Your comments have resonance in regard to many Rutgers teams where the individual match ups continue to favor league opponents.Catching up requires better coaching and talent and that has been a very slow process.
Men’s Lax: RU vs Maryland Game Thread
- Thread starter AreYouNUTS
- Start date
Worse than yet another collapse was the concessions operations. Having 1 set of stands (3 windows) and a few carts open is ridiculous. Waiting 35 minutes to get Rita's from a Rita's stand only to be told they weren't selling Rita's. Open more stands when you have thousands of people. Hobbs needs to solve the abysmal concessions operations. Every event is a disaster and miserable experience.
Bingo. Another embarrassment and shitshow. Got on line right at halftime to buy my kid a hot dog and ended up and missing the first 4 minutes of the second half. They obviously don’t care or it would have been fixed by now.
Oh and it was good to see security harassing middle aged women at the gate about their bags. Yeah, I know just following “Homeland security” orders. I guess “Homeland security” is ok with dozens of kids waving lacrosse sticks on the concourse and in the stands. Event operations continues to be a complete joke.
All is well, can’t you tell we’ve been getting better every year according to some? So tired of it. We just keep blowing leads and struggle to win big in conference games
Speaking as an outsider, I look at the injury situation on this team and it looks like it's snake bitten. This is not exclusively based on talent, but going into the season the list of players who needed to stay healthy IMHO were Mullins, Edelman, AC, Pless, Harryman, and Christiano. And only Pless and AC have escaped the injury bug. It makes a difference.
This is not a talent issue. Rutgers lacrosse is as talented or more talented than most teams on the schedule. It comes down to coaching, leadership and heart. When you have the head coach come out and say they were not prepared to play Hopkins last week because "they got caught reading their press clippings," shows there is a leadership and coaching issue. I can't believe this is the excuse he uses after being left out of the tournament year after year. There should never be a motivation issue on this team.
Now it comes down to heart. This team can crawl into a corner and give up or they can come out kick down the door and demand to be in the tournament. I think they can do it but they need to show HEART.
Now it comes down to heart. This team can crawl into a corner and give up or they can come out kick down the door and demand to be in the tournament. I think they can do it but they need to show HEART.
I don't know much about much but I've watched almost every minute of every game and it seems this group tightens up at the most inopportune times. Army, Lehigh, Syracuse and last night.
Give Maryland credit, of course, but you can definitely sense they play differently in crunch time.
Give Maryland credit, of course, but you can definitely sense they play differently in crunch time.
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Your team is good, not sure what went wrong (except for some obvious haltime adjustment on faceoffs which I have no understanding of). As a Maryland fan, when the score was 4-9, I was doing mental calculations on what the B1G tournament was going to look like for us, if we even made it...
yeah, when an opposing knowledgeable fan makes a post like this, this cements the "we have coaching issues" perspective
I am not saying BB is a bad coach, but that's the biggest issue right now. can he get things on a better path? we shall see because it's clear Hobbs is committed to him. while we're in arguably the best conference in Lax, I think we can all agree that if he misses the NCAAs again this year, that is cause for concern for all parties.
We also have to beware of Michigan because they have money and eventually they’ll recruit better.
3-4 @ home...losses to Army and Lehigh...several blown leads late...awful starts (to most) 2nd halves...0-12 all time at home vs Maryland...something needs to change and it starts with coaching (NOT a coaching change...)
...we all want better and there’s zero reason it can’t be THE TALENT IS there.
...we all want better and there’s zero reason it can’t be THE TALENT IS there.
come on Nuts...you know nothing good will come from that! lol
PS - I want to hear his thoughts also, but I worry that getting them on a message board will create a bad situation for Golfer and his family...
Yup. I'm sure ACC will claim at least 4 of the 8 at-large spots, leaving everyone else to fight for the other 4.
Obviously it was a total long shot the way RU has played this year, but I'd say last night's loss completely shut the door on any at-large hopes.
If we take care of business against a reeling Michigan team and Maryland beats OSU, we'll get the 4 seed in the Big Ten tournament if I'm figuring correctly. If those things happen the worst we could do is finish tied for 4th with OSU and then RU should get the spot based on the head to head win, correct?
Then it'll come down to the guys playing out of their minds in two straight games to get in the the NCAA tournament.
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I believe his son is the transfer from Detroit Mercy... but I could be wrong...
This is all extraordinarily unlikely, but if RU beat Michigan AND Penn State AND then knocked off either Maryland or Penn Sate in the B1G semis before losing a tight game in the final AND there were no upsets in the other conference tournaments then we might be somewhere near the bubble. But I doubt even all that would get it done. Too many early-season losses to overcome.
If there some upsets in the conference tournaments there could be some real travesties this year in the tournament seeding. Like a Top 10 team being left out.
Is the ACC champion ever going to get an automatic bid or is this sham where they're basically guaranteed half the at large spots every year going to continue endlessly?
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A lot of the perception by us message-boarders depends on the outcome, though. I just scrolled through our game thread and the consensus until the third quarter was that the Terrapins are one of the worst teams ever to step onto a field. Ha ha, that's how it looks to us in the peanut gallery (not implying that you are watching from there, just me)...
That's more a function of the makeup of the selection committee and methodology than the fact that there is no AQ.
Complaining about Gallagher is deflecting from the major issue with the team the past few years... The FO circle.. our team is on defense far too much.
It's fandom. Maryland is probably the most consistent team 10 years running.
They are like a pro team. They never get rattled, know who the are, play continuously to their strengths. They don't make many mistakes. You have to beat them.
