Maryland 2024

[Essexfenwick]

This is Tillman’s greatest coaching job. He got this team within 2-3 goals of a B1G championship. The pieces just aren’t there and he almost pulled off a miracle. I’ve said this for months.

They lost by 10 in the conference semis….and they were “within 2-3 goals of a B1G championship”? What am I missing here?

Regular season is the official B1G conference championship. Lost to Hopkins by 2.

[keno in reno]

If this is the tax you pay for 2 recent national championships, 3 Tewaaraton winners, a ton of final 4's and title game appearances and 33-1 over 2 seasons....totally worth it. Somehow Tillman will still get this team to the dance after a brutal schedule. 8-5 may look awful, but man it was close to 3-10.

[coda]

If this is the tax you pay for 2 recent national championships, 3 Tewaaraton winners, a ton of final 4's and title game appearances and 33-1 over 2 seasons....totally worth it. Somehow Tillman will still get this team to the dance after a brutal schedule. 8-5 may look awful, but man it was close to 3-10.

Maryland was the best program in the country for about 10 years. That has changed the last couple. TIllman will need to make some adjustments to back there. Whether that is schematically or recruiting.

[Finster]

If this is the tax you pay for 2 recent national championships, 3 Tewaaraton winners, a ton of final 4's and title game appearances and 33-1 over 2 seasons....totally worth it. Somehow Tillman will still get this team to the dance after a brutal schedule. 8-5 may look awful, but man it was close to 3-10.

That's true. But, he won't rest now. Tillman wants to win today, not yesterday.

The most bizarre stat line from last night is Weirman actually won nearly 70% of your faceoffs, yet you still lost; that's concerning.

I am somewhat confused why Tillman let McNaney play the entire game; I'd think this would be a game where you allow someone else to feel the heat.

[coda]

If this is the tax you pay for 2 recent national championships, 3 Tewaaraton winners, a ton of final 4's and title game appearances and 33-1 over 2 seasons....totally worth it. Somehow Tillman will still get this team to the dance after a brutal schedule. 8-5 may look awful, but man it was close to 3-10.

That's true. But, he won't rest now. Tillman wants to win today, not yesterday.

The most bizarre stat line from last night is Weirman actually won nearly 70% of your faceoffs, yet you still lost; that's concerning.

I am somewhat confused why Tillman let McNaney play the entire game; I'd think this would be a game where you allow someone else to feel the heat.

Was he protecting Ruppel's red shirt?

[Finster]

If this is the tax you pay for 2 recent national championships, 3 Tewaaraton winners, a ton of final 4's and title game appearances and 33-1 over 2 seasons....totally worth it. Somehow Tillman will still get this team to the dance after a brutal schedule. 8-5 may look awful, but man it was close to 3-10.

That's true. But, he won't rest now. Tillman wants to win today, not yesterday.

The most bizarre stat line from last night is Weirman actually won nearly 70% of your faceoffs, yet you still lost; that's concerning.

I am somewhat confused why Tillman let McNaney play the entire game; I'd think this would be a game where you allow someone else to feel the heat.

Was he protecting Ruppel's red shirt?

I don't know, don't follow Maryland as closely as I should. But presumably there's another goalie on the roster besides Ruppel.

John knows what he's doing. My personal preference would be to play more position players than he does (at FOGO, he almost plays Weirman exclusively no matter the score). But then again, Tillman owns two natty's and a slew of other awards, plus he's a first ballot FOF'er, so really who am I to say!

[coda]

If this is the tax you pay for 2 recent national championships, 3 Tewaaraton winners, a ton of final 4's and title game appearances and 33-1 over 2 seasons....totally worth it. Somehow Tillman will still get this team to the dance after a brutal schedule. 8-5 may look awful, but man it was close to 3-10.

That's true. But, he won't rest now. Tillman wants to win today, not yesterday.

The most bizarre stat line from last night is Weirman actually won nearly 70% of your faceoffs, yet you still lost; that's concerning.

I am somewhat confused why Tillman let McNaney play the entire game; I'd think this would be a game where you allow someone else to feel the heat.

Was he protecting Ruppel's red shirt?

I don't know, don't follow Maryland as closely as I should. But presumably there's another goalie on the roster besides Ruppel.

