I honestly haven't seen Utah play but heard they play a lot of run and gun. I'm interested to see how we match up with them.
RU -5.5 vs Utah
- Thread starter bigmatt718
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The Utes push transition hard and really trust their poles to run shoot and score. Better keep their eyes on #19 as he may be the best transition pole in D1. Should be a fun game to watch. What’s the over/under? I’d put it at 30.5.
This is a great game to stress the D mids. Great opportunity to further install the nascar style before Princeton and the Big Ten slate.
Agree, I see that Reynolds is playing SSDM and had a solid game against St. John’s. His athleticism and experience as an LSM should fit perfect into this game. Am concerned that there is a drop off in defensive skills from the LSMs after Rall. Keep #29 healthy!!!
I’m very nervous about this game. Thankfully we got it done vs SJU and were able To rest some starters and we seemed to escape without significant injury. But playing an unfamiliar foe on short rest that can score in bunches with our biggest rival coming up next week has all the ingredients for an upset.
The fact that it is at home where we play our best and they have a long travel day works in our favor. And I am sure the staff will do a good job of getting them prepared and focused but I will be holding my breath through this one. This is one we have to have.
The fact that it is at home where we play our best and they have a long travel day works in our favor. And I am sure the staff will do a good job of getting them prepared and focused but I will be holding my breath through this one. This is one we have to have.
With most of the roster getting PT 4 days should not be an issue. The risk is that this is not a cupcake, and if they up their game just a little they could be a challenge.
They aren’t a cupcake. They will put up a legit fight. Expect that.
They have stayed on the east coast since the Hopkins game so travel won’t be an issue.
They have stayed on the east coast since the Hopkins game so travel won’t be an issue.
It’s not so much about lack of rest. Let’s face it, these guys are elite athletes in peak physical condition. Playing two games in a week is not an issue. It is more about only having 3 days to prep for a team with which we have little familiarity.
The flip side is they have to prep for us. Though they have had more time. One thing I know, we are a very hard scout for other programs.
For sure, even with the extra time they have the bigger challenge prepping for us on the road. Not to mention we put a few new wrinkles on tape vs SJU for them to worry about.
But this has all the makings of a trap game. They are coming in as a team that is probably better and certainly more dangerous than their record would indicate, in a short week with a matchup with a likely top 5 Princeton looming the following week. A win here won’t get the credit it deserves but a loss could end up being a big hurdle come tournament time.
Again, I trust the staff to get them prepped and focused but I’ll be sweating this one out until the final whistle.
We use our d mids in a way most teams don't. It's tough to replicate that. Most importantly, have sets on offense and principles within those sets, but we are very free wheeling. We rarely run plays. It's makes us very hard to scout for those reasons.
I would say that we are difficult to prep for because it is nearly impossible to replicate our size, speed and pace with your scout team.
And we are not an offense that runs through one player. We tend to let the pace of play and whomever has the hot hand at the moment dictate our sets and who initiates. We really have very few set pieces. All of which makes game planning against us difficult.
We are using them the same way. They just aren't as effective at it. Which is expected. Those 4 guys last year logged a lot of minutes, made some massive plays in big games for a number of years. The guys we have now are either young, or came from systems that were polar opposite of what we do. Good news is they seem to be getting more comfortable every game. They just need to keep on this trajectory every week.
I love the conversation about running set plays vs running a "concept offense." Years ago, I approached the local HS coach over a few beers and I inquired about this very topic because I was cutting my teeth as a youth coach. Our HS coach was a believer in flexibility and concepts which always reminds me of the scene in the movie Miracle when Herb Brooks is on a white board teaching Xs and Os. He explains a set then asks, "what does that give us?" and the team replies in unison..."options." Lax is just made to play this way imo. The exception is maybe on man up opportunities or needing a goal late like against Army when we were down one. Pretty sure they drew up a play to free up Ross Scott during the final seconds and he hit a crossbar so the "play" worked and RU was two inches from securing OT.
Man up you definitely want to run plays as you have a limited amount of time and you know that they are forced to respect cutters and want to protect from the goal out first. Ran right, you should be able to create a good look.
Hopefully our emo can continue to produce as it has. Teams like us that free wheel in sets typically don’t run scripted plays that well. That said, I’m always impressed with what we do after time outs. Seremet is a genius and the kids often execute. Some of that is players making plays though.
Watch Hopkins play offense. They would be much easier to scout. Their offense patterns are all very similar and redundant.
Hopefully our emo can continue to produce as it has. Teams like us that free wheel in sets typically don’t run scripted plays that well. That said, I’m always impressed with what we do after time outs. Seremet is a genius and the kids often execute. Some of that is players making plays though.
Watch Hopkins play offense. They would be much easier to scout. Their offense patterns are all very similar and redundant.
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