They have no glaring weaknesses and their talent level is very high and deep.
Losing sucks. We are all frustrated by it, but sometimes we need to take a step back evaluate. We have some questionable losses this season. Losing to Maryland isn't one of them.
We are competitive with arguably the best team. It also shows us where we need to get better and improve.
Get the facility done, keep recruiting, keep developing.
After yesterday's crushing loss, our NCAA tourney hopes are done unless of course we play miraculously the rest of the way and get into the B1G tourney and win it all. The fact that we're 6-6 is coaching to me. We have too many talented kids on this team to be at .500 now. We have blown leads in at least 4 of these games and the same troubling situations of defensive breakdowns, missed opportunities with losing faceoffs time after time, after time, and instead of running offense trying to be a hero and shooting the ball with two men on our guy.
I would like to know, how an adjustment was made at faceoffs by Maryland's coach and we never adjusted. At the end of the first half, Harryman was doing a great job limiting Maryland to just 16% wins on the faceoffs. Then suddenly, Maryland makes the adjustments at halftime and THEY win nearly 90% of the faceoffs in the second half, which killed us. I just don't understand how that can change so drastically, and how our coaching staff could not combat that.
Also, when you know certain guys on their team are going to try and score with time running out on the game clock, why in the world would you continue to play in the defense you're in, and let them either cut right to the goal (wide open) or allow one of their players to attack one on one and not double team with time running out? We must have given up 3 goals yesterday with no time left on the clock. Of course another pet peeve is, Maryland scored a goal that should have been disallowed if they had instant replay in regular games and not wait to use it in the tourney.
Watching this team this year is beyond frustrating. I really believe if Brecht doesn't get them in the NCAA's within the next 2 years, he needs to go.
I would like to know, how an adjustment was made at faceoffs by Maryland's coach and we never adjusted. At the end of the first half, Harryman was doing a great job limiting Maryland to just 16% wins on the faceoffs. Then suddenly, Maryland makes the adjustments at halftime and THEY win nearly 90% of the faceoffs in the second half, which killed us. I just don't understand how that can change so drastically, and how our coaching staff could not combat that.
Also, when you know certain guys on their team are going to try and score with time running out on the game clock, why in the world would you continue to play in the defense you're in, and let them either cut right to the goal (wide open) or allow one of their players to attack one on one and not double team with time running out? We must have given up 3 goals yesterday with no time left on the clock. Of course another pet peeve is, Maryland scored a goal that should have been disallowed if they had instant replay in regular games and not wait to use it in the tourney.
Watching this team this year is beyond frustrating. I really believe if Brecht doesn't get them in the NCAA's within the next 2 years, he needs to go.
This has been nagging at me since the Princeton game last year. When the pressure is on we seem to be prone to mistakes(turnovers, penalties, boneheaded shot selection, etc) while a team like Maryland or Princeton sees the field clearer and executes against a panicked team. Why?? Where does the confidence/composure go?
I really don't know, but wonder if the free wheeling mentality that our team has been imbued with breaks down when things get hot and the team needs to switch to a gear that they lack.
Good teams notice this, smell blood and capitalize.
2nd half clears last night had me angry.
I think it was partial adjustments and partially Harryman getting worn down.
Maryland has 3 faceoff guys, all of high caliber. Obviously they saw something at the half. Which gets back to the point I've noticed and the broadcasters did as well.
Maryland uses tech probably more than any other team in the country. It's an area we need to do more in.
Princeton? We are having a way better year than them. And beat them. On an end of game stop mind you.
Any talk of Gallagher is crazy talk. Kid instantly made our attack better the day he was moved there. His transition during the season to a position he never played in college is outstanding.
Kid is a straight up baller who was pretty highly recruited btw.
Thanks. I noticed that too. I think Brecht should be using high tech as well, but he doesn't seem to be doing it while the game is being played.
We did, this year(thank god), but they played a better fourth quarter than us the last two years. That absolutely has to change, we need to start performing when the pressure is on otherwise we keep treading water.
Honest evaluation — what have you seen between 2016 and 2019 that suggests that the program is trending up? Has the recruiting continued to improve? Has the player development improved?
Skeptical about the recruiting - lack of depth at too many spots. Coaching or personalities, but there seems to be declining focus (and team chemistry?). This year’s flow has been dismal compared to the kids’ play in 16 or 17 with the exception of Ohio State.
I can say for sure the profile of players has risen. How that translates to the field is what’s important but we are getting players we didn’t.
We need more depth at certain positions but it’s definitely gotten better at a number of them. I wouldn’t agree with the flow thing. This year has been different compared to 16 but we have new faces and a new OC. We also have a way harder schedule. Let’s not forget that little school on the shore gave us a game that year. Some big wins namely Hopkins, but let’s not forget that the schedule then was much different.
We never won at Ohio St. most teams don’t. Don’t discredit that win.
Yes, recruiting has improved compared to Stags or Brecht’s first couple of classes but RU is falling behind the rest of the B1G. OK, people can argue the science of rankings, but Inside Lacrosse ranks RU ‘s class of 2019 as tied at #30 while the other B1G programs are all in the Top 10 except UMich tied at #18.
Big 4 all have a 5-star in the class. Four-star recruits —
MD - 11
JHU - 7
PSU- 6
OSU - 6
UMich - 4
RU - 1
Good point about the schedule getting more challenging, but there’s no sugar-coating that there were bad losses this year. Or that the talent deficit is widening.