John knows what he's doing. My personal preference would be to play more position players than he does (at FOGO, he almost plays Weirman exclusively no matter the score). But then again, Tillman owns two natty's and a slew of other awards, plus he's a first ballot FOF'er, so really who am I to say!

The hardest thing to do in sports is to maintain excellence over a long period of time. Things tend to get stale. People get comfortable. He is obviously an excellent coach, but after 2 down years it maybe time for Tillman to look around and see if things need to shaken up.

[AreaLax]

Per MD Lax Twitter

Braden Erksa was discharged from the hospital and is traveling back with the team today in good spirits

We appreciate all the support and well wishes from Terp Nation

[jrn19]

Good news on Erksa

Ruppel is red shirting. He’s not the backup and sometimes isn’t even listed to play

[a fan]

It's the lack of talent period.

+100

[AreaLax]

If this is the tax you pay for 2 recent national championships, 3 Tewaaraton winners, a ton of final 4's and title game appearances and 33-1 over 2 seasons....totally worth it. Somehow Tillman will still get this team to the dance after a brutal schedule. 8-5 may look awful, but man it was close to 3-10.

That's true. But, he won't rest now. Tillman wants to win today, not yesterday.

The most bizarre stat line from last night is Weirman actually won nearly 70% of your faceoffs, yet you still lost; that's concerning.

I am somewhat confused why Tillman let McNaney play the entire game; I'd think this would be a game where you allow someone else to feel the heat.

Schmidt was put in goal the last 5 minutes. This was time when several other subs came in to play

[keno in reno]

It's the lack of talent period.

+100

That is true, but it's not really for a lack of talent that was recruited. 4 of the 6 starting offensive guys were 5 star recruits. None are 5 star college players. You put Jared on this team and it's a national championship contender just like '21. The whole system doesn't need to be re-done, it just needs a great college player to change the whole story.

[a fan]

It's the lack of talent period.

+100

That is true, but it's not really for a lack of talent that was recruited. 4 of the 6 starting offensive guys were 5 star recruits. None are 5 star college players. You put Jared on this team and it's a national championship contender just like '21. The whole system doesn't need to be re-done, it just needs a great college player to change the whole story.

Agree completely. These days? It's one extra elite player. Ben Reeves. Grant Ament.

When you don't have that? Then you see the parity we see today. Denver just lost to Villanova yesterday.

The Final Four is 100% up for grabs. And from where I sit, with all the losses every team has, there's gonna be some very good teams sitting at home, having missed a bid this year.

[Finster]

If this is the tax you pay for 2 recent national championships, 3 Tewaaraton winners, a ton of final 4's and title game appearances and 33-1 over 2 seasons....totally worth it. Somehow Tillman will still get this team to the dance after a brutal schedule. 8-5 may look awful, but man it was close to 3-10.

That's true. But, he won't rest now. Tillman wants to win today, not yesterday.

The most bizarre stat line from last night is Weirman actually won nearly 70% of your faceoffs, yet you still lost; that's concerning.

I am somewhat confused why Tillman let McNaney play the entire game; I'd think this would be a game where you allow someone else to feel the heat.

Schmidt was put in goal the last 5 minutes. This was time when several other subs came in to play

Thanks. I see that now. He faced no shots, so didn't show up on the original stat sheet I looked at.

[Finster]

It's the lack of talent period.

+100

That is true, but it's not really for a lack of talent that was recruited. 4 of the 6 starting offensive guys were 5 star recruits. None are 5 star college players. You put Jared on this team and it's a national championship contender just like '21. The whole system doesn't need to be re-done, it just needs a great college player to change the whole story.

Agree completely. These days? It's one extra elite player. Ben Reeves. Grant Ament.

When you don't have that? Then you see the parity we see today. Denver just lost to Villanova yesterday.

The Final Four is 100% up for grabs. And from where I sit, with all the losses every team has, there's gonna be some very good teams sitting at home, having missed a bid this year.

Agreed on your last statement. 100%

[Farfromgeneva]

Just messing around but one more year like this and the guys who think the game has passed Dano by will be starting a “when does Tillman go” thread.

