Johns Hopkins 2025

[HopFan16]

Whatever happened to Sag A during his sabbatical needs to be studied. He left as The Black Hole and has returned to us as a Voice of Reason. A redemption story for the ages.

What the midfield loses in size, it's likely to gain in speed with the return of English, a bigger role for Ayers, and addition of guys like Hackler and McCleary (and maybe someone like Iler contributing). That's gonna open up a few new wrinkles. Outside of Angelus, who had the undivided attention of every team's top defensemen, the offense was slow this year. Size and shooting were strengths, but speed was not. All things considered I'd probably rather have a fast offense than a big one (provided it's not exclusively munchkins, which it won't be, with Collison, Melendez, Hackler, Evans, and others).

[norcalhop]

At this point, Brooks has been injured multiple years in a row from beginning with his high school days. Might be optimistic to think he'll be back to top form for an extended period of time?

[jhu06]

At this point, Brooks has been injured multiple years in a row from beginning with his high school days. Might be optimistic to think he'll be back to top form for an extended period of time?

There's a lot of wishful thinking offensively on this forum. I'm waiting for Stevens 2025 lookaheads where he gives starts lost/production lost for each team before I really get concerned. There were a lot of teams that were a lot thinner than us this year that lose similar numbers to graduation.

[51percentcorn]

At this point, Brooks has been injured multiple years in a row from beginning with his high school days. Might be optimistic to think he'll be back to top form for an extended period of time?

Yes - there is a part of this that is wishful thinking I guess since we all don't know what we don't know. However, my understanding of his injury this past season was he broke a bone in his lower leg. So I am drawing a speculative conclusion from that injury - I don't believe it was connected with his prior injury so it is not part of a chronic condition (unless his T score sucks or something like that). In additon, good chance his orthopedist was not Dr. Kachichkokov so recovery outlook is likely positive.

Whatever happened to Sag A during his sabbatical needs to be studied. He left as The Black Hole and has returned to us as a Voice of Reason. A redemption story for the ages.

Let's not get carried away '16 - over on the Hop/UVA game thread he advocated for firing all the officials and opening a special NCAA investigation into the Million crease goal. I might think his more reasoned takes on Hop 2025 might stem from all the return fire a certain other poster has seen and he would like to avoid it for a while. One would have to admit surprise that the Draw and quarter Milliman posts have not started.

[Sagittarius A*]

Let's not get carried away '16 - over on the Hop/UVA game thread he advocated for firing all the officials and opening a special NCAA investigation into the Million crease goal. I might think his more reasoned takes on Hop 2025 might stem from all the return fire a certain other poster has seen and he would like to avoid it for a while. One would have to admit surprise that the Draw and quarter Milliman posts have not started.

The last two years PM has done quite well. I really can't knock the guy. Better lax then we've seen in a while.
Ierlan was the best goal tending we've seen in a while.
As for the officials, UGH.
They should just go to some kind of automated process for the foot-on-the-line calls. If they can automate tennis ball calls hitting the line, they should be able to easily automate foot-on-the-line calls. Get the refs out of the equation on replay to the extent possible.
Some things are not subjective.

[Ruffled_Feathers]

If they can automate tennis ball calls hitting the line, they should be able to easily automate foot-on-the-line calls.

While I don't disagree there's a wide disparity economically between the two things. Each tennis grand slam tourney that spawned a need for such tech is handing out like 60 million dollars in prize money every year. The pinnacle of NCAA D1 lacrosse isn't really paying those kind of bills.

[51percentcorn]

They should just go to some kind of automated process for the foot-on-the-line calls. If they can automate tennis ball calls hitting the line, they should be able to easily automate foot-on-the-line calls. Get the refs out of the equation on replay to the extent possible.
Some things are not subjective.

