trying to be a team that just locks down others in the shot clock era seems spurious.

Or....and hear me out on this....Benson inherited a roster that included the top 2 scorers in Maryland history along with 2 other players that finished in the top 20 in all time points (DeMaio and Long)...that played in a system that was installed the year before he arrived. He didn't have time to change anything when came as an interim in late December. He's said as much himself. The 2020 offense was tracking like the 2021 offense. Wonder what the connection was?

Ask the Hopkins people on their board. The offense he ran at Hopkins looked nothing like the offense he ran in College Park. Was he just saving it for Maryland?

they played 1/3 of a season, heavyweights to come.. we have a lot of record here. throw away tacking 23 on 2 and 6 high point who let everyone score a billion goals and it was the same output, not 2021.

hopkins was efficient.

no one is saying you can't win championships that way, it's small sample size in this new era. but it begs the question of whether or not you can, and if benson or an equivalent is necessary going forward.

[Abr2016]

Tills runs the offense. Always has. Even in 21-22 except for a few set pieces. He’s been coaching offense since he was at Navy. And he’s good at it.

[wgdsr]

Tills runs the offense. Always has. Even in 21-22 except for a few set pieces. He’s been coaching offense since he was at Navy. And he’s good at it.

how do they go about justifying hiring offensive coordinators? and why do the oc's handle the offensive shortsticks during timeouts?

[Wheels]

Tills runs the offense. Always has. Even in 21-22 except for a few set pieces. He’s been coaching offense since he was at Navy. And he’s good at it.

how do they go about justifying hiring offensive coordinators? and why do the oc's handle the offensive shortsticks during timeouts?

I'm assuming you've been to games and been close enough to the field to know the answer to your question.

When there's a timeout on the offensive end, guess who's in the huddle with the offense while Jesse's got the defense separately? When there's a timeout on the defensive end, guess who's in the huddle with the defense while Phipps has the offense separately?

This seems pretty standard stuff, except maybe at Syracuse where Gait seems to hang out with the FOGOs or injured players during all timeouts.

For like the billionth time, Tills and Reppert conceived of this offense after Maryland lost to UVA in the NCAA quarters (crossbar goal game). Tills has talked hundreds of times about wanting the offense to be less predictable, that especially during the Rambo years, the offense was more like a football team calling off-tackle run plays all the time. It was around the same time that Tills pretty much stopped differentiating between "attack" and "midfield" players to instead just get the six best players on the field at all times. Maryland's top 6 offensive players this season were all high school attackmen. Even the 2nd MF line were all high school attackmen.

As an aside, Tills has also started recruiting HS LSMs and putting them down at close more often. Zappitello was an LSM, and Tills has moved Schaller, a 5-star LSM, down to close, as well. Seems to be a countermove to the shot clock era and pushing pace from the back of the field.

One of the things you've left out of your analysis is how much the Terps scored in transition with their close defense and entire rope unit in 2021 and 2022. Add in Wierman and they were getting like 40 additional points out of their non-offensive players in those seasons. That's more like Brown and what Lars used to do more of at UVA. Seems to have slowed that down a bit.

[NYterp09]

Just watched mud dry

Speaking of watching mud dry, that was the most tepid OT goal-winning call I've ever heard -- was the game sponsored by Sominex? I should be grateful for all of the modern era streaming options (and mostly I am) but sometimes the low production values (including monotone commentators) still get to me.

Starsia and the announcer are obviously Richmond homers, and Starsia isnt exactly a dynamic TV personality. No complaints though, that's the ESPN3 model and at least the game was streamed.

That was a painful game to watch. I thought the defense was generally good but the offense wouldn't even look for a shot until 10 seconds on the clock. The turnovers and the shot clock dumps in the corner were agonizing. On the positive side, scoring 12 goals with that sloppy, slow play could be a good sign as they sharpen up.

No goalie should ever have 3 turnovers in a game.

I was there. I’m not sure Maryland had anyone on offense that could consistently shake their defender. Could be a major concern if that shows up in every game.

I will be surprised if you see much consistency out of the office this year and without an alpha or two rising to the occasion, Phipps is going to have a hard time figuring out what to do. His office always was best when he had an alpha or two taking control and it may get exacerbated by having such a strong D.

