all of the people
laxalum
History
- Member for
- 2 years 10 weeks
- Blog
- View recent blog entries
Karma
- Current value
- 1
Recent Comments
| Date | Title | Body |
|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks 1 day ago | Like all recruit news, it |
Like all recruit news, it depends on the source you go to for rankings. Next year's class has a few guys who are highly ranked by ESPN Rise. #15 Brad Lott (who is also the #1 ranked faceoff guy, which should help Michigan a ton), #27 Brendan Gaughan (big attackman from La Costa Canyon who played football with Erik Magnuson). Also guys like Paxton Moore and Graham Conlan who they rated highly in their position rankings (both top 25). The jewel of the class may be Kyle Jackson from Toronto. Inside Lacrosse had him as the #2 Canadian in next year's class. That's big. Gotta remember that these guys will all be freshmen next year though. It will still take some time. |
| 3 weeks 2 days ago | I don't think any wins can be |
I don't think any wins can be assumed yet for next year. They will have their first D1 recruiting class playing, but half the team will be freshmen. And it's not like this is a top 20 class either. They were way too late to the recruiting game to put together a highly regarded class. Team 3 will be much better positioned to win games, and it's going to be team 5 or 6 before the ECAC tournament should be a realistic expectation rather than a hope. |
| 3 weeks 3 days ago | There were more UM fans than |
There were more UM fans than home team fans at both the Harvard and Rutgers games this year. I was at the RU game. Great tailgate atmosphere. Quite a few M flags flying in the lot. Attendance was about 2500, so a lot of M fans made it out. That's a great M alumni area though. Not sure how many alums even live around Chapel Hill. Hopefully a good group from Virginia and DC will drive down. Twitter says the game will be live on ESPN 3 for those who can get that channel and can't get there. |
| 4 weeks 4 days ago | Also ditto |
Finally got to see Team One play live! Echo the two comments above. Great tailgate scene today, and the rain held off for the whole game. M crowd completely out-cheered the home team crowd. Good game too. This team plays really hard. They just don't have all the pieces yet. They will build up the talent over the next few years. I'm very proud of them and to be an alum of the club team that has morphed into the new varsity team. Weiss looked great aside from a few clearing mistakes. He is special. Will be interesting to see if he has competition for the starting spot as D1 recruits arrive. Swaney had an incredible behind the back goal. Long sticks don't score often, and when they do it usually doesn't look like his did. Could have been a sportscenter top 10 play if this had been a tv game. Face offs have been a struggle most of the year. Brad Lott coming next year should help, and they'll have more athletes for the wings. |
| 8 weeks 4 days ago | There is much less cheating |
There is much less cheating in faceoffs now than there was a few years ago. Referees are now more keen to the tricks faceoff guys use, and they are also quicker to call procedure penalties when they see it. Plus NCAA rules changed last year to make cheat moves like grabbing the ball an actual time-serving penalty. Faceoff guys don't do it much anymore since they know the result is a man-down when it used to just be possession. The best faceoff specialists (FOGOs as nickoko aptly described) are highly skilled. It's not enough to just be quick and scrappy. They focus on facing off throughout their high school careers and are recruited specifically for that role. You can't just make a scrappy guy a good faceoff specialist in a year. Lott will help Michigan a lot (did that on purpose) next year. The D1 recruits they have coming in will also help on the wings as the team gets more athletic. This team has a lot more problems than just faceoffs right now, but you're right...not a lot they can do if they can't get the ball. Expect to see some improvement next year, but their best players will be freshmen. It's going to take a few years to get really good. It will happen though. |
| 9 weeks 4 days ago | Have to assume Weiss was |
Have to assume Weiss was injured (or reinjured?). No way they pull him if they are in a close game. If he's out for any length of time again, then I agree that they are going to have a really tough time being competitive the rest of the way this year. If he's back soon then they can still compete against MSM, Rutgers and possibly Ohio. Bryant doesn't show up in the stats at all. Have to assume he was injured or suspended. He's a big part of their offense. |
| 9 weeks 6 days ago | M&BW, How much does style |
M&BW, How much does style of play and tactics fit into your system? I know you can't mathematically calculate for playing a slower or faster pace or a pressure defense or a 10-man ride. I guess I'm asking if you think the way Michigan is playing is also having a major effect on the numbers. Michigan has cleared very well in a couple of games this year. Many D1 teams barely ride at all, so I have to imagine that's a factor. When the opponent rides, they struggle. When they don't, they clear it well. Very interesting that they are 4th in the country in riding. The competition is definitely a factor (hello Mercer), but I've seen a lot of comments that a 10-man wouldn't work at this level, and it seems to be, even using inferior athletes. It's definitely not working like it did as a club team, when they held even the best opponents to around 50%, which is unheard of, but being in the top 5 of any positive category right now is unexpected. The question is, have opponents broken the ride and scored easily on it very many times this year? It's going to happen at least a handful of times, but has it happened regularly? Having only seen the two streamed games, I don't know. |
| 9 weeks 6 days ago | M lacrosse coach John Paul |
M lacrosse coach John Paul tweeted that assistant coach Ken Broschart's house was hit by the tornado but that he and his family are ok. |
| 11 weeks 11 hours ago | If you throw out the Mercer |
If you throw out the Mercer game (they are not good), their faceoff stats weren't a whole lot different so far this year. Compared to some of their games, especially against those teams' top faceoff guys, this was an improvement. This was probably an attempt to get some ground ball faceoff wins and also to make sure they had their defensive personnel on the field once Loyola got it. Faceoffs is not a part of the game they are going to be good at this season. It would be really nice to have Brekan Kohlitz or David Reinhard back on the roster right now. Help comes next year with Brad Lott. ESPN has him as the #1 faceoff recruit in the country. That's another way this team will make a big jump as D1 recruits start filling out the roster. |
| 11 weeks 2 days ago | I'm not sold on Weiss yet. |
I'm not sold on Weiss yet. He has to be a HUGE upgrade from what they've had so far this season. That much is obvious. But they will have great goalies coming in their next few recruiting classes who might be a lot better. The Zonino kid in the 2013 class is legit. I see a defense that is sliding early to everything. That's going to leave guys open inside sometimes, but it's also going to disrupt offensive flow and make it harder to find those guys. |