No they can't - because in lacrosse it's a two step process - did he step in the crease and if he did when did he step in the crease - was it before or after the ball went past the goal line? And how is the technology supposed to differentiate between an offensive and defensive player's body parts? Can't have a machine beeping every time a foot hits the crease. Even before RF's quite accurate point about resource availability and money - In tennis it is just whether the ball hit the line - and it is four straight lines with nobody in the way - not a circle with potentially any one of 13 people in the way.

That being said - dark blue lines on a dark green surface is not the best idea anybody ever had - and of course Homewood is a party to that scheme. Everything should be white - not that hard - even if you have to leave the women's lines there as well

[jhu06]

Updated lineup projection

A - Melendez, Chauvette, Ayers
M1 - Collison, English, Bauer
M2 - No idea (some options: Evans, Iler, Jewell, Chick, Rawson, Sorichetti, McCleary, Crogan, Gregorek, Hackler?, etc.)
SSDM - Hackler, Monfort, Claiborne, Colhoun, DiCicco
LSM - Deans, Martin, Kaufman, Eye?
D - Smith, Kilrain, Brown
FO - Callahan, McKee, Hobot
G - Staudt

Biggest remaining question marks are midfield depth — offensive and defensive. There's talent there, just unsure which names will pop

Some of the D/LSMs are interchangeable

That seems like a very good team to me, especially in the new world without a ton of grads and super seniors. D in particular seems very, very stout.

PS - Very sorry about Marquis, 16.

Portal apparently closes today so barring last minute adds or drops what HF16 posted looks like the first form of a 2025 lineup.
The biggest questions in order
-The entire ssdm position. You've got 2 names there who have d1 experience. Need 3-4 more from within given potential for inconsistency and unfortunately injury. Maybe they do what they did with Jaronski/Raposo, grab from a position of strength and move Martin or someone over.
-The effectiveness of an attack. They can't survive another year with Melendez inconsistency like this season. Yes he had some nice games but they don't have the reliable twins of angelus and degnon there.
-The midfielders beyond that first line. PM was willing to play 3 lines last year at times. Maybe Evans and Phillips bloom late. They still need depth punch.
-The wings-I'm sure internally they track stats for faceoff play but I'm not sure they ever really found a duo like hawley and mazzone that they liked this season. Some of you have mentioned that callahan was a win it to himself fogo which means they're asking the wings to do different things. I don't know what kind of fogo the new guys are.
-Callahans backup(s). It's not the ssdm situation where the top guys are new but Dunn played a lot last year.
-Staudts backup. It's another chance to groom longterm answers in goal behind an established starter. The training, nutrition, film study, mentoring.
-Longterm depth at close d-Stoebner did play this season even after he was replaced. Kaufman, Deans and Smith are out the door after next season.

[molo]

There’s a simple solution to the crease situation but it wouldn’t be popular.

[norcalhop]

There’s a simple solution to the crease situation but it wouldn’t be popular.

360 cameras around the crease or cameras on the goalie.

[HopFan16]

Portal apparently closes today so barring last minute adds or drops what HF16 posted looks like the first form of a 2025 lineup.

Reading my own post back now and I was too hesitant to mention Hackler as an offensive midfield option. He had 16 goals (22 pts) on 38% shooting for Yale last year — he's going to get some run on offense. My guess is he'll be in a suped-up version of the McDermott role: wings on faceoffs, some shifts at d-middie (probably more than McDermott), and very much someone in the mix on that 2nd midfield. You don't bring in a player like that and force him to play exclusively defense. Familiar with some of our opponents too — 2 goals each against PSU and Denver this year.

[norcalhop]

Well...Owen Murphy in the portal. I wonder if he wants to return home for grad school and if the feeling is mutual.

[44WeWantMore]

At this point, Brooks has been injured multiple years in a row from beginning with his high school days. Might be optimistic to think he'll be back to top form for an extended period of time?