Looking at you gyman

[jrn19]

Honestly; there are a lot of similarities right now to Duke’s run from 2015-17 after the back to back titles and Wolf et al. graduated.

Dino was able to reset and get back to the Final Four regularly again; but I do think it’s fair to say they’ve never truly rekindled the perfect confluence of events that existed in his first 8 years or so. There’s always been something missing the last few years, and it ain’t for lack of talent.

Tillman/Maryland are at a similar inflection point right now. I don’t really have any doubts they’ll figure it out and get back to Final Fours; but whether they can get back to the standards of the first 10 years are probably a question. And it may be a case of those 10 years just being too high a standard and everything perfectly coming together.

[JeremyCuse]

If this is the tax you pay for 2 recent national championships, 3 Tewaaraton winners, a ton of final 4's and title game appearances and 33-1 over 2 seasons....totally worth it. Somehow Tillman will still get this team to the dance after a brutal schedule. 8-5 may look awful, but man it was close to 3-10.

That's true. But, he won't rest now. Tillman wants to win today, not yesterday.

The most bizarre stat line from last night is Weirman actually won nearly 70% of your faceoffs, yet you still lost; that's concerning.

I am somewhat confused why Tillman let McNaney play the entire game; I'd think this would be a game where you allow someone else to feel the heat.

Was he protecting Ruppel's red shirt?

I don't know, don't follow Maryland as closely as I should. But presumably there's another goalie on the roster besides Ruppel.

John knows what he's doing. My personal preference would be to play more position players than he does (at FOGO, he almost plays Weirman exclusively no matter the score). But then again, Tillman owns two natty's and a slew of other awards, plus he's a first ballot FOF'er, so really who am I to say!

The hardest thing to do in sports is to maintain excellence over a long period of time. Things tend to get stale. People get comfortable. He is obviously an excellent coach, but after 2 down years it maybe time for Tillman to look around and see if things need to shaken up.

Think that pretty much sums it up. Maryland and Tillman had a hell of a run but it's hard to reload year after year and eventually it catches up with everyone. Tillman also did a lot of great work in the Portal but that's a hard thing to nail every year. I know Maryland was in on a couple of the big names last year but simply lost out to other schools and as someone pointed out above the Vermont transfers haven't really worked out at all.

[a fan]

Just messing around but one more year like this and the guys who think the game has passed Dano by will be starting a “when does Tillman go” thread.

Looking at you gyman

The list of "coaches who "forgot" how to coach" grows every year. And the "game has passed him by" schtick... is surely in the bullpen, warming up.

[keno in reno]

If this is the tax you pay for 2 recent national championships, 3 Tewaaraton winners, a ton of final 4's and title game appearances and 33-1 over 2 seasons....totally worth it. Somehow Tillman will still get this team to the dance after a brutal schedule. 8-5 may look awful, but man it was close to 3-10.

That's true. But, he won't rest now. Tillman wants to win today, not yesterday.

The most bizarre stat line from last night is Weirman actually won nearly 70% of your faceoffs, yet you still lost; that's concerning.

I am somewhat confused why Tillman let McNaney play the entire game; I'd think this would be a game where you allow someone else to feel the heat.

Was he protecting Ruppel's red shirt?

I don't know, don't follow Maryland as closely as I should. But presumably there's another goalie on the roster besides Ruppel.

John knows what he's doing. My personal preference would be to play more position players than he does (at FOGO, he almost plays Weirman exclusively no matter the score). But then again, Tillman owns two natty's and a slew of other awards, plus he's a first ballot FOF'er, so really who am I to say!

The hardest thing to do in sports is to maintain excellence over a long period of time. Things tend to get stale. People get comfortable. He is obviously an excellent coach, but after 2 down years it maybe time for Tillman to look around and see if things need to shaken up.

Think that pretty much sums it up. Maryland and Tillman had a hell of a run but it's hard to reload year after year and eventually it catches up with everyone. Tillman also did a lot of great work in the Portal but that's a hard thing to nail every year. I know Maryland was in on a couple of the big names last year but simply lost out to other schools and as someone pointed out above the Vermont transfers haven't really worked out at all.

Seriously, name the Vermont transfers who haven't worked out. I've only watched every game this year, but they've been excellent by my observation.