I'm beginning to think there's no alpha male by design. The offense is so geared toward rapid ball movement that players don't really try to dodge too often. When they need someone to step up, they all seem to look around to see who that will be. There are several players who can win match ups, but unless they do it right off a pass, they're not going to take the ball out and dodge. That's a feature of their system, as opposed to the system when Rambo was there.

Agreed.
It looked like motion for the sake of creating more motion. They bail on their match ups so early. Get the match up you want, where you want it and go to the goal.

the facts are to date that umd is a certain type of team since forever, and only the bobby benson era has changed that thus far.
there are 2 histories here.
1) the terps have enjoyed an incredible amount of success in the last almost decade in all kinds of weather, including with their identity.
2) the shot clock era is here. no one has done it without being able to score goals, and score when needed. and decade long umd's profile isn't proven without that oc in this new era. it's still small sample size, but logically trying to be a team that just locks down others in the shot clock era seems spurious.

Or....and hear me out on this....Benson inherited a roster that included the top 2 scorers in Maryland history along with 2 other players that finished in the top 20 in all time points (DeMaio and Long)...that played in a system that was installed the year before he arrived. He didn't have time to change anything when came as an interim in late December. He's said as much himself. The 2020 offense was tracking like the 2021 offense. Wonder what the connection was?

Ask the Hopkins people on their board. The offense he ran at Hopkins looked nothing like the offense he ran in College Park. Was he just saving it for Maryland?

they played 1/3 of a season, heavyweights to come.. we have a lot of record here. throw away tacking 23 on 2 and 6 high point who let everyone score a billion goals and it was the same output, not 2021.

hopkins was efficient.

no one is saying you can't win championships that way, it's small sample size in this new era. but it begs the question of whether or not you can, and if benson or an equivalent is necessary going forward.

So to be clear, you are suggesting that Maryland is suspect because they won’t live up to the bar set by probably the greatest two-year offensive stretch any team has ever had in the history of the sport? Anchored by two Teeaaraton winners, no less. What an astute observation. As always, thanks so much for your input on the Terps thread.

I’m curious how many UVA offenses have lived up to that same standard in the shot clock era. Should we indict Lars as well?

[keno in reno]

Some non-incendiary post game 1 thoughts

- Gorgeous day for a game 1, though one TV lens made it look glorious and the other made it look like Dementors were circling above

- Refs made some baffling out of bounds calls, and they generally seemed to favor the Terps, but they seemed to call it wrong both ways

- If I were a Spiders fan, I'd be a little annoyed that the opponents got 4 extra man opportunities to zero for the home team

- Doesn't seem like they thought through the Replay Review protocol well. A team should not be allowed to call for a play stoppage (Maryland benefitted in this case) while the other team has possession. That was ridiculous and not a good indicator of how this could go. I think it's ruined basketball with the constant stoppage to see if a fingertip grazed the ball on every out of bounds call....we'll see

- Koras was on the face-off wing, which seems to be a new thing. Not sure of the strategy there, but two guys who have been regulars in the past were not in action (Kolar and Coffman)

- Disappointing not to see Stobaugh get time (I didn't see if he was injured or just a rotation thing?). I'd assume if he's healthy that he'll start to get integrated into the rotation. Same with Aitken (he was out last week), Onagi and maybe even Gravino. Sure seems like there's opportunities to upgrade at least the threat of scoring

- The Vermont guys were good. #50 had a bad 90 seconds or so but otherwise strong. He and Schaller are built like East German World's Strongest Man competitors. Stamos is good at ssdm

- When they didn't turn the ball over willy-nilly, the offense got excellent scoring looks. Trouble is they didn't look at the goal until there were 10 seconds on the clock. One guy seemed to have the mentality that the point of an offense is to shoot and score...Murphy

[Terpsfan17]

Watching cuse, three things are clear

Terps lack weapons who can break down a defense consistently

They don't move the ball fast enough, the offense is predicated on skip passes and make the defense shuffle

They don't have dominant shooters

Could be a long season and may require a conference championship to make the playoffs