Yes - there is a part of this that is wishful thinking I guess since we all don't know what we don't know. However, my understanding of his injury this past season was he broke a bone in his lower leg. So I am drawing a speculative conclusion from that injury - I don't believe it was connected with his prior injury so it is not part of a chronic condition (unless his T score sucks or something like that). In additon, good chance his orthopedist was not Dr. Kachichkokov so recovery outlook is likely positive.

Whatever happened to Sag A during his sabbatical needs to be studied. He left as The Black Hole and has returned to us as a Voice of Reason. A redemption story for the ages.

Let's not get carried away '16 - over on the Hop/UVA game thread he advocated for firing all the officials and opening a special NCAA investigation into the Million crease goal. I might think his more reasoned takes on Hop 2025 might stem from all the return fire a certain other poster has seen and he would like to avoid it for a while. One would have to admit surprise that the Draw and quarter Milliman posts have not started.

I also thought that there was enough video evidence to overturn the ruling on the field.

[HopFan16]

Well...Owen Murphy in the portal. I wonder if he wants to return home for grad school and if the feeling is mutual.

Not a chance in hell

[norcalhop]

Well...Owen Murphy in the portal. I wonder if he wants to return home for grad school and if the feeling is mutual.

Not a chance in hell

True. Especially given what happened the first time.

[HopFan16]

Well...Owen Murphy in the portal. I wonder if he wants to return home for grad school and if the feeling is mutual.

Not a chance in hell

True. Especially given what happened the first time.

I doubt either party is interested. Which is ok. Everybody has moved on. He's talented, he'll have options

[51percentcorn]

The biggest questions in order Questions - probably not in order
-The entire ssdm position. You've got 2 names there who have d1 experience. Need 3-4 more from within given potential for inconsistency and unfortunately injury. Maybe they do what they did with Jaronski/Raposo, grab from a position of strength and move Martin or someone over. Brett Martin and Jaronski did not come out of the womb destined to play SSDM. They learned the postion and obviously were smart players as alot is asked in a defense that likes to double slide and recover. The size, speed and athleticism of the returning SSDM's is intriguing - you recruited one probably two players at the position (so close to 20% of your recruits) and you added one through the portal - maybe two but I doubt that is Hackler's main job - there will be growing pains as experience is obviously important but they will be fine.
-The effectiveness of an attack. They can't survive another year with Melendez inconsistency like this season. Yes he had some nice games but they don't have the reliable twins of angelus and degnon there.This is IMO obviously the most important unanswered question - you have players that appear to be qualified to step in but you don't know until you know. And there are very specific skills they need to exhibit. Ayers might be the key to the entire season. That is the production from last year that needs to be filled. No question they need Melendez vintage 23.
-The midfielders beyond that first line. PM was willing to play 3 lines last year at times. Maybe Evans and Phillips bloom late. They still need depth punch.Maybe one of the biggest diffrences in 2024 from 2023 was in the 2nd mid-field production. In 2023 - Bauer/English/McDermott/Evans/Cam Chauvette came up with close to 60 points. This year you had Grimes' production (way down with only 40 shots taken - and Hunter Chauivette's 14 goals - Bauer up on 1sts/English out for year/Evans continuously hurt etc. So yes they obviously need some production from the 2nds and Hackler may help here as well as a healthy Evans but young bucks are going to have to chip in. But they don't have to climb a cliff the team just dropped off from.
-The wings-I'm sure internally they track stats for faceoff play but I'm not sure they ever really found a duo like hawley and mazzone that they liked this season. Some of you have mentioned that callahan was a win it to himself fogo which means they're asking the wings to do different things. I don't know what kind of fogo the new guys are.Nobody at Johns Hopkins should be satisfied with 48% on face-offs. It was obviously one of the team's most conspicuous weaknesses. I'm still going to put it out there however that the 2023 face-off percentage was 49% SO these wings you speak of..... Here's an interesting stat - in 2024 Hopkins took almost exactly 100 FEWER face-offs than in 2023 and played one less game.
A byproduct of the coaches decision to desire to see fewer face-offs. Mazzone and Hawley made good contributions - Mazzone way more because of his close D versatility and Hawley's was the fact that was all he did - he was probably on the wings for close to every single one of the 500 face-offs in '23. So Hawley's 31 ground balls and McDermott's 18 are probably not that far off when you consider the dipsarity in number of face-offs taken and McDermott was never out there for anywhere close to all of them.
-Callahans backup(s). It's not the ssdm situation where the top guys are new but Dunn played a lot last year. You know who the back-ups are - Hobot might need some time in the weight room if he is really 160 labs so McKee and Callahan are likely to take the face-offs. Wing play is very important - maybe Eye - maybe Kilrain erc. will help.
-Staudts backup. It's another chance to groom longterm answers in goal behind an established starter. The training, nutrition, film study, mentoring.All those things you cite are important but there is a reality that Staudt may and probably will play every single second of every important minute. So in '26 there will still be the goalie postion as the overriding number one issue with some potential high quality options
-Longterm depth at close d-Stoebner did play this season even after he was replaced. Kaufman, Deans and Smith are out the door after next season.

Maybe your best point - To date - depth development on defense might be called into question. On the one hand they have guys that play and play well right away - Smith/Kilrain/Brown - they have had some very successful transfers on D - Szuluk/Mazzone/Stoebner.
On the other hand - not many guys that have worked their way up through the ranks - Patrick Deans qualifies and Kaufman looked to be on the way but only played in 2 games last season. Luke Martin appeared in 10 games his freshman year. Todaro's multiple injuries probably took a candidate out of the field. But the fact remains that Bigelow and Trepeta have never appeared in a game in 2 years - Didden has appeared in 1 game in 2 years - McCarthy did not play his freshman year and the two close defenders from the class showing up in about 2 and a half months are both from California where once again competition and coming up to the college game could be an issue. AT LSm - Bowler has appeared in 1 game in 3 years - Ives and Hazard DNP their freshmen year - Ives hurt maybe? At the very least - the margins are beyond razor thin for injuries on defense. Using '16's depth chart you have 5 guys you know can play at a fairly high level - Smith/Kilrain/Brown/Deans/Martin - one -or God forbid two - of those guys get hurt for extended periods - oh boy

[jhu06]

The biggest questions in order Questions - probably not in order
-The entire ssdm position. You've got 2 names there who have d1 experience. Need 3-4 more from within given potential for inconsistency and unfortunately injury. Maybe they do what they did with Jaronski/Raposo, grab from a position of strength and move Martin or someone over. Brett Martin and Jaronski did not come out of the womb destined to play SSDM. They learned the postion and obviously were smart players as alot is asked in a defense that likes to double slide and recover. The size, speed and athleticism of the returning SSDM's is intriguing - you recruited one probably two players at the position (so close to 20% of your recruits) and you added one through the portal - maybe two but I doubt that is Hackler's main job - there will be growing pains as experience is obviously important but they will be fine.
-The effectiveness of an attack. They can't survive another year with Melendez inconsistency like this season. Yes he had some nice games but they don't have the reliable twins of angelus and degnon there.This is IMO obviously the most important unanswered question - you have players that appear to be qualified to step in but you don't know until you know. And there are very specific skills they need to exhibit. Ayers might be the key to the entire season. That is the production from last year that needs to be filled. No question they need Melendez vintage 23.
-The midfielders beyond that first line. PM was willing to play 3 lines last year at times. Maybe Evans and Phillips bloom late. They still need depth punch.Maybe one of the biggest diffrences in 2024 from 2023 was in the 2nd mid-field production. In 2023 - Bauer/English/McDermott/Evans/Cam Chauvette came up with close to 60 points. This year you had Grimes' production (way down with only 40 shots taken - and Hunter Chauivette's 14 goals - Bauer up on 1sts/English out for year/Evans continuously hurt etc. So yes they obviously need some production from the 2nds and Hackler may help here as well as a healthy Evans but young bucks are going to have to chip in. But they don't have to climb a cliff the team just dropped off from.
-The wings-I'm sure internally they track stats for faceoff play but I'm not sure they ever really found a duo like hawley and mazzone that they liked this season. Some of you have mentioned that callahan was a win it to himself fogo which means they're asking the wings to do different things. I don't know what kind of fogo the new guys are.Nobody at Johns Hopkins should be satisfied with 48% on face-offs. It was obviously one of the team's most conspicuous weaknesses. I'm still going to put it out there however that the 2023 face-off percentage was 49% SO these wings you speak of..... Here's an interesting stat - in 2024 Hopkins took almost exactly 100 FEWER face-offs than in 2023 and played one less game.
A byproduct of the coaches decision to desire to see fewer face-offs. Mazzone and Hawley made good contributions - Mazzone way more because of his close D versatility and Hawley's was the fact that was all he did - he was probably on the wings for close to every single one of the 500 face-offs in '23. So Hawley's 31 ground balls and McDermott's 18 are probably not that far off when you consider the dipsarity in number of face-offs taken and McDermott was never out there for anywhere close to all of them.
-Callahans backup(s). It's not the ssdm situation where the top guys are new but Dunn played a lot last year. You know who the back-ups are - Hobot might need some time in the weight room if he is really 160 labs so McKee and Callahan are likely to take the face-offs. Wing play is very important - maybe Eye - maybe Kilrain erc. will help.
-Staudts backup. It's another chance to groom longterm answers in goal behind an established starter. The training, nutrition, film study, mentoring.All those things you cite are important but there is a reality that Staudt may and probably will play every single second of every important minute. So in '26 there will still be the goalie postion as the overriding number one issue with some potential high quality options
-Longterm depth at close d-Stoebner did play this season even after he was replaced. Kaufman, Deans and Smith are out the door after next season.

Maybe your best point - To date - depth development on defense might be called into question. On the one hand they have guys that play and play well right away - Smith/Kilrain/Brown - they have had some very successful transfers on D - Szuluk/Mazzone/Stoebner.
On the other hand - not many guys that have worked their way up through the ranks - Patrick Deans qualifies and Kaufman looked to be on the way but only played in 2 games last season. Luke Martin appeared in 10 games his freshman year. Todaro's multiple injuries probably took a candidate out of the field. But the fact remains that Bigelow and Trepeta have never appeared in a game in 2 years - Didden has appeared in 1 game in 2 years - McCarthy did not play his freshman year and the two close defenders from the class showing up in about 2 and a half months are both from California where once again competition and coming up to the college game could be an issue. AT LSm - Bowler has appeared in 1 game in 3 years - Ives and Hazard DNP their freshmen year - Ives hurt maybe? At the very least - the margins are beyond razor thin for injuries on defense. Using '16's depth chart you have 5 guys you know can play at a fairly high level - Smith/Kilrain/Brown/Deans/Martin - one -or God forbid two - of those guys get hurt for extended periods - oh boy

Probably the best thing we'll read about the program between now and next January. My only takeaway is that 2025 is all about the development. Graduation wiped out the last major Petro class and now it's going to be a 90% PM/JK/JC/BK recruited/developed/coached group.

[steel_hop]

So looks like the last of the long term Hopkins coaches is stepping down joining guys/girls like Nelson and Kennedy and those that rest in peace in Funk and Margraff.

Bob Babb to retire after next year.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/10 ... r7Dxxd01Cr

[norcalhop]

So looks like the last of the long term Hopkins coaches is stepping down joining guys/girls like Nelson and Kennedy and those that rest in peace in Funk and Margraff.

Bob Babb to retire after next year.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/10 ... r7Dxxd01Cr

A shame, he came so close last year to winning it all.